Added: 2 years ago
From: ianmcgeachy
Views: 987
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  • Wow. Awesome cover, man, love it. This is a special song for me. Watching you performing it, and with your explanations, maybe I'll dare to give it a try. Thank you so much.

  • if you're giving it a go- see the latest cover by me-i show the chord chart -timed, movie style, for this.

    Thanks for your appreciation.

    -Ian

  • Great, splendid, excellent!

  • Thanking you muchly for your appreciation. Look forwards to some JM from you as well my fellow philosopher!

    -Ian

  • This is my favourite JM song, and the first cover I have seen that gets close to soundfing right. All the subtle hammers and bends in the right place to add to the soundscape. Superb job!! easy 5 stars.

    That Maton handles the low tuning pretty well too.

    Thanks for all the JM uploads and your covers. Great to find a fellow fan.

    Ben

  • Cheers for the comments and appreciation Ben. I'm gradually working on another version of Small Hours (and also One World), still not fully happy wi' em yet though. Its the blending of any vocals wi' guitar thats really hard with the echoplex stuff imo.

    The balance/emphasis, and plus the fact John had such a bleeding great voice!!

    Aye, the Maton is nice and does handle the low tunings.

    And there's a few JM guitar nuttas around-looks you're another of the afflicted then!!

    -keep pickin

  • Brilliant Sir. Love the sound you get on this

  • Thanks very much! At some point I may/should upload another attempt at this -using drum beats in the background, as John Martyn did originally.

    I'm also in two minds whether to stay with acoustic + pickup, or use electric guitar. They both have their benefits/problems.

    All the best,

    -ian

  • great version Ian I'm going to try acoustic

    The lite gauge aspect of the strings on my strat or tele make the chords hard to hit in the low tuning without bending the pitch..

    I'm thinking of getting a volume pedal also.

  • Thanks for the comment. I also had problem like that (esp the very slack 3rd string-even fretting too hard is bad) and switched to medium/heavy .011to.049 strings. Exacerbated because of the low tuning in cfccgd, and I use one tone down from that! I now use a vol pedal also -inline just after the delay -esp' lets me 'swell' on the Fm7add11 chord at the 5th fret (in cfccgd) and the Dm7add11 chord at the 2nd fret, and get 'control' better of what comes out the amp.

    -keep in touch squire!.

    -ian

  • man this is great Ian.. also the sound is amazing, may I ask what gear are you using, pickup on guitar and the delay effect ?

    Cheers,

    Jesse.

  • NIce to hear from you Jesse..(esp after a bad day at work).and thanks for the comment. The pickup is 'Shadow' (wood with coil inside) well advertised -here in Oz. The delay is line6 dl4- a multi delay 'modelling box'-models echoplex and more. BUT hard to get right setting-used 'autovolume' setting rather than 'echoplex'. Set by ear to 'headache tempo' or 'seagull cries'-delay interval. Am now trying again also using volume pedal and drumbeat-like John did. Tried 'Strat' but found acoustic best!

  • Your timing is completely out

  • Thanks for the comment and input. Maybe next time I will get closer.( Though in my ignorance I thought the very first beat was spot on to be honest !)

  • ....i always wondered what it'd sound like if tom waits covered john martyn, thx 2 this vid i got a pretty good idea! lol.

  • eeeeeh...well I never...as me mam used to say!

    Me?-Tom Waits?-dunt know whether to be pleased or what-pleased I think!!...actually one day will redo the vocals on this-and add me volume pedal anall. In my defense-I was concentrating n the guitar! But I can never get near Johns high tones he had in his 30s- that beautiful timbre-so intentionally play vocals down trying to 'understate'...actually its a good idea though...'a cover of a cover by...'!!!!

    thanks for t'comment though -ian

  • pls take it as a compliment, i love tom waits. want to see him live when i get the chance

  • Just happened to be online and saw your reply. Is OK-no really-anything to me IS effectively a compliment-because my dad used to tell me I had a voice "like a cracked pisspot" -he has a way wi words mi Dad-which probably rightfully disuaded me from ever trying a career as an International singer. These days I just sing along wi mi guitar anyroad, and dont really give a bugger.

    I also really like Tom Waites- like JM: alot of people love him or hate him-not many in between.

    -keep picking- Ian

  • awesome vid, ur guitar sounds bang on. i'll b round ur house in a bit!!! oh wait, ur in oz.........5 stars from me bro

  • Hey great cover man. I figured out the song a while ago but have to wait until I have enough penny's before I can buy the right pedals. DL4 is one of them, but a reverb, extra delay pedal would also benefit. I realised when watching this guys music:

    Ambient Song #2 [ Soundscape / Texture ]

    Just type that in youtube. It has a very similar Small Hours sound. A volume pedal is a must. Oh where did you get that pick up? I love the sellotape look! Keep up the good work man. More JM love.

  • Thanks for the comment and suggestions.

    Well this is just an attempt..I realised that JM used a volume pedal along with the echoplex, originally. Im no effects wizard, just experimenting. Using just the echoplex setting (on dl4) isnt right and suffered prob from what you refer to-no volume changes-but I switched to the autovolume setting and kindof got the effect I wanted-similar if not real mccoy.Pickup cheap Aus$100 a coil inside WOOD but slips on hole-so taped-I now see why JM did that too!

  • Great stuff. One of my all time favourites this and your playing does it justice. I was planning to put up my attempt a while back but, as always, got distracted and didn't get round to it. :)

  • Thanks for your comment. It'd be great to see you do a small hours cover, actually there aren't many actually on utube. I think that underlying 'background' drum machine also (present on the real McCoy version of Johns!) would help a bit. Difficult to get the settings right though in terms of repeats and delay setting and mix of raw guitar to processed signal, even with the easy to use dl4 unit I got.

    -ian

  • Yes I struggled to get near the original sound. Only working with a cheap little zoom effects pedal and recording myself tapping on the guitar to try and create the backbeat! :) I'll have to have another go when I can find the time.

    Cheers,

    Jim.

  • This is a great cover to one of my favorite Martyn songs, in times like this i wish i had me a delay effect also ;), 5 stars Ian.

    Jesse.

  • Thanks for the compliment Jesse. I myself always wanted an echoplex for years-but couldnt/didnt get one-then the line6 dl4 delay modeller came out- a blessing -models echoplex and more and easy to use anall-only took me 30 odd years to get round to trying his delay type stuff!

  • I wish I understood all the technical stuff - sorry to say I don't but I LOVE this! I hear many John Martyn songs all in your cover. All stars to YOU my friend.

    cheers

    julie

  • Cheers Julie, you lift my spirits!

    (ps i dont understand techno stuff either-i just bought a delay unit and twiddled with knobs till it sounds ok to me)

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