Author Archives: Jeff Copperthite

“Tin Man” (America Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Thank you for coming by to check out today’s edition of The Laptop Sessions! I am pleased to bring another great cover song video to you today. And it’s a band we have happily covered before (this is my 3rd personally).

Going back to another America song, and another Dewey Bunnell written song, I bring you “Tin Man” from their album “Holiday”. This song was extremely popular (though not quite as much as “A Horse With No Name”) and it helped the album reach gold status. I love the catchy guitar riff and the simple, yet effective vocals to the song.

My fingers are in such pain after doing this song. The main progression is Gmaj7 and Cmaj7, and I decided I wanted to use the exact chord fingerings that Dewey uses. I’m happy it came out well, but i’m sure you’ll notice me having fun with the Gmaj7 chord. That particular fingering can give me some problems, but in this take I did a pretty good job with it.

I hope you enjoy today’s session, and come back tomorrow for another Original song from the one, the only, Jim Fusco! (EDIT: Sorry, was quite sleepy yesterday)

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

“Hey Jealousy” (Gin Blossoms Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you on this Friday.   Jeff Copperthite here today with your latest edition of The Laptop Sessions.  Today I am bringing you another song from a previously covered band.

From their album “New Miserable Experience” I bring you my acoustic cover video of Gin Blossoms’ hit song “Hey Jealousy”.  Again from Colchester, VT (for the last time this year) as you can tell by the background.  Acoustics are interesting in the room to say the least.  Also, the lighting isn’t the greatest, but I view that as a plus – you don’t have to look at my ugly mug in as much detail!

The song came out fine, although I did time some for the vocals a bit differently than the recording.  I also used  a capo when I could’ve gotten away with doing it in standard position.  However, the song is much much easier to play on 2nd fret capo.  I hope you enjoy it.

I would’ve posted earlier but my wife & I attended a casino night in the hotel and came out only down $20 after 3 hours – a win in my book.  However, I did miss the thrilling Michael Phelps’ 7th gold medal by .01 seconds on TV.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the latest session from Jim Fusco!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and origianal music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

“If You Never Got Sick” (The Wallflowers Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite

Chris, Jim, and I are part of an internet radio station called WCJM.com Free Internet Radio, and one of the shows that we did (but currently can’t find) was called the “Get Well Mike” show, because at the time Jim’s brother Mike was sick and we wanted to lift his spirits (this is before the “Ronco automatic face lifter” came into existence) (Note: the preceding joke would only be fully understood by 6 people on this planet – 2 of them write on this blog as well).

Well, the first song on the show was this one, and thus my introduction to this song.

It is a personal favorite of mine, and has helped make the Wallflowers one of my favorite bands. I figured because of this that this song would be the perfect introduction for me into FMP’s “Laptop Sessions” as well.

I think I do the song justice. I had the lyrics on the laptop just in case, but I didn’t need ’em.

This also marks my introduction into video making and on to youtube as well, so if you like it (or hate it), let me know!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

Where has the summer gone?

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By Jeff:

A couple of months ago, I was going into school to clean out the classroom. I had had the busiest of my 3 years at my school, being a coach, a moderator, and of course a teacher. Thankfully I didn’t have to move too many things, or take much down. I even arranged the desks in a configuration i’d like to try for the new school year.

But after that last day, I had a field trip to Boston with the Saturday Program students the next Monday. That was fun and busy, but exhausting.

Then a week later, it was off to UNH for 2 weeks of training. Training for a course it doesn’t look like i’ll be teaching this year. It really is a shame, though. This past year I taught a Saturday program at Fairfield University for high school freshmen. It was like a TAG program (Talented and Gifted). The students were very smart, with-it, and fast. The course was a lot of fun to teach, and the kids loved it. Attendance was exemplary for a saturday program that draws from the inner city.

But it looks like we are unable to continue the program this year because G.E., who was the source of our funds, decided to cut our grant – despite basically giving a 4 year commitment.

So these poor kids who had such a good time with the first year, cannot continue.

Despite this, if the program DOES continue at some point in the future, i’ll be ready to teach it.

So after that, I had a couple of weeks off which included a trip to the ever famous and heavily reported Jim Fusco’s wedding. And it lived up to expectations.

Then a nice week-long vacation at an all-inclusive resort (see my post last week for a couple of thoughts about that).

But I am realizing that, holy crap where has the summer gone? I go back to school in 2 weeks. It really goes by way to quickly.

It almost (emphasis on almost) makes me want to work all year so I don’t have an extended break to look forward too. I think I’d appreciate vacations a little more.

I didn’t get a chance to record a whole bunch of videos and I have not gotten any writing done. All my time spent playing guitar has been for the purpose of learning and recording songs for this site.

Unfortunately for me, while I feel relaxed and energized, I still feel like I’ve got nothing done. It’s a terrible feeling.

And my immediate future is going to be busy as well. This semester I’ve been asked to teach 4 classes instead of the usual 3 (for a nice pay boost), and at some point during this semester my life is going to change forever.

Yeah it’ll be a very exciting next few months.

But in conclusion, I really dislike the fact that time feels relative. The upcoming year, while it will be exciting, will move at a much slower pace, as opposed to the breakneck speed of summer I have experienced.

But at least you’ve got us for entertainment all 52 weeks of the year!