301 Reply by neophytte

(8 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

TIGLJK wrote:

New did a sing recently about the day of getting that 1st guitar.

That guitar in the video was my first acoustic guitar - but my first guitar was actually an electric.

I remember the day, but not the date, I think I was about 20 when I was working for a company where I drove around and fixed up computer terminals in service stations - I fixed them too efficiently and my boss used to tell me to drive about for 1 or 2 hours to build up the km's on the car (company tax reasons) and I'd often go to music stores. There was a particular store in Booragoon that I used to like - the shop owner was a disheveled guy who didn't use his antiquated til, and one day he'd charge you one price for something, then another time he'd quote you something different. He had wanted over $au200 for the new ones, and I got him on a good day (or maybe I bugged him too much?) and he charged my $au175 for a brand new black "Torch". Similar to this one:

https://www.tdpri.com/attachments/11b84504-65c8-4aed-8689-49c610be70ae-jpeg.930434/ 

Mine was all black, and sat mostly unused for about a year - I then moved into a new share flat and my housemate commented about the guitar and said a friend of his played, who visited sometime thereafter. We nutted out songs and sounded terrible, but we were making (kinda) music. Later my housemate left and I didn't think I'd see his friend again, but he came over a couple of weeks later, and we had others join us, which became the "Wednesday night jams" - my gf at the time had art classes on that day, and it ended up being a bit of a booze-up excuse. I think it was about a year after that, the same friend mentioned he knew another guy with a band, so we went to jam with them - and they asked me to join and do their first gig - a party on the next weekend. Their skill levels were on par with mine, and we got booed and had food thrown at us; but we persisted and got other gigs. That lead to me getting my first acoustic (I think it was to play Stairway to heaven) which is the one in the video.

I recently (2021!) caught up with that old band and we have some videos of that in the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXnUekJ … iuVdTHxkhT - although the singer didn't turn up ...

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Chordie's Chat Corner

302 Reply by neophytte

(29 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

Hi everyone, I've been a bit busy of late with promoting CD and ... life ...

Peatle Jville wrote:

This is my entry for this month called "Grandad Guitar". I hope this entry of mine is not flogging a dead horse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-0I1GwUH1A

I saw this one pop up in my YouTube feed before I saw it on here, and I had a listen back then, I was curious, did you ever have a gramophone? Our oldest record player (that I remember) was one of those "all in one" units, which was pretty much a piece of furniture owned by my step-dad. It's similar to the one below, and hade a radio frequency dial with every imaginable channel you could imagine (I think it used to pick up about 3 shortwave bands, AM, FM and others I can't remember), and the player itself had the ability to have a few records 'stacked' and they dropped one by one onto the turntable. I was in awe of some of the stuff it could do for what was 60's technology.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/0f/29/83/0f298345aa843efb8f0c4427c06af85c.jpg

Anyway I did enjoy the track, and the artwork display was pretty good as well!!

mojo01 wrote:

sorry i haven't been around much lately. any way here is one for January 
https://soundcloud.com/mojo01/coming-ba … al_sharing

I'm pretty sure I've heard this one before (may have been the earlier version) but it's got a good strum and a good feel to it.

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

303 Reply by neophytte

(29 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

I'm going to drag up an old one I did - Rock and Roll (I gave you the best years of my life):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nh7cJEoiGk

I believe it was originally by the Kevin Johnson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Johnson_(singer)

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

304 Reply by neophytte

(8 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

neophytte wrote:

Winter, fruit, guitar ...

Cheers

Richard

Oh, wait, we have guitar in the Jan FSOTM, let's change that to banjo!!

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

305 Reply by neophytte

(6 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

Happy new year all, I've been pretty busy promoting my new album, playing a few gigs.

Hope everyone is well!

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Chordie's Chat Corner

306 Reply by neophytte

(8 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

Winter, fruit, guitar ...

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

307 Reply by neophytte

(4 replies, posted in About Chordie)

TIGLJK wrote:

Neo - what is the app you utilize ?

I use OnSong in the iPad - https://onsongapp.com/ - if you can find it, OnSong 2020 is still a purchasable product, the new product (OnSong 2023) is subscription only.

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: About Chordie

308 Reply by neophytte

(4 replies, posted in About Chordie)

rileywayne80 wrote:

How to create a set list and add original song titles

Not sure if Chordie has this feature ... I've always exported my songs to a different app.

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: About Chordie

309 Reply by neophytte

(46 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

I started to write this song for this months FSOTM, but not sure I'll have time to finish it before the big day (the chords are there as I needed to add at least two, but I haven't written the actual music yet):

Two in the afternoon (unfinished)Richard Mortimer


[C7] [C]




It's two in the afternoon


Dad says he going to read the paper


but we know we won't see him again


He's been up since before dawn


Cooking the turkey on the webber


With a sneaky beer, now needs a snooze


(Chorus)


And who can blame him


It's another Christmas day


The familiar tunes are blaring


as the temperature hits a new high


Wearing paper crowns,


The kids play with all the toys


they found inside the crackers



before heading to the pool


to find some relief


from the extreme heat


they laugh as they play




No-ones been to church


We celebrate the meeting of our family


not a religious holiday


but a cultural tradition as so many others do




(Chorus)


And who can blame them


It's another Christmas day


The familiar tunes are blaring


as the temperature hits a new high



     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

310 Reply by neophytte

(46 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

easybeat wrote:

maybe you can answer a question thats been on my mind.
in usa you refer to christmas as ``happy holidays``
is this a move away from christian values or something else?
it seems most countries say merry christmas or happy christmas

We do that at our work in Australia as well - I believe it's to be inclusive of non-Christian religions who also celebrate other holidays around the same time.

Since around the mid-1990's a lot of evangelistic preachers have crept into traditional churches and fed right wing political leaders aligned with the extreme right - leading to traditional Christian values being either derailed or used as a political weapon, this has led to a lot of "traditional" Christians removing themselves from these churches as they no longer align with the "traditional" values they were raised with - and leaving those who are influenced or agree with the newer values.

The church of today is not the same as the church of 20 or 30 years ago, now we have dominant mega-churches feeding off peoples desire to believe who are simply feeding their own bank accounts - while the poor get poorer. If they aligned with their own values, they should be donating this money.

EDIT:

And a Christmas song: https://youtu.be/LM4b__jEXPI

Cheers

Richard

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

311 Reply by neophytte

(6 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

TIGLJK wrote:

I'd love to have just 3% of either's talent to play guitar

There will be people who look at you and say the same - and you already have 100% of your own talent ... use it the best way you can ...

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Chordie's Chat Corner

312 Reply by neophytte

(2 replies, posted in Songwriting)

That was a good tune and nicely recorded!!

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Songwriting

313 Reply by neophytte

(6 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

This reminds me of a video I took when I was working in the CBD, this busker played a similar style, I think I bought his CD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzWbocQb-mY

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Chordie's Chat Corner

314 Reply by neophytte

(4 replies, posted in My local band and me)

Heh - that's a good little ditty  ... "Hey Santa, all the kids are away, let's have a drink!" smile  ... you should add it (or a link back here) to the FSOTM: https://www.chordie.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=39240

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: My local band and me

315 Reply by neophytte

(46 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

easybeat wrote:

thought i would support Richard and Jan for doing CSOM
https://soundcloud.com/rough-as-gut/wha … -christmas

That sounded pretty good - was bopping along nicely.

How do you get so many songs on your Soundcloud? I think I'm limited to 5 or something ...

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

316 Reply by neophytte

(13 replies, posted in My local band and me)

Jandle wrote:

Well done, you are putting yourself out there and following up on your talents.  Good for you smile

Thanks - a few people have asked whether I have a CD of songs, and thought the time was right to invest in myself.

Peatle Jville wrote:

Good one Richard I like it when I go to gigs and musicians have CD for sale. I'm still a CD man and don't buy any music online. I have never shopped online I wouldn't know how. I also enjoy a bit of Merch such as T-shirts and hats if the artist has those also. I enjoyed the track Prelude to Solitude it works really good.

I was just thinking about this earlier today. I also prefer to have "something in my hand" rather than another tune that I downloaded from the internet, as I used to be at the gigs and collect the cassettes and CD's. For me a CD is also like a time machine, where I remember the person playing and what their gig was like. Unfortunately you and I are in a dying breed; speaking with John from the folk club, who has made a few CD's and is world(?) famous - he's said selling CD's is a hard slog as a lot of (younger) people don't have CD players, not even in their computers, anymore. I'm setting my bar low so I'm not disappointed.

If you'd like a copy shoot me a DM and we can work something out ...

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: My local band and me

317 Reply by neophytte

(46 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

Peatle Jville wrote:

Richard, it was a joy to watch you and your wife together a very good performance.

Thanks - it started as an impromptu jam ...

easybeat wrote:

Richard,great start to CSOM.looks like a lot of fun.
lets face it Christmas is all about sharing and having fun.

I think you're right - we tend to go so wrapped up in the "gift buying" part of the season (or I do, anyway) that we sometimes forget that the spirit of Christmas is in doing things together.

TIGLJK wrote:

wonderful  There is a lot of love in those faces and words.  Great job !

Yes, I like this song as it has some good memories for me ...

Jandle wrote:

Aww nicely done together Richard.  Great to see you both performing together and enjoyed the laughter at the beginning.   Eunice has a lovely voice smile

Thank you - I can't remember what funny thing happened at the beginning, but there was laughter during the other songs as well (I think there were 3 songs we did, but this is the only one she sent me from her phone). It's hard to get Eunice to collaborate, as she is more used to Karaoke and not live performance - and the latter sometimes requires you to be on your toes when something unexpected happens (as opposed to singing against a recording, that always does the same thing, even if you are late with a line, etc) and she leans more towards jazz songs that don't sounds great on a solo acoustic guitar (and have a million chord changes at strange places), as opposed to my preference for rock.

Looking forward to hearing more entries for the month!!

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

318 Reply by neophytte

(9 replies, posted in Songwriting)

easybeat wrote:

i am encouraged.gonna bang out a few christmas songs now for CSoM

Please do!

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Songwriting

319 Reply by neophytte

(46 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

This one isn't a Christmas song per se - but it always reminds me of Christmas, as it seems it does for a lot of other people.

What a wonderful world by my wife and I:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvli-subvy8

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

320 Reply by neophytte

(3 replies, posted in Featured Song of the Month)

As it will be the new year (very soon), I'm going to add new, fresh and reborn.

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Featured Song of the Month

321 Reply by neophytte

(9 replies, posted in Songwriting)

Nice boppy tune ... (sorry, I added my comment on Soundcloud under the work account as I didn't see I was logged in with it - need more coffee!).

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Songwriting

322 Topic by neophytte

(13 replies, posted in My local band and me)

Over the last year my son's music teacher has been teaching him some tricks and tips in Logic, so (whilst watching her show him), I've been messing around with the program and fixing up some older songs I had that never got released, recording some newer stuff (including working with my son). A couple of months ago someone asked if I had a CD of the tracks I was performing live, and it kinda coincided with the recordings I was doing.

So I did this:

https://www.discogs.com/release/29065579

My intent was more to sell them as I perform gigs, as the audience is generally older and have still retained CD players, but I also put a downloadable/streamable copy on bandcamp (which was cited as the best place to release as an independent artist) here:

https://richardmortimer.bandcamp.com/

The song I wrote for one of the Chordies Featured song of the month - Prelude to Solitude should be the free play ...

Anyway, I'd better get myself motivated to do some gigs in January, as that's the official release date!!

Cheers

Richard 

Go to forum: My local band and me

323 Reply by neophytte

(8 replies, posted in My local band and me)

Hey Peatle, I don't think I've seen this one before, even though I'm subscribed to your YouTube channel ... do you have control over the effects? The reverb on the guitar is too sharp, and the reverb on the vocals is too long; it needs to be tighter, otherwise it detracts from the lyrics. The chords really suited you vocally, though ... and the words are all on point, according to Wikipedia - all in all it sounds good to me!

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: My local band and me

324 Reply by neophytte

(9 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

Thanks everyone, we were still quite safe (about 10km away, with a big lake between us), but was sad to hear one of the ladies at the music club was evacuated and had her backyard razed - her house was safe, so that's a positive.

EDIT: I think this opinion piece summarizes how I (and other locals) feel: https://www.perthnow.com.au/opinion/jes … c-12696413

Cheers

Richard

Go to forum: Chordie's Chat Corner

325 Reply by neophytte

(9 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

Peatle Jville wrote:

Richard, I guess living in a country that is periodically scorched by catastrophic bushfires becomes a consideration when looking at a location or suburb to settle in when buying a house.? I hope that you and your family are keeping safe.

Hi Peatle,

Normally that is a consideration if you're buying in the country, it's pretty rare that we get fire up this way - the last one I remember was probably in the same area 20 years ago, but it wasn't so populated then. A few new suburbs have popped up. It also wasn't as big as this one, fanned by hot temperatures and big winds. The fire was contained on Saturday, and I think it was out on Sunday - and since then the rain has come in, which wets the ground and stops any other fires.

Cheers

Richard     

Go to forum: Chordie's Chat Corner