Wichita Lineman by Jimmy Webb (cover)

[Glennwillow]

This is my cover of Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman" first published by Glen Campbell in 1968, his first top-10 song. As we enter the new year of 2018, I find myself thinking about Glen Campbell and his legacy a great deal. The guitar is a Gerald Sheppard GA Ave Maria, standard tuning. Thank you for listening!

- Glenn

[Dustinfurlow]

I really need to try this tune out...always loved the chord progressions and melody choices.. great job with it Glenn!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Dustinfurlow

I really need to try this tune out...always loved the chord progressions and melody choices.. great job with it Glenn!

Thanks Dustin! It's a challenging song! You'll have fun with it!

- Glenn

[islandguitar]

Hi Glenn......listened last night but wanted to write this a.m.
Really nice job! Could be that your voice sounds stronger to me? Yes? Perhaps the song brings this out, but I think you sound stronger in this selection.
Always nice to listen......great guitar sound.......more than competitive with your Olson!!
Enjoy the day,
Fred

[Rogerblair]

Very well played and sung, Glenn. I miss those great Jimmy Webb-style songs and performances by Glen Campbell level talent. You did this song very proud, Glenn.
Jimmy and Glen should be smiling.

Roger

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Hi Glenn......listened last night but wanted to write this a.m.
Really nice job! Could be that your voice sounds stronger to me? Yes? Perhaps the song brings this out, but I think you sound stronger in this selection.
Always nice to listen......great guitar sound.......more than competitive with your Olson!!
Enjoy the day,
Fred

Hi Fred,

Thank you for listening and commenting!

Wichita Lineman is a song that takes a lot of air, particularly with the long notes about "...still on the line.............." So it's a challenge to sing, and the only way I could deal with the challenges was to gets lots of air and meter it through my larynx as carefully as I could while I tried to stay on pitch. And the guitar playing for this song is a challenge, also. They are not particularly easy chords and a person's hands and fingers get tired at points in the song, sometimes at the same place where the long notes are.

So I am singing with a fair amount of strength because that's what it takes for me to control my voice at my age and to stay on pitch.

I must say that this song really gets under a person's skin -- or at least my skin -- after singing this a lot over the last week. It's a masterfully crafted song with really interesting chordal changes beneath the music and really fascinating tension in the song lyrics. A song about a guy being responsible about his job and his job demands coupled with the very strong pull of wanting to be with his wife. This is stuff I can really identify with after a lifetime of doing very similar, demanding work while having a wife who was so very supportive through all those years.

Regarding the guitar selection, I went back and forth between the Olson SJ and the Sheppard that you see and hear here. I finally put the Olson down and picked up the Sheppard because it has a thicker neck shape, and I was able to do a better job of playing the guitar solo part of the song more cleanly with the Sheppard. The very thin neck of the Olson made it hard for me to go cleanly from that C11 chord to the Bbmaj7 chord, both barre chords. Probably with more practice, I could have done the solo better on the Olson, too, but I was starting to get a little frustrated about the instrumental solo part.

Thanks again for your thoughts, Fred!

- Glenn

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

This is my cover of Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman" first published by Glen Campbell in 1968, his first top-10 song. As we enter the new year of 2018, I find myself thinking about Glen Campbell and his legacy a great deal. The guitar is a Gerald Sheppard GA Ave Maria, standard tuning. Thank you for listening!

- Glenn

Excellent singing and playing! Thanks Glenn, you just made my day!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Rogerblair

Very well played and sung, Glenn. I miss those great Jimmy Webb-style songs and performances by Glen Campbell level talent. You did this song very proud, Glenn.
Jimmy and Glen should be smiling.

Roger

Thanks so much Roger!

You know, I miss those songs, too. Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell back in the late 60s and early 70s was a magic combination. Both were masterful musicians and very smart guys, so they really understood how to create timeless music about people we could really relate to.

I'm very pleased that you thought this song came out okay.

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Excellent singing and playing! Thanks Glenn, you just made my day!

Hi SpruceTop!

Well, thank you! You just made my day, too!! I'm so pleased that you like this! And I'm very appreciative of your comments here, too!

- Glenn

[Mr. Paul]

Sounds great Glenn. Nice job on the vocals, I won't be tackling that one any time soon

[delaorden9]

Outstanding sir..... really well executed, nice vox and excellent guitar. You are a great artist Mr. Glenn. Thanks for sharing !

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Mr. Paul

Sounds great Glenn. Nice job on the vocals, I won't be tackling that one any time soon

Hi Paul,

Thanks so much for listening and commenting!

You made me laugh --because this is a challenging song. Way back in about 1968 when I was only 20 years old, I gave this song a try and simply didn't know how to make it work. It has taken me about 50 more years before I could finally do a reasonable rendition of this challenging song.

I don't know whether living a lifetime in between or becoming a better musician over that time made the difference in being able to play and sing this song. Maybe both!

Thanks so much Paul!!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by delaorden9

Outstanding sir..... really well executed, nice vox and excellent guitar. You are a great artist Mr. Glenn. Thanks for sharing !

Hi Delaorden9!

Thank you very much for your comments! I'm so very glad you like this rendition! I very much appreciate hearing from you! Thank you for listening!

- Glenn

[KevWind]

Great job Glenn I have always loved that song. Your voice sounded extra full and as always the playing was excellent.
Quick Tech question
Two cameras Yes? Was somebody running the cameras or were those Ken Burns etc. type of FX ?

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Great job Glenn I have always loved that song. Your voice sounded extra full and as always the playing was excellent.
Quick Tech question
Two cameras Yes? Was somebody running the cameras or were those Ken Burns etc. type of FX ?

Hi Kevin,

Thanks so much for listening and for your comments. I'm very pleased that you liked this rendition.

Regarding the tech question -- I am using 3 cameras, one big picture center, one on my left looking at the guitar, and one on my right looking at the guitar. I also record the audio to my computer using good studio mics for both voice and guitar. I use Steinberg Cubase. All cameras are on tripods. I am in the studio by myself with no one else. I would hate to impose on anyone else to hang around for hours while I mess around with multiple takes.

The panning and zooming from the different cameras is done after the actual recording of the song is finished. I use Adobe Premier Elements. It's not a terribly expensive program and does much of what Adobe Premier does for a lot less cost. So I do the panning and zooming in Adobe Premier Elements as part of the programming for the video before I render the completed video and upload it to YouTube.

I hope that all makes sense. I have sometimes wondered if I should do a tutorial on how I do a YouTube video, but I hardly consider myself an expert at this stuff.

Thanks so much for your comments!

- Glenn