SNAKE LIPS

I couldn't get this little ditty outa my head while mountain biking the other day. Since I'm just a rhythm player I decided to see how close I could come to the concept using Realtracks only.....so this is our first post of an instrumental. Having played bluegrass for decades the arrangement wasn't much of a problem -- the issue was how to get the Realtrack solos to approximate my ideas and even more so how to make the different solos play close enough to maintain the feel.

As it turned out it was a tougher project than ANY of the vocal tunes that we've posted over the last 18 months. It took 10 different Realtracks and up to 25 generations of the each solo track to get enough "snippets" to piece together to get the melodic flow that I was looking for. I created a chord structure that would enhance this by forcing some quick changes, minor chords, and stops on the Realtracks. I find that these techniques give more unique Realtracks to play with. Although there is not a lead guitar solo in the tune I had to use lead guitar Realtracks to get the runs to complete the rhythm track -- at which point I was thinking maybe I should have just played the $%^#$ track! But the Realtrack challenge kept me at it.

I realize that if you aren't a bluegrass aficionado it probably just sounds like all bluegrass -- but what the heck. It's short at 1:55 but too tedious to make it longer and for many folks that may be 1:55 too long!

All tracks are Realtracks solo or rhythm from the bluegrass sets. Editing via Garageband.

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well, the title sucked me in like I was a bird flying too close to a jet engine...

In my opinion, one of the hardest things to do is make an instrumental that holds the listener's interest. This not only held my interest it was a real toe tapper! I can see how the rhythmic pedaling of a mountain bike ride might produce this song!

And as usual your surgical editing effectively produced solos that sound remarkably like real players

great job! Let's see now, that's about um... 100% in a row , all winners? Yep, I think that's about right...

Hi Janice and Bud,

like Pat the title attracted me, although I can't find such poetic words for that.
The words I find for the song are: as if made from one piece, homogeneous, completely rounded, flawless and seamless.
I really enjoyed listening.

Guenter

Hey Bud,

Great job! Your splicing abilities are second to none!

Greg

Bud,

This took, what... 10-15 minutes? (days, I'd imagine...). I can't imagine taking the time it must have taken to do this.

Maybe the best (most "real") instrumental I've ever heard from BIAB! Like a bunch of old bluegrassers got together and traded licks on an old classic.

As good as it gets. (I keep that in a file called "Bud" for when I need to copy it).

Incredible.

floyd

Janice and Bud
Sensational.
Definitely had no desire to fast forward any of that, wanted to hear every single toe-tappin' beat.
Great job. Congratulations.

Janice and Bud,
Sounds like it was quite a chore but the end product is great!
SD

Toe tappin, Jug blowin fun! Thanks for sharing!

Wonderful stuff Bud and Janice. I was never really a listener of bluegrass but I am really starting to appreciate it. Especially when I hear a piece of music like this.

Hi Janice and Bud,

I'm sitting here flicking the pages of my "Australian Concise Oxford English Dictionary" trying to find some new superlatives. When it comes to describing my impression of your works, I'm finding that I keep recycling the same old words and phrases over and over.

I have to say that as I was sitting here listening. I could "see" the band in front of me playing this. The music was assembled together perfectly. I reckon that this is one of the best compilation of Realtracks I've ever heard.

All the best,
Noel

Bud & Janice,

Really enjoyed this.

Made me feel like having some fun cutting loose buck dancing.

Very cool the way you weaved in all the stops.

yes I really like the "stops" adds a perfect emphasis!

sounds great!

and natural to me

Bud and Janice,

You have taken the realtracks to another level.
Splicing is an area, need to learn. Re-gening, very
familiar, but again you took it up several notches.

My brilliant Father was keyboards, piano/organ, harmonica,
mouth harp, several squeeze boxes. As a youngster when
families used to get together and make music.

You folks music, all of it reminds me of those "happier" days.

I agree. This is very ‘organic’ sounding. I can picture a group of bluegrass musicians sitting on the front porch, sipping moonshine and picking and grinning. I wasn’t on the porch, sipping moonshine or picking but I sure was grinning!

Another winner!

One heck of a job arranging and mixing this baby. I felt like I was on the porch with the musicians stomping my feet.

Later,

Many thanks to everybody for taking the time to listen and respond. I know bluegrass is a niche genre and rarely heard by a lot of folks other than as movie soundtracks, etc....so I even more appreciate the kind comments. My DAW screen looked mostly like a patch work quilt when I finished this project. Now, back to Janice's vocals -- more fun!