Agree. Like many bands (and Modern English especially comes to mind), they got famous from one of their kind of lacklustre tracks, and had a lot more to offer that most people never explored. Andy Partridge is a great songwriter.
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So, here’s my first cover : Pink Floyd - Another brick in the wall
I went incredibly nervous every single time I performed in front of my smartphone, so i’m looking
everywhere else apart from the camera, and look especially carefully after my left hand (which makes me anxious on top of it) plus I hate to see myself in video. Still, this was both fun and nerve wracking, with some useful “ha ha ! moments” and some “I’m the stupidest man in the room” (which is true anyway since I’m the only one in the room)
Anyway, here we go :
A bit playful with the vintage countdown and the playing-along tab. While I do not recommand to follow it (this is a tab created by a newbie after all), it was quite interesting for me since I progressed quite a bit in sight-reading and music notation.
some eureka moments :
- discovering how “rests” works in music notation
- a bit of progress in muting (FINALLY !)
- a bit of progress in rhythm
some nerve wracks :
- I was quite happy with my latest take : I sounded cool, I looked (almost) cool, and then …
I realized I didn’t hit the record button. - No, my 3 meters-long USB cable is not working well with my audio interface. I wished I knew that prior to the 13 takes I screwed up because of this.
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Sounds great! The tone is perfect.
Only criticism I have is practice that slide down to the 12th. It really ties in with the groove and should be relatively smooth.
I also like to keep playing the last part until it fades. I couldn’t figure out the fade filters in Reaper so I just tried playing quieter… LOL
Sounds better than my submission!
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Started this one yesterday evening, wasn’t too difficult to learn, but was challenging to keep pace throughout. My fretting hand was getting really tense toward the end of the song, had to remind myself to breathe. I absolutely love this song, such great songwriting!
“Workin for paper and for iron, work for the right to keep my tie on” 
Please excuse my filthiness, I had just finished sanding my sheetrock mud on a little studio room I’ve been working on downstairs
XTC - Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVnixSvsQ0
Tabs
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For some reason I’m not getting any audio from your post? Not sure if it’s an issue with the video or if it’s on my end 
Hi @mediaklan !
First things first - you can stop pointing out what you believe are all your faults and foibles. Be confident and just post your efforts. You will only get constructive feedback, and the negativity can stay elsewhere.
OK,
I thought you sounded GREAT!
Tone and groove are both spot on man.
I have no idea how to sync tabs like that on the bottom of a screen, so bonus points there.
And as far as how you look - well, no one likes what they look like, but to me, you look like a bass player.
Agree with @groaner that your slide up could be a bit smoother of a transition, but I get it, I was very nervous too to hit the slide right, which, generally results in doing something too fast. This is minor and will come with time. What I tend to do with a big slide is to look down at where I need to end up and wait patiently for my finger to come along and stop it. Takes some of the stress out of ‘hitting it right’ away.
And lastly,
Please insure you post any 50 Song Challenge videos in their respective threads as well as here. This song’s thread is here:
There is one thread for each tune, please keep cross posting them here too.
2 Likes
hmm … maybe my export is not doing great with your browser but I wasn’t under the impression that I was using any exotic codec.
Audio file only :
- by the way, your Paper and Iron is great (and +1 for the tab).
Totally out of reach for me at the moment of course.
1 Like
Thank you John_E and groaner !
Yes, this slide tried to kill me hands a few times, it’s a killer slide. I’ve nailed it a few times (with one being … not recorded ^^) totally randomly and failed at it probably double or triple that.
Practice makes perfect, so I still have a long way to go.
Your advices were fully noted, sirs ^^
2 Likes
Hey @mediaklan top job on recording your first cover. I really like the tone on the this and how it sits in the mix.
The whole point of this (I think) is the doing of it. Just sitting down and giving it a go. Numerous covers later and a bunch of us on this thread have definitely improved. That said for your first cover, this was mint 
5 Likes
Still couldn’t get any audio from your video, tried two devices and two different browsers, bizarre. However, the audio file played just fine! Nice job buddy! Your bass sounds very clear and crisp. I would just try to work on your plucking strength to make sure all your notes are the same volume and duration. Like John said, don’t worry about the stuff you feel like you didn’t do well, if you highlight your flaws people will look for them! The most important thing is to put yourself out there and keep posting, it’ll make you a better and more confident bassist
Thanks @Barney, @Ant
I should keep my plucking strenght in mind and in check, thanks ^^. Fatigue was beginning to play a role there (I think it’s my first full song, so it could be). While this song is not that hard for our hands (Billie Jean… I’m looking at you !), I could still feel the last repeating measures in my fingers in the end.
So, after my last cover (Matisyahu’s King Without a Crown), I figured I needed something… hell-ish to balance it all out. Here’s AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells, played on my Fender American Deluxe Dimension IV. Pickup selector was in position 2 (inside poles on both pickups), with treble rolled off slightly (12:00 being the center, it was probably at 10:30 or 11:00). It was recorded using a Behringer UM2 and Reaper, with the only post processing being peak normalization. Video was recorded using OBS, holy hell do I need a new camera.
12 Likes
Catching up again, and have truly enjoyed it all!
@Growl: That was great! I like when songs that mix a few pops in with the plucking. There’s a song I’m working on that does this and its a little tricky to switch hand positions in time.
@Ant: I’ve enjoyed all your contributions, you pick things that sound fun to play. My favorite is the Soundgarden because I’m a big fan.
Amazing band, they are kind of like the “Seattle Rush” in my opinion, every one is a virtuoso, crazy odd time signatures, and Cornell, has there ever been better? Wish he was still here.
@Al1885: Did she write this about you 
Such a nice groove no matter which bass you play
@John_E: I feel you on this one, tricky but a lot of fun to play, you nailed it! Your tone is great, I wish I could inject it into my own cover, do you make plugins? 
@Paul_9207: Lots of great playing in that Saint Motel cover, the slides, hammer-ons, its overall a nicely arranged tune. I didn’t know of it but very cool. Also, looks like you got a little rock star in the making for a sidekick
@mediaklan Way to go getting your first cover up! Sounded great. I never know where to look either haha.
Great stuff! You will find these on every cover you do, there is something about going the extra mile of sharing the song that helps you unlock all kinds of breakthroughs like this. Keep em coming.
5 Likes
Hey Guys I’ve finally managed to find some time to do some recording. This time I am cosplaying as the mighty Bruce Foxton himself, and the Jam classic A Town Called Malice (recently featured on Josh’s ‘most kickass bass riffs ever’ video).
I have to admit there are a few rough edges, but keeping up the pace with the main riff was a lot trickier then I thought it would be - I found it really easy to start rushing during the choruses…
The setup was pretty easy though - just the bass straight into the DI with some compression in Audacity.
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@JustTim great job buddy! I love to see you rocking out with the song, and it sounded spot on. I will say that personally I am so put off by any AC/DC with Brian Johnson that I actually rush to my radio and turn it off whenever they come on (I’m looking at you, Thunderstruck 
). No Bon Scott, no AC/DC IMO.
@dlamson13 Thank you! I am a Seattle native, so I guess it’s no surprise how deep my love for Soundgarden runs. IMO Cornell is the greatest rock vocalist of all time and I was absolutely devastated when I heard he passed. I had an opportunity back around 2011/2012 to see Cornell acoustic at a venue in Seattle that I absolutely LOVE called the Paramount. I was 21/22 at the time and making $12.50/hr at my job, and tickets were $600/ea. I wanted to go so badly but I just couldn’t afford it. Little did I know it would be my last opportunity to see him and I still am full of regret that I didn’t make it to that show. Ever since then I have spent whatever $ amount it takes to see bands and artists that I love because I won’t let that happen to me again. Was able to catch Rush in Vancouver BC at Rogers arena for their farewell tour, and of course Neil Peart died a few years later so I am eternally grateful for making it to that show.
@Ed Killer cover! That’s our second Jam track in the last week and you did a great job. I started learning this song a few days ago and got frustrated with the main riff and moved on, so I am impressed. Like you said I did catch you rushing a little bit but it’s such an upbeat song I can see how that could be an easy mistake and tbh you can barely tell just by listening. Keep at it and I’m sure you’ll have it perfected in no time.
And now, here is my latest submission. I tabbed this from scratch yesterday, learned it, and was so determined to get it recorded I was up until 1:30AM finishing it. Confession, the final chorus/outro was done in a separate take. I kept making a mistake right towards the end of the song, and since I was becoming delirious I didn’t want to redo the entire track just for the last 30 seconds, so I spliced together two recordings. Is this cheating? I think so, but at the end of the day it sounds pretty good. Was planning on doing a video cover for this and getting that single take but I woke up this morning feeling pretty under the weather, so audio only will have to do.
Queens Of The Stone Age - I Sat By The Ocean.
https://audio.jukehost.co.uk/dCICjdiPSzFyyaJWrWQXJmYQzcVu6zT7
Tabs - Feeling pretty confident in my transcription, this one was pretty tough but is an absolute blast to play!
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Limited resources here in a hotel room, but here is something I enjoyed playing. Please enjoy and thanks for watching.
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@JerryP For starters, your t-shirt is basically the best t-shirt in the world ^^ And the content of this t-shirt is doing very well in this cover. The limited resources doesn’t seem to limit you in any way. Great tone plus i like your consistency.
@Ant Another great cover. Again. With an interval of 2 days between them. wow. While I don’t know the original song, I listened to your cover as if you were part of the band (and sounded like you were). Great !
@JustTim While I join Ant by being a bit put off by anything related to AC/DC (to be fair, rock and hard rock has that effect on me for quite some time now), that was surprisingly not the case for your cover, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Just a few minutes in and I was 
@Ed I knew that song but never knew how it was called (so thank you for that already). It seems to me that the tempo is slightly accelerating towards the end in the song ? The only thing I hate in your song is the pick. Picks should be burned by lot. I’m joking, obviously. I have nothing against picks apart when you can’t find one when you need one. So now I have a few myself lying around … a bit everywhere.
Last few words, I want to thank everyone again for the warm welcome in this thread. It’s really encouraging. That’s it, but I think it was needed to be told.
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