Monday 14 August 2017

Playing in the white room

A few weeks ago I noticed Jake Reichbart had posted "White Room" by Cream which to me, is a pivotal quintessential psychedelic rock song harking from 1968.  Okay, my dad was heavy into Cream so this song was burned into my formative youth.

I was so impressed with Jake's cover I had to try it myself.  And much like the psychedelic nature of the song, I became addicted to his arrangement, like a drug, and stayed up late one night turning it over and over.  He plays it up the neck, I found it more at home in the open position.  By the time my fingers were hurting and I was really tired, I'd sussed out the main structure.  I have been playing it every few days to drill it in, it needs some variation so I'm not playing the same thing over and over again, but it's already kinda cool.

With that said, I have fallen further into the bad habit of playing sloppy, playing too hard, playing too fast, too much slapping...kinda the opposite of what a classical guitarist should be doing.  I'm happy enough with that but sometimes I think I need to scale it back and play something clean, accurate, and pure.  Or maybe it's time I go back to steel and dig in further...

Have a listen, I stepped from "White Room" into "Sunshine of Your Love", keeping the Cream feel, until I was disturbed; crashed and burned. Tell me what you think:

8 comments:

  1. Awesome cover of a killer song!

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    1. Thanks Lefty! Did you think it was a bit too rough/sloppy/hacky? Eventually I'll get it up to production quality, but I think it will always be a bit hacky...

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    2. I watched your video first and it didn't feel rough or sloppy, though I had some "not yet drilled" feel. After watching Jake's version yours might seem a bit rough, but I don't think they should be compared.

      Jake has a beautiful warm and fluid jazzy sound, which should not fit for this particular song, but it's perfectly working anyway. No barriers in music, huh?

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    3. Ha, yeah, no barriers indeed! Thanks mate, I'm wondering if my arrangements/transcriptions/style is pushing too far down the wrong path. At gigs, everyone says "sounds great", which is nice but not specifically helpful :-)

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  2. nice one.

    he is my review :)

    it seems to me you are trying to stay quite close to the original, which results in bit weird feeling -- because the original song is way more "heavier" due to electric guitar being used there (and all the other instruments), while you have in your hands only subtle sound of nylon strings.

    If I had your abilities, I would try to divert from the original "hardrock"-like arrangement into some more esotheric and delicate sound, maybe even sounding bit like flamenco.

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    1. Thanks Pete! You are right I should concentrate on more suitable material but I find myself drawn to the heavier stuff. I like the idea of "songs you didn't expect to see on a classical guitar" but I am pushing too far into the realm where I probably should not be on a classical guitar. At the same time, I find pure classical interpretations a bit dry.

      In the compromise of liking the sound and feel of classical I have probably swung too far out - so good call, I should reel in the next arrangements, whatever they shall be! Thanks for the feedback!

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  3. Amazing cover, do you have the tabs anywhere on your website so I can hopefully play it half as good as you, I checked the tabs segment and couldn't find it. Thanks for the great cover.

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    1. Since this arrangement is almost completely based on Jake Reichbart's cover, and he makes a living out of being a musician, I won't be putting together any tabs out of respect. I hope you understand! Thanks, JAW

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