I thought it might be entertaining for some people if they named songs and then I recorded my attempt to play and sing them on my guitar. The catch is that I’m not good at singing or playing the guitar, but I’ll make an attempt so people can at least be amused by the trainwreck.
If a song I don’t know is requested, I’ll look up the lyrics and chords and take a guess. I don’t know how well it will work though. If you want to stick to stuff I know, it might be better. I know most of the Beatles songs and a lot of Beach Boy songs, some Bob Dylan, Big Star, David Bowie, a good number of the punk songs from the 70’s, Johnny Cash, some alternative music from the 80’s onward…
Stuff in that realm would be more likely to be something I’m familiar with.
I’ve gotten a lot out of the SDMB, so I figure I should at least try to give something back by attempting to entertain some people. I don’t know if people will just think the idea is stupid or if they think it might be fun, but I figured it would be worth a shot. It’ll be lots of fun if it goes well.
I got the idea for this from a Yo La Tengo album I heard about. It’s a collection of songs from when they helped a radio station with charity stuff. People who donated could request a song for them to play, and they’d then play it on the air. They weren’t able to rehearse much beforehand.
I’m kinda going for the same thing. The difference is they’re a lot better than me, but I still like the idea.
If anyone wants to also play the songs, please feel free. It could be interesting to hear my version alongside that of someone who knows what they’re doing.
I just did a quick google search to see where I could put the files, and ended up using this. Hopefully that will work okay for everyone.
You might have to turn the volume up kind of high to hear it, but wait five or six seconds before you really crank it up because it’ll take a few seconds of playing before I come in.
I like the group of songs so far. They’re all songs that I’m familiar with and that I like, and they aren’t out of my skill range. With practice I could play them easily. So here they are. Help Me, Rhonda http://www.box.net/public/otfbhqzvqx
I love Al Jardine’s singing. He just yelps the words out with such eagerness. I tried to sort of do the same thing, but I’m not very experienced with it. It would be easy to just be cool and not actually put effort into it, but what fun is that? Sure, putting effort into it opens me up to more embarassment, but so what.
This song comes with a one time only special: you can replicate the annoying album version for no extra cost! All you have to do is mess around with the volume during the last verse.
Comfortably Numb http://www.box.net/public/hbmbxs50od
This is the most embarrassing of the three songs I think. I halfway tried to imitate Roger Waters’ singing for the verses, but I wasn’t successful and the result is that I just sound like an idiot. The other really embarassing part besides that is when I carry out the “I” in “I… have become comfortably numb” the first time.
I decided to take you up on your offer, Small Clanger, and skip the solos. They don’t seem to be particularly hard, but they would ruin the flow of the song if I tried to play them.
And no, I haven’t changed the strings yet. I’ll say more about that the next time I post in that thread, which will probably be later tonight.
Girl http://www.box.net/public/rring1ss2j
I like this song. I found a couple of different versions of the chords that worked. One of them had the capo on 8th fret, but it’s hard to play that way so I used the one without a capo. I messed up in a few places here (a man must bake his back to earn his daily leisure.
This has been fun. Let me know if you find it amusing.
I actually liked “Comfortably Numb” the most. Until the chorus… or were you singing a harmony or something? Anyway, one has to admire your chutzpah.
Your, er, style of singing kind of reminds me of Morrissey, so how about “There is a Light”? I can just about play it myself so it can’t be that difficult.
I don’t actually know any of these songs except for the Smiths one. And that one looks tricky. The chords aren’t too hard- the challenge is the chord rhythm combined with Morrissey’s weird phrasing.
I’ve heard Freebird more than once before, but I can never remember it.
With the chorus of Comfortably Numb, I think I was trying to sing one of the harmony parts the first time. It’s been a few years since I’ve heard the song.
