CHECK MY BAND OUT PLZ.

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:08 am

So, we're all fourteen. Been playing together 1.5 years or so, basically as long as I've played guitar. Jaguar for Geetar, Sting Ray for Bass, Drums...

We have about 3 non-paying gigs lined up at the moment.

I'd be grateful for some honest feedback.

Example A (Original):

http://semihollowbrain.lonelyfridge.com ... 0Chair.mp3

Example B (Belle & Sebastian Cover:

http://semihollowbrain.lonelyfridge.com ... g%20It.mp3

I'll try to get a video up.

Thanks!

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:20 am

im about half way the first tune.
very good, you are better than i am right now and ive been playing for like.. 12 years or something.
reminds me of the pixies meets the smiths. i actually kinda dig it. and the recording quility is pretty darn decent. how/what did you guys record on?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:21 am

i think they're pretty damn good considering your age. i'd maybe suggest a bit of extra instrumentation or maybe just change the guitar sounds occasionally, sometimes the same clean rhythm sound can get a bit repetitive. a glockenspiel or a bit of piano or organ would sound quite nice on the first track.

i'm not so sure about the B&S cover, but maybe it's because i love the original so much. could maybe do with being a bit faster with tighter drumming.

that's just me focusing on negatives though, i think they're decent efforts.

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:24 am

Thanks! We can't really get a decent recording live, so we do drums first and this leads to the loose drumming. I can't come up with second guitar riffs - we have 2 guitars (2nd guy on a stang). He got a nice $150 condenser for vocals, and used that for the overhead with a few dynamics for the drums.

+ Garage band and ANCIENT Powerbook G4.

Also - I can't get out of pentatonic soloning

. I can make it sound good, but it gets repetitive song after song.

Post by **Doog** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:13 pm

Very decent, dude. Better than bands I know who are 10 years your senior.

I'm with Stewart- definitely make better use of those 2 guitars, I thought there was only one guitar!

With regards to not being able to come up wth a second guitar part, try listening to your favourite 2 guitar bands and suss out what the non-rhythm player is doing over chords. Joey from the Pixies is a fairly straightforward example; sometimes he'd just play a few simple notes in an octave shape* (re: Wave Of Mutilation, Something Against You etc etc) that fit over the chords and they'd work great.

It doesn't have to be a whole new riff! Also, try picking different chord shapes (like an open C shape against the other guy's barred C or whatever) or just doing simple melodies on the higher strings to add a bit of depth and variety to the songs.

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Post by **Mike** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:21 pm

All great advice from Doog there, you don't have to be Hendrix to play something different to your standard chording. Sometimes just even chopping out a more interesting rhythm part with a vastly different guitar sound than the singer can be a great addition to a tune

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:00 pm

Doog wrote:Very decent, dude. Better than bands I know who are 10 years your senior.

I'm with Stewart- definitely make better use of those 2 guitars, I thought there was only one guitar!

With regards to not being able to come up wth a second guitar part, try listening to your favourite 2 guitar bands and suss out what the non-rhythm player is doing over chords. Joey from the Pixies is a fairly straightforward example; sometimes he'd just play a few simple notes in an octave shape* (re: Wave Of Mutilation, Something Against You etc etc) that fit over the chords and they'd work great.

It doesn't have to be a whole new riff! Also, try picking different chord shapes (like an open C shape against the other guy's barred C or whatever) or just doing simple melodies on the higher strings to add a bit of depth and variety to the songs.
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-5----OR--------
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 G          D

Thanks, I'll figure something out tonight. And it was 1 guitar in the recording - I meant when we play live it's 2.

What genre would you consider us?