The Chetboard

Hello, here is my humble rendition of The Mountains of Illinois, it seems like a good song to play in the fall somehow. It is loosely based on Tommy Emmanuel's arrangement.
I recorded this in my project studio, then had my wife shoot some video of me playing it outside, and matched it up.
Thanks for watching! Chuck/Cincinnati

Mighty fine picking there Chuck!!

That was very nice, Chuck! Your synchronizing was also done very well! That title has always intrigued me. I'm inspired to create a new one of an inverse nature........maybe "Plains of the Himalayas".........lol. Thanks for posting that. I'm curious what your "project studio" consists of?

Thanks Roger, and Rande.

Rande I hope you write Plains of the Himalayas. Another great title.

My "project studio" (I just use that term as I've heard it used before, I don't know if what I have is one), is just my office. I record onto a Mac with Garageband. I have two mics but the main investment is the Universal Audio Apollo Twin. It's an interface, with a bunch of software emulations, for preamps, compression, reverb, that type of thing. It'd be too complicated for me except that the emulations all have presets you can use, which I do. So if you want to try, say, a certain preamp with the mic, you just select it, and then select "acoustic guitar". Someone with better ears would fine tune it, but I don't. It is trail and error, and takes time, but it is a process I enjoy. Thanks again for listening!

Chuck, you seem like such a nice person! I see it in your face on the video and also in how you write your posts. Thanks for describing your studio setup. I hope to meet you and sit and play with you at the CAAS convention.

My situation is that, although my daughters are adults, I'm in a second marriage to a much younger woman with 3 kids who I'm helping to support, which doesn't leave me much with which to "do my own thing". I practice pretty seriously every day with the hope that when the opportunity presents itself, that I'll be ready to record. I also find my self practicing things that are too difficult to play well, which I suppose stretches my skills. One that I'm working on right now is Buster B. Jones' "Guitarville". Fortunately I began long before tab was available for Chet, Jerry, etc., so I've trained my ear. As far as I know, there is no tab for "Guitarville", so I imported the audio into "Audacity" and slowed it down and then exported that as an mp3. Then I listen to that while I'm driving around, to get it into my mind before I ever pick up a guitar. Then comes the "trial and error" stage of the process where I figure out where it all is. Hopefully it becomes internalized, including the muscle memory. That's how I learn difficult songs these days. In the old days I slowed down my 33&1/3 RPM record to 16&2/3, which drops it an octave. Many songs learned that way!

OK, enough rambling! Thanks for sharing your playing!

Great rendition! I always enjoy your playing.

Brent Walker

Sounds beautiful - one of my favourite tunes too!

You have a nice touch!

I also liked your arrangement.

I enjoyed your version of this song. You got a great tone, too. I hope you post some more videos of your playing.
Ray

Hi Rande - sounds like you may not need it, but there is a tab of Guitarville in Buster's Ballads & Barn Burners book. It's almost impossible to find these days, but I stumbled across a copy a couple of years ago almost by accident.

I have the tab in pdf so let me know if you want a copy and I'll happily email it to you. I've tried training my ear, but it appears to have attention and learning issues...

Angus

Thanks Angus, but I have it pretty much figured out. I'll just never be able to play it at Buster's speed but I think my speed makes it more "absorbable" to the average ear.