Posts Tagged "guitar"

“Fire And Rain” – Weekly Podcast Episode 19

This week I picked the infamous “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor, because, you know, I play it so much better than he does!  lol  Or not.  Anyway, we have the same initials … that works right?

Ok so I learned this song long ago … probably one of the first more complex guitar songs I learned, back in my finger picking phase.  Then I was playing live one night, and someone requested a James Taylor song, and this is the only one I recalled.  I got a lot of compliments on it, so I thought I would try it here.

I think it’s a fair version … there are a few mistakes/weak spots, but I’m not gonna tell you where if they’re not blatantly obvious (which they are!)  And … I think I’m going to stick to my new way of recording, even though it does kind of make the videos seem lip sync’d.

So let me know what you think!

Direct link to podcast video on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elNQjXWlwzw

After 3 years, could new music actually be coming?

After what has been, even for me, a long hiatus with no new music, hope may be alive for the small but dedicated constituency that follows my music.  :)

As I have slowly worked myself back into playing music, forcing a regular schedule of it into my life with my band and with my podcasts, I’m trying to do a little more.  One of my goals for 2009 was to write and record a new album.

Seeing as how 2009 (and my 10th year playing guitar) is coming to a close, I have little time to do that album, and I had given up any realistic odds of it’s happening — until today.  Phil Taylor contacted me with a kind of “motivate each other” proposition, where we would simultaneously produce albums — kind of keep each other accountable.

Since this works right into my goal for the year, I told him our deadline would be January 1, 2010.

Now, there’s no way I will have time for full productions with drums and whatnot, so I am only pushing myself to write at least a dozen songs, and record them with me singing along with the guitar.  I may do more if I get motivated, but since I would prefer to master the album once it is complete, it’s unlikely.

Anyway, I’ve set up the project page on my website, and you can keep tabs on it here:  http://tharp.me/8

Queensryche “Silent Lucidity”

Before I had heard of this song most people told me about how great it was, the saviour of mankind, etc. But when I first heard it, the only thing that stood out to me was the guitar riff. So I learned it, but because the vocal track sounded so cheesy, I never really got into the song. Anyway, now as I listen to it, and that usually tends to be while I am driving, I always imagine that it would be the song that I would die in a car wreck while listening to. It just gives me that sense of irony that no one would ever know how fitting it was to my death but me. Anyway, the part where the octave-higher vocals come in now gives me goosebumps, and at the end when he is singing something over a continuous ascent of notes and it finally resolves, well that part is amazing.

(This was written a while ago, but I thought I would port it to this blog)

JeremyTharp.com News Archive > May 19, 2007

Ok obviously I have disappeared for a while, and honestly I will probably not be doing much here for a while. I just thought it would be nice to drop a line and kind of update things.

For the many of you who don’t know, I am getting married — in August (2007) and between my quite occupied social life and the very significant amount of work I’ve had to do lately (no regrettably of course) I really have not had much time to do musical anything. In the last few weeks, however, I have picked up my guitar a few times and again I am getting some tinges — ideas on maybe a new album. (Don’t expect too much). The idea, however, is to work up some very rocking album using lots of finger tapping and heavy rock guitar, combined with a complementary banjo, overlayed with some awesome philosophical theme that I have yet to come up with.

Hey it will probably be a while, but here I am, still alive — on my grandmother’s birthday and my 5 year college graduation anniversary. I hope everyone is rockin and I hope soon I am again too :)