Like I mentioned in my introductory post, I've been reading Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation. Two days ago, I read the entry for Thursday 16 March 1967, and I discovered that Mike Nesmith played an electric twelve-string guitar on "You Just May Be the One." When I recorded a version a couple days before reading that, I used just electric six-string guitar. As far as I'm able, I want to make my recordings accurate (even if they are incomplete), so I'm a bit annoyed at learning that only now (but also a bit amused by the timing) because I have an electric twelve-string guitar, and - had I known "You Just May Be the One" uses one - I could have played it and made my recording a little bit more accurate.
I'm assuming the electric twelve-string guitar that Nesmith used is the Gretsch that's also featured in the show. I have a Burns Double Six (because that's the kind the Zombies' Paul Atkinson had), so while it's not accurate as far as brand, at least it's an electric twelve-string. At some point, I'd like to be able to have brand-specific instrumental accuracy, but I don't have the money for that now. I'm making it a principle to get instruments I don't have any type of before I get specific brands of instruments that I already have some make of. I already have an electric twelve-string guitar, so instead of a Gretsch twelve-string guitar, I'm saving up to buy a flute.
According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Last Train to Clarksville" b/w "Take a Giant Step" - the Monkees' first single (Colgems 1001) - was released in the U.S. fifty years ago to-day (16 August 1966). The U.K. release (RCA 1547) followed on 14 October.
I know the chords for "You Just May Be the One" (although I think there might be some subtleties with suspended 4th chords I'm missing, and I'm sure I don't have the strumming rhythm right), but rather than have just the chords, which I think would be rather boring to listen to, I attempted the vocals too. Some of the harmony parts aren't right (because I drifted back into the lead vocal), and I don't think the "ah"s are very good (they're a bit high for me), but it's not the worst thing I've ever recorded.
I thought I knew the bass part for "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," but in reviewing it before recording this, I discovered that there were a couple notes I was missing. I know the organ chords, but I haven't lookt into the song closely enough to know when they're played and when they aren't. Years ago - when I learned this - I thought they were played throughout, but when I listened to it earlier this year, I discovered that that's not the case. So I have only one section of the organ part.
I don't know the introductory guitar figure perfectly yet (I know a couple notes, but I don't know what effect is going on there or how to achieve it), so I didn't include that. I listened to the original recording quite a few times, and I think the guitar drops out at the beginning of the chorus and then plays a tremolo on an E note. I'm still not very good at tremolos though, and because I played both an open E string and the E note on the fifth fret of the B string, it sounds a bit messy.
I probably could have included more of the organ part (I have just the solo), but while I know the chords, and I don't yet know how the organ plays them. In what rhythm and fingering, I mean.
I learned the bass part of this first, and then I learned the organ solo, and I was surprised to find that while the song is in E major, both the bass part and the organ solo include D natural notes in chromatic phrases (although they go different directions; the bass ascends from C# to E, and the organ descends from E to C#). That chromatic phrase is in the vocal too, so there's a strong coherence among the parts.
The bass figure after "Why am I standing here" is different in the second chorus. I actually think it's just a mistake and that it was supposed to have been the same as it is in the first and third choruses. I played it the same, partially because I think it sounds better and partially because I don't know how to play the erroneous version.
I was rushing when I put up my post yester-day, and - had I read it over again - I might have realized that what I said about my knowing only one song from the first album isn't true. I even mentioned in my introductory post that I learned the bass part for "Sweet Young Thing." It's actually not that interesting on its own because it's mostly just A notes.
I even wrote out the notation for this (thereby discovering that - if my knowledge of time signatures is right - this is in 2/4 time), but after recording it, I noticed something that invalidates what I wrote out. The transition from the first verse to the chorus is just quarter notes, but the transition from the second verse to the chorus has a figure with eighth notes. When I wrote out the notation weeks ago, I put repeat signs that indicate that the second verse is exactly the same as the first, which it isn't. And I didn't feel like re-recording this, so that eighth note transition isn't in my recording either. Until I learn an-other part to this, I probably won't update it just for the sake of two eighth notes.
Inaugural recording! For these initial ones that set a benchmark of how much I knew when I started the project, I'm going to go chronologically, although it's appropriate that the first (and only) song I know parts of from the first album was also the first single, "Last Train to Clarksville."
I learned the guitar riff for this maybe six or seven years ago (I'll admit I lookt it up on the internet because I couldn't figure it out myself) although it wasn't until a few years after learning how to play it that I actually could play it because (the way I do it at least) it's played with a pick and extra fingers and I learned that skill only about three years ago. The bass part either follows that guitar riff or is roots and fifths. The tambourine part… that's an-other story. I hadn't really noticed until recording this that there even is a tambourine part, and I figured, "I have a tambourine; I should be able to play that." It was the hardest part, and not just because I'm an inexperienced tambourine player. Sometimes it plays on the downbeat; sometimes it's the second beat. It's difficult to keep straight.
I attempted the vocals too (I double-tracked them because I can't not double-track vocals, but I don't think they're double-tracked on the original record). I recorded only about the first minute, so I knew I didn't have to do the "da da da da da…" part in the middle (which I don't think my voice would suit). I didn't do the backing vocals (notably the "Train" line) for the simple reason that I can't sing that high. I hadn't realized this until singing it either (actually, I figured it out later, but I became curious while singing it), but the "home" in "And I don't know if I'm ever comin' home" is sung to a G note. The song is in G major, so that G note is the tonic or "home" note. The "home" in the lyrics corresponds to the "home" in the music. The guitar and bass both play G notes there too; it's the note the riff begins on. I also hadn't realized that "again" is pronounced the British way so that it rhymes with "train" (which I neglected to do).
Last year I started four projects in which my aim is to try to learn every part to every song by a particular band (with some stipulations). I'd already been doing this with the Zombies since 2012, and while I knew that actually learning every part to every song is next to impossible, my experience with the Zombies' music showed me that even learning a few parts gave me a new appreciation of the music. As I learned more parts, I started analyzing things from a musicological point of view, which gave me a deeper understanding of the songs. So while the end goal of each of these projects is probably unattainable, it's still an enlightening journey.
I knew the Monkees started releasing records and broadcasting television episodes in 1966 (fifty years ago), so on 1 January, I started reading Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, and I planned (and still plan) to watch each episode on the 50th anniversary of its original broadcast and listen to each album on the 50th anniversary of its release (although for some album, Sandoval provides only the months they were released, not the exact days).
Between reading the book and listening to some of the albums for my Collection Audit project, I experienced a recrudescence in my interest in the Monkees. I first got interested in them in about 2008, when I saw re-runs of the television series (the first episode I saw was actually the second episode of the series, which was a pretty good place to start). Seeing Peter Tork playing bass on television was one of my main motivations to be a musician rather than just someone who listens to music (however, at the time, it was easier to get a guitar; I didn't get a bass until the end of 2010). Even now, I still wear my belt bucket one belt loop over, just like he did (apparently to avoid scratching the back of his bass).
So reading about the Monkees and listening to their music sparked this renewed interest, and I found myself figuring out a few parts to their songs (the guitar part to the demo of "She'll Be There" [because it sounded brilliant], the bass part to "Sweet Young Thing" [because it sounded easy], and most of the parts to "She" [because it sounded interesting]). After getting the chords to a couple more songs, I realized that I'd sort of stumbled into doing yet an-other of my cover projects. The only purpose this post serves is to announce that I'm officially adding the Monkees to my roster of bands whose entire catalogue I'm trying to learn. However, I'm going to restrict myself to the original albums by the quartet (even of those, I have only the first four and the soundtrack to Head).
Once I had the idea to do this, I had to come up with a name for the project. I eventually decided on Manufactured Monkees. Most of the inspiration behind this is a stanza in "Ditty Diego" – "You say we're manufactured / To that we all agree / So make your choice, and we'll rejoice / In never being free." However, since I'm also interested in languages, I liked the etymological reference to hands in manufactured. The "manu-" part comes from manus, the Latin word for hand, so there's something of a very subtle allusion to "magic fingers," which is in "Papa Gene's Blues" ("Play, magic fingers!") and which is Micky's moniker in the episode "Monkees on the Wheel" (which is one of my favorite episodes). And also, obviously, hands are important in playing instruments.
Like my other cover projects, I've started a separate tumblr for this, and I'll be uploading rough (and possibly erroneous) versions of what I know of the songs. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm doing my Collection Audit project this year (where I attempt to listen to the entirety of my music collection), so I don't have as much time to devote to this project as I would otherwise, but at least this is a start.
Rather than re-posting this, I'm just reblogging it from my main tumblr.
There are a couple songs I know parts to already (as I mentioned above), and I'll be recording and uploading versions of those over the next week or so, just to get a baseline of what I knew when I started this project.
