** This is the very first “Guest Session” here at the Laptop Sessions acoustic music blog. The concept of this regular Friday post is that, each Friday, the Laptop Session will be recorded and written entirely by a guest performer.
For our first choice, we bring you a video from Andrew E., a YouTube regular. Tonight, he brings us a new band to the blog. This is Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” from their American Idiot album.
Enjoy, and hurry back for Chris Moore Monday! **
By Andrew E.
I Love Green Day. I’ve been listening to them since 03. More importantly, playing guitar has been a big part of my life. I got my first guitar from my grandpa when I was 5. Since then, I’ve been consistently trying to improve my playing.
Hello and welcome to the next installment of “Track One Week” at https://guitarbucketlist.com ! Today, I’m taking a temporary break from playing songs from new artists to play track one off of one of my favorite albums of all-time, “Red Letter Days.” This is the Wallflowers’ “When You’re On Top.”
For anyone who has heard the studio version before, you may miss the synthesized effects, but all I had was my acoustic guitar, so I made due with what I had… And this should help me to prepare for Jakob Dylan’s new album, “Seeing Things,” which is going to be a very acoustic affair (judging from tracks he’s already released, such as “Something Good This Way Comes,” which I hope to record in the near future!).
I hope you enjoy this video, and I especially hope you’ll stop by tomorrow for an all-new track-one selection from our very own Jeff Copperthite!
Welcome to your Sunday installment of the Laptop Sessions! Coming on the heels of Number Ones week, I decided to play one of my father’s favorite songs from Bruce Hornsby & the Range, “The Way It Is.” Only after I recorded it did I realize that it, in fact, was a #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week in 1986! So, it appears that I’m subconsciously having a hard time leaving the #1 songs behind…
I remember making mock-radio shows on my stereo when I was in middle school, even before I owned a CD player. I used to make shows for my father to listen to while he was working in the garage, so I wanted to find music that he would enjoy. I spent countless hours with a blank cassette tape in the stereo and switching stations constantly, waiting intently to hear a disc jockey announce that “The Way It Is” would be on next. I finally got a version recorded for my show, but I got to the record button a bit slowly, so a good chunk of the intro was cut off.
I did buy him the Bruce Hornsby greatest hits CD years later, when I finally caught up with technology.
I really love this song for a couple reasons. I love how it’s powered by piano, but sacrifices none of the soloing and backbeat that I value in rock music. I also love how the chorus is built around the G – Fmaj7 – C riff (which I duplicated in only a rudimentary fashion). The song was also a lot of fun to sing!
I should mention that everything that could have possibly interrupted my recording did, in fact, interrupt my recording today. My first take was lost for the incredibly raucous chirping of the birds downstairs. (Yes, that’s right–I wasn’t even on the same floor with them). My second take was lost due to stubbornness, as I refused to close my door and the birds continued to chirp. A later take was lost to the vibrating of my cell phone.
The funniest by far, and certainly the most ironic was when my cell phone alarm went off loudly during a good take — it was the alarm I had set to remind me to record a Laptop Session today!
My most perfect take was lost when I forgot the second to last line of the final verse. But, this one will have to do!
Thanks for watching; I hope you’ll leave a comment for me if you liked the song or have any requests for future songs.
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! I hope you had a joyous Turkey Day, “stuffing” yourself in the company of friends and “spuds” — I mean, buds. If you have tomorrow off, then that’s just “gravy”…
Okay, that’s enough of that.
Seriously, I hope you had a positive day, filled with family members and friends, enjoying a day off from work. As for me, I woke up late (almost afternoon) to a phone call from my sister. Knowing me all too well, my mother asked her to call me and tell me that dinner would take place a half hour before it would actually start.
At least I got there on time!
My day essentially started as soon as I got out of bed (at the early hour of noon) and went to my parents’ house. I had a nice, relaxing time talking with my parents and grandparents, as well as hanging out with my sister and talking about music. I brought my laptop over so I could finally finish the “2008 Essentials” mix CD I’ve been wanting to make for weeks. Some highlights were…
– “Living Well is the Best Revenge” (REM)
– “Valley of the Low Sun” (Jakob Dylan)
– “7 8 9” (Barenaked Ladies)
– “Cowboys” (Counting Crows)
and, of course,
– “These Streets” (MoU)
I’m not biased about that last one, I swear! 🙂
After dinner, I spent a long time talking with my parents and grandparents. Then, once the company had gone, my father and I watched the Tom Selleck movie The Shadow Riders. It was based on a Louis L’Amour novel, so it was pretty cheesy at times, but overall, it was a fun film. Once the movie ended, the day was still long from over. I went over Jim’s parents’ house to watch this week’s special Turkey Bowl edition of TNA Impact! (the highlight of which was, without a doubt, Mick Foley “dealing with” Alex Shelley of the Motor City Machine Guns).
A half hour after TNA was over, Jim and I were back home recording this great Beatles cover song, “Thank You Girl.” Why did I pick this song, you ask? Is it a favorite? Well, no. In fact, I didn’t even know it until yesterday. The reason is that it goes along with the theme of today — giving thanks!
I actually posted this video late because Jim and I ended up playing great Beatles and Christmas songs for another hour and a half before going downstairs to snack, watch a Jack Johnson DVD, and do research for our Black Friday adventure.
And, yeah, I’m going to bed at 4am, prepared to wake up at 5am…
