john

A few quick questions: Do you practice vocals, without playing the guitar at the same time? Do you use vocal practice exercises? Do you have a vocal warm up routine, and do you use it? Do you make sure to keep yourself properly hydrated? All of these things affect your vocal cords and how they are being used.

The Independent Music Stage YouTube channel (also on Soundcloud and Spotify) and cross platform social media, supports independent music. We curate playlists, some purely independent, some a mix of independent artists and mainstream music. By creating playlists with mainstream artists, we aim to draw in fans of those mainstream artists. We mix in more and more independent artists. This introduces fans of these mainstream artists to new music by unknown artists. This is not about generating plays for big artists. It’s about acknowledging that fans are fans. If you playing music that has a similar appeal and audience to John Mayer, it makes sense to promote your music to John Mayer fans! By creating playlists with hits by similar/related artists, it maximises your chance of being discovered. So, we promote our playlists to what would be your target audiences. If we can get our playlists to have followers, then we can get your music in front of the right audience! Simple! So please help us, to help you! Please subscribe, like, comment and share! Singer-Songwriter Playlist - Example Mixed Playlist Singer-Songwriter Playlist (Mixed Independent Artists and Mainstream Artists. Good listening!) Independent Music Stage YouTube Channel Please Subscribe! https://youtube.com/channel/UCkEW8R8Bdu84VtR0Wv2-iqA Please like, share and comment. Music lovers of all kinds, please subscribe. To find out more, visit SSUK Many thanks!

Hey Rene You struggle a little in your falsetto and upper range. For different reasons. You seem to rein in your upper register. Some work on those areas would help. Apart from that perhaps dropping it a semitone or two might be less of a stretch. You have some great bass tones in your voice. Do you ever practice songs without playing the instrument? Try prerecording your guitar as a backing track to practice with. Then record the result and use your ear to work on vocal nuance and pick the versions that really work. You want to pick the lines that show of your voice to it’s best as well the tune. Then practice that vocal on it’s own with your backing track, and finally recombine. Then perform! It’s amazing how many singer songwriters practice guitar in isolation but never do the same for their voice.

Oh come on…. Some one must have recorded something? Have a reaction to my track? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I could pick many of their songs, and although there are several groups with songs In contention, Pink Floyd are definitely close to if not the top for me. There or there-abouts. I chose Echoes, from the movie Live At Pompeii, because it reminds me of my youth so much. The Glasgow Apollo was where I went to see many bands live, but they also screened movies in the afternoon sometimes. It’s where I first saw so many music related movies, from Woodstock or Monterey Pop festival movies, to Yellow Submarine, Led Zeppelin the Song Remains The Same, The Who Quadrophenia, or Tommy, and a load of others, including, of course, Live At Pompeii. To give you a laugh this is how I looked at 20, though I had looked much the same from 15-16 minus the beard!:

Wonders Never Cease Wonders Never Cease Verse Standing here, I've got view out over the world The things I see make me sad, make me sad When I think, what a waste we've made of it all That kind of destruction makes me sad, makes me sad Chorus Could that ever change, well Will wonders never cease? We carry, carry on Until it brings to our knees Verse Some people, put their faith in political words I hear them saying wait and see, wait and see But the time has come, when I feel we've got our backs to the wall Those words have passed us by, you see, oh you see Chorus Could that ever change, well Will wonders never cease? We carry, carry on Until it brings to our knees Verse I'm so tired, picking up and pushing on through The pain that we all bear, we bleed, oh we bleed Bloody wars, tearing at our heart and soul Flags wave, more weapons made, we bleed, oh we bleed Chorus Could that ever change, well Will wonders never cease? We carry, carry on Until it brings to our knees

Hi Gang It’s time for New Music Friday! Post up your current music projects, anything from just a melody through to a full production. As experimental as you want. I will post up yet another of the 1 take songs I recorded on my phone a little later today. Cheers John

Reviews aside, do you have a verified account? Just in case that makes your life easier. Not able to post on pages unless they follow you sounds weird. Not all pages allow people to post on them, though they might want you to follow them. Apart from that, you should also be able to interact on Facebook as yourself too, though I understand you not wanting to spread your personal account around in reviews etc.

You’ve a nice easy listening voice. You could maybe fiddle with your mic position to get a better balance between voice and guitar. Your guitar lilts along nicely with only a couple of small timing errors. The simplicity really works. Those few picked details really stand out all the more for it.

Merci bien mon amis!

Hi Gang If you have a Facebook account, would you be willing to post a review of Songstuff on our Facebook page? https://facebook.com/songstuff Cheers John

I meant to post this up last week… Truth Verse Truth, sets you free Hope falls short of what I need to get me through Chorus Time, and time again I get help from my friends Verse I'm up, I'm slowed down Things to say Just the words, get in the way Chorus Time, and time again I get help from my friends Bridge It's not the way, you thought it was at all It's changing Truth is, it's plain for all to see If they choose to...

Hey Jack White on the demand for vinyl… https://www.nme.com/news/music/jack-white-urges-major-labels-to-build-own-vinyl-pressing-plants-3182337?fbclid=IwAR14GW0iKof1FdY16NALsluxNEkitcXefrfE-8aTjFjJxxk0f2CiFzfbX4o Does he have a point? Cheers John

It sounds like you need a process and some things to aim for. Out of interest do you use channel groups? Although not a cure-all, mixing using groups can make a big difference. I also do about 50%-60% of my mixing in mono. It can be useful to identify why you keep chasing your tail. Address that and your mixing should fall into place.

I like music while I work…. Unless I am working on something that needs me to work with a specific piece of music. The solution? Dun dun dun…… ear buds.

Thanks Emily! Very nice of you to say so.

As it stands I hop to do acoustic and full production versions of all my songs. You’re right. The intended bass line is quite riff based. It has a distinctive rhythm and also pulls out some nice harmonies with the vocal line. At least just now! Recording has it’s own way of asserting change, so who knows!

Thanks Clay! I’ll be doing proper recordings of all the songs I post up soon. Hopefully you’ll get all the words then (accent allowing!)

The dance of death is certainly moving on… though I like the title, I don’t think it suits the mix. It doesn’t really fit the energy as it is just now. As ever, I love the sounds. You play with the tension you create really well. Nothing I’d highlight as a mix issue.

Thanks for posting this up. I think a lot use Native Instruments Komplete. If you buy the Ultimate bundle during their frequent special offers you get a brilliant range of sounds… the only negative being you will have soooo many to choose from you can lose days just familiarising yourself with the various synths. It is fairly expensive, but brilliant. Loads of really good lead synths and ambient pads and some pretty awesome real instrument samples. I had a good listen. A couple of things to consider. You stay within a limited range of notes, while staying within the rhythm laid down by the bass line. It makes any sections indistinct. It does have a toy piano/music box feel to it. Your sounds make it sound a bit dated, and there is no reason it should. It could very easily be new age/relaxation music with a more appropriate sound palette. However you would need to be careful not to play stereo types… yes, new age, relaxing etc, but worth really experimenting with the sounds for this. I look forward to seeing what you do with it!

It might be an idea to leave a link to your music so any interested party can have a listen. Also useful to know is what you mean by “sell your music”. Do you mean sell the rights to your music or Do you mean market your songs to artists for them to record or Do you mean market your music to production companies for film and TV or Do you mean sell recordings of your music to music fans

Many thanks Rega Rost

Another phone recording this week. Truth

Hi Gang It’s time for New Music Friday! Post up your current music projects, anything from just a melody through to a full production. As experimental as you want. I will post up another of the few 1 take songs I recorded on my phone a little later today. Cheers John

We are always learning. Adapting. Failing to do either has issues written all over it. In truth overwork often finds us spinning our wheels mid-air. Ensuring you take regular breaks recharges those batteries. Running on empty will have you injuring yourself or making a mistake that blows up in your face. Better to ensure you have the discipline to take breaks. Practices like mindfulness, yoga and Tai Chi are all great daily exercises. Tai Chi is probably the best for an over stressed, can’t stop mind. Regular mindful moments are particularly useful in combination with longer daily sessions of almost all kinds of relaxation techniques.