How to play ‘Fade Into You’ by Mazzy Star
[audio:Mazzy-Star-Fade-Into-You.mp3]
Chords & Lyrics * MP3 * Album: So Tonight That I Might See
(Chords: G D Am + G D Am C)
GUITAR DEMO/COVER ON YOUTUBE (by me)
MP3 (of my youtube cover)
Aesthetic Overkill! Make it Stop…
For f’s sake, I’m so sick of design! I’m even sick of art!
I’ve been out and about on the interwebs trying to more actively promote my jewelry store, so I’ve been surfing an abnormally (for me) high number of art, craft, design and (shudder) fashion websites. And here’s the thing; I don’t think I can handle any more. I’m aesthetically burnt out, and I’ve barely begun what I need to do.
There is so much ridiculously good-looking ’stuff’ out there, so much ‘pretty’, so much ‘cute’, so much ‘cool’. And all it makes me want to do is shave my head, paint everything in my house white and never make, look at or think about art or design again.
But, I love art. What’s wrong with me? Art is what I do, when I’m not doing other things, and I like doing it. I like making things pretty. I like pretty things. I naturally try to beautify everything around me. Beauty is good.
But there can be too much of a good thing. There’s too much ‘pretty’. Do I really want to add to the aesthetic-overkill that, currently, is just about making me sick? I know I’m just in one of my hormonal, reactionary moods. But it’s not the first instance of this particular mood, and it’s more acute today than usual. I need perspective.
I can pinpoint two of my problems right now:
1. I want to add value to the world, and I’m not really getting that, selling art or jewelry. I feel like it just adds to an already oversaturated visual and commercial atmosphere that I don’t like. I don’t want to be contributing to superficiality and senseless consumerism. I already consider this a big problem in our culture.
2. Even if making and selling jewelry could satisfy me, I just can’t hack the ‘networking’ aspect. Not in this particular market. But, supposably, this is a must if I want to achieve any decent measure of success. Right now I don’t think I can stomach another ‘craft’ blog without following it up with a good old fashioned wrist-slitting. How am I going to ‘be active in the community’ and genuinely reach out to my ‘niche market’ when this is how I feel about it?
Anyway, a heads up is all: If you like my jewels, get ‘em while they’re there, because that might be the last of them. Or maybe this is just an evil ploy to get y’all to buy up my jewels…
No, it isn’t. Between writing and music and work, I don’t really have time to make jewels anymore anyway. I had this idea that I could make a lot of money from it, but like I said, the market is oversaturated. If you want to support my music or just make me feel good and you like my jewels, hey, go for it, but honestly that isn’t why I wrote this. I just needed to vent.
Of course, that said, a week from now I might get a new burst of inspiration and totally change my mind about everything I just wrote here. I’ve been known to do that. Though, this time, I doubt it.
How to play ‘Landslide’ by Fleetwood Mac
[audio:Fleetwood-Mac-Landslide-Live.mp3]
Tab * Lyrics * MP3(live) * MP3(studio) * Album: Fleetwood Mac
(Basic Chords: C G/B Am7 G/B + C G/B Am7 D + G D Em C G Am)
GUITAR DEMO/COVER ON YOUTUBE (by me)
How I Record & Edit My YouTube Videos
I get this question a lot, and now that I finally have a setup I’m pretty happy with, and got asked again, I thought, “Okay, this isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.” So I’m posting here what I wrote in my most recent response, for future inquiries!
…
Well, I just got a new mic!
That’s why, in my newest video, my guitar doesn’t sound like a muffled piece of crap, and my voice actually comes through the way it actually sounds!
That’s thanks to my shiny new Samson C01 condenser mic. Costed me about $70 + shipping (which is cheap as far as condensers go).
Before, I was just using a crappy no-name dynamic mic, which sucked. And since that didn’t pick up the surrounding sound (like my guitar) I was using a guitar pickup for that, and it sounded like utter crap.
What I plug the mic into is a “M-Audio Mobile-Pre USB” preamp (since I don’t have a good soundcard on my computer that could handle a mic or guitar signal). That’s plugged directly into my computer with a USB cable. That cost me about $150.
I use iRecord (webcam software for mac) to record the video, and the webcam is just a cheapy low-end Logitech one. Any webcam will do.
I use Amadeus to convert the sound from mono to stereo (but it’s a trial version, which expires soon, and I’m cheap, so I’ll have to find another free program to do that soon. I think Audacity will do it).
Then I import the new stereo-ized file and the original video file into iMovie and play around with them there, then export it all as an .m4v file when I’m happy with it (or have given up trying to be happy with it).
Then I upload it to Youtube (which, I notice, is now a much faster process, as of this week. Hopefully they’re fixing the comments system while they’re at it, too).
And that, my dears, is the crumbly cookie of it all.
Any questions, just have at ‘er in the comments!
How To Play ‘Angeles’ by Elliot Smith
[audio:Elliott-Smith-Angeles.mp3]
CHORDS & LYRICS * MP3 * Album: Either/Or
(Basic Chords: Em A7 Bm Bm7 G + F# A G D E G + A G… watch the video)
GUITAR DEMO ON YOUTUBE (by Jeff)