Harlem Nocturne

[EL34]

I am in the process of recording Harlem Nocturne
Here's a test mix you can play

I went for a raw Marshall, in your face type of sound earlier in the song and a smoother sound at the end.

Hit the play button on the player below
http://www.el34world.com/Misc/Music/xspf_player_slim.swf?song_url=http://www.el34world.com/Misc/Music/files/HarlemNocturne.mp3&timedisplay=1&autoplay=1&song_title=Harlem Nocturne

You can also play it on my music page here
http://www.el34world.com/Misc/Music/music1.htm

Let me know how it sounds so far.

This is my new JS2400 guitar and it's first recording test drive (The White guitar in photo)

[Willabe]

Let me know how it sounds so far.

How it sounds? Your kiddin right? You nailed it. Your timing and phrasing are right on the $$! I didn't hear a single note droped. The wah part is what I like the best.

The dist. is a little much for my taste, ---but--- I hear what your playin loud and clear. A lot of guys can go wild and riff, but, it's much harder IMO, to play a melody, your right in the pocket the whole way through.

That song kinda reminds me of the Ronnie Montrose's version of Gene Pitneys "Town without Pitty" from the mid 70's.

Realy nice Doug.         


                         Brad              


                   

[EL34]

How it sounds? Your kiddin right? You nailed it.

I prefer to follow the melody most the time.
I love melodies.
Thanks Brad, appreciate the cool comments.  

[Willabe]

I prefer to follow the melody most the time.
I love melodies.

Yeah, I like to think of the old saying, "The player serves the song, the song does'nt serve the player."

               Brad       

[EL34]

My moto is "play what fits" and  leave some space

[ThermionicEngine]

Hi Doug,
I couldn't call it up.  Did you pull it for more work or am I missing a link (sometimes my kids think I'm the missing link)
Larry

[Willabe]

My moto is "play what fits" and  leave some space

Thats probly, to me, a big part of why you play as well as you do. Thats what the 1'st generation Chgo. blues men who were still left living and the 2'nd generation blues men, who learned from them 1'st hand, would try to tell/show us younger "how do you do that" guys who were lucky enough to get close to them in the Chgo. bars after the world for the most part had all but for gottin them and where R&R all came from. We were tuggin on their sleave, askin "now please show me".      

Looking back, I think Ringo had it right, "Got to pay your dews, if you wanna sing the blues, and ya know it don't come easy"           I think the hard part of "gettin" good is what your talkin about, melody and space. Other wise, what do you realy have? I notice Trower as he gets older plays less and less to me, and he just sounds better and better, why? He's just "boiling it down" to get to more of the pure melody, while still keeping the raw emotion of the song in his playing, and IMO, it's what he's always been tryin to do/say all along, just like the rest of us.

Muddy Waters sang, "A young horse want's to run, but an old horse has been around oh so long", rings true to me.  

Keep on playin Doug, you got the tiger by the tail, say what you wanna say. I belive I can hear you've paid some dews and then some.      

             Brad      

[EL34]

Larry,
You hit the play button on the player in my first post.
See the little gray colored player?

You can also go to my music page and ply it here.
http://www.el34world.com/Misc/Music/music1.htm

Let me know if that works for you

[ThermionicEngine]

Got it.  Restart IE and the links were there this time. - Awesome tone.  My favorite take on that song is Danny Gatton's version.  A little less edge than yours.  Yours is great.  I'm inspired to get out my bass and see what I can do with it.  All I gotta do is find the time...

Thanks for sharing it.  It is definitely a keeper.
Larry

[EL34]

Thanks Larry

[tubenit]

Totally killer tone!  And some of your best playing 

Very very nice phrasing & I liked the wah effect really well also.

The entire tone of that tune is excellent.  Is that a hellecaster's tune?  Seems like I've heard it before?

FWIW,  I think the white guitar is absolutely beautiful!  Really a nice finish. Has beautiful lines to it.

Looks like it has one of the DiMarzio  strat type buckers?  That's what I use. I think I have the Chopper and Fast Track 1 on my guitars.

If that's a DiMarzio, do you know which one it is?  Cruiser, FS2 .....?

With respect, Tubenit

[EL34]

Thanks Jeff,

No, Harlem nocturne was written in 1939.
Check out the wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Nocturne

The Ventures did this tune and that's where I first heard it.

This page shows all the guitar spec's
http://www.ibanezrules.com/new/js2400.htm

Looks like these are the pickups
Dimarzio Pro Track single sized humbucker neck p/u
Dimarzio Mo Joe bridge p/u

I tell ya, this guitar plays like butter, which is very inspiring.

I'll give you guys my backing track if you want it?

[HotBluePlates]

And Danny Gatton recorded it on "Cruisin Deuces" (plus an earlier version that's on "The Danny Gatton Anthology").

[Madison]

Super duper!
Sounds great..... as always.
I was only hoping for simple rhythm guitar to spice up the backing track more....but that just could be me.
Like that wha wha!
Pretty intense.Good going!

[EL34]

I was only hoping for simple rhythm guitar to spice up the backing track more

I would do that on a surf type rendition.


Thanks guys

[Ritchie200]

Did you use that Strat with the humbucker?  Woulda sounded better with a single coil...

Wow!  Really cool!

Instead of a rhythm track how about doing a harmony above on the last run of the melody at the end.  Straight, wah, harmony - it's Phil Specter!!!!  "Hide your kids. hide the wife...."!

Did you do the backing track or did you find it somewhere?  It sounded really nice, not like most of the stuff that's out there...

Was this your computer rig or did you make some noise?!?!?

Great job!
Jim

[EL34]

Thaks Jim.

Bridge bucker all the way!

I found the backing track on the web and then I chopped it up and assembled it differently.
It made it a snap
Instead of 3 days, it took a 2-3 hours using a pre made backing track.

I had to EQ the bass down quite a bit, the backing track was all bass before.

This is the signal chain


Mixcraft 5 is doing the recording right after the guitar rig point on the computer.

[Madison]

>>It sounded really nice, not like most of the stuff that's out there...

I meant to ask about that too!
Was the backing track off midi imported to your choice of sounds?
Or strictly audio imports?
Some of the keyboard sounded like they had to be an audio file.
Or, are you a keyboard player too??!!!
Either way, nice.

[EL34]

The backing track was a finished .mp3

I chopped it up to make the chorus parts double the length like the Ventures did it.
The bass was was too loud and I had to EQ it down.
You could hardly hear the keyboards and drums because of the bass.

I also sped it way up, because it was too slow.
I increased the tempo by 70% to get it up to about 83 BPM

This is the page where I found the tune. You can play it and download it here
http://www.guitarbackingtrack.com/play/gatton,_danny/harlem_nocturne.htm

[Bassmanster]

Awesome!  Love that tune.  I wonder if I can find the time to do my own version.

[EL34]

That would be cool.

I should do a Ventures style version.
Would have to do one from scrtach.

That's what I started out to do before I found that other backing track