Greetings

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HoochieCoochieMan
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Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:30 pm

Greetings

Post by HoochieCoochieMan »

Hello to everyone, and special thanks to Gerd for hosting this excellent site. Here are a few words about me.

I started playing the blues in the early '60s. I was a minor part of the British Blues scene until I gave it up to be an academic. I started playing again about 1990, until I got rheumatoid arthritis and had to stop again. For the last five years or so I've been in remission, so I picked up my guitar once more. Too old, stiff and decrepit now to even contemplate annoying fellow musicians in a band, I looked around for ways of keeping myself company. My first attempt was with a Boss loop station, which was fun, but pretty limited. Then I discovered the Boss Micro BR, which really opened up new musical horizons for me. Soon, though, I found that 4 tracks weren't enough for my approximation to Chicago Blues. But I happened on a Boss BR-600 on Ebay, and my life was complete.

I'd be very happy to post some of the stuff I've been doing, more to show off the amazing qualities of the BR than because of any great 'musical merit - Slowhand isn't in it; snail-fingers is nearer the mark.

However, I've been quite scared by some of the dire warnings on the site about copyright violation, because I don't have any original material, unless you count most of the arrangements. All my material is classic blues (Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, Eddie Boyd, ....), and as far as I can tell there's no copyright on any of this stuff. I know that when I was playing we never had any problems. In the '60s we just didn't bother, in the '90s we just filled in a form and sent it off to the performing rights people (in Switzerland at the time).

So I'd be really grateful for any guidelines anyone can give me on this tricky question, before I get myself banned <frown>can't get the smilies to work</frown>.

Thanks everyone

Rod
Last edited by HoochieCoochieMan on Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Blackhorse
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Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 3:32 pm

Re: Greetings

Post by Blackhorse »

I'll wait for Gerd to give you the definitive answer, but blues music (particularly progressions and riffs to solo over) are generic enough that I think you'll be safe if you can cut out any lyrics/vocals. I for one will look forward to hearing whatever you can post. :beer:

(Or there's always the option of posting your songs elsewhere and linking to them from here for discussion.)

Oh, and welcome to the best blues guitar site on the web!
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Blindboy
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Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:34 pm

Re: Greetings

Post by Blindboy »

:welcome: to a great site. I agree with Blackhorse, but, as he said let's let Gerd have the final word.
The British Blues scene in the '60s must have been pretty exciting. I started noticing it at the very end. I was a part of the Blues Revival of the '80s that was fueled by the likes of SRV and Robert Cray. (for some of us there was no "revival" because the blues never went away :thumbsup: ) I know how it is to quit and then get back into it... I have done that several times now. :whistle:
"Throw yo' big leg over me Mama, I might not feel this good again!"
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HoochieCoochieMan
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Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:30 pm

Re: Greetings

Post by HoochieCoochieMan »

I'll wait for Gerd to give you the definitive answer, but blues music (particularly progressions and riffs to solo over) are generic enough that I think you'll be safe if you can cut out any lyrics/vocals. I for one will look forward to hearing whatever you can post. :beer:

(Or there's always the option of posting your songs elsewhere and linking to them from here for discussion.)

Oh, and welcome to the best blues guitar site on the web!
Thanks, Blackhorse, for the rapid reply.

I'm not sure, though, that my stuff is instrumentally strong enough to stand up without the vocals. Even though the worst problem of the one-man band - apart from the cardboard drummer - is the crap vocalist, and my current band is no exception, the songs do have a certain gestalt in which the vocals have their place.

I like your idea of posting elsewhere and linking. That looks like a perfect solution. Only trouble is, I don't have a lot of experience in these matters. Can anyone recommend a safe, free MP3 hosting site where I'm not going to get spammed and my details broadcast round the net?

And yes, this really is a great site.

Rod
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Strummer07
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Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:59 pm

Re: Greetings

Post by Strummer07 »

Welcome Rod ....HoochieCoochie man !!
You've ceratinly got some Blues miles under that belt of yours.so your knowledge and advice will be most welcome.

It may well have been you that bought my Boss BR 600 on ebay .......I failed to get to 'drive' it even passably well...and gave up and e-bay it went !!

Followed by a Boss Looper !!

I now am experimenting with a Boss eband ...and so far , as well as having about every effect known to man ( Its based on the Boss GT10 I think) ....its good !!
I've got some backing tracks on there and its a good "bedroom volume" thing to noodle with.

I might even consider pressing the record button fairly soon!!
"Death is just a heartbeat away"
lyric from "Out in The Fields"
Gary Moore 1952-2011
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HoochieCoochieMan
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Re: Greetings

Post by HoochieCoochieMan »

Thanks Blindboy and Strummer for your kind words. This certainly feels like a very welcoming site.

As for the '60s Blues scene, it was so long ago I don't really remember much about it, except we seemed to get bigger audiences back then, and people tended to listen more - I guess we were more discerning in my generation. <grin>still can't get these smilies to work</grin>

Strummer, if I bought your BR-600 I'm very grateful, because it changed my life (even if it's now starting to develop distortion on the analogue output and I can't find anyone to repair it! - I can live with it though because I do my final mastering on the computer in Audacity).

I'm still looking for a safe MP3 hosting site, if anybody knows one ....

Rod
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Bluesmole
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Re: Greetings

Post by Bluesmole »

:welcome: :welcome: to another oldie who remembers the 60's Blues revival. There seem to be quite a few Bluesmen living 'en France' these days!! :oldie:
"Big Bill Broonzy, a white boy's inspiration" (1963), and the Blues ever since.
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HoochieCoochieMan
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Re: Greetings

Post by HoochieCoochieMan »

Bluesmole: not only living in France but a native of Wolverhampton, centre of the known universe.
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HalfBlindLefty
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Re: Greetings

Post by HalfBlindLefty »

HoochieCoochieMan wrote:Thanks Blindboy and Strummer for your kind words. This certainly feels like a very welcoming site.

As for the '60s Blues scene, it was so long ago I don't really remember much about it, except we seemed to get bigger audiences back then, and people tended to listen more - I guess we were more discerning in my generation. <grin>still can't get these smilies to work</grin>

Strummer, if I bought your BR-600 I'm very grateful, because it changed my life (even if it's now starting to develop distortion on the analogue output and I can't find anyone to repair it! - I can live with it though because I do my final mastering on the computer in Audacity).

I'm still looking for a safe MP3 hosting site, if anybody knows one ....

Rod

Hi HCM :D :welcome: Great to have you around !

Gerd is far to busy finishing his "doing the house makeover project " to answer quickly, so I guess The Bastard Mod From Hell has to jump in. :yikes: I'm incognito however :rofl:
The point is Gerd want's to keep this site up and running without getting drawn in to copyright lawsuites. That's why he is so careful about copyrighted material and yes it is best to host these thing external ( doing it the smart way) and than copy a link to the song and place it on the forum here :snacks:


About the mp3 hosting site, you could try soundclick or myspace. To be honest I dislike the myspace user interface and the limitation in number of songs.
I use soundclick myself (http://www.soundclick.com/halfblindlefty) but I'm a paying user so I get some of the neat extra's :clap:
If you are going to use soundclick (or short SC) remember you first have to create a standard member account and after that you can create a band account. That's were you can upload your songs to (128 kb/s mp3 max)
Don't be to intimidated by SC's usage policy, they nag about not original material, but do have a lot of "cover song" charts going on :nuts:

I do have some covers on there myself and never got bordered by anyone ( I do happen to change the song name a little f.i on a wire in stead of Bird on a wire etc)


Can't wait to hear some of your stuff :drool:

/Hans
A long time ago, in the old forum : Registered: Mon, 27 Nov 2006. Wonder were the other old members all went....
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Golfxzq
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Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:13 am

Re: Greetings

Post by Golfxzq »

Welcome HoochieCoochieMan ... can't wait to hear some of your stuff... sounds like you came up in the right era. And don't worry, you probably aren't the OLDEST person here... :oldie:
"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
- Henry Ford
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12bar
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Re: Greetings

Post by 12bar »

:welcome: HoochieCoochieMan! I'm sure you'll enjoy our community. :beer:
HoochieCoochieMan wrote:All my material is classic blues (Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, Eddie Boyd, ....), and as far as I can tell there's no copyright on any of this stuff.
I'm glad you asked before uploading, because there certainly IS a copyright on this stuff :eye_rub: . It differs from country to country, some laws are really strange. To be on the safe side, as long as you don't include original lyrics and it's a "standard blues" you can upload it here without problems.

Many sites like youtube or soundclick violate copyrights every second. As long as nobody takes legal actions against, everything is fine (for the uploader). Both are big companies, so a single artist may not do anything. But if you read the disclaimer of soundclick (or any other similar site) you'll soon notice that YOU are responsible for your upload and that legal problems have to be paid BY THE UPLOADER. It's just the mass of songs that makes it look like a safe place.

So in short: upload as long as you don't play a copyrighted cover including original lyrics. Otherwise use 3rd party sites, but keep in mind that bad things may happen.

The 12bar server is in Germany, we have the 75 years rule: 75 years after the artist's death all material is public domain. :dance:

Oh, and there's one special rule (others may explain...): it is not allowed to upload "wonderful tonight" :naughty:

:lol:
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HoochieCoochieMan
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Re: Greetings

Post by HoochieCoochieMan »

Thanks everyone for clarifications on the copyright issue. I'll try to post stuff off site. I've done a bit of initial looking round, and have managed to get files uploaded to FileFactory in 220-260 VBR, which seems to give pretty good results, but I haven't yet figured out how to get at them (I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to this posting business). I'm now going to follow your recommendation and try to upload to soundclick, even though 128bps might be a bit low. A word of warning, though. Lots of you have very kindly expressed great anticipation at the prospect of hearing this stuff. I fear you're going to be disappointed - it's all pretty rough work in progress, the main merit being the excellence of some of the equipment. But you should find out soon enough now.

Thanks again to everyone for being so kind and supportive.

Rod
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HoochieCoochieMan
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Posting

Post by HoochieCoochieMan »

Right, well I'm still struggling with getting myself organised on soundclick, but in the meantime I've put my stuff on filefactory, as Home made blues - http://www.filefactory.com/f/eb530a1b9cecb9f6/. I've just checked the link, and it works so far. This isn't a streaming site, so all you can do is download, and the files are pretty big (220-260bps VBR @ 5MB to 10MB each, in general).

Please don't expect too much - I'm no virtuoso, my fingers aren't what they were, and my singing's awful (I tried to sack the vocalist but nobody else wanted to do it). But I love the blues, and if you guys have the patience to listen, I hope to learn something and perhaps improve a little.

In the meantime, I'll keep struggling with soundclick.

Rod
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vancouverois
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Re: Greetings

Post by vancouverois »

:welcome:

I have just listened to before you accuse me and it sounds really good.
Good playing and the singing isn't bad at all.
Jan 15th 2007
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HoochieCoochieMan
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Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:30 pm

Re: Greetings

Post by HoochieCoochieMan »

Thanks Vancouverois. "Before you accuse me" is not one of my favourites. I think there are better ones on there. It's at the top of the list because they loaded in alphabetical order.

I've now succeeded in uploading to SoundClick (though only at 128bps, I'm afraid). As I'm now totally paranoid about this copyright business, reinforced by dire warnings also on SoundClick, I have clumsily disguised all the titles by translating them somewhat crudely into Italian. Anyone who knows Italian - and many who don't - should be able to figure them out immediately. Otherwise just take pot luck. SoundClick is a streaming site, so you can switch off after a couple of seconds if it's not to your taste.

The URL is http://www.soundclick.com/homemadebluesband/

By the way, should I be writing this now on another thread??
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Blackhorse
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Re: Greetings

Post by Blackhorse »

I just downloaded 2 of my favourite blues tracks, Bright Lights Big City and Kansas City. The playing is soulful and the vocals are fine, I'm singing my head off here! :yikes: (And I'm not much of a singer) You really captured the groove of these songs. It sounds like you really had a blast recording these, good job! :thumbsup:

I'd like the guitar on Kansas city to be a little louder though. Great tone, it needs to be heard! And the guitar lick at the start of Bright Lights, just as the vocals start, is absolutely killer :clap:
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12bar
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Re: Greetings

Post by 12bar »

HoochieCoochieMan wrote: I have clumsily disguised all the titles by translating them somewhat crudely into Italian. Anyone who knows Italian - and many who don't - should be able to figure them out immediately.
:rofl: Great idea! With my upcoming annually holidays in Italy a nice way to check my skills... :thumbsup:

Did a quick listen - great choice of songs, already very well done. :clap:
Plus - you can sing! You can open a new thread if you want to discuss a song more in detail.
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Strummer07
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Re: Greetings

Post by Strummer07 »

Hi there HCM
you've got some nice stuff there on Soundclick

Especially like like your slow blues " Notre Tetta "


Good stuff :thumbsup:
"Death is just a heartbeat away"
lyric from "Out in The Fields"
Gary Moore 1952-2011
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HoochieCoochieMan
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Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:30 pm

Re: Greetings

Post by HoochieCoochieMan »

Thanks again everyone for your generous welcome.

Blackhorse: Glad you liked Kansas City. That's one I enjoyed doing. When I get a spare hour I'll do a remix with a bit more guitar; it could probably do with a litle bit more, except for the solo.

Strummer: Notte tetra (Black night) is, I think (immodestly), one of the best in the set. It's my wife's favourite. It was also one of the fastest to make. Everything, all the parts, came out in just one take. Just shows that you can't beat spontaneity if you can find it.

12bar: I'm pleased the Italian was useful. I'm not sure the strategem is really very effective, but everyone's got me so wound up about copyright now that I find myself resorting to these ingenuous tricks.

If you agree, 12bar, I think it's time to close this thread, and I'll go post my link in the Blues Room.
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VikingBlues
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Re: Greetings

Post by VikingBlues »

:welcome: Rod. I'm trying to catch up with the last weeks forum posts - so sorry for the late welcome but I'm just back from the wilds of Scotland with no internet - or mobile phone reception - or a guitar. :wall:

I've been listening to some of your tracks on the soundclick link and would like to add my voice to those saying your singing is really good. The guitar playing is just excellent and these tracks sound very professional - you've a real talent as a one man band and have a real spirit of the blues in your playing. :clap:

Your ability to still come up this quality of song despite the rheumatoid arthritis gives us all a message of hope for what we can achieve or can strive to achieve too. :thumbsup:
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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