After I made this video Saturday morning, I have to admit I wasn't pleased. I really didn't like the way I played and I was rather bummed. But after watching it a few times, I've realized that it's not nearly as bad as I thought, and a lot of the problems are from the way it was put together.
I tried something new with this video. For my other practice videos, I played through my amp and let the built-in microphone pick everything up - that includes the backing track, which I played on my iPod through the amp's MP3 input. This time, I plugged my DigiTech RP90 right into the laptop input. Originally, I recorded the final prodct in GarageBand and planned on replacing the audio. But when I played the captured video in iMovie, my guitar sounded pretty good so I decided to add the backing track in and sync it with my playing.
That's the big issue with this video - I don't think I synced it perfectly so I'm a little off the whole time. It makes my playing sound much worse because it seems like I can't play in time with the music. The backing track, too, leaves a lot to be desired. I wanted to use a backing track so that I wouldn't be fighting with Alex's guitar playing - I wanted to hear how I sounded on my own. The free YYZ backing track I found on the 'Net is extraordinarily horrendous, but it does the job.
So now, for the good and the bad. The good: I nailed the solo, which I've had issues with in the past. The bad: I screwed up two parts of the song. I messed up one of the reggae-inspired chord progressions and I hit the wrong opening note in the post-solo bridge. In the end I didn't do a bad job, but you can be the judge!
