sergio

Freaky! I thought I was out there when I listened to Iron Butterfly.... It's OK and I recognize some hidden melody line. I have to look up the 10538 Overture.

Yes, I listened to it again and heard the melody. I missed it the first time because I'm not familiar with the piece. But I think it would sound better if somehow that track can be amped a bit to shine over the cadence... Just a thought, because I know when I use the rhythms in my PX780 I can adjust (independently) the piano voice and the accompaniment volume.

First, congratulations, Tsquare, and a Happy New Year! I don't know what the heck I was listening to back in the 80s (probably buried in the corporate bureaucracy), but I've heard of ELO but it wasn't in my playlist... I checked out the original and it's a beautiful song, so I realized that the melody line (voice in ELO) is missing here... Is that on purpose? Can't you add the melody voice in a different track? Anyway, it's a great sound! Sorry I can't make these pop culture references, but I must have been in another planet... 😲

You make me laugh out loud (no exaggeration) all the time, m10538!!! Yes, that was ME, and why should it be a "most hated video"? I thought it's very clever, and I got the message; I just thought of how a different ending would make it positive. I loved the dog at the end! 😂

Poor Ted... It was bad enough that life sucks, someone has to rub it in at the end... 😁 Very funny! I'm familiar with Monty Python but didn't watch their show, but I saw "Life of Brian" a couple of days ago... Funny! An idea for an alternate ending with a bit more optimistic point of view.... Since the old man is Bah Humbug all through the beautiful videos, have him smile at the end, but make it shocking, a surprise to the viewer, never expecting the old man to break down... Just a thought...

Very nice! I like that beat... Happy New Year!

I agree. I'm just so frustrated because of my hands, specially the RH. Soon it will be over... The rhythm accompaniment has helped me a lot, really...

Things are kind of slow and frustrating these days because my RH fingers hurt a bit (can't play the piano too much) and I can't wait for this darn episode to be behind me... Hopefully all will be OK afterwards. Anyway, I was listening to an old song of mine that I called "Calypso" at the time and eventually I added the Casio accompaniment and it became "Island Song". So here's the original version: (forgive the flaws, pls) I was wondering if the rhythm version is better... I think it is, although the regular piano version could be improved. Calypso.mp3

Since I don't read at all, my only thought is that playing from memory frees you to "feel" and interpret the music with fewer constraints. Of course, people can read literature in a very boring way and also in dramatic form, but I just think that not reading leaves more of your brain to play with the music... Just a random thought, but you're doing very well, whatever you're doing! 👍

Awesome! And you do it from memory, it looks like... 👍 Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Thanks! I know what you mean about "sharpening the mind" over other stuff... As a retired man I found an awesome gateway in the piano. For decades I seldom touched my spinet, and the Casio was the key... I have to see what's the diff between your keyboard and mine, because they look similar. I forgot another feature that brought me to the keyboard, and that's being able to record. I don't miss the rackety casette player (do you know what that is???) on top of my spinet!!! Have a wonderful holiday!

Whatever you did worked fine! Very nice! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family.

Very funny! Hey, it's as old as Humanity, so.... Perhaps a little bit more passion because of my Latin blood... 😀 Many new things since those wild days.... 😁

I swear this is the LAST of the "heartbreak" songs that I wanted to fix. I really like the 3 "boleros" that I wrote lyrics for, and these two I didn't care for the interpretation, so I tried again. Since I don't write lyrics anymore, you won't hear any more heartbreaks, even in a foreign language... 😀 Anyway, I'm a much, much happier man these days, as the "heartbreaks" fade into the sunset along with me.... 🙂 This is "El Final" (the end), and the video tells the story if you don't get the language CC (need to press the CC button).

You are so right! I've learned to "listen to my body" and to adjust accordingly. Believe me, I'm VERY aware of what and how I do with my wrists, and now I sleep with hand braces and I use them anytime, really, because it immobilizes your wrists. The trigger finger is another trauma. I had it on the LH and the injection worked the first time and second time, but then the surgery, and that hurt like too much!!! The RH started on the path to another trigger finger and like you said, I became very careful and actually avoided surgery there (so far). Good advice to the young ones!

Thanks, Jokeyman. The nerve specialist did a "nerve conduction study" and diagnosed the right hand with "severe" and the left with "moderate". I think that the only solution for the RH is surgery, which is endoscopic, but scares me. I had a trigger finger surgery on the left hand (very accidented hands over the last few yrs) and it hurt like heck! Supposedly there's a steroid injection and I hpe they can do that on the LH. My concern is that the RH is a bit numb and has been so for a few weeks, and that's frightening to me. I'll find out Tuesday and let you know. Thanks for your concern.

Absolutely not! If you know how to alleviate the old man's physical woes, please share... Next Tuesday I'm headed to a hand surgeon to take care of my carpal tunnel syndrome. I thought that "syndrome" was a fake fad from the old days, but no... Anyway, I hope it doesn't hurt!!! 😫

Thanks, m10538. Yes, it's all about heartbreak and all that... I was pretty dramatic in those days... I've mellowed, if you can believe that. 😂 Also thanks for the tip on the video. I'd like to rethink the whole thing next year, because I find the process cumbersome. I'll look into those apps and check them out. BTW, did you think that the rhythm mix was OK? I lowered the accompaniment level, and also adjusted the percussion volume down individually because I thought it was too loud. I'm learning how to use the editor...

This is a re-interpretation of one of two songs that I wanted to "rehabilitate" (unhappy with the current product) before the end of the year. The lyrics are in Spanish, sorry, and you have to press the "CC" button in YouTube to see them... I tried to temper a bit the rhythm, so I hope it sounds better... BTW, it was very hard to add the lyrics to the video, and YOuTube is doing away with the "annotation" system, which is how I've been doing it. I may have to find a different platform for doing this, but that may be a project for next year...

Thanks a lot, Brad. The first part melody, probably by choice, is very, very simple. It's the rhythm (this is my opinion) that drives the song, and repeating that first part. I added a little diversion using nice chord changes that I'm familiar with. But it came to my head, some first version of it, so quickly after getting rid of my last starndard song arrangement. Thanks again!

Very nice! As usual, not familiar with the melody. BTW, you don't know how much I wish I could use the "punch" feature on my keyboard, which I guess is similar to yours... I get so frustrated when I'm trying to create a "good" recording to upload, and I make a mistake and have to start all over again... Very frustrating! A couple of times I spliced two sections in Audacity, but that was the best I've done. I'll have to take a look at that feature (New Year's resolution?).

Thanks, Tsquare! Actually, I was aware of that song in the back of my head when I started playing with the tune, and in the beginning part I had the melody go down instead of up (I think that's what I did). Anyway, the festive rhythm is great, and the melody is very simple, but I added a couple of chord changes for diversity sake... BTW, when I thought of the title I also thought that it might be used, and sure enough there are a few versions with that title (different songs, of course). I read that it's OK (no copyright) to use the same title in songs... I didn't know that.

Thanks a lot, m10538! It really came up all of a sudden... Of course, I had to work at it for a few days. The "layering" is as sophisticated as I can get these days. I had all sorts of special effects I envisioned adding, but I just don't know how to do it, and frankly, I don't know that it matters to me much (for my purposes). What I do is record on the "song recorder" of the keyboard, leaving a couple of bars open to add something later. And then, when I record on the USB, I add the sound at the right time. That's as good as I can get! Thanks, and Happy Holidays!

The last song was hard (for me) to put together, and I felt liberated after finishing it (not happy with the product). And then, this simple melody came to me, new rhythm, and I had a lot of fun recording it. I hope you enjoy! Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (belated), and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Bravo! I didn't know you had a twin... 😁