This Friday Feature goes out to a cover of a cover.
Emily Seal covering Hurt, as covered by Johnny Cash!
I didn't really have any expectations when looking for a cover of this one; I knew that there would be a lot to choose from, though. Being associated with both Nine Inch Nails and Johnny Cash encompasses a wide group of people. I listened to a bunch and I wasn't blown away at any point, until I clicked on this link.
Meet Emily Seal!
I had already decided on a different cover, but clicked on this last one just as a whim, and I am SO glad I did. I am absolutely in love with this girl's voice. Holy cow. If you haven't heard of Ron Pope, listen to something by him; he's a favorite of mine and she sounds like the female version of him in the best way. In this cover, Emily didn't miss a single note, and she has the most impressive amount of vocal control. She might have the coolest voice I've ever heard from a Youtube video. I can't stress to you enough how talented she is. If you only listen to one thing today, make it this cover.
More about Emily Seal: I'm not sure why this video doesn't have ten thousand views. It's better than any other cover I looked at. But I dug a little deeper and discovered that Ms. Seal is doing very, very well. She's a Canadian recording artist with a slew of nominations and awards already received, along with a lengthy list of accolades and accomplishments. She has a CD out, titled If You Keep This Up (which I will be buying once I finish writing this post), a killer website, and a Facebook page you can check out if you like what you've heard above, and how could you not?!
Not that Emily Seal needs my accolades here, as she has already earned herself plenty, but I can't help but give them anyways. She's living my dream at the moment, and she's absolutely earned the right to be there!
Current Knowledge: I don't know much about Ted Nugent's music. I do know that the first time I was on the radio, I played my segment and then the host interviewed Ted Nugent over the phone afterwards, so I basically opened for him. Also, a friend of mine plays bass with Derek St. Holmes all the time (he gets theses all expenses paid trips to Vegas and LA and Denver.... I hate him). I have a sneaking suspicion I know this song.... But I'm not 100% sure, and I know I've never heard the original, so here goes.
First Thoughts: Yep. I know this song. Dylan, the bass player referenced above, does this song all the time at bars. I had no idea this was a Ted Nugent song! And though Dylan is one of the best bassists I've ever met EVER, Nugent sings this waaaay better. He's actually got a cool voice. And I don't know who's playing guitar here (Nugent maybe?) but it's really, REALLY good. This is basically straight up rock 'n roll. Not surprisingly, the original version is far better than anything that's been done in any bar I've ever been to. The solos are way longer, more drawn out, and all around better. Yeah, this is awesome.
Verdict: I was pretty sure I knew this song, and I'm not surprised I liked this better than the bar covers I've grown used to. It's a badass rock and roll song with a ripping guitar solo that I will forever appreciate and never duplicate. I'm really diggin' it.
(And by the way, these headphones are making ALL the difference; best $25 I ever spent.)
Current Knowledge: I know a few Johnny Cash songs; my grandpa is quite the fan (and, in fact, the only person in my extended family who plays guitar). Ring of Fire is probably his favorite, and I know that one like the back of my hand. However, I was at a party over the weekend, and on the TV/radio station that was playing, the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt came on. I genuinely didn't believe the person who told me that Johnny Cash had covered this, or how it possibly could have sounded. So, here I am, about to find out.
First Thoughts: Maybe it's my headphone upgrade, but the guitar in this sounds really awesome. It's really clear and bright and right on the top of the mix....yeah, this is probably thanks to the headphones, actually. In regards to the song itself: it's actually a really weird version of this, honestly. This song seems to be written with a really strong vocal melody, and Johnny Cash was by no means young when he recorded this; his voice is distinct but not particularly striking in this. I think it's actually the lack of emotion in his voice that is the issue for me. The lyrics say that the speaker is more or less dying, and Cash's vocal seems a bit apathetic. Though I think I can see why he chose to cover it, there's a good story and a nice acoustic guitar part, which are Johnny Cash staples.
Verdict: I'm not really sure what to make of this. It's a really weird convergence between two distinctly different types of music. I wouldn't say I'd put this on again, but I can certainly commend Johnny Cash for picking a song that is so far outside of his usual genre and making it his own. That's something I try to do a lot of the time, so I can definitely relate, at least.
This week's Friday Feature goes to a cover of Casey Jones!
When I looked at Casey Jones initially, the only thing I could think about in terms of covering was that it would make a great acoustic song for a male singer with a country vibe. So, this week I set out to find someone who not only fit that mold, but did it justice.
Meet Michael Richardson. :)
There aren't a ton of covers of this song on YouTube, believe it or not. And of the handful of covers that do exist, most of them leave a lot to be desired. This one is an exception! Michael has covered this really really well. His voice is great, very well suited to the song. And he plays a Takamine (which I may be biased towards because I learned to play on one) that has a really nice sound, even though it's being played without any amplification, as far as I can tell. Not to mention he's a great guitarist to begin with! He has all the components necessary to do this song well, and it shows. I'm super thrilled to have stumbled upon this one.
More about Michael Richardson: All I could really find on this talented guy was his YouTube channel. But there's a lot on there to look at! He's got a bunch of instructional videos that have accrued thousands of views, and a really successful cover of Lime in the Coconut that I really liked. You can check out his channel here.
Thank you, Michael Richardson, for sharing this with the world!
A revisit to All Along The Watchtower- this time, the Jimi Hendrix version.
Current Knowledge: It was suggested that I revisit this one and take a look at the Hendrix version. It's supposedly superior to Dylan's, which wouldn't surprise me, because Jimi Hendrix is kind of the man. I like the song and I know it quite well at this point, so I'm pretty excited to hear this from a totally different artist.
First Thoughts: Oh, there's no contest here. This is WAY better. I can't emphasize that enough though text on the internet. This is the version I've heard covered in bars so many times, but like a thousand times better, cause, ya know, it's Jimi Hendrix. And not that it even needs to be said, because it's totally a given, but the guitar solo is just so damn good. It's like the kind of good that makes you want to stop playing guitar because that kind of skill is practically unachievable.
Verdict: I am so glad I listened to this. I liked the song before, but after hearing this version, I love it. This is one of the best songs that I've written about in quite some time on here. And I'd write more, but I have to go put this on in my car, crank the volume, and drive down the highway at 80 miles an hour.
This week's Friday Feature goes to Rachel Ann Cauilan,with her guitar cover of The Chain, by Fleetwood Mac!
The first Friday Feature ever was an a cappella group, so this week I decided I'd go in the opposite direction and do an instrumental. This is a tough song to play!
Meet the lady who has done it justice, Rachel Ann Cauilan. :)
I listened to the song an extra handful of times before browsing Youtube, and there's a lot of intricate stuff going on in the guitar parts for sure. I wasn't totally sure I was going to find a decent cover anywhere. But it didn't take me too long to come across this really awesome rendition. Not only did Rachel play the entire song pretty much perfectly, her guitar tone is absolutely stellar, which isn't something you find a ton of on the internet, unfortunately. And she says she only learned it the night before recording it! I've been playing guitar for seven years and never would I be confident enough to post something I had only learned that recently, which makes this all the more impressive. Rachel, you are a hell of a player.
If you're interested in hearing more from Rachel, you can check out her Youtube channel here, which includes covers Blackbird and California Dreamin', both favorites of mine. You can also visit her wordpress blog, tumblr, and twitter pages.
Thanks for sharing your guitar skills with the world, Rachel!
In looking at all this classic rock and surrounding myself with people who value this sort of music, it's no surprise that the technical aspects of musical instruments comes up pretty often. This is something I know even less about when compared to "good music". So, here's something that's a bit off the usual beaten path.
Story time. Over the summer I was gifted a guitar.
This is Precious. She was a gift from a very generous friend, and I love her dearly. As I have recently joined a band, having a real nice electric guitar has been absolutely necessary. This particular guitar is a 2006 Elliot Easton model (The guy from The Cars) Gretsch, a solid body in the color of Cadillac green, with a Bigsby tailpiece (that's the whammy bar!) and Gretsch Humbucker pickups. When musician friends of mine see said guitar, the pickups are very often the first thing that get brought up. I know Humbucker = good. But why? What's the difference between them and any other kind of pickups? Don't they all do the same thing?
I did some research, and I'm gonna attempt to break this down in a way that makes sense to someone who has no idea what I'm talking about. Nobody ever explains this stuff to me without making me feel dumb or by using terminology I've never heard. So I'm gonna lay this out in total layman's terms, so that maybe someone else of the less-formally-educated-but-still-musical group can understand what the heck is going on with pickups and why people play favorites.
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First things first: pickups. Sticking strictly with electric guitar (Acoustic is a whole other ball game), the pickups are what sit under the guitar strings and pick up their vibrations and turn them into sound. In the picture above, they're the two rectangular gold boxes with little black lines and gold dots in em. In a few words, there's a coil in there, and a magnet, which interacts with the strings on the guitar by vibrating and creates a voltage in the coil, which is translated into sound. (I still don't totally understand how this works. All that's important is pickup = sound interpreter.) The main difference between pickups is the sound they create, not surprisingly. And there are several different types.
Single Coil
My first electric guitar (a black Fender Squire that was also a gift and came from one of those $100 guitar/amp box sets, and looks a lot like the picture below) had single coil pickups. They look like this.
This was essentially the first type of pickup created, and is as it sounds; a single coil with two horseshoe shaped magnets in it under the plastic case. Characteristically, these pickups create a sound that is twangy, bright, and cutting. However, different variations on the single coil pickup have been created for different guitars. A Stratocaster guitar (the black guitar above is a Stratocaster) is the brightest and twangiest sounding, while a telecaster (below) style pickup is a bit rounder and warmer sounding, but punchier.
There are variations of these for other brands and guitars, but they all tend to fall somewhere between these two styles. The drawback to single coil is that they tend to make a bit of a buzzing sound; think of the hum you often hear when a guitar is plugged into an amp but not being played. Modern technology, however has helped to create "noiseless" versions of them. These pickups are most popular on Fender brand guitars.
P90
A P90 pickup is very similar to a single coil. They often look like this:
From the outside, they're wider and are thicker than a single coil pickup, though it is just a single coil inside. This coil, however, is much wider. It allows the pickup to "hear" more, resulting in a bigger sound that isn't as bright or twangy. It can also produce a higher output, which means it can get louder, and boosts the mid-range tones of the guitar. This gives them a lot of versatility. They come in a couple different designs and colors, but they work just the same as a single coil. (A note: I don't see these used nearly as much as single coil or Humbuckers.)
Humbuckers
These bad boys look like the ones on Precious. But they can also look like this:
The difference here is that each pickup contains two coils instead of one. The two opposing coils are designed to "buck", or cancel, the pesky aforementioned "hum", hence the name. Aside from doing that, adding a second coil increases the output of the guitar, so it can get even louder, and really cuts back on some of the higher frequencies. Guitars with these pickups sound warm and powerful, which is exactly how one would like their guitar to sound on many occasions. The name humbucker has become the blanket term for all guitar pickups with two coils, though it is possible to have a double coil pickup with no humbucking action.
Which brings me to my next point. There are still a TON of other things that can effect the sound of the guitar. How many times the coil was wound, the type of magnet used, the placement of the pickup on the guitar, what company made the pickups and for which guitar they were made, the way the guitar was built, the kind of strings, whether the pickup covers are on or off, the brand of guitar, the amplifier, etc, etc. There are even distinctions between active and passive pickups, an active pickup having a battery powered circuit to create a "hotter" or louder sound, though most pickups are passive. People often create their own custom setups involving all of these parts. And it all comes down to what sounds good to a particular person. There are generic universal ideas about what sounds good, and then there are the needs of the individual musicians playing their guitars. Sometimes a guitarist is going to want a bright tone with a lot of treble. Sometimes a guitarist wants to be as loud and as powerful as possible. Most of the time, the guitarist wants to sound how they think is best, and that's usually somewhere in between all of these things. It's all about preference.
Hopefully I've shed some light on the subject at hand (I learned a ridiculous amount; the internet is a beautiful thing). I know it's a bit off topic from what I usually post, but I think it really adds to the knowledge base I'm acquiring here (hint: that means there will be more stuff like this, cause I liked doing it a lot).
I'll leave you with this, an awesome example of most of what I've just explained. Even a totally untrained ear can hear the differences, and it's not hard to see that both humbuckers and single coils have their place in the guitar world.
Current Knowledge: I don't know anything about Neil Young. In looking up which song I should listen to, in less than 15 seconds I inadvertently discovered that I know at least three other songs of his, and that he was the "Young" in Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Some days I feel like I'm making musical progress, and then there are days like today, where I feel as ignorant as I did on day one. Ugh. This song is one I am not familiar with, and I was such a big fan of Helplessly Hoping that this song is nonetheless being held to high expectations. First Thoughts: Oh god, the harmonica. I have a secret love affair with harmonicas, so already this song has like three extra points starting out. But I don't really care for his voice... what? I'm surprised with myself. I didn't think that going to be my beef with this. The lyrics are really poetic, though, and the harmonica has won me over. It's sad and soulful and suddenly I have the urge to cover this very badly.
Verdict: I'm still reeling over the fact that I wasn't totally wowed by his voice. But I guess that holds true with tons of artists from that day and age; it was more about the songs back then, I think. (ie, my entire sentiment towards All Along the Watchtower). Pushing those thoughts aside - the song itself is great. This is exactly like something I would cover (I actually got compared to Neil Young once and had no idea how to respond. Now I understand) so that will very likely be in the works. But hey, here's to learning some stuff today.
Current Knowledge: Like a million and a half people have asked me about this song in one way or another. I'm not a big fan of having one of the most common female names of the 21st century, so I never looked this one up mostly out of spite. Not a fan of my name, not gonna bother with the song; this was the mindset. Nauseatingly petty, I know. Begrudgingly, I am about to change this.
First Thoughts: Agh. It starts out so awesome. It sounds hard as heck to play, honestly. The melody riff is so catchy, and the song overall falls somewhere between folk and... Caribbean sounding, maybe? It goes back and forth between so many parts, it's hard to discern what style the Allman Brothers are supposed to be based off this song alone. (Wikipedia says they're American Rock.. whatever that means.) Is this a jam band? Because this is definitely a jam band song. Everybody gets a solo for three minutes! And at the halfway point I've decided there are definitely no words to this song. Which I don't mind, I can certainly appreciate a good instrumental. I can't argue that it's not great as a musician. As a listener, though, by minute five I'm definitely a bit bored. Someone, somewhere, loves every second of this 7 minute song, I'm sure.
Verdict: It's a really technically difficult jam song, basically. Jam bands aren't really my thing, but as far as lyric-less songs go, it's solid. I am nowhere near good enough at the guitar to attempt this, so there's a lot to be said about the skill it would take to cover this one, for sure.
One last thing.. why in the world is this called Jessica? Because it drags on and is almost boring after five minutes? (That's only my worst fear as a human being) Or because it is a technical masterpiece and requires a cultured palate to appreciate it?
We're gonna go with the latter. ;)
Current Knowledge: I know my dad likes this group. He never really played any of their stuff for me, and it always seemed a little bit out of my wheelhouse to investigate on my own. This particular song, however, came on my Pandora station the other day, and I purposely skipped it so I could sit down and write about it the first time I hear it. Pandora is usually pretty good about catering to my tastes, so I have high hopes for this song!
First Thoughts: Three notes in and I'm sold. I love this. These might be the best lyrics I've ever heard, in all honesty. And the harmony is absolutely perfect. I can't explain it to you without telling you to listen to it. The only other thing in the song is acoustic guitar, and it's very understated, but the finger picking gives it a nice rhythm to fill in for the lack of percussion and/or bass or anything else. But seriously, the lyrics. They're incredible. It's one of those songs where you know it's telling you a story but it could mean like a dozen different things, very Hotel California-esque. I love it. I don't have enough good things to say right now.
Verdict: I think I've already said everything I needed to. This song is flawless, and Pandora was right on the money.
Current Knowledge: I know nothing about Robert Palmer. Nothing. Which is probably because I generally don't like eighties music much. People tell me I should listen to him pretty often (people in bars here LOVE 80's music), but I have yet to do so. Nobody has ever given me a specific song, so I honestly just googled "Robert Palmer best song" and this is what came up. Fingers crossed it's a good one!
First Thoughts: First off, it appears I found the music video for this song. I highly recommend you watch it.. This is literally the most uncomfortable looking piece of cinematography I have ever seen in my entire life. Robert Palmer looks like someone my Dad works with deciding to try out some karaoke for the first time. And none of the girls are even trying to play their instruments, which really adds to the fact that they look terrifying. It's pretty rough. But! I like the song! The vocals are really really great, and it's actually quite catchy. It definitely has the 80's vibe that usually turns me off of this kind of music, but it's actually very well written, lyrically and musically. And the driving rock beat helps a lot in my opinion. I'd definitely listen to this again.
Verdict: If you want to actually appreciate this song, by all means do not watch the music video. It seriously takes away from the music, and the music is great. At this point I've listened to this song like four times and I actually really like it, which is not something I can say about most songs written in this time period. I might have to look into some more stuff from this guy. A brief glance at the sidebar of YouTube tells me this weird ugly-girls-and-a-karaoke-singer thing is a theme with some of Robert Palmer's music videos, so I don't have a lot of great things to say about his cinematic choices. But I can say that, for once, the crazy people from the bars have made a good suggestion here. This is a pretty cool tune.
