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Three great acoustic tracks this month - impressive! Remember this was not only a acoustic recording challenge, but also had to have a open tuned guitar on at least one track.


Please have a listen and vote for your favourite, bonus points for comments and feedback!

Voting closes 22nd February 2021 10:00 am

Onto the entries!

Bluetone - Guitar Talk Acoustic Challenge

Hi guys. My first ever entry, here goes :

I record at home in my office/studio, which has zero acoustic treatment - that's a cost for another day. I sat on my squeaky swivel office chair, which was a risk for capturing acoustic guitar, but all came out OK for a quick-and-dirty recording.

I used DADGAD tuning to complement the main progression, with some acoustic lead overdubs and then some electric guitar to build. Egg shaker and jingle stick played by me, not programmed. Signal chain is an SM57, an NT1, DBX 586, Scarlett 2i2, Reaper.

All comments and criticism welcome!


Meticus - Elfentanz

Hello again, here's my entry...

It's called "Elfentanz". I actually composed it for the bagpipe, but it turned out to be suitable for guitar as well 😃

The challenge was a good opportunity to practice playing with the pick, now that I have to learn it because I've bought my 1st e-guitar last year 😄

Two tracks acoustic guitar, melody with pick, chords without. One track davul, one track bells and.....? Of course, some bagpipe sounds 😆

Guidothepimmp - GTP's Acoustic Jam Challenge

Its a jam in open G. Was hoping to get a slide in there but couldnt get anything workable.. ie.. i need to learn to use a slide. Was played on a resonator.. and if anything, highlighted how much work i have to do to on acoustic guitar. Difficult but fun
Small lead embelishments done on a tele

Edit Changed Poll end to 22nd February

Three tracks, One Vote - Which did you prefer?

This poll has ended.

Wow.. I was blown away by Bluetones track, I am equally blown away by Meticus' track. Really good stuff fellers. I fear my vote may go the way of a coin flip.. I like both tracks for different reasons. Well played fellers. Good stuff indeed. I will be back here to vote for one.. have to go find a coin 😎

I have to confess that I cheated without even knowing 😃 I somehow overlooked that open tuning thing. I was only familiar with the standard tuning so far and probably thought that was some e-guitar blah-blah 😅
Now that @V8 accentuate it in the vote description I had a look at Wikipedia and realized that I've done wrong 🤣
So take that into account when you place your vote 😃

Meticus I somehow overlooked that open tuning thing.

I thought maybe that was so...but I really don't mind (fairly sure nobody else either). I admire your work ethic and constant learning - wish I had a bit of that myself! 👍️

I was gonna sneak in a non open tuned piece myself, but I had other shite to handle last two weeks - so it's all good!

    Meticus Forwarding summons from Zondo State Capo Commission shortly. Their schedule just opened up for the week.

    No complaints. My open tuning track is actually quite buried in my entry, so...hardly a major feature. 😅

      studmissile I be missing your killer slide work!

      Bluetone Their schedule just opened up for the week.

      Bwahaha...okay I laughed hard - but a very friendly reminder we try and avoid politics/religious talk around here. 😉 👍️

          Nice work guys - you did much better than me - I think I fell victim to fiddling and procrastination. I really liked all three these tracks, gonna listen to them again and then wield the voting hammer!

          I'm quite sad not to have made an entry. I had everything laid down but just couldn't get it finished. I'll have to do the next one.

          I'll listen to the entries later today when I've got a chance, but from the comments it looks promising.

          studmissile I need to get me a damn resonator!

          🤣

          I dug that grittiness GUido gotr on his track with the resonator - wanted to grab some overall's and call my other brother darryl - was my remark to him offline 😅

            Well, gwarsh, to quote a certain Disney character:

            Bluetone
            Love that track, as I think I've mentioned before. I enjoy the mix of instruments and the raw, unpolished feel.

            Meticus
            This is pretty complex, reminded me somewhat of Tubular Bells, especially when you do that funky thing with the key change, and then swing back around to the original.

            GTP
            Moerse happy you made it in this one. Love when the gears change around 1'10".

            Overall, a fine effort from all y'all.
            dh|

            Bluetone : Great composition, (as mentioned), it reminded me of Incubus - Drive somewhat. Dug all the melodic leads, though @1:20-ish the (I think right channel?) lead was piercingly bright on headphones - slightly disconcerting. But on speakers, I really liked it. My favourite part was the centred lead from 2m-ish - that brought all the leads bits to a fine conclusion - very, very nicely done.

            One thing, dunno if others found it so - overall the mix felt quite bright, almost overly so - I did check against a few YT tunes, and this was the brightest one of the lot. Maaayyybeee a little too much compression on the rhythm guitar too? Sounded a bit squashed- but I can't be sure.

            Meticus : For me, your best & most balanced tune so far. You're evolving quicker than bacteria man! And the pipes were mixed really well, almost subtle... :amused: And your guitar playing is great - you've been hard at work. If it hadn't been for the lack of a open tuned guitar, you'd have had more votes!

            Guidothepimmp : Loved the gritty resonator. I didn't think I would, but I did. Lots. The leads were buried though, I could barely pick them out on headphones and almost not at all on speakers. Which is a pity, what I could hear was cooool and only added to what you had there. I'll volunteer to try a bass line should you ever feel like working on this track more :thumbsup:

            V8 Thanks for the crit, V8. I'm by no means suggesting gremlins are fully responsible, but when I listened back to the (high-quality) MP3 I uploaded to Soundcloud via streaming, it sounded all lossy and tinny. It's been quite a long time since I uploaded anything to Soundcloud, but I don't remember there being issues with streaming quality before? I even considered re-uploading a WAV in case that sorted it out, but eventually decided to just let it rest. In any case, I'll do that for future entries to be sure.

            Yes, I was also unhappy with the lead tone when I listened back - very trebly and gritty. Think I just rushed it a bit too much... Didn't realise I had two weeks to enter. 😅

            • V8 likes this.
            • V8 replied to this.

                Well played Bluetone. A great entry for sure.

                @Bluetone, what really struck me was how clean the playing was. The soloing was on point. Its the style of music i like listening too as well. Great chops.

                @Meticus, also very clean, and per V8, hard to believe you began this journey only a small while ago. Great progress and really cool track. As always.. your pipes always add a uniqueness to the tunes you play.

                For my own track.. i wanted to add bass, drum line etc.. but just ran out of time somewhat. Spent waaaaay to long trying to get a slide thing going. Then in the end.. dropped it and changed melody a bit. V8, agree with the solo lines. It was actually worse at one point. I went back in and bumped it up somewhat.. but still not enough. Totally lost was the volume swells in the beginning. I will certainly take you up on your offer at some point re the bass line. I think this one has the potential from a re-do some time.
                Ito of recording. The Reso had strings on. I snapped another string on the acoustic.. basically recorded it using a sm58 style mic. Straight into cubase. Didnt have time for anything else. Added a touch of chorus in the post. And that was it.

                My vote ultimately went to Bluetone. I really wish i could cast 2 votes as i felt Meticus was great too. What tipped the scale for me was the 1st listen.. my mind damn near exploded with all the cool nuances hidden in the track.

                Looking forward to the next one.

                This was fun. I enjoyed the other two tracks: Meticus, lovely production quality. Agree with V8 on Guido's "buried leads", but stylistically the track hung together so well and had some nice movement in it, which is what swung my vote.

                Also, I like the idea of twisting V8's arm into contributing bass in future!

                Bluetone but when I listened back to the (high-quality) MP3 I uploaded to Soundcloud via streaming, it sounded all lossy and tinny. It's been quite a long time since I uploaded anything to Soundcloud, but I don't remember there being issues with streaming quality before?

                Likely that's what I was hearing - compression artifacts of a downscaled mp3 or something similar? Naughty Soundcloud - they're really not doing themselves any favours lately...it's something we should keep a ear on, we do have the ability to host mp3's on the forum - curious to hear the difference, more info here

                Probably useful info - I use a set of Sennheiser 380 Pro 'phones - flat response, they are relentless on mixes.

                guidothepimmp . I will certainly take you up on your offer at some point re the bass line.

                Bluetone like the idea of twisting V8's arm into contributing bass in future!

                Anytime guys, twist away - means I'll have to get a interface again 🤦 I found I got far too buried into the tweaking of things - so much easier just to cellphone it and know there's little scope to make it sound less like a$$ 😄

                        Sheeeeesssshhh, almost forgot!

                        Well done @Bluetone for winning the competition!!! With a debut entry nogal, dammmnn. 👍️

                        So you have the dubious distinction of choosing the next topic - no rush! Generally we try to pick something inclusive (gear/skill level) that leaves some interpretation open to genre....but if there's something specific that rings yer bell, let's do it.

                        Excellent all round, can't fault any. Voted the one with the most audible open tuning. All winners.

                        Congratulations @Bluetone

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