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Song Of The Month Club - February 2024
What is the Song of the Month Club?
It's a place where musicians come to give and receive feedback on their work. Anyone is welcome, whatever their level of ability.
The spirit of the club is to contribute: if you submit a song for others to comment on, you should also have the courtesy to listen to everyone else's contributions and give as much feedback as possible. Posting a track and not listening and commenting on others is not cool.
The purpose of feedback is to be honest. Essentially you should give your truthful impressions of the song, whether good or bad. Negative feedback, if done in the right spirit and with courtesy, can be the most useful and can help the artist to grow.
All submissions are welcome, don't hesitate if you want to contribute. We like all kinds of music and we are particularly fond of vocals (but of course we still love a great instrumental). If you are thinking of experimenting with vocals this is a good place to get started.
We ask that you only post one song per month in this thread - if you're lucky enough to be able to produce more, then please just submit your strongest material
And finally, iOS is not a requirement for posting here. If you've recorded your song using nothing but a ukulele and a Fostex 4 track, that's fine.
Comments
So for this month's entry I have tried something new (to me), which was to use a different tuning on the guitar. I bought a cheap Squier Telecaster so that I could have a second guitar tuned to something other than standard tuning. And to dip my toes into this new world I've spent a month with the guitar tuned to open G.
I was worried that maybe this would make me sound like Keith Richards, but of course the stuff I came up with still sounds exactly like me. Although I did take the opportunity to learn a few Keith riffs and my respect for him has only increased, those Add 9 chords he plays are very much his own and they are a really creative approach to the open tuning.
What I like to do in standard tuning is to move open chords up the neck so that the droning open strings add unexpected flavours to the chords, and in open G this works even better, giving an almost 12-string-like sound. I also like the fact that the familiar fretboard mapping is gone, which forces me to be creative with my chords, and explore the sounds of the brand-new options that are available.
I'll probably spend a couple more weeks in open G, maybe write one or two more songs in it, and then try something else.
So anyway, all the guitar parts in this month's song are in open G. Lyrics are in the spoiler, thanks for listening.
They’re coming on the water
Carried by the waves
They’re coming to your home
To take it away
You don’t want them near you
These ghosts you’re scared of
You don’t have the heart
For love
Close your eyes
Don’t ask how or why
Just close your eyes
And lie
You don’t want to see things
The way that they are
There’s nothing but hate
In your heart
Feeding of your fears
New stories every day
The morning paper tells you
That hate is ok
And so you end up here
What are you scared of?
Just open your heart
To love
Close your eyes
Don’t ask how or why
Just close your eyes
And lie
You don’t want to see things
The way that they are
There’s nothing but hate
In your heart
And so you end up here
What are you scared of?
Just open your heart
To love
Close your eyes
Don’t ask how or why
Just close your eyes
And lie
You don’t want to see things
The way that they are
There’s nothing but hate
In your heart
Welcome to the open tuning rabbit hole.
K. Richards approach of the G tuning is great. In a very different style, Alan Sparhawk of Low has a great approach of the tuning that you might enjoy as well.
It is a nice track. I like your streaming pattern on this one. It is hard to tell that you're in an alternate tuning as it sounds very close to your usual guitar parts, which means that you got your own sonic identity/territory when picking up a guitar. I'd be curious to hear what your would come up with with more extreme tunings. Like tuning the 4 lowest strings like a cello (CGDA) and then the 2 upper strings to your taste.
I now tend to prefer what is often called the Dobro version of the G tuning (GBDGBD). Since it can be a bit demanding on the neck in terms of string tension I tune it a whole step down in F (FACFAC). My upcoming album is mostly in this open. So many ways to play triads in this version, definitely recommended!
Gosh, better to stop here, I become so nerdy when it comes to tunings...
Nice Tele BTW. Telecasters are the best guitars in the world, PERIOD 😉
I will definitely ask you for some pointers in my future experiments, and I'll also try out the FACFAC tuning at some point. I think my next tuning will be the one used in Sonic Youth's Schizophrenia, that song is so beautiful I would like to explore the tuning:
https://ragajunglism.org/tunings/menu/schizophrenia/
And I love the harmonics at 1m 50s:
I like the Telecaster, although I had to be sure to buy one with humbuckers because I really hate single coils. It's very nice to play, and the longer scale neck compared to my Les Paul makes the upper neck more accessible.
Nice version ! Sister is such a great album and a special one for me as it is the first one I bought from them, though I remember I started listening to them with Daydream Nation and Dirty on one of my friend an old cassette while completely high on spliff !
I didn't know this website. A great resource! Thanks for sharing.
I never tuned in The Schizophrenia open, might be a good time to start! Up to buy a drill too 😉
Sister was also my first Sonic Youth LP, I bought it in 89, followed by Evol and then Daydream Nation. I remember the excitement when Goo came out the following year, and then Dirty a couple of years later. I saw them on the Dirty tour, with Pavement in support, an incredible gig.
I fell in love with Schizophrenia from the first moment I heard it, it's my favourite song of theirs, with Tunic a close second.
BTW you probably already know about this, but Sonic Youth have some info on their tunings on their website:
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/tuning.html
This is a music track that I improvised on two MIDI keyboards connected to Bitwig Studio on a desktop PC. There the MIDI was routed to Bioscape for the bells, Orchestral Essentials and Alchemy for the background singing voices, Solo for the cello, Pianoteq for the piano, and Omnisphere for the other instruments.
After bringing the audio recording into Vegas Pro, I applied the Lurssen Mastering Console plug-in to the audio mix.
It's titled Drift.
Has a hint of “Sally Cinnamon” about it and had that early 90s jangly indie vibe. Good stuff with a catchy chorus. Love it.
Very much enjoyed your offering this month Richard, I agree about the jangly indie vibe and chorus 👍
Thanks for listening 🙏
To expand on what I said in the other thread: I love the edgy sound design and the brutally nasty sounds you have coaxed out of whatever tortured synth you used here, the vibe is beautifully dark and the edge is sharp as an axe.
Production is also top-notch, and the arrangement and writing are really solid.
The vocal pads blend beautifully behind the bell-like patch, and the melodies that slowly emerge are really gorgeous.
Nice track Richard!. The guitars are great. About the open G tuning… Do you know what notes you’re note or do you just enjoy getting lost in it?.
My cigar guitar box is tuned GDG and half the time I don’t know what note I’m on , which I actually quite enjoy. @JanKun beat me to pointing out Alan Sparhawk of Low. He’s such a superb guitar player, I recently watched him solo and it’s mesmerizing. He’s so expressive and soulful.
I might just copy you and buy a shitty guitar to have in open tuning!. I was looking at the cheap Thomann ones which seem to sound ok and look cool, maybe a Jaguar rip-off, but they don’t have tremolo bars and I want a tremolo bar, I’ve always played Telecaster and I want to try the Bloody Valentine go-frentic on the tremolo thing.
I have two guitars permanently tuned to DADGAD and FACGAE, and I have no idea of any note that I play. (Actually, the DADGAD guitar is a baritone Telecaster, so it's actually… AEADEA or whatever. I literally just had to work that out, which says much! And it sounds like a Greek tragedy: From Dadgad to Aedea.)
I just make up the chord shapes as I go. But I did watch an interesting math rock tutorial for FAC-ish tunings that emphasised how much better things are when you know where C is on each string, so maybe I'll mend my ways. 😳☺️
When I first set the guitar to open G I googled some chord positions, just to orient myself. But then I also spent a few hours just trying stuff out, so a lot of the time I'm just playing what feels good rather than precisely knowing what chords I'm playing, although to be fair when something sounds really good I do then stop to think what the chord actually is.
I love Low so I'll see if I can check out some of Alan Sparhawk's open tuning stuff.
As for the MBV style tremolo arm technique, I think it has to be a Jaguar because their tremolo arms are high and loose, it might not work with a different guitar. Fender did a series of interviews with Kevin Shields where he talks about this a little (at 2 minutes 10s):
Jazzmaster! Isn’t this the video where he shows them 20 Jazzmasters, all labeled by different songs because they all have unique tunings? Madness.
Funnily, I don’t use the vibrato arm much because I have a Squier J Mascis model, and his is a lot stiffer. It won’t swing loosely. Maybe I need to lubricate it. But will probably swap it out for a Fender one.
Very consistent with your other music. Mellow, contemplative and as always nicely played with good sounds.
Thank you! I do tend to get drawn to edgy and nasty sounds. I’m glad I’m not the only one that likes them tortured. ;-)
Thanks for your comments. The arrangement was something I had to work on for a while before I was satisfied with it so I’m really glad you like it and mentioned it :-)
Yes you're totally right - thanks for the correction
The whole video is about Jazzmasters, I had a brain slip there 😮
You would think if anyone should have a signature guitar made due to their unique playing style it would be Kevin Shields...
These Thomann ones have actually good reviews, extremely cheap.
But no tremolo bar , and adding a tremolo bar would be almost the price of the guitar…
Stop it. I almost got GAS for a guitar then! I don’t have the space or time for any more kit!!!
I have a rather nice Gordon Smith Les Paul Jr which I have at my office and a very metal (unlike me) Ibanez. I also have an Ibanez art core semi and a very, very old Hofner Verithin which was my Grandads guitar.
The GS is the one I actually play the most. But im very much not a guitarist. I enjoy pretending to be one from time to time though.
That's exactly how I approach the piano. My kids can actually play the instrument, I can sorta pretend.
With guitars and GAS though it's really simple: my wife enforces an iron rule that the maximum number I am allowed is three. So if I want a new one, I have to sell one of the old ones. It's actually kind of cool, because otherwise I would probably end up with way more instruments than I would ever really play. As it stands each instrument has a definite purpose and I regularly play all three.
🤘🎸❤️
Very nice. When I move (we really need to move!) I hope to have enough space to have a guitar on hand. We have very much outgrown our current house...
@richardyot
The sudden opening works well here. Love the slightly draggy background at the 0:29 mark. The vocals are perfectly placed against the twangy instruments. Has a polished live performance feel, like a local's favorite side-of-the-road club with ideal acoustics (a la Twin Peaks). Could definitely see this being performed in a Twin Peaks episode.
@klownshed
Very cool vocoder effect with electronic music sounds that fit right in. Has a strong beat with interesting side explorations. Never dull. It always moves on before it gets too settled in, yet has a consistent core. Pulls the disparate parts together near the end to present a coherent whole.