Dan Becker's Music and Guitars Site
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Welcome

Welcome to Dan Becker's Guitars and Music Site, a personal web site with articles on playing the guitar, music theory, guitar chords and scales, performances, technical investigations, and helpful hints. This page contains a listing of recordings of personal performances. The Guitars home page is the parent page of this document, and the Music Charts page is a commonly requested page on this site.

Performances

Following is a list of performances, both live and studio. OK, I'm going out on a limb here. Beginning guitar player. Not a great singing voice. But I hope one day we can look back on this, and it will all be funny.

  • 2016/02/15 - Dan plays an original song Dirty Dishes. It started with some jazzy chords, but then with the piano solo, it ended up sounding like a Burt Bacharach tune. Oh well, I guess Burt has implanted a chest splitting alien in me.
  • 2014/07/14 - Bonus track! Here is a video of "Bill Me Later" playing Iggy Pop - Home.
  • 2014/06/21 - Here are "Bill Me Later" (Steve Sturtevant - guitar, Ed Kuhn - Bass, Bob Russin - drums/vox, Dan Becker - vox/guitar) playing a song at Hoggepalooza 2014. Many thanks to our hosts the Hogge family, spectators, and families who supported us. Here are a few links to videos of songs:

  • 2014/02/23 - Dan and Aaron Hernandez play a song No Job Today. We always enjoyed playing guitar together, so my highly talented nephew and I decided to make a song. It started with a melody Aaron had written. Then Aaron added some improv guitar. Dan added the harmonica and the bass. Together we created the lyrics probably based on the fact that Aaron was in Austin interviewing for a job.

    The guitar is a Fender Tele through a Marshall JCM800 and Fender creamback. The mics are MXL860 ribbon on the guitar and Shrure Beta57A on the vocals.

  • 2014/01/13 - Dan plays a song Trenchtown Bot. It started out as an original tune, but then I was strongly influenced by Bob Marley's Trenchtown Rock. I give him credit for the melody, but the lyrics, bass, rhythm, and arrangement are me. All instruments (including the highly important güiro and vibra-slap) are done by me.

    The bass and drums are MIDI performances with samples from Kontakt 5, EZDrummer, and OddGrooves. The guitar is a Fender Tele through a clean Vox AC30. The mics are Neumann TLM 49 and MXL 860 ribbon through a FocusRite ISA Two and ART VLA II.

  • 2013/12/19 - Dan plays an original song Submerged. I got a bit spooked by a local news article, a woman's body discovered in a local lake. This song describes some of the events, part true, part fiction. I started this a month ago, so sorry that the release does not fit in with the joy of the season.

    The piano, drums, and bass were laid down with Ignite music software. Guitars and vocals were added on top. Vox Virage and Marshall for the crunch, Fender tele and Vox AC30 for the clean. MXL 860 ribbon on the amps and Shure Beta 57a condensor on the vocals, FocusRite ISA Two and ART VLA II on the preamping. All instruments played by me.

  • 2013/11/03 - Dan plays an original song Curious Night. This was a kind of spooky song based on some foggy nights with strange animals and nature sightings. All instruments played by me. It is funny how a song starts out with one thing (finger picked guitar), and ends up sound like another thing (harmonica and hammond organ).

    This again is the Shure Beta 57a condensor mic, but it is fed into a FocusRite ISA Two preamp. All the plugin effects (compressor, reverb, eq) are FocusRite also. I like the sound. The drums and organs are MIDI instruments, but the rest are the usual acoustic/electric subjects: Martin guitar, Eastwood bass, Hohner harmonica, etc.

  • 2013/09/17 - Dan plays an original song Summertime. It was a lazy hot summer here in Austin, Texas. So I wrote a song about what I liked about summer. Just in time for the end of summer! All instruments played by me. I enjoy the clean guitar finger-picking and the xaphoons. I still want to improve my vocals. See if you can guess the origin of the surprize ending.

    Vocals recorded on a Shure Beta 57a fed into a Presonus Bluetube V2 preamp. I wanted to get a vintage tube sound, but perhaps I drove the tube a little too much. The guitars are a Fender Tele and a Martin recorded via an MXL 860 ribbon. I really like that mic for any guitar sound. The bass is the Eastwood Hi-Flyer through the a Vox AC30/Alnico blue combo. The drums are EZ Drummer Americana Fibes kit, recorded here in Austin. I like all those drum samples, but a real drummer can accomodate by time-moving skills much better. And the xaphoons have a great alto sax sound to me. I wish I had more time to be better, but then I would never get a song out.

  • 2013/04/27 - Dan plays an original song Turn Out the Light. This song was inspired by some James Brown riffs. It was also inspired by my neighbor who lights up their backyard like a prison and also the million LED lights that never shut off.

    The mic is a Shure Beta 57a which sounds pretty good with my voice. The guitars are a Vox Virage, Fender Telecaster, and Eastwood Hi-Flyer, all recorded with an MXL 860 ribbon mic. The drums are ToonTrack EZDrummer drums. And that's me on the dueling saxophones, recorded also with the Shure Beta 57a.

  • 2013/03/31 - Dan plays an original song I Heard Coyotes Cry. This was inspired by some coyotes I heard singing while running one morning. Some say the coyotes are better singers than me!

    I wanted some twangy guitar sounds, so there is a Fender Tele with tremolo in there. That's a vox AC-30 providing the overdrive guitar sound. I used an MXL ribbon on the amps and a Shure Beta 57 on my voice. The bass is my Eastwood Hi-Flyer.

    The coyote songs include some recordings of our dog Mabel, who is not a coyote, but sings like one when she wrestles with her big brother Mookie.

  • 2013/01/31 - Here is a lip-sync video of our work house band "Bill Me Later" playing a cover of the Black Keys' Gold on the Ceiling. You get to see some nice shots of the eBay/PayPal site in Austin, TX.

    Priyank Shah (vocals), Steve Sturtevant (lead guitar), Dan Becker (rhthym guitar, harmonica), Ed Kuhn (bass), Bob Russin (drums). Links take you to our videos stored on Google Drive.

  • 2012/11/11 - Dan plays an original song Here Comes Sandy. This is a tribute to people who endured Hurricane Sandy which hit 2012/10/29 in the U.S. northeast. I tried to recognize people's struggles, helpfulness, and optimism in the many days of no water, power, or gasoline after the storm. Here's hoping the song lifts their spirits and serves as a memento of the event.

    The song construction started with a simple percussion backing, electric and acoustic rhythm guitars. These are nearly lost and inaudible by the final mix. Then I added a melodica and toy piano which endlessley fascinate my dog Mabel. The vocals are done on a rather husky sounding Shure 87A mic. Finally, the drums and bass are MIDI instruments courtesy of Native Instruments.

  • 2012/03/18 - Dan plays an original song Bacharach Attack. This song developed from some nice chords I recorded a few months ago. I revisited the chords and thought they sounded a bit like a Burt Bacarach song. So I developed some lyrics about Bacharach and Hal David's songs and the people that sang them. Then I thought it needed some piano, horns, and violins, just like a real Bacharach song.

    I get a laugh the way the song gets a bit more tense as the Bacharach songs will not leave. I also like the rhyme of the female singer names.

  • 2012/01/30 - Dan plays an original song Bootser Bear. This is a standard blue progression song with some verses about Mookie, Satchmo, and Harriet and feature Dan on all instruments. For the 3 solos I did electric guitar, xaphoon, and melodica. The xaphoon has a saxaphone sound, but you finger it like a tin whistle. The solo makes me laugh because it honks, squeeks, and meanders all over the place. The melodica is a wind powered keyboard, also known as a hooter-phone. It has a cheap electric organ sound, so I doubled up two takes as if two melodicians were having a grand hooter-phone battle.

  • 2011/10/16 - Here are some highlights from the Pedal Effects Performances page.

  • 2011/07/24 - Dan plays an original song Tsurf Tsunami. This song is inspired by some surf music I have been listeneing to. Drenched in reverb and tremolo. Being from New Jersey, I had to add some glockenspiel to it.
  • 2011/07/17 - Dan plays an original song Time Is Moving Slow. Another Sunday session on the Zoom R16 multitrack recorder. Martin acoustic guitar. Vox with tremolo through the Otto amp. New Neumann mic for the vocals and harmonica. This has a slow mellow feel. Perfect for a hot summer day.
  • 2011/07/10 - Following are demos of More Otto Amp Mods:
    • E Major - this is an E major scale and played on the both the neck and bridge pickups, clean, with low drive and low volume.
    • G Minor - this is an G minor scale and played on the both the neck and bridge pickups, overdriven with lots of preamp distortion.
    • D Sevenths Harmonized - this is a set of harmonized D chords (I-ii-iii-IV-V7-vi-vii°-I) played on the top 4 strings clean with no overdrive.
    • E Sevenths Harmonized - this is a set of harmonized E chords (I-ii-iii-IV-V7-vi-vii°-I) played on the lower 4 strings with lots of overdrive. scale and chord played on the neck pickup, clean, with low drive and low volume.
    • Dan's cover or Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered - this the guitar part of a section of the song. My favorite part is the descending sets of E chords that end in the full open E leading to the next verse.
    • Dan's cover of Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On? - this the guitar part of a section of the song. Just a little bit of overdrive and break up on the hard strikes.

  • 2011/05/01 - Dan plays an original song Rolling and Rolling. The basic tracks went down in a couple of hours on the Zoom R16: clean Vox guitar through the Otto amp, dirty Vox guitar through the Vox AC4, vocals and harmonica through an MXL 2003a microphone. Even though the song sounded pretty good, I decided to get rid of the drum tracks and add a MIDI drum and bass track. Sheesh, the lousy software editing took about 6 hours more! The first 95% complete in 2 hours and the last 5% taking an additional 6 hours. Oh well. I was happy the harmonica solo went down in one take.

  • 2011/01/30 - The following are demos of the power-scaled Otto Amp, a scratch built 8 watt amp:
    • 2011/02/05 - E Major neck clean - this is an E major scale and chord played on the Otto neck pickup, clean, with low drive and low volume.
    • 2011/02/05 - G Minor bridge clean - this is a G Minor scale and chord played on the Otto bridge pickup, clean, with low drive and low volume.
    • 2011/02/05 - Rehab clean - this is a portion of Amy Winehouse's Rehab played cleanly on the Otto with low drive and low volume.
    • 2011/02/05 - Here Comes A Regular driven - this is a portion of the Replacement's Here Comes a Regular played on the Otto with some drive at higher volume.
    • 2011/02/05 - Peggy Sue cranked - this is a portion of the Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue cranked on the Otto at middle volume.

  • 2011/01/22 - Dan plays an original song I Ain't Got No Paints. My cow-orker friend Nick loaned me an eclectric Epiphone mandolin, so I had to write a song featuring mandolin. Both mandolin and lead guitar are pumped through the Vox AC15CCX. Most vocals and acoustic instruments are recorded through a Behringer C-1, Shure SM Beta 58 or SM Beta 57 microphone. Drums and bass are midi creations played through Cakewalk TTS1 sound samples. Tracks were captured with the Zoom R16 multitrack recorder.
  • 2011/01/01 - Dan plays an original song Thor. This is me having fun spitting out as many Thor facts as I could in a 3 minute song. If you cannot hear them all, it is because my voice is not the greatest, so I did not mix it too prominently. Distorted rhythm guitar is from a Vox Virage through my Vox AC4. Lead guitar is the Vox Virage through the Vox AC15CCX. Drums are from a Roland SPD-30.
  • 2010/12/31 - Dan plays an original song Is This My Home?. It's a simple I-IV-V type song. With hind-sight, I think it sounds like "No Other Baby" (1957) by Dickie Bishop and The Sidekicks, but hey, that's a kind of music I really like. This is just a simple song I wrote after a nice quiet early morning run with just the dogs. The rhythm guitar is a Martin OM-1 through a Shure Beta 57A microphone.
  • 2010/12/12 - Dan plays an original song Dudley's Out of Key.

    As I practice guitar, I write down ideas, snippets, and chord progressions. I was reviewing my snippets, and I decided I liked the sound of this chord progression. This snippet had the title of "Dudley's Out of Key", but no lyrics, so I decided to build on that, and this full song is the result. Any similarity to real-life Dudleys is unintentional. Actually, I ran it by the real-life Dudley that I pratice with regularly, and he got a laugh from it too, so that is cool.

    I am happy with the rhythm guitar, the harmonica, and the overall mix. I get a laugh from the backup vocals and the duck calls in the background, they were intended to be funny. I still need to work on my guitar leads and lead vocals.

    Tracks were recorded with a few takes live to a Zoom R16 mostly through a Shure Beta 57 dynamic mic for instruments and a Behringer B-1 condensor mic for vocals. On the previous song notes I mentioned that the gain levels were low, and I had to crank the gains, and the noise floor came up. I found I had a bad microphone cable, so I replaced that for this song, and now the gains were normal, and the noise level was much better.

  • 2010/11/25 - Dan plays OMC's How Bizarre.

    Here I am playing the OMC 1996 song "How Bizarre". My goal was to record fast and get something done in one afternoon. There are two acoustic guitar tracks, lead and rhythm. Listen for two harmonica tracks which replace the trumpets. The percussion is from an Alesis Performance Pad, claves, and a shaker. The vocal tracks are my lead and two backup tracks, one which has been doubled by a DigiTech Vocalist Live 2. Tracks were recorded with few takes live to a Zoom R16. No MIDI was used on this song.

    I liked the way the guitars came out although the lead in the second verse has some mistakes. The harmonica sounds good to me as well. I don't like how the DigiTech Vocalist sounds on the backups - too robotic and fake. Also I had some trouble with the Shure Beta 58s for vocals. The levels are low, so I had to crank the Zoom R16 gains, and the noise floor comes up a bit.

    In all I am happy with the result. This quick experiment helped me iron out a workflow which works for me. I'll be doing more recordings with this process.

  • 2010/06/27 - The following are demos of the power-scaled Vox AC4 TVH, a 4 watt monstrosity:
    • 2010/06/27 - E Minor clean neck - this is an E minorscale and chords played on the neck pickup, clean, with low drive and low volume.
    • 2010/06/27 - A Minor dirty bridge - this is an A minorscale and chords played on the bridge pickup, dirty, with higher drive and high volume.
    • 2010/06/27 - Smokey Robinson's My Girl - this is a few chordsfrom Smokey Robinson's "My Girl", played cleanly at lower volume levels.
    • 2010/06/27 - Tom Petty's Here Comes My Girl - this is a few chordsfrom Tom Petty's "Here Comes My Girl", played with a lot of drive, and the power scaling ofthe output tub turned down, so there is a bit of overdrive at lower volume levels.
    • 2010/06/27 - Paul Westerberg's Sadly Beautiful - this is a few chordsfrom Paul Westerberg's "Sadly Beautiful", played with a lot of reverb from a Tech 21 NYC reverb pedal.

  • 2010/04/11 - The following are demos of the Otto amp, an 8 watt Ardmore tube amp from a kit:
    • 2010/04/11 - Clean neck - this is a simple E majorscale played on the neck pickup, clean, with low drive and low volume.Listen to the sustain on the final note.
    • 2010/04/11 - Clean bridge - this is a G minorscale played on the bridge pickup, clean, with low drive and low volume.
    • 2010/04/11 - I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down - this is the Homer Banks/Allen Jones song recorded by Elvis Costello in 1980played cleanly through both pickups.
    • 2010/04/11 - London Calling - this is the opening of London Calling by the Clash. The amplifier is being drivento give it that dirty dirty overdrive.
    • 2010/04/11 - Should I Stay or Should I Go? - this is the Clash song with a bit of overdrive and a Tech 21 reverb pedal in front.It sounds pretty roomy.

  • 2010/02/20 - The following are some demos of a modded Vox AC15CC amplifier:
    • 2010/02/20 - Clean neck - major scales and chords, low preamp drive, guitar neck pickup. A demo of the Vox AC15CCX clean sounds.
    • 2010/02/20 - Clean bridge - major scales and chords, low preamp drive, guitar bridge pickup. A demo of the Vox AC15CCX clean sounds.
    • 2010/02/20 - Reverb - Dan's original song, moderate reverb, both guitar pickups. A demo of the Vox AC15CCX reverb sounds.
    • 2010/02/20 - Tremolo - Lucy in the Skies, groovy tremolo, both guitar pickups. A demo of the Vox AC15CCX tremolo
    • 2010/02/20 - Dirty drive - Sexy Sadie, maximum preamp drive, both guitar pickups. A demo of the Vox AC15CCX overdrive sounds.

  • 2009/08/22 - Dan plays The Beatles' We Can Work It Out (with vocals) and We Can Work It Out(without vocals).

    That's me on all instruments. I am happiest with the guitar playing - live clean Epiphone Casino. I don't play much keyboards, but that's me on MIDI keyboards for harmonium and bass guitar. I also play a Yamaha DD-65 MIDI drumset. I also play a shaker egg and tambourine. The vocals are one reverbed track and two clean falsetto backup tracks. Oh well, a fun first attempt. I will be trying more later.

If you like these articles on guitars and music, and you find a site that might be helpful in explaining how the guitar or music works, please send it to me, and I will share it with all the readers.

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Last modified: Sunday, 28-Apr-2019 14:08:04 MST.