This is a mixture of acoustic guitar recordings I've made, and MIDI tunes that I've either written or arranged in TablEdit or (more recently) Sibelius.
If I had to choose one kind of software that I love better than any other, I think this would probably be it. You can write tunes and type them in as tab (which is a method of recording notes played on a guitar) or standard notation, and then the programme will play them back as a MIDI file. It's wonderful :) I played these tunes back through my soundcard (Soundblaster Live Platinum) and recorded them into CoolEdit as Real Audio files, so this is how they sound on my own PC. (I've only recently discovered sound fonts, so some of these tunes don't use the more sophisticated fonts that I've now got hold of. I'll update those as soon as I can.)
All the tunes are in streaming format, so you won't have to download them first.
Where there's a choice, the MP3 files sound clearer but the Real Audio files are smaller and therefore more likely to play straight through without pauses for buffering if your connection is slower. If you'd like to download an MP3 to your hard drive, right click on the file and choose save.
If you need a copy of the most up to date RealPlayer (which is free) you can get one if you click here. (Be sure to go for the Free player, unless you want to buy a copy.)
| Copyright Notice: Please note that all music accessible from this page remains copyrighted by the original author. Use of this page and the download of music contained within it is for personal use only. |
| Guitar Tunes | Details |
| Only One | This is the first tune I wrote. It came to me very much at the last moment, about a week before submissions were due for RMMGA CD1. It's very short and simple, and I recorded it in my bedroom onto a Tascam 4 track via an AKG C1000S mic. For acoustic guitar enthusiasts, here's the bottom line. It's played on my Northworthy Tasmanian Blackwood/Sitka spruce guitar, with Gore Elixir custom lights and a shubb capo. It's in standard tuning, and easy to play. If you'd like the TAB, just drop me a line and I'll send it to you as a TablEdit file. |
| Interlude | This is the second tune I wrote, and I sent it in for RMMGA CD2. It was also written very much at the last moment - that seems to be the only way I can dredge any tunes up :) This was also played on the guitar mentioned above, but this time with Gore Elixer lights. It's in DADGAD, and it's also easy to play. (Hmmmm... bit of a recurring theme? :) I'll send you the TAB in a TablEdit file if you'd like to play it. |
| Like Everyone She Knows | The recording quality of this is poor, but I've included it because it felt like a real breakthrough for me in guitar terms. This is the beautiful introduction to James Taylor's "Like Everyone She Knows", and it was the thing I most wanted to learn to play when I took up the guitar again. I'll record it again when I get my head round the Mackie, and keep my fingers crossed that I can still play it :) |
| Blackbird Real Audio File MP3 File |
I love this tune - it was the first fingerpicked guitar tune I ever heard :) If my guitar playing is nervous, my singing is positively neurotic, so recording this was a little nerve-wracking... |
| You Can Close Your Eyes Real Audio File MP3 File |
This is one of my favourite James Taylor songs :) |
| Soldiers Real Audio File MP3 File |
Another of my favourite James Taylor songs, and my favourite from amongst these recordings :-) |
| MIDI Tunes | Details |
| Video Trauma | Last night I finally learned how it was that my PC made beautiful noises when I played with the demo version of Sibelius a while ago - they're made with sound fonts. I was immediately entranced, and wrote this tune to celebrate :) The first bit came to me when I was dragged away from my PC, where I was playing with the synthesiser, in order to return my long overdue videos... [17.10.2000] |
| Keenogue | I wrote this tune this evening for my mother, and it's named after her childhood home in Ireland. Keenogue is a very beautiful place :) I wrote the tune in TablEdit, and used the SonicImplant "Solo and Ensemble Strings" sound fonts with my SB Live! soundcard to achieve an orchestral sort of sound. [18.10.2000] |
| Overload |
I completed this today after the proverbial "Week from Hell". Too much to think about, too much to do and a steadily developing sense of disaster. This one is recorded with the "Personal Copy" sound bank from http://www.personalcopy.com. [12.11.00] |
| D | This is the first tune that I wrote in TablEdit, and I couldn't think of a name so I just called it "D" since that's the key it's written in. |
| Hack the Herald Angels | This is my arrangement of Hark the Herald Angels, jazzed up a bit in the second half. I did this for a friend of mine, Greg Neaga, who'd sent me a TablEdit file of Happy Birthday for my birthday :) |
| Happy Birthday Boogie | Here's an arrangement of Happy Birthday that I did for another friend of mine for his birthday. |
| Happy Birthday | And here's another arrangement of Happy Birthday - I couldn't decide which I preferred, so I kept them both. |