I made a Soundcloud page for song ideas....

[Rick Jones]

I am always coming up with ideas for songs when I get five minutes to myself, then the kids etc distract me, and I totally forget what I was working on!

I have this wee Zoom recording machine, a H4, so what I decided to do was record the rough bits of songs I mess with, and anything with potential I'd upload to soundcloud so that I could keep track of it.
You can set it to private, but I thought I'd give people the option to hear me bare....no fx, just guitar and the recorder...and muddling through new ideas.

It's kind of a great way of leaving all the bells and whistles off, and seeing if people still like the music.

So here is the embryonic beginnings of "Wolves"; http://soundcloud.com/rick-jones/wolves

That's my L32.....at the end, I get impatient waiting for the sustain to die off and mute it! Says something for the sustain on these Avalons huh?

[Rick Jones]

Here's a rough demo of "third law" too http://soundcloud.com/rick-jones/3rd-law-demo-take-2

[riverdog]

Hey rick,
I commented on Wolves already on the AGF, very cool. On 3rd Law as I am getting to know your playing much better this sounds, if I may, like signature Rick Jones music. Nice melodic riffing around the verses, never still but not too busy, always coloring the theme with the guitar just as the lyrics give us insight to the meaning if ya know what I'm trying to say. I like that common thread/chordal pattern in some of your songs; sorta that Bm to D to G to Em using the various voicings around those types of chords so beautifully a la Mark Knopfler tho not his sound most definitely your own!
And there's that voice, the vibrato jumping effortlessly back and forth from falsetto, I like it buddy, what can I say I'm into your music!
eric

[Rick Jones]

Hey Eric, thanks for the listen!
I hear you on the 'sig sound', although it can be frustrating! I try to avoid the usual singer songwriter patterns, but I've ended up with my own anyhow!
When I first gave out Eden to people to review, the main criticism people gave me was that I don't 'stay on the same page' long enough for people to know what I am. Each song is almost a different genre. It's tough, because I've been trying to rectify that without all the songs ending up the same!

These raw clips are just ideas though, might be a different song by the time I get to the proper studio!!

[Rick Jones]

Hey John!! Thanks for the kind words! John Martyn!! I have to say, his earlier stuff is some of my favorite music ever, so I take that as a huge compliment, thank you!!!

That guy at the church was using his h4 as a multi-track recorder though, I set mine on stereo and just sit and play in front of it for logging ideas. For these clips I did nothing more fancy than move my seat around 'till I got the right amount of bass to treble in the earphones. I didn't worry about the vocal sound, it was only there as a guide.

I have a couple of friends with a fledgeling recording/production/artist management company, who are getting really good results recording in their home studio, and I'll be doing some work with them this coming summer, so it's nice to have the basic demos this way to compare later.

Thanks for the awesome compliments, I really appreciate it!

[Coen V]

Thanks John for the link to the video where you get a good example of how to use the H4.
But IMHO it is also a good example of how to NOT make a video with a religious message.
To use images of Christ in a music video is already questionable for me, but the part where they do the harmony vocal with the badly suffering Jezus in the background really gives me the creeps

For me religion should be about sharing love and to get uplifted.
Even visiting this forum where we share our love for the (Avalon) guitar is a more uplifiting experience

Coen

[Coen V]

[quote
The H4 ia a pretty cool piece of kit, though!

John


When it can handle the power of your Eclipse, I'm convinced it is