August 2024 challenge response Martin W

[Martin W]

Hi folks , my submission for this month
I went with a standalone composition in drop d tuning consisting of an intro ,the riff / hook , some D min pentatonic licks/fills and a variation of the riff as an ending.
The main riff /hook is a a simple descending run from A G F E D ,played on the bass strings , I changed the cadence on the two middle sections to add some variety.
Look forward to listening to everyone’s ideas .

Martin

[John H]

Amazing tone quality, haunting yet melodic. Martin, I appreciate how you switch from the drone of low E, then flat-pick so eloquently up and down the fingerboard. Stunningly beautiful. A great submission!

JH

[Jennifer D]

Oh that was beautiful, I could listen to that all night!

[Jeff]

So kool! Kinda has an old western vibe! Like a walk under a sunset in the outro of a movie as the hero once again having vanquished the bad guys, leaving town to parts unknown.

Too old for rock and roll but too young to die

[Michael L]

This was great Martin! You know those moments in concerts where the whole band leaves the stage, except for the acoustic guitarist. The lights go down and the soloist is alone in the spotlight, and a tune like this comes out. The crowd goes wild!

[JoeD1]

That is a great composition, flawlessly played, with top notch tone. Great job Martin!

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[AndréM]

Amazing composition.
Could be a theme for a cow-boy movie.
Great tone.

AndréM

AndréM

[sunjamr]

Nice relaxing composition, Martin, and really well played. And you played it with a pick, which makes it yet more difficult.

Sunjamr Steve

[Dieter]

Wow, wonderful blues feeling and picking. Really great!

Dieter

[Manfred M]

This is a wonderful crafted composition, Martin. And it‘s so atmospheric, that the listener is caught from the first second on. Masterful played with a great acoustic tone.

Take the chance to meet your AM friends on Zoom
The next Meetup is expected to take place in November 2025

There will be a detailed announcement here in the forum in good time.

I look forward to meet you.
Manfred

[Don Patton jr]

Well done Martin !
Your composition centered around your repeating lead line or hook. Great vibe and mellow tone…nice 👍🎶🎵

Don P

[Guido]

Love the drop D tuning and loved you composition, Martin! Very bluesy and haunting, with a wonderful, surprising and suspended ending! Great acoustic tone with a superb recording quality! For sure one of my favourite submissions of this challenge!

Guido

[Mark T]

Masterful playing, Martin – loved the way you went back to the slower tempo section, before picking up the faster one again. It kept the interest, but also gave it an easy, relaxed feel, that was lovely to watch and listen to 👍🎶😎

[Mike W]

Truly excellent Martin – I loved the spaghetti western vibe. I think the magic of it was the way you crafted the melody – I loved it.

[Alan L]

Super cool, haunting and beautiful. Love it!

[Paul S.]

I loved this. I was expecting the sheriff to ride out of the sage brush at any minute and confront the villain.
Beautiful pickin’. It was the bend of the low E that drove it home.

[James B]

You know your way around the drop D tuning, Martin. Another cool original piece. More accolades for your acoustic recordings. They’re always pristine.

James

[Bill]

Super atmospheric Martin. Could be the opening credits to a crime show set in the Deep South. Awesome job!

[charjo]

Bravo, that was beautiful, Martin. I was so impressed with your delicate picking and strumming. There was a freedom in the timing that was very pleasing to the ear. Well done.
John

[Liam Innes]

Wow what a tone!

This reminded me of Ry Cooder.

Super cool my friend.

Loved it.

Liam.

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams. “

[Gary W]

Yep, loved that! Great stuff Martin – what a fab sound. I thought it had shades of Skip James …. brilliant.

Gary

[Tremelow]

Yes, that’s it right there: I would definitely listen to a song with that riff beginning to end. And wanting more. What a full, rich sound Drop D and a bit of reverb creates is amazing. Great job, Martin!

[Werner]

Wonderful, Martin!
Just like Michael said, that’s the perfect piece of music to keep the audience attentive when the guitarist plays alone on stage while the band takes a break. I could easily listen to it again and again!

Werner.

[Laurel C]

Flawless picking. Drop D is a draw card for its drone, like the direction you took with this by giving it a softer approach with the cascading flurry of notes. 👏

[Juxi]

Brillant response to the riff-challenge, Martin! I was caught with the first note and wanted more after the end. Fantastic tone! Hammergeil! 👍🏽👍🏽

Bluesige Grüße
Juxi

[Martyn in France]

Lovely rich sound from that guitar and your playing was excellent, easy to listen to and be carried away to the Delta, or maybe the Somerset levels!
Martyn

[JoLa]

Wow, that sounded fantastic, Martin! You just reminded me how much I love Drop D tuning and I should revisit it more often!!! Such a familiar sound to my ears, looooove it, every note was just impeccable! And so was the recording, clear as crystal and very full in tone.

🎸JoLa

[sciencefiction]

That was a very cool opening riff you came up with, Martin. Love that drop D tuning. Great composition following the riff, played flawlessly. Excellent song arrangement; could have been one of Brian’s weekly lessons. Outstanding!!
Larry

[Tom D]

Hey Martin:
When I read your description I could wait to hear your dropped D composition! And after I heard it, I had to hear it again. Awesome dynamics, nuanced variety, and storytelling in your playing. Loved it. Cheers, Tom

[Pap]

Hey Martin, that was a really cool sounding composition in drop D. It is always a good place to go when looking for that deep bass sound…like the wild west movie type flavor. I like what you did with you chord progression and leads. Well played….and with a pic:) Cheers. Pap

[Scott M]

Fantastic drop D jam flawlessly played with great tone. Well done Martin!

Scott

[Jonathan Amos]

Really enjoyed listening to this. Your guitar sounds amazing, was everything captured by the condenser microphone, no internal pickup? I’ve always got by with an SM58 and an internal pickup on my acoustic guitar but it looks as though you can’t beat a condenser mic.

Jonathan Amos, Matsuyama, Japan

The farther one travels the less one knows.

[Martin W]

Hi Jonathan, thank you for the feedback.
I recorded this with two mics , a shure sm57 on the amp ( acus acoustic)
And an audio technica condenser on the guitar which has a pick up , also I use a fethead mic booster on both mics to give more clean headroom when recording. There is also a host of boss pedals used very subtly to colour the sound , acoustic preamp , reverb, delay , chorus , and eq .

Martin

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