Task 3 - Practical Skills

2/3/2025 – Sunday

On the Sunday, I independently rehearsed most of the songs I have been asked to play including Wildflower, Brianstorm, Moonage Daydream and Famous Last Words, and proceeded to learn the guitar solo to I Don’t Wanna Be Me, I found it quite simple and got it down in maybe 20 minutes.

3/3/2025 – Monday

Upon arrival on Monday morning, everyone was in a hectic rush to scurry into different bands and perform different songs and I found myself in the middle of that rush and ended up rehearsing Breed by Nirvana with Matty and Ethan, with Paul playing drums, it went well and we had it pretty tight by the time of the first break, after break we played a version with Jacob G singing and I found myself pretty happy with that performance, although I do believe the band on the final show will feature Ellie on bass and Jacob on drums though. After this I rehearsed Teen Spirit with Imogen, Ethan, Jacob G and Dakota and again it went smooth, and we were able to perform it comfortably by lunch. On Thursday I intend to rehearse Wildflower with Dakota, and then I Don’t Wanna Be Me, Brianstorm, and Breed with Jacob G, Grace and Ellie.

10/3/2025 - Monday

On Monday, we rehearsed Smells Like Teen Spirit (Dakota, Imogen, Jacob G, Jacob T, Ellie) again and started putting together Whatever You Want (Tom, Jacob T, Ellie), I'm fairly happy with both, but I am currently unsure as to who is going to be singing Whatever You Want, otherwise I think it's going well but I need to get a better handle on the structure, I can learn this at home at any point or simply by listening to the song. Teen Spirit is pretty good and I'm happy with it, but I feel that it lacks the swagger of the original and that it needs tightening around the edges, this will be worked on though. I also worked through Moonage Daydream a bit with Tom, just to get a tight rhythm with him, I do hope to work on this song on either Thursday, or next Monday. I also wish to go over Monday's songs again. Focusing heavily on Whatever You Want, in my own independent rehearsal, I will go over all the songs again.

This shows the structure of Whatever You Want which I was working to.

After finishing in school, I headed to Charlie's house to work on If it hadn't been for love, this went well and I believe Barney and Evie will be singing on it, we do require some more instruments, we will talk to Barney about adding Banjo to the song, I'm fairly comfortable with the song and it's looking good.

Tuesday - 11/3/2025

On this day, we were given a rehearsal session in the afternoon just for our own benefit, and in this time we ran through Teen Spirit, we were without a bass player so I attempted to compromise with the guitar part as best as I could, I think this version ran far too fast, and I'm not too happy with how the harmonies sound currently, this can be worked on though, this session was with Jacob G. on drums, Jacob T. on guitar, and Imogen/Dakota on vocals.

Thursday 13/3/2025

On this day, we ran through Teen Spirit and Whatever You Want, then performed them to the class, Grace filled in on vocals for Whatever You Want simply to guide us all through the song, I think rhythmically, it's the strongest rendition we've done, and I'm very happy with how it goes, we need to work on the vocals and find someone who will sing it.

We ran through as much of Teen Spirit as possible before we were pulled out of the room to perform our two songs.

Jacob G. wasn't in attendance on this day, so I wasn't able to perform nor rehearse a bunch of songs that we're doing together, so we just performed Whatever You Want and Teen Spirit.

Whatever You Want got a really great reception and I think that on the whole it sounded pretty good, we still struggled to get out of it and there is a rather noticeable lack of vocals, but it's pretty much the example of how we'd develop the version further.

This is pretty bog standard version of Teen Spirit, I personally prefer just Dakota's vocal on this rather than both singers trying to harmonise on it, so I think this version benefits from that, otherwise it sounds solid, could definitely be tighter but this will come in time.

Monday 17/3/2025

This run-through of Whatever You Want was the first where we had tried to put a vocal on it, it sounds okay but we clearly don't know how to arrange the vocals, and individual performances aren't particularly strong, and for some reason none of us knew how to get out of the song.

This is probably the strongest version we've ever done up to this point, the vocals sound pretty solid, we all knew the structure well, and the individual performances as well as band communication are spot on. I think we can work on the ending but otherwise I'm pretty happy with this one.

This video showcases myself, Jacob, Tom and Ellie trying to get through as much of Moonage Daydream as we could, essentially getting to grips with the song for our next rehearsal.

Thursday 20/3/2025

This is the first lesson where we managed to get through all of Moonage Daydream, this was only myself, Jacob T, and Tom on drums, next session we need to work on the rhythm and get tighter, as well as work on the ending and incorporate Ellie on bass and Grace on acoustic guitar into the song, I'm pretty happy with how it's starting to shape up though.

This version is far from perfect, we were without Ruby so no one is singing the top line, and our ending and stop is poor as we we all didn't know when to come back in or finish together, I also was very unsure on my lyrics, this can all be worked on before our next practical.

Monday 24/3/2025

This version of Brianstorm is pretty solid, I felt it ran a little bit slow but on the whole it's okay, there are a few mistakes from Jacob but this will be improved upon, we were without Grace for this version and that does take a lot away from the song.

This version of Breed features my vocal as opposed to Jacob's, as he finds it a difficult song to sing as well as drum for, I struggled with the vocal myself as it takes a lot of endurance and is very straining on the voice, I can work on this.

Thursday 27/3/2025

This run-through we did of Whatever You Want was very solid, we all changed at the right times and we sounded very tight and very compact, the only issue that seemed to be present was the vocals, my voice began to crack under pressure, and this was not helped by the lack of Ruby singing the top line, otherwise I'm very happy with this run-through.

After Quo, we performed Moonage Daydream, and I thought this went quite well as well. There are some noticeable bum notes in my guitar solo, but I played them off well, Ellie's bass line isn't too accurate, and I don't think my vocals on this are at their best at all, otherwise I'm pretty happy with it.

Monday - 31/3/2025

This footage shows our entire class rehearsing for our final song of the FMP; Mamma Mia.

On this day, we worked through the intro and first verse, I'm comfortable with my own performance and pretty much the entirety of the track, except certain people didn't seem to know when to the change to the IV chord, but after a few more run-throughs this shouldn't be an issue.

This was a different run-through of the same song, taking place barely minutes after the other one, it sounds pretty solid but the piano is quite overbearing on the mix, perhaps this is just the way it was filmed.

Thursday 24/4/25

This version of Moonage Daydream features me singing without a guitar for the first two verses and choruses, which I'm not sure is that practical for the final show so that will not be happening, otherwise this version is alright, we sound pretty solid, but I would like to work on a proper ending, which we did in the following take.

This version is pretty much identical except we attempted the ending with the triplets from the live versions of this song, this can be worked on though, also I would like to note that my vocals could be stronger, and they will be by the show.

Monday 28/4/25

This is the first run-through of Whatever You Want we had done in a while, and this is very evident, apart from my very obvious cold which was affecting my vocals, the ending was quite simply a mess as we didn't know where to finish at all, this was heavily improved upon in the following run-throughs.

In this video, we ran-through the ending once again to get it tighter and worked on the transition into Moonage Daydream.

My voice was completely shot due to my cold, but apart from that this was a fairly solid run-through.

This is a run-through of Mamma Mia which I'm fairly happy with, I'm unsure as to what to do with the guitar solo, but this is something I will work on going forward in my independent rehearsal.

Thursday 1/5/2025

This is the first full run-through of the setlist we did, this is the setlist from the top through to Basket Case, this was our last opportunity to rehearse in college before the day of the show, I think this went really well, I think the first two songs sound excellent, except perhaps the ending of Moonage Daydream, which we have discussed and are currently working on, I also filled in on bass on Wildflower in Justin's absence, as well as on a few other songs that were not filmed from this day.

Tuesday 6/5/2025 - SHOW DAY

I am really pleased with how the first two songs went down on the night of our performance, I was really pleased with the transition into Moonage Daydream, I thought all of our performances were really solid and that we sounded really tight, for my own personal performance, I'm happy with my guitar tone and playing, my vocals perhaps could've been a bit better but on the whole it sounded really good and I am pleased with it, the ending to Moonage Daydream sounded top notch as well, I think this showed off me fronting a band really well.

I'm also quite pleased with I don't wanna be me, although there was a slight mistake in the guitar solo due to drums I think it showed how we'd recover really well throughout different points in the show, I am pretty happy with my guitar playing on this tune.

I'm really happy with how this song went down, the guitar tone on it was really dirty and I had fun playing it, it was received really well and I thought our stage presence was really good.

I really enjoyed performing Basket Case, and I think it was one of the best songs on the night, I again really enjoyed fronting a band and I felt my performance was energetic and fun, my vocals and guitar playing were both pretty solid and I served the song well.

I thought Teen Spirit was pretty solid on the night, I can really fault much about it except for my G string going out of tune during the guitar solo, otherwise it was a pretty solid performance and I thought the stage was lively and exciting with good stage presence all around.

I am really happy with how Brianstorm came together, with the exception of one mistake that Grindy made in the second verse, it sounded really tight and I'm really happy with my guitar playing and performance, overall the whole track sounded really good.

I'm fairly happy with Breed, although my voice gave out during the second chorus, I picked it up again towards the end which I was very happy with, we sound really tight and I'm pretty happy with our performance.

This was my personal favourite when performing on the night, Dakota's voice sounded wonderful and I believed I accompanied her fairly well, I thought that all the dynamics sounded spot on and that the track was one of the best of the night.

I was very excited to perform this one with Charlie, and I thought it went very well, we accompanied each other well and I enjoyed performing it.

I really enjoyed performing Ocean Eyes, it allowed me to take a step back and accompany a full band, I thought it sounded really good and that my guitar tone suited the song well.

Finally, we have Mamma Mia, this one really came together quite well, and I'm pretty happy with my guitar solo I ended up putting together for it, everything went really well and the energy coming off-stage was really great and topped off a fantastic evening.

Composition

Sneaky EJamie Wilde

00:00 / 02:02

This is the tape delay settings for the rhythm guitar on the track, I only wanted a tight slap on the echo so that it could fatten up the sound of the track.

This is the distortion on the rhythm guitar, it's not too dirty but it has a heavy and bassy sound to it.

This is the EQ on the rhythm guitar, I added a lot of low end frequencies for a chunkier rhythm part and removed some of the top end so that it wouldn't clash with the lead line.

This is the entire track, as you can see there is a lead guitar track (which I copied for the solo), a bass track, a rhythm guitar track, and MIDI drums.

These are my EQ settings for the lead guitar and solo parts, I removed a good chunk of the bottom end and some of the mids for a really distorted and high end frequency lead line.

These are my EQ settings for the bass part, you can see that I've boosted the mids and removed a chunk of the bottom end.