Oh yeah here we go. Welcome to your Monday edition of The Laptop Sessions, and i’m posting today earlier than usual since I am fortunate to have the day off. Easter Monday ftw!
Today I introduce another new artist to the Laptop Sessions, and I know that he is a popular one. The song I have chosen is “A Matter of Trust” by Billy Joel, from his 1986 album “The Bridge”. This was his most popular single off this album, and translated well to an acoustic version. The song itself made it as high as #3 on the charts when it was released as a single.
You can tell I had a lot of fun doing this song. Ever since I heard it I became an instant fan, and the more I like a song, the more I enjoy performing the session. I hope the enthusiasm is apparent and makes the video a positive one for you to watch.
I’m hoping to hit 7k views by next Monday. If you like the video, comment on it, rate it, favorite it, subscribe, or pass it on. Thank you for being a regular visitor to The Laptop Sessions!
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!
Welcome to another terrific edition of Thumpin’ Thursday! It’s Jeff Copperthite today bringing you another great song for https://guitarbucketlist.com/.
Going to a band that has treated me well in terms of getting viewers, I bring you another song by Ben Folds Five called “Smoke”. It is from their album “Whatever and Ever Amen”, which I have yet to draw from. I loved this song ever since I first heard it, and would most often be the track I just kept repeating from the entire album.
I love the piano-string strumming that Ben does when this song is performed. Consequently, I only have a keyboard. Therefore, I decided to do a guitar rendition of this song. I hope you like it!
I just crossed 11K views – in only 8 days since I crossed 10K. Thank you so much! We are nearing the halfway point of session-a-day. Can you believe it? We’ll keep posting – you keep coming back to https://guitarbucketlist.com/ !
Be sure to check out Jim’s latest session tomorrow!
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!
A little late with the post this week- I think I just decided that I write much better during the day and not at 2 am. 🙂 I’m still on a “Those Around Us” kick and I’m pretty sure those that have purchased the album are, too! Remember, the CD version of my latest album is available on my website at http://jimfusco.com/albums/those-around-us.html. And, it’s also available on iTunes HERE!
Today’s video is an original song that I wrote on piano- I haven’t had a piano-driven song like that since “What About Today?”, as all of the songs on “Halfway There” were piano-based. I wanted to get back into using the piano again, but only got one song out of it. It’s a pretty serious song, too. I had this idea of someone that got in a car crash and lost their memory. At that point, all of his friends and family would try to make him remember his life. And, he didn’t remember where he lived, so he had to “follow you home”. Most of the songs on “Those Around Us”, as I’ve mentioned here on the music blog in the past, don’t deal with actual things or people in my life. The songs’ subject matter is derived from ideas I’ve had and conversations I’ve had with the people closest to me. I think somewhere along the line I realized, “Hey, I’ve surrounded myself with good, level-headed people. There’s not enough to write about!” So, I took a new direction and thought of some other topics. Then, I applied my feelings about the matter- almost an exercise in how I would react to a situation. I like that concept- it makes me think outside the box a little.
I really like the production on the recorded version of “Follow You Home”. I got to use a great new Native Instruments sampled acoustic piano that I bought, so it sounds really great. Plus, I didn’t have to mic the real piano we have upstairs- that’s always more trouble than it’s worth. Also, I got to use the 12-string electric guitar to great effect in this song- I really like the idea of using the 12-string as a sort of second bass line- kind of like a riff that runs through the whole chorus. The harmonies on the chorus took some time to get right. On the second time around the chorus, I go to a minor chord (I love that change). But, it’s such a slight difference in the vocal note- it definitely took a few takes to nail it.
On a personal note, I cannot tell you how happy I am that the Beach Boys are reuniting this year. This Sunday, they’ll be playing at the Grammy Awards- I can’t wait! Also, I just bought the tickets to see them live at Mohegan Sun arena. I know it’ll be a great show and I hope they throw in a few surprises for us hardcore fans. I’ll definitely be hitting up the merchandise table that night!
I’m always looking for new avenues to distribute my album and for some places to play live. If any of the loyal readers of my Laptop Sessions music video posts have any suggestions, I’ll be happy to hear them. I’ll be back with a cover song music video in a couple weeks, so to tide you over until then, order yourself a copy of “Those Around Us”!
Welcome everyone to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco! It feels like these two-week spans between my acoustic cover song music videos fly-by each time. It’s already the second week of December and Christmastime is going by like a shot. This year, I’ll be bringing you one Christmas song music video that I recorded on piano. But, that will have to wait until next time.
Tonight, I bring you the second in my two-part series of songs titled, “I Need You”. 🙂 The first was the cover video I did two weeks ago, “I Need You” by the Beatles. I’ve always loved that George Harrison song and it’s about time I got to make an acoustic video version of it here for the music blog. As I mentioned on that post, I think the band America, and specifically Gerry Beckley- the writer of today’s song- were heavily influenced by the Beatles. In fact, in each concert performance (and I’ve seen them about 15 times now) they play a Beatles song. They say that it was the music that made them want to become rock musicians and songwriters.
Now, I’ve also hypothesized that Gerry Beckley made a nod to George Harrison’s “I Need You” in his song by the same title. I can hear a similarity in the chord progression, especially at the end of the song when it goes to that minor chord. It’s such an interesting change and both songs feature it (though Harrison’s goes to an F#m and Beckley’s goes to an Em7). It would be such an honor if Gerry Beckley himself ever read this blog post and commented on my theory.
America’s “I Need You”, off of their first (self-titled) album, was one of the songs that got me into the group’s music. Other Beckley songs like “To Each His Own” and “Only In Your Heart” are personal favorites, as well. I always gravitated to Beckley’s songwriting, as I can tell the clear Beatles and Beach Boys influences. After a show of theirs I attended, the band signed autographs. I brought in my copy of Beckley, Lamm, and Wilson’s “Like A Brother” CD and Gerry was surprised that I had it. I loved that album, especially because we got to hear some great Carl Wilson songs. He told me that he spoke at Carl’s funeral and that he was a very, very close friend. To me, that’s amazing- growing up and listening to your favorite group…and then becoming a musician and eventually friends with one of the members. To me, this made sense, as Carl Wilson was the youngest Beach Boy, more Beckley’s age.
In the studio version of “I Need You”, you hear a great acoustic 12-string guitar over the piano. For my Laptop Sessions cover version, I took a rare seat at the piano and stripped this song down to its basic elements. And when you just sit back and listen to the words, you realize how great of a song it really is. Beckley wrote this song right out of high school and you can tell- going away from all of your friends (like he talked about in “To Each His Own”) is really tough, and the emotions that you feel for people in high school feel like they’re SO important. I remember feeling that I’d be alone forever if a relationship didn’t work out back in high school. If only I could give myself some late-20s wisdom. 🙂
I hope you enjoy tonight’s “I Need You” piano cover song music video. I’ll be back with a Christmas song music video for you in a couple of weeks, so I hope you’ll stay tuned! In the meantime, get that shopping done (without getting too stressed) and we’ll see you back here on the music blog!
