NEW TUNE – need some feedback

This topic has 17 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 16 years ago by billmeedog.

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- December 3, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Rick Graham
Member

Let me know what you think of the music guys. I didn’t bother preparing any mix for this but if you want to leave any thoughts on the mix etc feel free.

http://www.myspace.com/rickgraham

🙂

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- December 3, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Silvio Gazquez
Member

hey Rick!
really nice music bro, and it sounds great too. beautiful playing and very melodic, this kind of tunes is what I like to hear not just notes everywhere…
you and Tom are one of the best players I´ve ever seen man,
cheers from Argentina!

Silvio G.
- December 3, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Rick Graham
Member

@Silvio Gazquez 5737 wrote:

hey Rick!
really nice music bro, and it sounds great too. beautiful playing and very melodic, this kind of tunes is what I like to hear not just notes everywhere…
you and Tom are one of the best players I´ve ever seen man,
cheers from Argentina!

Silvio G.

Thanks so much Silvio! It really does mean a lot when a musician of your caliber leaves comments like that.
You rock man!!
- December 3, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Max.
Member

Cool 🙂
It never rains, totally sounds like you, Rick.
There are some licks in there, that I heard quite sometimes of you 🙂

And btw. I hope the Dava Picks I ordered are good 😛 (Delrin and Jazz)
- December 3, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Rick Graham
Member

Hey Max, thanks for the feedback man!
Hehe……. repeating myself again eh?!

Ah cool, I just got my shipment of picks to try out and infact used the delrin for this recording. Personally, I love it. I’ve been testing some others too including a prototype they have been developing which is cool.
Let me know how you get on with them
- December 3, 2008 at 4:28 pm
billmeedog
Member

Hey Rick, 🙂

Well you KNEW I was gonna check this out! (lol!) 😉 Anyways, AWESOME song! So melodic and well-paced. You have some excellent tones here too (clean & overdriven!) I really like how you arranged the song too, like how you bring in the guitar harmonies gradually and then later on you bring in those “drone” notes to “tie-it-all-together!” I love that stuff! I also like the overall feel and vibe of the song. In other words you achieved sort of a “dreamy & pensive” vibe to the song. Also, this song has such a natural sound and feel to it that I didn’t even realize it was in 7/8 until I listened a second time. (I think that is a great quality! I love when odd-time-sigs seem natural and NOT forced. Ya know, like the odd-time is just a natural result of how the song flows, instead of an exercise in being all “prog-rock!” Know what I mean?!?) :rolleyes: One more thing: I REALLY love that OUTRO! I know it’s a simple little “ditty,” but I love when songs have OUTROS that are different from the rest of the song, yet related. (I think sometimes, artists get lazy and just either do a fade-out on the chorus, or they crash-out on beat-1 or something predictable. However, you added that cool little part, and I LOVE IT!

The only thing that I would change (and remember, this has NOTHING to do with the song or the parts, ONLY the mix itself, since you asked us to comment on the mix!) is the DRUM Submix. I just think that the drum environment is a bit too small and intimate for the perceived space of the guitars (which is nicely established in the INTRO, before the DRUMS enter the mix. See what I mean?) I know that sometimes it can be effective to have the drums in a different environment (time-domain effects/reverb/ambience/etc.) than the other instruments, but here I think it could be a bit detracting. I’m sure you’re NOT looking to make the DRUMS sound like
Ratt – circa 1987 😮 (lol!) I just think they’d be better suited in a bigger environment, that’s all! I thought 90% of the mix was great! The guitars are perfect (Nice and LOUD!) 😎

Oh. and of course the guitar-solos near the end are burning! Perhaps Max was referring to those “Govan-approved-insane-tap-legato-runs!” 😉 Sure I’ve heard you do those before, but I could listen to them ALL DAY LONG!!! (lol!) 😀

As I expected Rick, this is GREAT STUFF! 😀

~Bill Meehan~
- December 3, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Rick Graham
Member

Thanks a lot for your feedback Bill, it is always very much appreciated! Really glad you like track man, I really appreciate the fact that you’ve actually listened enough to give such a detailed response too.
The 7/8 thing just came ‘cos of the tune but did you also notice that between 7/8 sections the rhythm changes to 4/4? I agree with you on the rhythm aspect, I really like it when it feels natural rather than ‘oh we gotta stick an odd time sig in here’. Glad you like the ‘tag’ too, that was something I learned from my brother, he used to say to me ‘never cop out on an ending because you can’t be bothered’.

Thanks for the feedback regarding the drums too. I think you make a very good point there Bill. I’ll be recording the track again in the studio so I’ll be sure to bear your advice in mind as I do agree with you.

Thanks again man!
- December 3, 2008 at 8:38 pm
BenJS1000
Member

Hey Rick!
Just looped your tune a few times, totally awesome work man!
Your phrasing and feel totally blows me away, not to mention your insane chops.
You and Tom Quayle are two of my new favourite players, and I’m privileged that I am in a position to learn from you, I really mean that.
Regards
Ben

P.s. Congrats on the new endorsement!
- December 3, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Sean Conklin
Member

Dang Rick, that song is beautiful man. I just love how memorable all your melodies are. Your phrasing is always brilliant. I know I’ve said this before, but you’re also an expert at creating imagery in your songwriting. Can’t say that about many guitarists.

Killer work bro!
- December 3, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Bill
Member

Hey Rick my friend 🙂 that song is simply beautiful:) seriously man you just keep churning out fantastic tunes… when ever I listen to someone of your talent I know that I have to keep practicing so maybe one day I can be as free with my music as you are!! and I like the small Marco Sfogli influence in some of the tune? and of course you make it your own as you have a unique voice on the guitar… I agree with Bills comments on the drums but as you said this is a rough mix (I wish my mixes sounded as good as this one lol) the tune tells a story from start to finish 😎 fantastic stuff yet again Rick:)
- December 4, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Rick Graham
Member

Thanks so much for your comments guys!

Ben – Thanks a lot man! yeah Tom’s a bit good isn’t he 😉

Sean – Thanks bro, that means a lot to me man!

Bill – I always value your opinion, thanks for your kind words too! Any particular part of the track reminded you of Marco? I’m always influenced by his playing but I didn’t conciously use his playing as an influence on this track.
- December 4, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Bill
Member

@Rick Graham 5768 wrote:

Thanks so much for your comments guys!

Ben – Thanks a lot man! yeah Tom’s a bit good isn’t he 😉

Sean – Thanks bro, that means a lot to me man!

Bill – I always value your opinion, thanks for your kind words too! Any particular part of the track reminded you of Marco? I’m always influenced by his playing but I didn’t conciously use his playing as an influence on this track.

Hey again Rick :)For me the Marco influence can be heard on the intro when the drums kick in and at the lick at 2:43 this also reminds me of his style:cool: I love the way you make your tunes vocal in that you can hum along with them.. when you wrote this song did you have an idea of what you wanted or did the song just come out? how did you get the main melody? I have often wondered this as the melody is very important.. its always great to hear from someone of your incredible talent how you come up with fantastic music 😀
- December 4, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Rick Graham
Member

@Bill 5773 wrote:

Hey again Rick :)For me the Marco influence can be heard on the intro when the drums kick in and at the lick at 2:43 this also reminds me of his style:cool: I love the way you make your tunes vocal in that you can hum along with them.. when you wrote this song did you have an idea of what you wanted or did the song just come out? how did you get the main melody? I have often wondered this as the melody is very important.. its always great to hear from someone of your incredible talent how you come up with fantastic music 😀

To be compared with Marco is a massive honour for me so I’m well happy 🙂

The part up until the Lydian melody at around 2:29 I wrote around 3 years ago and kept it to one side up until recently when I finished the rest of the piece. The melody for that just came out but I spent a bit of time tidying it up to get what it is now. I had attempted to finish the piece off last year but couldn’t get anything I was happy with, so back in the cupboard it went lol.

Regarding writing melodies, I’m a big advocate of creating melodies which are vocal in nature. I find it really forces me to come up with music as opposed to just guitaristic finger movements. Not that using guitaristic elements in songwriting should be eschewed at all as it’s vital to stay as open minded as possible when writing IMO.

Thanks again Bill!
- December 4, 2008 at 9:17 pm
arc_of_descent
Member

Some nice tunes in there, Rick. Keep up the good work!

—
Rohan
- December 4, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Rick Graham
Member

Thanks Rohan! 🙂
- December 5, 2008 at 9:41 pm
tjchep
Member

Wow man.. that is some KILLER playing!

Hey, do you think you could do me a favor and PM me with Info about your web cam lessons? The more I listen to you, the more interested I am in getting at least a few lessons with you. 🙂