"Softly" -- Gordon Lightfoot cover, 12-string

[Glennwillow]

Hi All,

On Feb. 4, 2017, Sal (themissal) asked me on this thread:

Originally Posted by themissal

.... I would love to hear you play Softly... probably the most romantic song I've ever heard. ...

Later in the thread Sal commented:

Originally Posted by themissal

Yes! I was thinking of the GL version... I just know the version on Gords Gold.

Softly she comes... whispers the breeze with her passing.
In secret love, she is laughing...
Softly she comes... in the night.

So pretty.... and I totally hear your voice too.

So, I went and figured out how to play the song. I really had forgotten about this song, and I agree, it's beautiful. Haunting, in fact. I noticed that Gordon Lightfoot used his 12-string on the song, so I thought I would use my newly acquired (used) Guild F512. After playing the song maybe a hundred times in the course of learning and internalizing it, I decided to slightly change the chords used in the song. All of the words and the melody are as close to Gordon Lightfoot's version as possible.



Thanks for listening.

- Glenn

[SalFromChatham]

Just WOW.

1) The tone of your twelve.
2) The recording quality.
3) the flawless pitch and power.
4) The Vibrato on your voice.

What a gift you have, and I can only hope to aspire it to it.

Thanks for giving my request the time of day; you didnt let me or anyone down. A truly beautiful song that is completely married to your style.

[donalgodon]

That's awesome. Makes me want to practice more.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by themissal

Just WOW.

1) The tone of your twelve.
2) The recording quality.
3) the flawless pitch and power.
4) The Vibrato on your voice.

What a gift you have, and I can only hope to aspire it to it.

Thanks for giving my request the time of day; you didnt let me or anyone down. A truly beautiful song that is completely married to your style.

Hi Sal,

Thank you so much! Your comments are about as rewarding as this kind of forum could possibly be! I so very much appreciate your comments and your listening!

I have to say, too, that I love the sound of this F512 12-string. I have had a Guild F212 since 1975 -- I still have it, in fact -- but this F512 is a whole different kind of 12-string. Lovely tone with this underlying bass and huge power.

I my early attempts to work out this song, I was strumming the F512 during the bridge about "...Down the darkened hall I hear her footsteps on my stair..." But then I realized that the power of this guitar just overwhelms the song. I could simply pick the guitar just a little harder and the guitar just starts to bloom in volume.

In the audio mix, I did decide to bring the sound level of the 12-string up a little closer to the level of the voice. I thought it really warmed up the sound a lot.

My wife was also very helpful on this song in her coaching me about how to approach it vocally. She loved this song from the beginning of my learning it.

- Glenn

[islandguitar]

Beautiful, Glenn! Your voice seems stronger for this one, may be my imagination. Wonderful vibrato!

Thanks for mentioning about the "one hundred times". I appreciate the amount of work (pleasure?) which goes into a presentation like this. Often, I think we just see the final product and get the mistaken impression that you just sat down and ripped off this tune!

A lot of preparation.....great results! Thanks!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by donalgodon

That's awesome. Makes me want to practice more.

Well, thank you for listening.

Practice... Well, yes, it sure does help. Sal asked me about this song 10-11 days ago. It probably took me a couple of days to go find the lyrics and somebody else's ideas of the chords and then start to try this out to see how it worked with my voice. Between that first attempt and this recording, I bet I played this song at least 100 if not 200 times, maybe more. One afternoon I literally spent four hours playing it over and over. I ended up painting a couple of coatings of "Rock Tips" on my fretting finger tips because my fingers got so sore.

There are a thousand little tripping points in the song, vocally and on the guitar, that a person has to work through and figure out how to handle, these "bumps in the road," as I heard Tommy Emmanuel describe them once.

So yes, practice matters. But I never really thought of it as practice. I immediately fell in love with this song, so I just wanted to learn it well enough to do the song justice.

Thanks for much for listening!

- Glenn

Beautiful and stirring as always Glenn! You hit it out of the park every time with these recordings. And of course I've always loved that song. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Beautiful, Glenn! Your voice seems stronger for this one, may be my imagination. Wonderful vibrato!

Thanks for mentioning about the "one hundred times". I appreciate the amount of work (pleasure?) which goes into a presentation like this. Often, I think we just see the final product and get the mistaken impression that you just sat down and ripped off this tune!

A lot of preparation.....great results! Thanks!

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

Regarding the strength of my voice, even as I approach age 69, I still seem to be able to sing -- not as good as I could when I was 20-40 years old, of course -- but with practice, I can still mostly make it work.

The bridge in the song, because the 12-string gets loud, requires me to use more power in my voice at this point. And Gordon Lightfoot starts pushing his own voice during this bridge. Most of the time on most songs though, I don't need that kind of power when singing into microphones. So I do tend to mostly back off and concentrate on tone and some softness in my voice in many songs, especially softer "folk" songs, like say, "Kathy's Song."

Softness in my voice at my age is a little harder to get because I need enough air coming through my vocal cords to control my voice. When a person is younger, they have so much better elasticity in their vocal cords, but with age, that elasticity tends to fade and it's like flying an airplane. You need enough air going under the wings and across the control surfaces to actually control the plane.

Thanks so much for listening and for your thoughtful comments. They are very much appreciated!

I have to give some credit to Sal for suggesting this song, one I would not have ever thought about. It has been a fun experience figuring this out and making it my own.

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Beautiful and stirring as always Glenn! You hit it out of the park every time with these recordings. And of course I've always loved that song. Thank you so much for sharing.

Thank you Doug! I always appreciate your comments, your support, and your taking the time to listen. The song was a good learning experience for me and a chance to warm up my new (used) 12-string.

- Glenn

[Kerbie]

Yep... another home run! That's just awesome. You know we are beginning to expect each one of these to be better than the last one...

I still love that smile at the end...

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Kerbie

Yep... another home run! That's just awesome. You know we are beginning to expect each one of these to be better than the last one...

I still love that smile at the end...

Thank you Kerbie!

I don't know... It's probably expecting too much for the recordings to get better with each successive recording, but like any other skill, the business of learning how to put a video together does improve with practice, just like any other skill.

This is the first time I have ever recorded that Guild F512 12-string, so I was very gratified to hear that it sounded just as good in the recording as it does when I play it in the house.

The smile at the end -- oh well, this is entertainment after all. It was a good, pleasant experience for me, why not convey that to the audience in some way? Also, I probably did 30 takes on this song until I was satisfied, so the smile is a bit of sign of a certain amount of relief -- as if, Oh, Man! I think I might have got a good take this time!

Thanks so much for listening, Kerbie!

- Glenn

[SalFromChatham]

I am also in awe regarding the amount of time involved. In your case it shows. In my case it shows too... maybe in the opposite way. ��

I decide I want to do a song... spend twenty minutes learning it, and then a take or two. Even my multitracks are filled with so much imperfection...

I blame it on ADD!

Now I know that I actually need to work harder, as the reward comes. As it did in this song for you.

[Mr. Paul]

I've been patiently waiting for the F512 to appear ... Nice job taming the beast.

Really like this one, Glenn. It sounds like you've been playing it for years instead of days.

[B-Nads]

Wonderful, wonderful job of that Gord great, Glenn...and little too much alliteration on my part ;-).

Seriously though, marvellous, soulful playing, and the vocals are top-notch.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by themissal

I am also in awe regarding the amount of time involved. In your case it shows. In my case it shows too... maybe in the opposite way. ��

I decide I want to do a song... spend twenty minutes learning it, and then a take or two. Even my multitracks are filled with so much imperfection...

I blame it on ADD!

Now I know that I actually need to work harder, as the reward comes. As it did in this song for you.

Hi Sal,

Well, I think the more a person works on music, the higher their standards get. And with experience a person learns that it all takes effort and time. I also have this thing about the little red lights. Every time they go on, I seem to mess up. So that probably causes a lot of extra takes right there.

I don't use any type of pitch correction -- I just don't like the sound of it -- and at the same time I am reasonably critical about my own pitch problems. So if I hear myself going flat, usually because of lack of diaphragm support, well, then I just do it again.

Recording is a very good way for me to practice for a performance. Once I can get a good recording down, I have already gone through everything I need to get it right in front of people. But I am not performing in front of people anymore these days. This is as close as I get today.

Thanks for the comments Sal!

- Glenn