Any Way You Want It - Journey

[gno]

Here's another attempt at a Journey song. It is mostly clean singing in the tenor range. This one was easier for me than the first one I did (dont stop believin). I never really aspired to sing like Steve Perry, but these are excellent vocal workouts and I have a much greater appreciation of Steve than before.

I usually play all the instruments, mix and produce my songs myself, but this one was a collaboration with another guy. I did all vocals and guitars. He did the rest. It was kind of fun just to concentrate on vocals and guitars this time.

Let me know what you think and if there is anything I should work on. Thank you!

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11280636

[Keith]

OMG thats amazing! Love how clean and open your voice sounds on the high notes. I'd kill for that! Great job man!

[jonpall]

Loved it, in particular how you put your own twist to it.

[ronws]

Absolutely astounding. I wouldn't change a thing.

[gno]

Keith - thanks a lot. I've been working on opening up in that range, whereas 9 months ago I would have been more constricted.

jonpall - thanks man. I tried to put my own twist it so I'm glad you noticed.

ron - thanks a lot for your support!

[KillerKu]

Guitartrek, you just sang Steve Perry and pulled it off without choking yourself to death or sounding like a dying cat! That's better than most of us ever got, and not only that, you did a great job and actually sounded good. Nice guitar playing as well.

The only thing that came to mind, is your voice sounds pretty mixed to get there, and I'm wondering if your voice would have a richer resonance if you tried a song where the average note was lower? Not a song that had 'less overall range,' but just a lower base line, or 'average' note. I just have this idea in my head, of you smacking up for those high mixed notes, but dropping down to a chestier timbre too.

That's not a technical complaint, more an artistic curiosity, when I hear your voice I have this sneaking suspicion like if you had the exact right song written for it, it would be phenomenal, commercial, but also artistically valid. This song was written for Steve Perry, much to 99.9 percent of people's chagrin, you can count yourself in the .1 percent that can do this well. But if I were to map out what your voice sounds like to me and how it makes me feel, it sounds like this song is a tiny bit above where you might sound absolutely optimal. Each individual note sounds good, but in context it feels weighted 'upwards' towards the top.

That may be useless information or it may not, maybe you can understand kind of what I'm saying. You're really good and you're a songwriter too? Honestly I believe you are technically good enough now to succeed. From this point on, it's more going to be artistic goals and 'getting yourself' out there.

[jonpall]

Killer, I think that when guitartrek (Geno) writes his own music, the majority of the notes will be a bit lower. Just check the link he has in his signature. I think that when he posts here, he tends to pick the most challenging songs he can find (that he feels is within his range to do and also songs that he likes).

Btw. Geno, great guitar solo in the middle. Maybe we should have a special thread where people can post them playing an INSTRUMENT and not singing, for a change? You, Joshual and other guys here are great guitarists, f.ex. It would be fun to hear more from you in that department.

...also - cool raspy line in the vocals in a couple of spots :)

[ronws]

Neat idea, jonpall. An instrumental thread. I used to be a decent guitar player. Then, I let it slack off to concentrate more on singing. The jury may be out on which was the wiser path. :lol:

[gno]

Killer - thanks for your thoughtful comments - I appreciate it. I only recently, in the last year and a half expanded my range upwards to where I can actually sing a song like this. Before that it would have been physically impossible. jonpall is right - I'm picking these songs because they are challenging. The Steve Perry stuff has a higher average range for sure, and that's what makes them so hard. Most of the songs I have written for my own voice were written before I expanded my range and the tessatura of those songs is a lot lower.

jonpall - Thanks for the compliments on the guitar solos. Neal Schon's style of playing (alternate picking pentatonic triplets) has been one of those styles that had always eluded me when I was younger. Neal Schon was a child prodigy - at 15 he was touring with Santana - and his unbelievable technique was already mastered at that age. This song was fun to learn because I finally proved to myself that I can play this technically. Although learning his guitar solo "up to speed" took me more than a month. The first solo was "note for note" Neal Schon with some extras that I threw in. The second solo was just me doing my own licks - much easier of course.

You are a monster guitarist - and so is Joshual.

[jonpall]

Alternate picking pentatonic triplets - that's something I'd like to get better at. Do you know which patters Neil likes?

[slstone]

say it 3 times fast...

[gno]

Well, he starts out a lot of his fast licks with these types of patterns. Like the first solo in Any Way You Want It - starting out 17th fret: [1st string] 17 15 [2nd string] 17 [1st string] 15 [2nd string] 17 15, etc. This lick by itself is not that hard, but he goes into some other pentatonic patterns, that can be just strange to play at top speed - the way he strings them together. They are all blue typs licks - I'm sure you've done all of them a thousand times. It's easy to go super fast with 3 note per string patterns, but his patterns are like 2 and 1 note per string - at top speed. The only way to do it is with a very relaxed right hand but with a "vice grip" on the pick. That's the weird thing about shred guitar - you have to have a relaxed right hand but grip the pick with a lot of power - the powerful grip tends to add tension, which is what you don't want! And the faster you pick, the more powerful the grip you need.

[KillerKu]

I never got into sweep picking, but I did a lot of alternate and know what you're talking about Geno. I think I got from John Petrucci a good alternate picking exercise that was like

--------------4--1-----------

------4-----3------2----1-----

----3-----2----------3----2---

--2-----1-------------4-----3-

1-----------------------------4-

Which helped a lot with this continual alternate picking as you skip strings.

At some point I focused more on singing and playing at the same time and ear training (playing what I hear) more so than playing other people's guitar solos or finger exercises. When I lost my voice, I just didn't want to play guitar much anymore especially since I devoted so much time to singing and playing. I play piano or drums if anything now, but even that, now that I can't sing it's like, honestly it's like the music died, or like it lost most of it's limbs and is on life support. 90 percent of my passion seems to have died with my voice and it's so hard to not feel hollow or empty when playing an instrument and not being able to sing or at least vocalize the notes.

You guys are getting me interested though, maybe I'll try to learn some guitar solos again, but maybe by ear instead of tab. Tab held me back so much musically for years, I don't know if I can forgive it and go back to it. I wanted to speak the language, and not just transcribe 'patterns,' but my ears are still not perfect. If something is going too fast or the chord changes are too sophisticated they trip me up. I don't know how to achieve perfection with my ears but I was hoping if I could hear enough, then I could transcribe the emotional sounds in my brain into the song. To hear every single note in every harmony, and pick them out from my head to paint onto a sound canvas.

I agree an instrumental section would be neat, cause well, I can do that and maybe someone can sing over them too. That would be interesting.

What's really frustrating is if I had used these years of voice injury to practice music with discipline, I could be much, much better by now. But it feels like I'm playing with a dead and hopeless dream. The pain makes it hard to concentrate and keep a good attitude.

Sorry for using your thread, Geno, but I miss the dream, you know? The passion. The fire. The belief that if I worked hard enough I'd make it to my goals. You guys had better take care of yourselves. You've got to take steps to protect and nurture your dream, and I guess I failed. And you can fail, that's why you have to train and plan smarter. Perhaps most importantly, when you're in the ballpark, you've gotta start going you can't just keep practicing at that point cause it will be too late.

[jonpall]

say it 3 times fast...

lol.

Thanks Geno and Killer for your guitar ideas. I'll think about them. Now I want to record some guitar solo and post here ... . Maybe if I have time ...

[gno]

Killer - you could always get back into playing guitar. Or how about song writing? I know that would be strange without singing, but you really have a way with words and you know how to express yourself.

[jonpall]

It's easy to go super fast with 3 note per string patterns, but his patterns are like 2 and 1 note per string - at top speed.

Very true. Until very recently, my speed licks have been mostly 3 notes per string, but I want to be able to play a bit more in the style of Neil Schon, Gary Moore and Doug Aldrich (definitely check him out if you haven't done so!).

Have you also noticed that when you play fast licks LIVE, it seems that the flurry of notes kind of gets HEARD better for the audience if there is more SPACE between the notes than in the standard modes? In other words, when everything is loud and live, fast pentatonic or tapped licks seem to cut through the mix better than playing f.ex. fast dorian licks. I don't know why this is the case. Case in point - I can play fast in the style of Joe Satriani, i.e. dorian legato licks with mostly my left hand when I'm at home, but live it seems to get buiried in the mix. But if I play alternate picked pentatonic licks or tapping licks, it seems to cut through much better. I'm actually a decent alternative picker, fortunately, but I do most of my runs in the modes like dorian or aeolian. So I'd like to get slightly faster with pentatonic licks :)

[Olem]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, sugarsweet (i am not homosexual )what could you say about this? There are no words, i am speechless.... i don´t, i listen to it again instead, and again, and again.....and again....by the way, do you have a record contract Geno? I really would like to buy a record of yours.

[Jimmy]

That was excellent.

[Daug Poland]

Very Very cool indeed.

Awsome!

BTW. did somebody told you that you looke like George Clooney? :D

[Daug Poland]

OK. I found myself dancing in my room all alone. :o

[gno]

Olem - Thanks! I would like to get a record contract someday, that is one of my goals.

Daug - Thank you!

[TommyC]

Damn man, your voice sounds wicked! Really good! What mic do you use to record btw? It sounds pretty professional

[gno]

Tommy - Thanks a lot. I'm using a Sure KSM27. It's a good, but not real expensive, mic - large diaphram.

[ronws]

Olem - Thanks! I would like to get a record contract someday, that is one of my goals.

I have made the mistake of studying about the music biz, as well. Most recording contracts are a rip-off to the artist. Standard contract gives 12 % royalty to the artist, the rest to the record company. Out of the initial 12 % that you get, Gino, a percentage of that goes to your business manager, attorney. You pay tour expenses. The producer gets a cut. For example, they sell your cd for 10 dollars, and 12 % is 1.20. By the time you are done paying everyone, you get 30 cents per unit sold. And, the expenses of these other people is recoupable from record one. That means they get paid before you do. To where you have to sell over 500,000 units before you see your first check. By the time you have gone double platinum, you have made the same amount that you have made at your day job.

But you, Geno, could succeed without a recording contract. You already have the ear of a producer. Your recordings show that. Here's what you do. Arrange your own distribution with itunes. The standard right now is 50 % artist, 50 % distributor, such as itunes. Their song prices are about the same as hard media without packaging. 99 cents to a dollar a song. So, now, you get 50 %, instead of 12 %. Out of your 50 percent, you pay whatever your expenses are, such as CPA, whatever.

Here's another business model. With DIY, you don't have to sell as many units to be financially successful. Ray Wylie Hubbard records and presses his own cd's. He plays local in the 5 state area. He has a pick-up truck and trailer to carry his equipment. At 60 something, he is still his own roadie. His wife sets up a table and sells the merch. T-shirts, cds, whatever. He's already paid for the merch and carries it, himself. So what he makes in merch is all his above his own costs. True, he may or may not be selling triple plat like Lady Gaga, but he takes him more of the money earned.

Word of advice, if you are going to release cover tunes on your albums, pay blanket copyright to the orgs involved, like BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. Vice versa, if you write songs, get yourself and them listed with these orgs. If another artist records your songs, you get a check directly to you from these orgs.

The difference between you and a recording company, these days, is mainly marketing. And you can do that yourself. Distribution is secondary in these days of digital downloads.

As for touring, how big do want to go? Hubbard drives himself and his equipment whereever he goes. If you want a world tour, now you are talking major contracts. For that, get music business lawyer that specializes in tours. He will be expensive but you will go broke without one.

[rofleren]

Incredible! This is not the genre I usually listen to, but damn, those vocals. I showed it to my friend and we were both amazed :)