Song Choice
My goal for my set list was to create a sequence of songs that got
progressively heavier. I ended up picking 5 songs because they were all
relatively short songs at about 3 minutes long.
The first song in the set list ‘Scarborough Fair/Canticle’ was naturally
the least heavy of all of the songs. It’s an adaptation of ‘Scarborough Fair’
the traditional folk song by Simon & Garfunkel. I chose this song because
fingerpicking is a technique that I really wanted to use in this performance to
try and exemplify diversity in my playing. Also there aren’t any drums in this
song to keep time with so it’s quite a challenge to stay in time just by
listening to the vocals.
For the second song in the set list I decided to play ‘Ochansensu-su’, a
math rock song by a Japanese band called Tricot. ‘Ochansensu-su’ makes use of
complex time signatures like 7/8 and 11/8 as well as more regular time
signatures like 4/4 and 6/8. Although the song is still clean, it’s a lot more
dynamic than the previous song and it definitely serves as a good segue to my
next song…
‘Foxy Lady’ by Jimi Hendrix is a song that I’ve always loved but I’ve
never learnt to play. My new white Strat has a pretty hot 60s style neck pickup
which can produce some really nice Hendrix inspired tones. I probably wouldn’t
have picked this song if not for that guitar. For the most part it’s not a
particularly challenging song but it’s got a surprisingly hard solo which
I thought would show off my lead playing.
Now that I’ve started playing songs that are distorted and more
energetic, I thought that at this point in the set list I’d switch guitars to
my blue Stratocaster which is much more suited to heavy styles of playing. My
fourth song was ‘Still Waiting’ by Canadian punk band Sum 41. I consider myself
a good punk and pop-punk player as I am able to down-pick and palm-mute
aggressively but cleanly at high tempos. This song is short but fast at 190 bpm
for about 2 and a half minutes.
Finally I chose ‘MK Ultra’ by Muse which is my only song in Drop D tuning
which produces arguably more powerful sounding riffs. ‘MK Ultra’ is a very
dynamic song and demonstrates a lot of different techniques. It has a recurring
lead riff which consists of three note arpeggios that ascend the fret board. I
personally really enjoy playing this song and I love the overall energy of it.
Rehearsal
My rehearsal
technique is a simple yet effective three stage process. The first stage is
learning, followed by the practising stage and then the finalisation stage.
The learning
stage deals with figuring out what parts to play and memorising those parts. To
begin with I had to learn ‘Scarborough Fair/Canticle’ and ‘Foxy Lady’ as they
were both new songs to me whereas the other three were songs I’d previously
learnt. To learn ‘Scarborough Fair’ I watched many covers and tutorials on YouTube
to physically see what people were playing and how they were playing it. This
allowed me to fill in places where any tabs I found were incorrect. To finalise
the learning process I listened to how those elements compared to the actual
song. Basically I try and balance both sides of this equation YouTube + Tabs =
Song. I used a very similar process for ‘Foxy Lady’ but with more of a lean
towards tabs rather than YouTube.
The
practising stage is where I try to play the parts I’ve learned along with the
songs for the first time. I was able to find a guitar backing track for ‘Foxy
Lady’ but for the others I just added a 4 or 6 beat click at the beginning to
allow me to know the tempo to enter the song at. Normally many mistakes are
made during this stage of rehearsal but this is where the bulk of development
happens. In this stage I’m also able to figure out what does and doesn’t sound
good and whether it would be beneficial to deviate from the exact original song.
I do really like to perfectly replicate songs but often I do change things to
add my own flair. For instance I tried to copy ‘Still Waiting’ 100% but I
changed the solo in ‘Foxy Lady’ a little bit to suit my own liking. Once I’m
happy with the arrangement of the songs in my head and I am able to play each
of them through (whilst still allowing mistakes) it’s onto the finalisation
stage.
This is the
most time consuming stage because from here on it’s just repetition until all
mistakes are eliminated. The way I tend to do this is not to focus on one
particular song for too long or it really does get tedious. Instead I switch
through my songs after 2 or 3 plays so as not to get bored. When focusing on an
individual song I try to play it through without stopping unless I make a
mistake so bad that it’s worth it. On this play through I make a mental note of
where I’ve made mistakes or areas that need improvement. After that play
through I then focus on those specific areas that need the work. A chain is only
as strong as its weakest link as they say and I believe a performance is only
as good as its weakest moment. This process of ‘play -> notice -> fix
-> play’ is just repeated over and over until I run out of time or I’m
satisfied that it is as perfect as it can be (which is never).
Review
All in all, I think the performance went very well. I find it quite
challenging performing without a band. A lot of my performance comes from my
interaction with others. It helps me be flamboyant, keep time and stay focused.
Even if I became a solo performer in the future I’d still have a backing band
that I’d play off of rather than just having me and a backing track. It’s also
quite strange performing to a camera rather than an audience as my performance
also depends upon interaction with an audience. I found that even though I was
focused on what I was playing I ended up just looking around a lot and even
being slightly bored. I was very happy with my playing however. I didn’t make
any large mistakes at all and the smallest mistakes I did make probably went
undetected. I think there is always room for improvement and although I played
every note correctly it doesn’t mean that I played every note with the right
dynamics or expression and I think that that aspect of my playing can always be
developed.
Here are three things that I thought I did well:
1. During my band
assessment one of the key weaknesses of my performance was when I needed to
change guitars. I didn’t really have a system in place to assure a swift
changeover. This time round, changing guitars in my set only took me about 25
seconds and didn’t affect my performance. A definite plus.
2. I thought I made the
most of the equipment I had at my disposal. I don’t use any effects pedals and
get my tone purely from my guitars and the amp we have at college. I thought
that I did a good job setting up the two channels of the amp well enough to
suit all of the songs I was playing without having to change any settings
between songs. I just used the tone control on my white Strat and a foot pedal
to swap between the clean and drive channels between songs 2 and 3.
3. I thought my
preparation for the assessment (other than rehearsal) was good. I’d made sure
to prepare my backing tracks and although the only actual track with the guitar
removed was ‘Foxy Lady’, I was still able to make the levels of all the tracks
equal, add count-ins to the intros and burn them all to a CD.
Here are three things that I feel I could improve on for a future solo performance.
1. As I mentioned
earlier I found not having an audience or a band to be difficult. I think if I
were to do any sort of solo performance in the future I think I’d try and find
ways round those two problems. In normal live performances there’s a lot of
freedom for the performers. Most bands don’t just play straight up copies of
their studio tracks live. They’ll change the intro or lengthen the outro or
play the solo differently or loop a middle section until the audience is as
engaged as the band wants. I think I was limited by the fact I had to play to a
strict track and I would try and work around that in the future.
2. I think I could have
been much clearer and more confident when introducing my tracks and talking
between songs. This assessment wasn’t a particularly natural environment and I
think I let that get the better of me in between songs.
3. Another effect of the
artificial environment is that my performance consisted mainly of me standing
still. I wasn’t completely wooden but with a limited stage area, no band, no
audience and under normal room lights it would have been a bit weird to perform
as much as I usually would on stage.
Conclusion
In conclusion I feel like this unit helped me develop as a solo
musician. I was able to create a diverse and interesting set list that
showcases my strengths. I was able to rehearse effectively and make the most of
my time. Something I forgot to mention earlier is that rehearsing during college
time meant that I wasn’t isolated from other musicians and I was able to get
feedback from other musicians as I was rehearsing which definitely helped the
process. This feedback is something I’ll try and get in the future when
rehearsing on my own. After re-watching my final performance I have been able
to take away valuable lessons which will definitely help me in the future.
