Nov 2025 Challenge – Sunjamr Steve

[sunjamr]

Here in New Zealand, hardly anyone listens to Christmas music because it’s full-on summer for us. I went to a large shopping mall the other day, and some stores had Christmas decorations, but I never heard any Christmas music. Quite different from going to a mall in America. So as a result, I don’t really have any favorite Christmas songs. Instead, I chose a 500 years old English lute song which sounded kind of like Christmas to me, and tried to embellish it a bit.

Sunjamr Steve

[charjo]

Really creative, Steve, and great guitar playing. You surely win for most serene video setting.
John

[Michael Krailo]

Wow, great production quality on this one. I would have been happy with the just the guitar part.

Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.

[Juxi]

It did not look but it surely sounded a lot like Christmas, Steve. Great scenery. The layered additions worked very well. I had to laugh when the choir started. Great performance! 👍🏽👍🏽

Bluesige Grüße
Juxi

[JoeD1]

Nice production Steve. It’s a very pretty melody. You layered all the instruments in quite superbly. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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

[Michael L]

You sure captured the Christmas mood Steve. Really nice, and great to hear all the parts layered in. This has a very “Good King Wenceslas” vibe, so right in line with the holiday. Do you do Christmas in July down there?

[AndréM]

OK close to a Christmas song.
But also sound like medieval square dance, lol.
Nice Garden.

Merry Christmas

AndréM

AndréM

[JoLa]

An ancient song with a modern twist! Wonder what the 15th Century folks would have thought about that?
I always enjoy your experimental quests, you’re a living proof how much fun can be had to make your own music with whatever tools are available 🙂
Speaking of tools, was that an AKAI MPK mini or something similar? I thought about getting one of those just for fun.

🎸JoLa

[sunjamr]

It’s an MPK Mini Plus. The cool thing is, it marries with Logic Pro seamlessly. Pretty much Plug’n’Play. I use the Alchemy sampling synth quite a lot, mainly because it’s easy.

Sunjamr Steve

[Alan O]

That Sunjamr band has a lot of talent! Very nice and creative submission. Christmas in summer weather is kind of weird to me, but I’d take it over cold weather!

Alan

[Guido]

The guitar part alone was already brilliant, I love those old tunes/dances and you played it spotlessly, but then those layered parts you added were just beautiful. Great video and submission

Guido

[Werner]

That’s fantastic, Steve, I’m really thrilled. You can hear that it’s a very old musical motif and it fits very well with the Christmas season—at least here in Germany. There may be no snow, but it’s cold enough that you want to retreat to a warm, cosy room and listen to such good music.

Thank you, Werner

[Tremelow]

There is something to medieval music that I like. Your modernization really worked and it sounds like a Christmas carol. The most impressive part was your fingerstyle picking. Maestro!

[Bill]

Thanks for the musical journey through time. Kind of like being visited by the ghost of Christmas past, Christmas electric and Christmas digital?
Have a great summer!

[John H]

Steve
This was a lot of things. Fun, fantastic, well played. I especially enjoyed when the mando came in. A great collaborative effort. Beautifully done.

JH

[Andy N]

500 years old! I think you must have started in the renaissance and ended right up to date with that modern tech. I enjoy the whole process of adding additional layers to things so the behind the scenes view of the production was really entertaining. Standout though was how well you played that initial part. So articulate. Did you record it on your roaming mic?

[sunjamr]

Yes, I recorded the outdoors part on my Zoom H1 Essential. It outputs a WAV file, which I can import into Logic Pro. The trick is, you have to have a metronome app on your iPhone, and listen to that through one Airpod Pro while recording into the Zoom H1. That way, when you import it into Logic, the beat is consistent and matches the Logic metronome which is needed as you add in other instruments.

Sunjamr Steve

[Denise]

That definitely sounded like Christmas music to me. Weihnachtsmusik haha..I can understand that.
Very skillfully played on your acoustic…and I liked the addition of the lute.
The angels were joining too!
Great arrangement and rec quality.
What a beautiful garden, wish it was summer here. It’s only grey and cold here, not even snow.
Enjoy the summer!
Denise

More Blues!

[Ivan]

Nicely done Steve…👍

Ivan

[math07]

It’s refreshing to see the sun and the grass as there is so much snow at my house ahah ! And it’s so cold outside. I liked your performance and the fact that you played many instruments. Well done Steve !

[Alan L]

Cool production and layers, especially the mandolin part. But even the opening guitar as a solo piece is really captivating. Great work!

[Dieter]

A wonderful, imaginative journey into classical music using modern means and set in the southern “white Christmas.”

Dieter

[Manfred M]

This isn’t exactly the kind of setting that gets us Europeans in the Christmas spirit, Steve, but with your music, you definitely manage to do that. And once again, a perfect, wonderful orchestration all by yourself, with a heavenly choir at the end. Wonderful work!

Take the chance to meet your AM friends on Zoom
The next Meetup will be at the beginning of next year 2026

A detailed announcement will be posted here in the forum in good time.

I look forward to meet you.
Manfred

[Martin W]

Good catch with that tune , I agree it does have a Christmas sound , I like the way you’ve layered those instruments in it built up nicely as wasn’t to over the top .
Especially like the mandolin sound it’s so rich , ( one day I’ll get one ) .
Happy summer Christmas to you , it’s cold wet in the uk at the moment.

Martin

[Reuben B]

This is quite a production Steve. Great arrangement of this classic melody. Beautifully played, especially on the guitar part. I enjoyed listening to your take on this one, with layers of instruments to complement the melody.

[Author]

Posts