Feedback

[walter327]

I'm not trying to be a jerk or make anyone mad. But, I've noticed that Taxi members, in many cases, want feedback but don't want to give it. I have an entry in "Shameless Self-Promotion" asking for some collaboration/opinions. It has gotten about 30 reads, yet not one reply. I try my best to listen and reply fairly often. It's only fair, and I try to be a good Taxi-buddy. So, what's up? Is my stuff "THAT" bad and no one wants to help? Are folks having problems getting on the site to listen?As far as those who cared and shared about my medical adventure thus far, this ain't, of course, about y'all. In here, I try to give helpful feedback, assist with lyrics when asked and be constructive with any criticism. Am I wrong to expect the same from fellow members?Not angry. Just don't understand.

[hummingbird]

Quote:I'm not trying to be a jerk or make anyone mad. But, I've noticed that Taxi members, in many cases, want feedback but don't want to give it. I have an entry in "Shameless Self-Promotion" asking for some collaboration/opinions. It has gotten about 30 reads, yet not one reply. I try my best to listen and reply fairly often. It's only fair, and I try to be a good Taxi-buddy. So, what's up? Is my stuff "THAT" bad and no one wants to help? Are folks having problems getting on the site to listen?As far as those who cared and shared about my medical adventure thus far, this ain't, of course, about y'all. In here, I try to give helpful feedback, assist with lyrics when asked and be constructive with any criticism. Am I wrong to expect the same from fellow members?Not angry. Just don't understand. Hi Walter - I never saw your original post, but I think one reason why you aren't getting replies is that you posted in the wrong section. "SSP" is for announcing stuff you've done (like winning a songwriting contest) or that you're playing somewhere. With this post, you didn't include your info, so I had go find your other post, and then link to your site. But when I link, all the songs there have music... so I'm confused as to what you want. A co-writer to write music for your lyrics? A producer to create demos for your songs? Feedback on what you're doing? It's not clear to me.For collaboration, I'd post in Collaboration Corner. Or, even better, post a lyric or two in Lyric Lovers and say you are looking for a musician to collaborate with. In addition, most musicians have preferences in terms of genre, so it's nice if you can post your target market with the lyric. No point in a country writer contacting you if you do hip hop, for example. I have worked with folks here, and on Just Plain Folks ( http://www.justplainfolks.org ), and a couple of other sites. You might also check out http://www.theopenproject.comhope that helps,cheersHummin'bird(PS - Gordon Lightfoot always has been an inspiration to me. You do sound like him Guitar playing is really nice too.)

[gundersen]

Walter, I had to go find your site in SSP. I just listened to "The Gift" The vocals and guitar picking are very nice...I like them the way they are...However, I did notice that there was not a noticable difference between the verse and chorus. One suggestion would be to add a strumming guitar in the chorus and if you have a bass guit or percussion inst. add it as well. These are things you could do without having to change the arrangement...you're just adding to what you already have. You might also consider adding a harmomy vocal in the chorus...I'm very big on doing that, here is my web site so you can see what I'm talking about as far as adding harmonies to my vocals. www.myspace.com/cliffgundersenI do agree with you..it does seem that people will look at the post and not take the time to give the feedback...and I have been guilty of that myself. I hope this helps. I will listen to some of your other songs and post about them as well. I will post this in SSP as well. One other thing you might want to direct people to one song at a time that way you can get focused feedback on that song...It might be kinda tough to get people to listen to all your songs at once.Take care. Cliff Gundersen

[mikehelms]

Quote:I'm not trying to be a jerk or make anyone mad. But, I've noticed that Taxi members, in many cases, want feedback but don't want to give it. I have an entry in "Shameless Self-Promotion" asking for some collaboration/opinions. It has gotten about 30 reads, yet not one reply. I try my best to listen and reply fairly often. It's only fair, and I try to be a good Taxi-buddy. So, what's up? Is my stuff "THAT" bad and no one wants to help? Are folks having problems getting on the site to listen?As far as those who cared and shared about my medical adventure thus far, this ain't, of course, about y'all. In here, I try to give helpful feedback, assist with lyrics when asked and be constructive with any criticism. Am I wrong to expect the same from fellow members?Not angry. Just don't understand. Hey Walter 'Glad your feelin well enough to wonder what the %&*#$%... I can only speak for myself really... I don't go to the shameless portion very often(wondering why now since it fits me so well) and to answer the why aren't you responding... I personally defer to those whom are more capable.. whether electronically.. computer wise or music wise... there are those here far ahead of what I could possible even think to do for you... All I have is Opinion.. . in this case, As an example: Having now listened to a few of your tracks... this is all I could offer... The Gift" is very inspirational lyrically and vocally.. I like it very much.. but for me what it misses is a dynamic... you pause in a couple of your other songs 'In America' and 'This old home'.. I believe... maybe even in 'Love come Falling'... but that is the only dynamic to any of the songs... You pause and that's good but then you use the same rhythm(playing style) when you come back...I think you could gain some dynamics simply by changing how you play through the progression... try striking through the chord on the one and singing through the chorus or pick a verse to change... you could start on the 2nd chord of the progression and play through for a bridge on a couple..Your vocals are pretty good so have some faith in them and use them as the second instrument.. let the vocals carry the verse or bridge and play the guitar a little sparser or pick through..It's a common thing amongs't some of us ( and I do include myself in this) but we play folk-see" with the same playing pattern,, and miss much of the opportunity to allow the song or music to breath and thusly add some dynamics..But I'm lucky enough to have some friends who have no problem pointing some of this stuff out... least wise thats all I could offer... Is my opinion... Hope I made sense and didn't just Ramble On... I do honestly have some of the same issues when I write.. And then when I get to adding more pieces I have to cut back how much strumming I do other wise the sound becomes this jumbled mass of noxious noise ( hell maybe thats just me and it starts that way)... anyhow to close" finally.. You have at least two instruments at your disposal that I can see.. Your Guitar and your Voice... use them Both' to enhance the other' not rely or cover... Check ya .. Laters, PeaceMichael

[gundersen]

Walter, as promised I listened to another song...this time it was in "In America"...remnded me of Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". Has potential as a cool folksong. As you pointed out in the SSP post the recording could be better...so we won't go there. Again I did not hear a big difference between the verse and chorus. I'm not big on telling people to rearrange their songs...so I'm not going to tell you to do that. As in the previous post I do believe by adding things to the mix you can create changes. At the very least...maybe this will prompt others to add their ideas to assist. Peace, Gundersen

[allends]

Hi Walter,I also listened to a few of your songs. I don't write lyrics worth recording but I wish I did, so you're ahead of me friend! In an attempt to remedy this, I am reading Jason Blume's "6 Steps To Songwriting Success". I think you could grow tremendously as a songwriter by comparing your songs against the standards expounded in the book (IMHO). For example: I personally feel that your writing is 1) very poetic and 2) openly attempts to teach lessons. Jason Blume makes important observations about both of these writing traits. I believe you will benefit greatly from Jason's pointers on these two subjects!I would be interested to know if you are presenting ourself as either a singer/songwriter or a writer of songs for other's to perform. There's a huge difference between the two and knowing that would help us give you the advice that you deserve.RE: Your original post "Songs waiting for wings"...I would say that the main reason you did not receive feedback on your songs is that you asked the members to comment on your entire portfolio rather than one song at a time. I did that too a while back and it turned out that it was a lot to ask. On the other hand, in your post "Lend me your ears" you asked for feedback on only one song and you received some good feedback. I am finding that is how it works best in this forum.Best Regards,Allen

[hummingbird]

Quote:RE: Your original post "Songs waiting for wings"...I would say that the main reason you did not receive feedback on your songs is that you asked the members to comment on your entire portfolio rather than one song at a time. I did that too a while back and it turned out that it was a lot to ask. On the other hand, in your post "Lend me your ears" you asked for feedback on only one song and you received some good feedback. I am finding that is how it works best in this forum.This is a good point. Writing feedback for more than one song is very time-consuming, so it's best to ask for feedback on only one in each post if you can.

[Casey H]

Hi WalterPlease drop me a PM or email with a link to a song and lyrics... It may take me a few days- I have 2 very busy days ahead on the day job, but I promise to get to it.CheersCasey