Week 207: RedEyeZack: October-November Updates

Hi Guys!

I've been back in Barcelona teaching Business English Intensive (Yes, that's my dayjob) and I extended my stay!

PERSONAL STUFF:

At the end of the summer, I moved back to the UK due to lack of regular work in Barcelona. I've finally decided that I think Camden is the best place for me to live in London. I came back out to Barcelona for a teaching assignment for 1 week. Due to fabulous weather, I have extended my stay. I've been recording and mixing and learning about mastering while catching up with friends, musicians, relaxing in the summer climate which is pretty freaky for this time of year. It's always 'next year', a learning curve, where you need to make mistakes and errors before getting on the right train. One that will allow you the summer you deserve, doing what you want to do, being where you want to be or having time to do what you love. I like the analogy of the train, the journey that you experience living on the way... not necesarily the destination.


FREE STUFF:



Just hit 'Buy Now' and enter price '0' and checkout to download.


ORIGINAL SONGS:

I've been churning out a song a week of works in progress.

   




LIVE COVERS: (View in browser if necessary)

To get accustomed to playing live, I've also recorded some live acoustic covers to keep it real and prepare for performing. I meet friends at open mics around the city and play covers like, wish you were here, Imagine, Wonderwall...









My music focus starts on Fridays and through the weekend. Now I'm focusing more on teaching through skype lessons, this helps to pay the rent and keep me flexible to move around more, I really love traveling and look forward to touring in London & Europe next spring. This winter I'm planning to spend 10 days in Dublin with family and check out the local music scene.



INDIA SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL IN GOA :

My friends Dev Om & Meni Prem Shunyam (Yoga/meditation & Life coaching workshops) visited London and invited me to come out to India to play at a festival in GOA this winter. So, I had my first try at composing a tune for Yoga/Meditation. (View in Browser if necessary)





A BIT OF FUN:

This was discovered in a monastery very close to the infamous cubes on the seafront at Barceloneta, Barcelona, Spain. Historians are trying to discover whether it is indeed an original from one of the great masters ' Davinci'. A map was discovered inside the cubes and pointed to a rock venue called Sala Monasterio.

The painting had been hanging in a corner of the stairwell for a number of years until a tourist pointed out that it could indeed be the 'Gothi' masterpiece that had been stolen by vampires on a halloween night in 1742.

This version is so cool!


PLJ

Zack aka RedEyeZack x

Week 195 B: Learning English Through Music

Hi Guys,
I just finished adding a special page to my Destination English website. I had been teaching teenagers these last few summers in Brighton, UK. Every Friday, we would have a kind of farewell concert in the main hall as students would have to say goodbye to their friends who were leaving. 

We spent the week teaching classic songs like; Yesterday, Hey Jude by the Beatles, as well as modern pop songs. Then the class would perform in front of the whole school. Above is a list of some of the other covers I've done. I'm planning to teach these songs as part of TELF. I think we need other ways of engaging students through music.

I've made a page for my music and I'd like to share that with you. I've made special efforts to write subtitles in English and sync them. On YouTube there is a great feature on the settings button at the bottom of the player (It allows you to change the quality and speed of the video/audio). A fantastic tool for learners of English or anyone that's not native. 

I will be adapting the content and adding notes and explanations of the useful expressions that I use. 


Zack

Week 126: Venues & Gigs

Hi Music Lovers!

It's been a busy month. I've moved to an ideal location next to the Arc De Triumph in Barcelona. I've got two gigs booked, one for April 18th and the other for May 4th. I will be preparing an acoustic set for both gigs.

Concerts

Sell music on Amazon at ReverbNation.com

Covers Band Project at BAMM

The covers band is developing well and we now have 9 songs under our belt. Here's the selection of alternative songs for female vocals too, so we should have a full set ready soon.

Original Playlist covers that we are attempting

Social night at Sala Monasterio.

Thursday nights is free Blues Jam Session from 11pm till about 2am! Narani our vocalist from the BAMM Pop/Rock Coversband had just graduated in Mathematics and it was a good excuse for a party.

We caught up with Larry Smith who played a set of rocking songs. Some old friends, new ones and a great friendly atmosphere.

Checkout Larry's awesome guitar playing in this slideshow

Spring is here and we're planning to do some acoustic rehearsals in the Citudella park.

Have a great Easter holiday and looking forward to playing live for you from April!

Zack aka RedEyeZack

Week 123: Covers Progress

Hi Guys!

I was at the Nike FlyKnit product launch this week. It was a beautiful structure and a great piece of engineering. Looks like a great place for a private party. I gonna get me one for my garden! Very interesting promotion, great branding and lots of money to do things properly :)!

It was a productive week for the Pop/Rock CoversBand Project

Songs Practiced:

One Key: C (Original)

Wonderful Life: (Original Em), key Gm (Play Em on 3rd fret)

Mad World: (Original Fm), key of Gm (Play Em on 3rd fret)

Light my fire: In original Key of Am.

We arrived at El Patio Studio at 9.15pm. It was the first time I had seen Luis and we went down to the basement. There were 2 small rooms, a medium sized room and a larger room with a sofa.

The studio was well equipped with amps, cables, mics and mixer.

We set up the mics and positioned the instruments in a circle. By 9.30pm the others were arriving and we began with our first song- One by U2. We played round and round with chords to the verse, Am D F G for 10-15 minutes taking it in turns to enter. I started with the acoustic guitar for 4 bars, then Sheera entered with Ukulele, 4 bars later Luis started with Clean Electric guitar. Then Gustavo came in on the drums, Dom added more rhythm on acoustic guitar 2, Carolyn created bass notes on her trombone, Miquel entered with Acoustic guitar 3 and finally Narani began with the first verse.

We then worked on the chorus C Am F C & finally put the whole song together. It was great because everyone was listening to each other and playing steadily.

2 hours went really quickly and we also did; Light my fire (the doors), Mad World ( Tears for fears), Wonderful Life (Black).

We shared the cost of the large room which was 17e/hour, so it worked out about 3euros each. Much better than going to play in the music bar, cheaper and more productive. We are planning to put a set of 15 songs together then start looking for small venues to make some fun gigs. Great way to join in, sing in English and learn words to great songs.

We look forward to seeing you at our first concert!

Zack & Members of Pop/Rock Coversband at BAMM

Miquel - piano/guitar

Narani - vox

Gustavo - drums

Luis - Electric gtr w/effects

Dom - Rhythmn Gtr

Carolyn - Trombone

Sheera - Ukulele

Tony - Guitar/Vox

Manel M - Acoustic Guitar 2

Guests Singers: Ester Galeote & Elena Mendez  Jose Galeote

Other songs: (Click o song for YouTube video link)

Wicked game (Chris Isaak)

1. Mad World Tears for fears

2. My Immortal Evanescence

3. One U2

4. Stand By Me Ben E. King

5. Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay Otis Redding

6. Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd

7. Wonderful Life Black

8. Wonderwall Oasis

9. Light My Fire The Doors

10. Another Brick in a Wall Pt2 Pink Floyd

11. Hey Jude The Beatles

12. Fields of Gold Sting

13. California Dreaming

14. Angie

15. Mrs. Robinson/ The sound of silence

16. Every Breath You Take Sting

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Week 122: Setting up a Pop/Rock Coversband at BAMM II

Hi Music Lovers!

We had a fantastic evening of live music at El Nostre Raco, (C/ Boria 22, Barcelona, ES) the other week! There was a surprise in store for us too... It made the evening an experience & surprisingly more interesting as well.

Making A Pop/Rock Covers Band

We were about 12 people, 6 musicians and 6 listeners who doubled as our audience & singers. They helped us to select 15 songs from a list of around 50.

We separated into 2 groups. Musicians and audience. We made 2 seperate

lists and then compared them.

Here are the songs the musicians collectively selected: (Click on song for YouTube link)

Another Brick in a Wall Pt2 Pink Floyd

Light My Fire The Doors

Mad World Tears for fears

One U2

Stand By Me Ben E. King

Wonderful Life Black

Wonderwall Oasis

So we started by giving a preview of some of the songs by singing

them. After about 3 songs, a party of about 15-20 people arrived with

5 or 6 classical guitars!

They were a flamenco group called Tuna! Apparently it was their 20

year anniversary party of when they first started the group when they

were jamming  in El Nostre Raco.

They were very loud so we couldn't hear ourselves play. We quickly

selected the next song and began as soon as they had finished. Then

when we finished, they began... It was very funny and like a battle of

the bands! They joined in with our songs and we joined in with theirs.

People have been playing at el Nostre Raco for 37 years.

Related article: Week 118: Setting up a Covers Band

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Week 119: Technology as an Accelerator

Hi Guys!

I wanted to do something simple like a slideshow with all those lovely photos that I´m taking. So I uploaded to FLICKR and embedded to my website and blog. Only problem is that people on mobile devices couldn´t see the slideshows! Then I tried with HTML5 but it didn´t work.

Finally good old YouTube and movie maker (free in windows) gave me this result. I played around a little more and added my guitar audio tracks as background music as well as effects and cool transitions between the pictures. I could also add text to some of the pictures. Finally add intro title and credits at the end and voila! You have a more interesting way of looking at photos.

I'm also preparing some Pink Floyd songs for our Jam session this coming Friday 15th Feb. We are planning some gigs and recordings in the coming months.

Look forward to seeing you there and streaming online in the near future.

Zack a.k.a. RedeyeZack

Here's an interesting reference to technology in music:

David Byrne, founding member of the Talking Heads, label owner, Byrne makes the point that while technological innovation creates efficiency for the savvy artist, technology alone cannot enable you to have a successful career. 

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Week 118: Setting up a covers band

Hi Music Lovers!!

This picture was taken in a cocktail bar called 7Sins!!

It's a great place for my first creative video, very glamourous and stylish (coming in the spring). I'm going to perform my own original songs acoustically in small places in Gracia and play with streaming services, so you can watch the gigs live in the comfort of your own armchair. 

Well it's back to work this month (Feb!) Jan was very slow here in Barcelona. The covers band could be good fun but more than this, it's an incentive to practice on set songs. I've been to 2 rehearsal Jams at BAMM. The 1st was a general Jam & the 2nd was a Beatles Hommage. On Feb 15th we have the Pink Floyd night.

I've put my own list of covers together (see below) and I'm planning to name a date in about 2-3 weeks for the session. Let me know which songs you would most like to hear. Finally we have to select 15 from them.

Let me know if you would like to be involved in any way: zackqureshi@gmail.com 

PLJ 

Zack a.k.a. RedEyeZack

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Week 117: Playing Covers - Beatles Night at BAMM

I joined the Barcelona Amateur Music Makers for their Beatles night. Miquel had printed sheetmusic copies of 6 or 7 songs. Were were a small group of musicians around a piano. It was great to hear the saxophone. We also had guitars, vocals and two ukulele's.

It was fun to sing together. I've always been a big Beatles fan. Here are some pictures and a slideshow of the event. Doing cover versions is a great way to collaborate with other musicians.

It's possible to connect and find common ground when you play songs that you love.

So I've decided to put a covers band together. I'm looking for a core of musicians; Bass, Guitar, piano, percussion. The idea will be to introduce other members of our BAMM community into the coverband to perform in front of friends at small event and house parties.

If you would like to join us then please drop me a line at zackqureshi@gmail.com

Checkout my cover of One featuring Albert Greenlight.

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