Jody Whitesides

Tag: Guitar

  • Highwire By Badlands

    Highwire By Badlands

    badlandsAs a guitar player, one that is into bands and players of yore that were considered guitar gods, I delved into all kinds of bands and players. One such player that I loved while learning to play guitar was Jake E. Lee. Jake came into guitar god fame by getting that coveted guitar slinger spot for Ozzy Ozbourne. He recorded two albums with the Oz master then went on to start a band called Badlands. Still rockin, but in a very bluesy sense compared to the metal stylings he had with Ozzy. All this leads me into the opening cut of the debut release of Badlands self titled disc, Highwire. Super energetic and bluesy in the vein of Led Zeppelin with a flair of metal = something that still rocks years later after it came out.

    Why am I even thinking about this tune? Well last weekend was NAMM and a bunch of my friends happened to catch Jake E. Lee’s new band performing at a NAMM event. I was at a separate event so I missed the performance but I heard about it and that Jake was still rockin’ hard.

    Highwire

    YouTube player

    Standin’ here, I got my eye on you
    Your story bleeds, but there’s no review
    Honey drip and set my soul on fire
    Stealin’ hearts got me walkin’ the wire
    You’re gonna lose control
    All night long
    When I find my love, love, love
    High wire

    Flash a smile, like a shiny blade
    Everyone there thinks ya got it made
    Sorry, child, can you take me higher
    But you keep me hangin’ on your lonely wire
    You’re gonna lose control
    All night long
    When I find my love, love, love
    High wire

    (Solo)

    Oh, feels so good
    You give me lovin’ like no one could
    You turn me child, inside out
    Still you leave me drownin’ in a sea of doubt

    You’re gonna lose control
    All night long
    You’re gonna steal my soul, mama
    You can’t go wrong
    When I find my love, love, love
    High wire

    Love, love, love
    Oh, sweet child, I know where you come from now
    High wire, baby
    Oh, oh, oh

    Enjoy and rock on!

  • Touch In The Studio

    Touch In The Studio

    Come in the studio with me as I work with George Leger III at his Utopia Parkway studio to record the final vocals on my upcoming new single “Touch”. Get a sneak peek of what it’s like in the studio and working with a good friend from Canada who helps create some awesome magic.

    Find out who I got one of the guitars used on the song from. Figure out a particular guitar riff I play while waiting for George. Hint, it’s from an amazing guitarist out of Texas.

    Enjoy the video:

    YouTube player
    Transcript:
    We’re in Los Angeles. Taking off in a moment in the car. To get over to the studio. Time to start recording some vocals.
    Ok, here’s the humor. I’ve just rolled up to the parking lot of the studio where I’m recording with George Leger, over here, the third. He’s got sore feet. So, we’re walking in. About to get started with doing some recording and having some fun. Of course I’ve got to have some tea before I start yodeling out of my mouth. [yodel yodel] But it will be an awesome day of having fun in the studio. Enjoy. See you soon.
    Currently we’re working through some issues that George has with playing the mix back, before we get into the concept of me actually opening my mouth and making some more vocals. That are not just demo vocals.
    Bonus points to YouTubers who can figure out where that riff comes from.
    We got the mics all set up and what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna test out this particular setup to make sure it sounds, fucking brilliant. [fucking brilliant].
    Turn back the click on?
    Don’t you love that? That’s George’s dyslexia in action, right there.
    That’s Canadian speak isn’t it?
    Canadian speak, ha ha ha.
    Eh?
    Just for those out in YouTube land. This is a Parker Fly guitar.
    Yes, very nice guitar. Wish I had one actually.
    It was given to me by somebody that is very big in the independent music world. Or at least was at one point in time. He’s now kind of retired. His name is Mr. Derek Sivers.
    Derek Sivers, thank you very much for your contribution to this song. That we’re using with your Parker Fly, that is, well apparently it’s now my Parker Fly.
    We’re doing a little production work at this point. We’ve decided to nix the pre chorus, which you’ve already found out. And we’ve decided to nix some vocals in the chorus there were, uh, filling too many holes. After we do a bit more production work, we’re going to ad some ad libbers. Ad libbies. No? We’re not, we’re not doing any? Oh, cause there’s not enough holes. Not enough room. So much for ad libs.
    You know what they say about ad libs? Fuck ad libs.
    You say you want to try another octave higher. I’m not sure that’ll be overkill, but I’m certainly willing to try.
    Well then, shall I double the other choruses first?
    Ah, no. I’m just going to use this part for all of them.
    No, no, no.
    Yes, yes, yes.
    No, no, no.
    Yes, yes, yes.
    I don’t like cut and paste.
    Dude. I don’t care. This is not really that important.
    It is.
    fuckin prima donnas.
    I don’t feel like a prima donna, but thank you.
    You’re a fucking leo, what are you talking about.
    That doesn’t make me a prima donna.
    Yes it does.
    No, it just makes me king of the jungle. Or my jungle anyway.
    It has been an awesome trip. The vocals are done. It’s time to do the mix. Back to the studio. So long LA, it’s been fun being back. It feels like a slice of home. See ya on the flip side.
  • Fourteenth Song Finalized Is "Things We Left Unsaid"

    Fourteenth Song Finalized Is "Things We Left Unsaid"

    Gandolf the White has struck! Apparently the Weather Channel decided to start naming winter snow storms. The humor is, this one hasn’t been all that insane and yet it has a name, Gandolf. I didn’t even get to see the start of the snowing as I was holed up in the den working so I could write this: the fourteenth song finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”. That’s right, another song into the fire from the frying pan.

    This song is one of those songs that underwent a rather strong amount of changes, comparatively speaking. It got a major facelift on the lyrics so that the words were more focused. Especially the Verses. The tone of it changed from a protagonist and antagonist switch in the Verses to simply a one point of view – that really helped the focus. The Pre Chorus then got a rewrite to make that transition work going into the slightly tweaked Chorus. Mostly because the Chorus had to reflect the change coming from the verse. The other change in the Chorus came from a slight rewrite of the title. Coming from “Things Left Unsaid” going to “Things We Left Unsaid”.

    Musically speaking, I decided to down-step the song a full two semitones. What brought this part of the rewrite? Well… The Verses stayed the same melodically. The Pre Chorus stayed nearly the same, there was a slight adjustment to the melody and rhythm based on the new words and wanted a better swing into the Chorus. The Chorus ended up getting an entire facelift melodically. The main reason for it was two fold. One, I wanted a way for it to stand out more from the Verses. The original version had some interesting lines but they didn’t stand too far apart from the Verses rhythmically. Now, the melody is fashioned to have a much much stronger hook. Not only rhythmically but also melodically. This is where the key change had to happen for the song. Where I took the Chorus melodically was becoming a tad to straining to sound powerful in a full voice fashion. Thus stepping the song down two semitones put it back into a range that gives the Chorus full power.

    The added bonus of bringing the key down of the song is that now the guitar parts sound beefier! That helps the vibe of the groove too. I can’t explain why, but it feels way better now. Thus the fact that people liked it enough before to vote the song into the final round, now it’s become a real contender to make the final cut and be a bonafide hit.

    I’m much happier with the overall state of the song. Arrangement-wise the song a way more traditional in it’s situation. However, I think once in the studio it will get a little extra window dressing. Though that comes down to how it’s reflecting once it’s finally re-recorded.

    To close out for this update, I’d like to happily send you on a merry way – hopefully you’ll be one of the people to enjoy the snow, especially if you’re headed to Sundance! Until the next update (coming soon) be in-the-know that the fourteenth song to get finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”.

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