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Elton John cover - "Border Song"

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I strained my voice a bit participating in a "Haunted Hayride" this past weekend. I played the Park Ranger who is attacked by a den of Cub Scouts turned Zombie. It was a blast and the kids were great, but all of the screaming as I was being "eaten" by 8-10 juvenile zombies took its toll. I wanted to do another Journey/Steve Perry cover but that'll have to wait several weeks for my vocal chords to recover.

I decided to try an Elton John song I've always liked. Please give me your thoughts on it. Does it sound harsh?

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I loved the sound you have in this. I am not the kind of guy who needs a cover to sound exactly like the original. Most of the time the original was by someone we never heard of. I know Elton is the original on this song but the Idea is the same. Sing as YOU sing. Be the one to be emulated by someone else later.

The only thing that I noticed is that on a lower pitched "Holy Moses" you sing "Hole-lay Moses" and on the higher pitch you sing "Hole-lee Moses". It is a small thing but consistency makes a difference. The subconscious picks up on it and you just think something is odd but you can't put your finger on it.

Keeping Hole-lay throughout may be easier on you.

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I loved the sound you have in this. I am not the kind of guy who needs a cover to sound exactly like the original. Most of the time the original was by someone we never heard of. I know Elton is the original on this song but the Idea is the same. Sing as YOU sing. Be the one to be emulated by someone else later.

The only thing that I noticed is that on a lower pitched "Holy Moses" you sing "Hole-lay Moses" and on the higher pitch you sing "Hole-lee Moses". It is a small thing but consistency makes a difference. The subconscious picks up on it and you just think something is odd but you can't put your finger on it.

Keeping Hole-lay throughout may be easier on you.

Thanks for both the compliment and critique. I honestly didn't notice it until I read your post and listened to it again. Sure enough, there it was. This is exactly why I joined this board. After hearing your own voice sing a song over and over you kind of glaze over smaller things. And you're right, they do make a difference. I will take your advice to heart and keep my ear tuned in to my pronunciation in the future. I may re-record this song and try to correct the issue.

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Some one pointed that out to me a few weeks ago. To stay consistant in pronunciation. It seems that I would change from verse to verse.

We get so focussed on voice production that we miss the little things.

I guess there are not too many fans of Elton John here. It's a shame. You can learn a lot from Elton also.

Elton can get you into headvoice with a lighter mass and set up a foundation for the heavier stuff. And he has some pretty cool songs.

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Very cool, and it's good to see you continuing with the diverse song selections.

Elton has always been great. What I've loved most about him is that it doesn't matter if it's just him and a piano, he ends up sounding as "big" as an orchestra.

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Sounded fine, to me. Word of advice that I learned from Guitargeorge - no excuses. You had a great tone, here. let others wonder how you did that. Which leaves you free to come up with some goosenfrabe explanation. Or, you then reveal your magic pill technique, which is to spend a night being eaten by munchkin zombies, a technique I had not heard of but not unlike what I do at work when almost everyone I deal with acts like this really was their "first rodeo." (just tell me, is this the first time you have worked on a swimming pool project? Just let me know so that I can set my expectations accordingly. :) ) I have hollered and banged my fist on walls.

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