He wanted to know what you think about his picking, not necessarily the vocals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_eQZ2_I8bA
DonM

I think that like many of us old timers he has been really great in his best days and still does a fair job of picken.
Bill

hey RUSS did a great job hope to see more from him....NICE!

Fantastic! Great 'pickin' and (what a suprise) great vocals. Russ has a voice; who'd a thunk it. And the song selection; superb. All would make my top 20, and some my top 10. Great job, Russ.

chas

PS: Hey, ditch that arranger and get back to your roots .

Russ, I enjoyed "both" the guitar playing AND your vocals, and the tunes selections weren't bad either.
yeah,these are all among my all time favorite tunes.

What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life
Someone To Watch Over Me
Here, There and Everywhere

Would love to hear you perform these tunes on the arranger keyboard now.

Russ...my opinion is right up there with the rest.

Lovely playing...obviously you really put a lot of feeling in your music.

More please.

Ian

... why am I NOT surprised ?!?!? ... GREAT job, Russ ... love the timbre of the low register of your voice ... how about you cut a CD for us ... I could only listen to this music for a few hours at a time ...
I need some of this for my iPOD !!!

Thanks, all...especially my friend Don for the slightly deceptive posting.


Here's what's going on. I was cut badly 2 1/2 years ago in a robbery that left me with massive damage in my left hand and arm. I have almost unbearable, continuous pain in my left hand whenever I use it, combined with no feeling in my fingers.

Believe it or not, the lack of localized feeling is a bigger problem than the pain. I have to visually watch my left hand to compensate for the lost "ques" you get from touching the frets and wood.

I have had two surgeries I didn't tell anyone here about. I practiced until I couldn't everyday, until I did more damage. My Dr. told me that if i didn't watch it, I would do so much damage I couldn't ever play ANY INSTRUMENT again.

Needless to say, my attitude has been in the toilet for several years.

Then, I developed a plan. I decided to take 15 minutes and set up a simple video/audio recording system. I sat down with no retakes and "flubs" and all, recorded 15 minutes of material off the top of my head. Then, I eliminated enough material to get under 10 minutes so I could post it on YouTube. This would be as close as I could get to seeing how I would do "live".

When it was done, I thought I was at about 10-15% of where I was before the cutting. I was really disappointed. Live, since the incident, all I've done is play a couple of guitar songs a set on nylon string.

So, I figured I'd swallow my pride, post it and see if anyone thought it was good enough.

My most enjoyable jobs are usually 1 hour, just on guitar, before a dinner. It's a challenge and so enjoyable.

What you see here is where I am today. Your responses give me the courage to continue to try to improve.

And while I know I'll never be anywhere close to where I once was, I'll still be doing something that touches me so deeply...something I feared was completely gone.


Rest assured, 6 months from now, I'll do an actual session. This was a done on a guitar I just got but only played for 20 minutes-total-a cool Guild X-150, an old Audio Technics mic, a 20 year old Carvin Mono head, a Sans-amp (too lazy to bring out a real guitar amp) played into one track of a Zoom H-2...no mixing, effects, eq., etc.

Your nice words will give me the strength to deal with the permanent limitations and get back to where playing guitar is fun and fulfilling.


Thanks, all,


Russ

THIS is why I LOVE this place ... ...and I realize this has nothing to do with arrangers, but it IS music ...

Guys, this was done yesterday in the back of my warehouse. I didn't sleep much waiting for Don to post it. The fact that I wanted your reaction to factor into the decision to continue or not is a show of much respect by me for the folks here.

And, Chas, GREAT PHOTO! Just as I remembered you (FUNNY AS HELL)!


Best PERSONAL Regards and appreciation,


R.