New Original Song (guitar + banjo)

[dmbguitar718]

This is my first real original tune in a while. It even has vocals and lyrics!

Here it is:

Head Down, Eyes Closed
http://www.s151305233.onlinehome.us/headdown.mp3

A few vocal flubs, but I'll take it.

[mangold]

damn pat i didnt know you had banjo skills as well

this is great, really.

turn the vocals up both literally and in sing them more strongly. i would take the reverb off the vocals... other than that, this is gold, a REAL john butler trio feel...

I BOW TO YOU

[dmbguitar718]

Thanks Andy. I just got my banjo in the mail about two weeks ago. I'd never played one before that, but it wasn't to difficult to adjust to. It's basically Open G tuning. I'm pretty familiar with that tuning, so that helped. Plus, I fingerpick about 95% of the time I play guitar, so that was a plus. I basically just applied my guitar knowledge to the banjo. It's a great instrument.

[Banjobach]

nice work man. It sounds like a five string banjo to me. You pick it like a guitar, but its nice. Probably better that you picked it that way on this song as opposed to playing some knee slapping fun finger patterns. It sounded good i think. Rock on with the banjo, its a great instrument huh?

[RunsWithBuffalo]

Nice work sufjan! I like this a lot, different from what youve done in the past. I also like it because it has a hook and a recognizable melody. Very good songwriting man. Great job. Voice has come a long way!

[mattinbeloit]

I love it, I can't bring myself to critique anything because this reminds me of Iron and Wine ALOT. Great job buddy, the electric guitar was good, I just dont think it belongs. Maybe give it a try on acoustic. Keep it up, this has some serious potential. If you have not heard of Iron and Wine my freind, you need to check out some of their shit. Good job, not too bad on the recording either, but if you listen to Iron and Wine you will know what I mean, the recording dosnt matter at ALL. Shiat I love this man, cant say it enough. Go through and fade in and out the vocal track when there is a lot of dead space and fade the vocal down at the end so we dont hear you clicking the mouse

[geekmug]

I liked it. I totally bought the banjo playing.. I admittedly hoped to hear you break out of the rhythmic pattern you had built up. Like at the change at 3 minutes in.. I was hoping you'd get away from the a1e a2e a3e a4e pattern more so.. I think you get what I mean. I like the melodic hook but without some kind of constrasting form, it gets a little monotonous. Anyways, fun stuff.

[dmbguitar718]

Thanks alot geekmug. Definitely some great tips in there. I hope to rerecord this sometime. I feel like I should have kept the electric going after the solo. There's definitely an open space in the second verse.

And Matt - I've definitely heard of Iron & Wine - Sam Beam rocks my socks. Woman King might be the best EP ever.