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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Vocal Songs Going Instrumental
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jul 6 2012, 08:04 AM
I am having my coffee and listening to this wonderful rendition of Michael Jackson's 'Human Nature' played by John Mayer and thinking about the sensibilities of the vocal lines which were beautifully interpreted with the guitar.
Have you ever tried to imitate the vocal lines of famous songs with your guitar? I am thinking especially about very sensitive songs, for example played by the great divas - they have a lot of little articulation tricks which will work wonders for your hands and phrasing 
Check out what Mr. Mayer has done with this tune:
Posted by: Ben Higgins Jul 6 2012, 09:25 AM
That's a great tune.. it works with the guitar too 
I haven't really done much of that kind of thing, I should give it a go... now what diva music do you recommend ?
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jul 6 2012, 11:00 AM
I haven't really done much of that kind of thing, I should give it a go... now what diva music do you recommend ?
Hmmmm, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Whitney Huston oh and there's that awesome tune by Sarah Brightman with Andrea Bocelli - Time to say goodbye. I know, I know, you're gonna say: 'One day he plays djent and the next he listens to pop divas ...what is wrong with this dude?' 
Posted by: Ben Higgins Jul 6 2012, 11:10 AM
That's a great piece of music !
There should be a 'Diva Style' lesson !
Posted by: Bossie Jul 6 2012, 12:40 PM
Hmmmm, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Whitney Huston oh and there's that awesome tune by Sarah Brightman with Andrea Bocelli - Time to say goodbye. I know, I know, you're gonna say: 'One day he plays djent and the next he listens to pop divas ...what is wrong with this dude?' I remember that Bocelli & Brightman song ...they play it daily at the famous Belaggio fountains in Vegas.It was so impressive
when i saw it..a cab driver told me he heard it countless times when he passed the fountains but he still gets the shivers when he hears it..
Posted by: JaxN4 Jul 6 2012, 12:46 PM
These sort songs played on the guitar are beautiful. I would like to draw your attention to Neal Schon, guitarist for Journey, one oh his solo albums, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_(Neal_Schon_album) he has done exactly this, transcribed songs from Diva's and composed an Instrumental song.
Posted by: Ben Higgins Jul 6 2012, 01:34 PM
Just checkin' some of it out..
Posted by: gregc1 Jul 6 2012, 03:17 PM
Wow. I saw what song it was and thought "oh boy". But that was actually much better than I expected. That song was played a billion times here in the states so I grew to despise it, plus I'm not a huge Celine Dion guy, but that was an extremely nice version.
Cosmin, your Phil Collins lesson is similar to this but I guess you're not really focusing on the melody. That's one I really want to learn but I don't have a guitar capable of drop C right now.
I do think it would be cool to have a "Vocalist" or "Diva" series though.
Posted by: JaxN4 Jul 6 2012, 03:28 PM
Yeah he is a Great Guitarist. I would certainly recommend him for sure. Even in his own instrumental albums, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Thunder ) his leads has such a vocal quailty to them....
Posted by: JesseJ Jul 6 2012, 04:52 PM
Have you ever tried to imitate the vocal lines of famous songs with your guitar? I am thinking especially about very sensitive songs, for example played by the great divas - they have a lot of little articulation tricks which will work wonders for your hands and phrasing
Check out what Mr. Mayer has done with this tune:
You like coffee to ! That is sweet
Almost every morning I make myself a cup of coffee and go to the GMC forum and my mentoring pages ! Nice Video btw .
Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 7 2012, 12:25 AM
Doing this is a GREAT way to understand building good guitar solos. A catch vocal line will often work even if hummed with no real words, or played on guitar/piano/violin etc. So playing memorable vocal lines is a great way to help ones brain understand the harmonic construction that yields great melody lines.
Todd
Have you ever tried to imitate the vocal lines of famous songs with your guitar? I am thinking especially about very sensitive songs, for example played by the great divas - they have a lot of little articulation tricks which will work wonders for your hands and phrasing
Check out what Mr. Mayer has done with this tune:
Posted by: Ben Higgins Jul 7 2012, 08:33 AM
Todd
Definitely
Cosmin talks about imitating vocal lines a lot and one of the main things I picked up from his suggestion is that trying to replicate the subtle nuances of a human voice encourages us to be more experimental with how we make the transitions from one note to the next
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jul 7 2012, 10:58 AM
Can't really get enough of this! Thank you Jordan
Almost every morning I make myself a cup of coffee and go to the GMC forum and my mentoring pages ! Nice Video btw .Thanks Jesse! Just finished my coffee an instant ago
...and heading to your thread Cosmin talks about imitating vocal lines a lot and one of the main things I picked up from his suggestion is that trying to replicate the subtle nuances of a human voice encourages us to be more experimental with how we make the transitions from one note to the next
Glad to know I could help Ben
This sort of stuff always inspired my playing and level of expression. Our voice if by far the most expressive instrument at hand or...at mouth?
Posted by: casinostrat Jul 8 2012, 01:02 AM
This was great! At first I didn't connect the name with the band Journey. I like this type of guitar style very much since I really tend to gravitate more to instrumental music than music with lyrics, so this is like the best of both worlds!
Posted by: JesseJ Jul 8 2012, 05:42 AM
I agree with what todd says. As important as it is to practice technique no one wants to listen to us play a scale with ultra fast alternate picking and sweet legato technique ( other than maybe us guitarist's who can admire others technical skills ). But for 99 percent of people I think that they want to hear something beautiful and new. That is why I am putting alot of my time into learning scales and improvising and trying to be creative. My goal is to create beautiful solo's. I want my solo's to be so good that they stick in other people's head. And I think that part of getting there is as cosmin says learning to play the melody you can hear in your head. Also the general public always wants something new so as individuals we should all try to be creative and develop our own " voice" on the guitar . And last but not least if at all possible ( although it might not seem possible ) Somehow we should try to make something new, do something that has never been done before. I hope to one day stumble upon some new idea
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jul 8 2012, 09:29 AM
Right you are Jesse
Well, developing your own unique voice on the instrument is a long journey and it takes a lot of focus and practicing to get there. It's very easy to get lost along the way and end up imitating some player, but I think we all owe it to ourselves to pursue this continual self searching, don't you think?
Posted by: Ben Higgins Jul 8 2012, 09:59 AM
You said it, man
I try to approach solos as another composition within the song
Posted by: JesseJ Jul 8 2012, 08:37 PM
Well, developing your own unique voice on the instrument is a long journey and it takes a lot of focus and practicing to get there. It's very easy to get lost along the way and end up imitating some player, but I think we all owe it to ourselves to pursue this continual self searching, don't you think? Yes that is what I think as well. Anybody with enough practice can imitate someone else. But we all have our own unique style of playing within us we just need to learn to bring it out ! ( I think that just takes alot of time and effort )
I try to approach solos as another composition within the song
That is a good way of thinking about it !
Posted by: PosterBoy Jul 9 2012, 12:11 PM
One of the hardest things to do is where there is lots of consecutive same notes going on. With vocals the words take care of the problem, with guitar we have to use techniques like vibrato, sliding into them, dynamics etc to keep them interesting
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jul 9 2012, 02:07 PM
precisely - I want to give you guys a good example in my opinion. The very young - back then - Devin Townsend, has recorded a solo with his voice, on the track below. Check it out at 03:15 It's exactly the thing I am always ranting about - using your voice as an instrument. I think he blended into Steve's track in a very nice way.Posted by: JesseJ Jul 9 2012, 02:47 PM
Ae talking about the guy singing or when the guitar comes back on with that long solo ? Either way they were both nice
.
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jul 9 2012, 03:45 PM
.
Yes, that's the one
Posted by: MonkeyDAthos Jul 11 2012, 03:37 PM
A bit different, for it isn't well the recreation of guitar playing, but similar idea.
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jul 11 2012, 05:06 PM
A bit different, for it isn't well the recreation of guitar playing, but similar idea.
Oh my, this is so haunting
I like it
Posted by: MonkeyDAthos Jul 11 2012, 11:24 PM
check this one i found it quite funny:
http://www.myspace.com/steffenschackinger/music/songs/your-song-40193817
can't find full version, so it's only a 35sec sample
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jul 11 2012, 11:56 PM
I love the Beatles instrumentals - I have this record with the soundtrack from the movie "A Hard Day's Night" I enjoyed listening when I was young.
I think these instrumental arrangements only show how those vocal lines are cool and strong.
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jul 13 2012, 11:20 AM
I think these instrumental arrangements only show how those vocal lines are cool and strong.
Exactly! Wow, I had no clue these existed
Thanks Bogdan
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