Unplugged cover of Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain Of Sand” (from the Shot Of Love album – 1981), with acoustic guitar and harmonica. I changed the two harmonica solos to fit my harmonica skills (I have a lot to learn before I can play exactly what Dylan plays) and the possibilities of my G tuned harmonica.
** EDITOR’S NOTE: **
In his first contribution to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music video blog, Federico has chosen a beautiful little number. I wonder if he was aware of my love for Bob Dylan when he decided to submit this video…
He certainly couldn’t have been aware of how much I love this underrated gem of an album, Shot of Love. Often considered the third in his “born-again Christian trilogy” of studio albums, Shot of Love is actually more of a transition album. Critics tore this release apart, often with the exception of “Every Grain of Sand.” And, truly, Federico couldn’t have chosen a better song to translate into an acoustic cover. Although his harmonica is not spot-on, it is clearly because of the key the harmonica is in. He has a knack for matching the fingerpicking pattern as well as the harmonica tabs — any Dylan fan will be able to hear how close his solo is to the original, all except for the key, that is.
And, again, I’m thrilled at his choice of album. Shot of Love may have been panned by fans and critics alike, but there are some excellent tracks. Consider “Heart of Mine,” percussion by none other than Ringo Starr. Then, there’s the striking “Lenny Bruce.” “Property of Jesus” may be dismissed as just another “Christian song,” but it’s a catchy and effective one. And, although it wasn’t included on pressings until four years later, “The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar” is a phenomenal Dylan track.
So, listen to Federico’s first session, and get out there and listen to Shot of Love if you’ve been missing out all these years!
Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.
I hope you enjoy seeing me with hair tonight, because as of Wednesday evening, it’s gone! That’s right — I’ve decided to shave it all off. Well, maybe “decided” is a strong word. One of my colleagues, one who offered a great deal of useful advice during my first year teaching, asked me if I would join an English department team for this year’s “St. Baldrick’s” event. I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to join in with my fellow English teachers, and as you may know, it isn’t all that often that someone asks me to join a team! So, off goes the hair in the name of raising money to fight children’s cancer. I’m currently at the bottom of the list of fundraisers on my team (listed online as $0, although I have raised about $65 from staff and students at school that will be added tomorrow).
If you’re interested in supporting this excellent cause, just CLICK HERE!
So, you may be wondering: what does this have to do with the Laptop Sessions? Well, the answer should be clear if you read the title of my song choice tonight. I thought “Will It Grow” would be a fitting question to ask on the eve of my head being shaved. Of course, Jakob Dylan isn’t referring to hair, but I was able to add a bit more emotion to my interpretation of this track all the same.
“Will It Grow” was released in 2008 on Dylan’s solo album Seeing Things. Since Jeff recorded “Something Good This Way Comes” prior to its release, I never felt the need to record a track from the album. To be honest, I wasn’t as impressed with this album as I could have been. Of all people, I should be able to appreciate a set of good acoustic performances. That being said, it’s difficult to listen to an all-acoustic album from the front man for the Wallflowers — they’re such an incredible rock band!
Now, almost two years removed, I came back to Seeing Things by chance and thought it was a shame that I had never covered one of the tracks. Not surprisingly, I found a set of chords online riddled with errors and transcribed for a capo. I love capos as much as the next guy — and probably more! — but if it’s not necessary, I can’t see a good reason to use the capo. Thus, I posted the chords here at the Laptop Sessions for those interested in a more straightforward, accurate description of how to play the song. I can certainly understand how the errors may have been made, as I found it a bit difficult to pick up all the chord changes over the intricate fingerpicking. Eventually though, I think I came to a fairly solid version of what Dylan originally intended. I hope so — Jakob Dylan is one of my all-time favorite songwriters, so I took it very seriously.
In other Laptop Sessions news, I recently went through all the music reviews I posted previous to “The Weekend Review” series and added a rating out of five stars. Why did I take the time to do this? Well, initially I felt that ratings were arbitrary and that I really wasn’t qualified to make those sorts of judgments on music. After all, I wouldn’t want someone assigning a low rating to the music I poured my heart into. Still, the more I’ve been thinking about it, the more I realize how important the rating is to the review as a whole. After all, half the fun of reading reviews is agreeing or disagreeing with the author’s rating. Thus, how can I deny my readers (however few of them there are ;- ) the opportunity to think I’m right on, far off, or somewhere in between? It was fun going back to these albums; most reviews I wrote before the Weekend Review were based on albums I loved, so that didn’t hurt. And it reminded me of how much I enjoy holding to a weekly writing schedule. It may be difficult at the time to carve out an hour or so on a Sunday to write, but it gives me a good reason to skim through my CD rack on Friday or Saturday to choose an album to listen to throughout the weekend.
Other than shaving my head, this week should be pretty normal. I still have to get used to TNA Impact! being on Mondays. It’s a great way to kick off the week, a relaxing night with friends and comfort food and wonderfully mindless television entertainment, but I do miss being able to look forward to Thursday nights.
Finally, I thought the new Locksley album was supposed to be out tomorrow, but it wasn’t listed on the Newbury Comics newsletter today. Luckily, the White Stripes are releasing their first live CD this week — more and more, I’ve been growing fond of Jack White’s work, particularly with his side projects. So, I’ll give it a shot and let you know…
See you next session!
Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.
Cover of ”Wild Honey,” included in U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind album (2000). I played it with acoustic guitar in a lower key.
** EDITOR’S NOTE: **
It feels odd to refer to Federico as a guest performer, considering how many of his performances he’s shared with the Laptop Sessions blog. He’s back again today with another excellent video.
As I discovered last time he covered U2, I enjoy the band’s music so much more when Federico is the one performing it! 🙂
Well, U2 fan or not, I hope that you’ll enjoy his cover song version of “Wild Honey.”
Stay tuned for more great new material coming soon to the blog!
Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.
Well, backearlier than expected for another edition of “Ask the Musician” with me, Jim Fusco! If you’ve never seen this column before, let me give you a brief introduction. I’m Jim Fusco of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs and original music video series on YouTube and on our blog here at guitarbucketlist.com. Every day, I get thousands of views on my cover songs and original music videos on YouTube. With that popularity comes some great questions from people all around the world. They want to know technical questions, music theory, and other great general music tidbits. I’ve completely submerged myself into making music these past few years and I’m happy to share what I’ve learned- hundreds and hundreds of hours reading, researching, playing, writing, singing, and recording. I’m glad to answer these questions here on “Ask the Musician”!
Tonight, we have an email from christianamagic on YouTube. She writes:
Hi. Just wanna ask. So when you record song, do you only record the audio? or record both audio and video??
and what did you use to edit it all together? Thanks
Well, that’s a good question. She’s asking about the acoustic music videos I perform on YouTube. You know, sometimes I’ve considered going back and recording the audio over the video to make a better take, but I can never bring myself to do it. To answer your question: I record the audio and video at the same time!
That’s not to say that I don’t have to tinker with it sometimes. I remember on a Ben Folds song, “Time”, I recorded the video with the microphone facing backwards! So, you could hear a LOT of piano and a little of my voice. Well, I had recorded this in a remote location, so I couldn’t go back and re-record the video. My solution was to work some EQ magic. I brought out the vocals in the mix. It’s not perfect, but it made due for the video. I guess I could’ve gone back and re-did the audio, but believe me, that would be much more of a burden than it seems. Imagine syncing the vocals up perfectly to a live performance like that?
For hardware, I use a ZOOM H2 microphone that plugs into USB. This thing is great. I used to use the built-in microphone on my Macbook laptop. It’s actually a pretty decent condenser microphone, but my computer’s fan would run so much (and SO loudly), that I had to think of a better solution. Sometimes, you’d hear more fan than song! So now, I keep the microphone close to me (and only turn the front mics on as to not hear the fan noise behind it) and record on the laptop. For ease of production, I use iMovie to edit the video and audio. If I didn’t do so many videos, I might use Final Cut Pro, but even still, it’s nice to have a simple solution to get the song out there in a nice neat package.
I hope this helps and answers your question. Just like Peter Griffin’s advice on Family Guy is “To grow a beard,” my advice to you here is, “To get a Mac!” It’ll make your life a lot easier when putting music videos on YouTube.
Submit your question to admin@guitarbucketlist.com and comment below to tell us how you record your videos!
Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.
