Posted by:
knotheadusc
(
)
Date: December 17, 2022 04:45AM
Some of you folks might remember that when COVID-19 hit, I decided to pick up a guitar for the first time in my life. I'd been wanting to learn to play for many years. For some reason, it took lockdowns and the threat of a mysterious and deadly virus to get me to pull the trigger.
I'm still playing guitar. I don't play super skillfully, but I have managed to scratch out a few songs. I even put up a couple of videos with me playing, although I haven't done any with me playing and singing on camera. I can now play barre chords, but I can't yet do them in time, unless I'm playing a really slow song. I'm sure that will come with more practice.
I've also been making more singing videos, including a few with me actually appearing on camera. And I've come to learn that it's true that people would rather see the singer than photos. I'm getting better at making the on screen videos, but sometimes they still don't turn out well. But anyway, I have put up a few more videos of me on camera, and I have to admit, they've done relatively well.
But I did get kind of a surprise last weekend, when I decided to record an 80s era song on a whim. In 1982, I was ten years old and horse crazy. That was the year the animated film, "The Last Unicorn" came out. The soundtrack was mostly done by Jimmy Webb and America, a 70s era band I've always enjoyed. I loved the title track, and found a backing track available. So I recorded it, and it's proved to be surprisingly popular (by my standards, anyway-- I am not a YouTube star by any means).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQgh1ejcwMI made a video to honor my husband's and my 20th wedding anniversary that was kind of popular, probably due to the occasion. But then I made a catty jazz video of a song called "So Long You Fool" that got a lot of engagement. I actually really loved making "So Long You Fool". I might need to find more catty jazz songs to do... maybe that's my forte.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3SH2BLXUw0I'm still working on getting dressed and putting on makeup for my videos... ;) My personal favorite song I've done recently is "Bill"... because it's for "my Bill".
Anyway, this has been a fun project. I've learned a lot-- not just about making music and playing guitar, but also about making videos and sound engineering. This morning, I was thinking about making a non-musical video about my dog, Arran, who has been undergoing chemo for the past two months. He's responded surprisingly well, especially given his age. Maybe I'll get to around to it. The pandemic has definitely sucked, but there's always a silver lining in almost every situation, if one looks hard enough to find it.