So after countless attempts, I managed to get a fairly decent take of this, my first complete cover performed on the Stick. The Frail, a short instrumental by my favorite (one-man) band, nine inch nails.



Some details about the recording:

I recorded the audio with GarageBand, and the video with iMovie, simultaneously. Then I exported the video, imported it into GarageBand, synced the audio, removed the audio track from the video, did a little post-processing on the audio (reverb, chorus), and finally re-imported to iMovie for final editing (trim, fadeout). It's a little extra work, but I think the audio quality is worth the effort. I've recorded a couple of videos with PhotoBooth and iMovie but using the built-in mic and the sound is terminally crappy.

Now I must keep practicing for a decade or so until I can play without making so many mistakes...

Very nice! The recording is excellent. And don't be so hard on yourself about mistakes. A long time ago my violin teacher told me that most musicians make more of a fuss over their mistakes than the audience does... because most times the audience doesn't know you made a mistake.

Right, thanks! My bass teacher tells me that you somehow know when you're about to make a mistake... when you're in that place it's almost certain that you're going to make the mistake, no time to avoid it, but sometimes you can have enough time to choose between hitting the wrong note on time, or hitting the right note out of time. Always go for the time; only people with a more musical ear with notice the wrong note, but everybody is going to notice (even unconsciously) when you play out of time.

This is especially important when playing bass, and of course there's a lot of that when playing the Stick...

Exactly. I used to make a face when I made a mistake... and that was the wrong thing to do because everyone knew that I blew it. Now if I make a mistake I don't give it away to everyone... however sometimes I can't help but scan the audience looking for people who are shaking their heads in disapproval... you can always tell the musicians in the crowd.

Everytime I make a mistake I like to turn and glare at the drummer...like it was his fault...lol. or kick the amp...that works too. Most importantly...remember that we need wrong notes to fully appreciate the right ones. If everything was perfect you would have no way to realize it. Your mistakes now will help you realise what you have accomplished later. Keep up the good work sir...and keep sharing your milestones.

Enrique,
Great job on a NIN tune! Our hometown boy, (Michael) Trent Reznor from Mercer, PA would be proud. There is a picture on the web of him in a Mercer HS Marching Band uniform with a big M on his chest. Downward Spiral was one of the most amazing mind opening tours I have ever seen. Trent did it all from sequencing to lighting to programming, rumour right before the show to tweak it better.

Thank you for proving again a great song is a great song. When it can be stripped down to melody and bass/chords and it still works, then it truly is a great song. no bells no whistles.

You are now part of the artists who did this. Johnny Cash's version of Hurt comes to mind.

Thank you so much for posting, and have fun and play.

What is the audience going to do, bite you?
take care,
Dave Brosky

Sounds great Enrique, good show. Fun to hear others thoughts on how to handle a clam. I didn't hear any mess ups, I guess that says something about me ears

Thanks for sharing your production tricks, I may try to save time next week to try out what you have shared in your initial post. Looking forward to hearing / seeing more tunes from you.

You obviously haven't played in some of the places I have.

Thank you all for your kind words. Now I really feel motivated to tackle something more intricate, which I really hope works. Since before I got the Stick I kept thinking about what songs I might play on it, which is my preferred way of becoming familiar with a new instrument. And NIN's La Mer came to mind, since I absolutely love that piece and I used to play it in piano. Losing Hope is another candidate; I'll need to use loops of course but not too much I hope.

I also don't want to spend too much time transcribing songs to the Stick; fun as it is, with limited time it might be better to just start making music. Which is way harder for me since I'm not much of a composer, but who knows? With such an expressive instrument as the Stick, I might achieve something I couldn't before...