Californication
To start with our stylistic appropriateness our aim was to replicate the song near enough to the original the guitar verse before the lyrics come in with a slide on the last note of each bar a semitone up for both final notes. The drummer changed the sound of the high hat from the original by releasing presser from the high hat pedal a little to add more intensity to the end of the verse before putting full pressure on again causing the sound to be less intense but id say the style was still the same as the original its just a little change to add our bands twist to the song. At the end of the verse like the original the guitar other than a few mistakes witch happen sometimes so pretty accurate for the genre style.The bassist played the notes exactly how the original was played and the singers will have changed the pitch of the vocals to match their vocal abilities so they don’t struggle so much other than that thats all accurate too.
For guitar the chord transitions are mostly clean when i watch it back i hear i get some of the changes slightly early or just slightly late which isn’t too bad but still needs improvements. I can do this by using a metronome or by practicing with the original track in the background for fine tuning the chord changes to perfection.
The note accuracy for the bass was pretty spot on from what I hear is all great until we get to the solo he messes up the first note which caused hi to be off time however he did recover in good time and rejoined the solo smoothly. For guitar I am a little messy at the start of the song with a few mistimed notes also one of the first notes for the solo which also caused me to struggle on the second bend which made it sound really flat.
My tone and overall sound was okay with a good clean tone for californication but the only reason it was okay is because I had help from lewis I need to sit down for a while and get more familiar with the amp settings and tone control so i’m not so reliant on people to help me with my tone. for bass the tone sounded pretty good to me nice smooth thick bass sound. The singers overall tone was okay Dess sounded a little flat to begin with but once Maia sang she managed to find the right pitch.
The technique for guitar was okay with good control with minor slip ups but I need to be able to play with a comfortable improved technique which is smooth and allows me to play less mistakes and more gracefully. The notes where picked clearly and fluently in time for the most part.
The timing and rhythm was mostly in time with a steady rhythm that remains the same till the end. For the drummer his mistakes is most recognised as the drums are the most dominant sound you hear in any live band.
My stage presence was the best it has ever been on stage as I was a lot more confident as well I was able too bob my self around and actually look like I was enjoying my self instead of not moving at all like the bassist. The singers seemed to do a good job at moving around and being a little expressive when they sing.
In consideration of the dynamics of the song the drummer for Californication at the end of the verses he lightens his pressure on the hi hat pedal to give it a little more dynamic range and to increase the volume of the section before quickly applying more pressure to bring us straight back into the next verse smoothly. The dynamics of the guitar on the verse was first quiet and then for the pre chorus I would increase it a bit to give it more of an exciting, rough and powerful feel, Thanks to this the song doesn’t sound like the same flat volume level all the way through the performance so the audience will not disengage and take away their attention.
The overall impact of this performance I feel was a great impression of what we are capable of as band and as performers alone with a nice introduction from our singer Maia introducing our who we are and what we do. The performance had strong moments where the coordination was on point with every band member and we sounded great. I do have to recognise that there were point where we sounded weak like the start of Californication I was struggling to find the right volume and ended up turning my volume completely off resulting in the confusion of the band, little moments like that is what made us look weak little parts of no coordination.
Chelsea Dagger
With timing and rhythm i’m pretty impressed with the way this song went. The first mistake with timing was made like halfway through the song with the drummer starting a fill too early causing a little confusion throughout the band but we did seem to recover quickly, also the fill that gets us onto the the 2nd chorus was a little too short and it really confused the singers and they lost the timing of the the vocals so I started singing the right part and speed they quickly listened and joined back on to the song. With 2 mistakes one being nothing to worry about and 2 making the singers get a little lost which impacted our set a little but mostly steady rhythm and nice control.
Note accuracy for bass is on point with smooth and precise correct notes being hit throughout the entire song. For guitar the only notes I play individually are F and G on the D string and the time gap between the first and second note made it sound like it was swing for a brief second before I quickly sped up to the normal tempo before playing the first G chord. If we are considering the notes in the chords as well I can proudly say from what I can hear all those chords are sounding very clear with every note ringing out the way it should.
I feel the chord transitions were mostly very great with quick transitions from a G power chord rooted on the E string on the 3rd fret to a D power chord also rooted on the E string on the 10nth fret (which is a rather large jump on the fret board.) For the verse also the chord transitions from G to A7 on the 5th fret on the E string are very smooth and quick to get all the notes to ring out which is great.I do have to acknowledge the chord change from the intro riff. The last chord from the intro riff is a D power chord on the 10nth fret and I wouldn’t normally struggle with it but there is a tone change and for me to get it right I have to very quickly switch the pick up switch to the neck and middle and turn the volume knob on the guitar down all in time to hit the first G chord of the verse, I found it very challenging to do this so I altered that section by keeping the distorted tone for the first strum of the G chord and that grants me enough time to mess with my guitar settings to find a tone that would fit the verse.
Tone and sound was a excellent I feel the distorted parts of the song were very closely matched with the original style of the song tone. The tone required for the verse is sadly not as good, I feel the tone for the verse section which is much quieter and less distorted compared to the intro. I did not quite get that perfect match I feel the tone was still too loud and too distorted I should have tried a lower pick up select or possibly a little less volume to achieve the right tone for the song.
With technique I know the strumming was all nice and controlled even improvised towards the end. I know the chord transitions were smooth for the most part with very quick and accurate transitions between basically all chords and timing was pretty good and adapting around problems that slowed me down like difference in tone mid song which is a positive, but I feel after the verse on the chorus my string muting is a little of sometimes letting the chords ring out a lot longer than they do in the song which isn’t good if we are trying to stick the original which for that section we were.
Dynamics were thought of before the performance thankfully I wanted the end of Chelsea Dagger to sound a lot more full for the last few bars like no gaps of silence, theres always distortion or heavy drums and no muting strings deliberately and constantly strumming, for the outro after the 2nd I feel it just made it sound more like a dramatic messy ending and I think a little more volume and it would have been perfect for an ending. But it was still a good ending and the difference from the start of the song to end is a great example of good dynamics.
The bands stylistic approach was to keep the song exactly like the original but again we realised it was better to make some changes to some sections to make parts easier for vocalist’s or just little things we see as our improvements to the song to work for our instruments and way of playing. I feel it was very accurate to the style of the genre.
The only improvisation I did was planned so I am not sure if it counts but I changed the strumming in the outro to a more aggressive fast and dramatic way of getting us to the end of the song I feel it fit perfect with the genre and especially the style of song as it is very high energy and tends to capture a rather wild feeling or reckless when heard in a setting where there is loads of people and alcohol.
I am impressed with my stage presence for the final gig as it is the best I have ever done on a stage I like that I looked confident, I was moving my body a little and looking like I was feeling the music which is great. I did notice for some reason on Chelsea dagger even in rehearsals my right shoulder would randomly just start bouncing for the entire song (I must of just been feeling it.) One thing that could use some work is actually moving around the stage. I noticed that when looking through my photos from the gig my upper body moves fine but my legs seem to be planted for very long periods of time it would look better if i walked around even a little bit.
The overall impact of this performance I feel was a very memorable performance with high energy and a great reaction from the audience with some of them even chanting along with our singers which shows the audience is engaged and like what they are hearing, the applause was a nice touch as well seemed like they liked it. I think the drummer did a great job and had a massive improvement towards the end of this project with his timing and drumming as a whole. The singers mainly Dess has shown some improvements in her singing and confidence with performing. The bassist hit his notes confidently the only thing that stuck out about him was his stage presence.