My second cover video, hot on the heals of my first, nearly two years ago. I’ve been meaning to do this one for a long time. Hopefully it won’t be so long before my next!
I’m a little hesitant on the last verse, I’m afraid. After about 12 takes, I could scarcely believe I was going to finish the thing without a major mistake.
I recoded the vide with a Canon PowerShot Elph 310 HS and the audio with a Zoom H2. Video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 on a mid-2012 13″ MacBook Pro.
The beer is a Triomphe Belgian IPA, by Brewery Vivant.
This is my cover of a new, untitled, unreleased song by the Avett Brothers, commonly referred to as the “New Years Eve Song,” because it was first played to an audience on New Years Eve 2010 in Asheville, North Carolina. It’s also known as “Scared to Die,” from a lyric in the chorus.
I first heard this song at the Kalamazoo show on January 27, 2011. At the end of the first chorus, when Seth sang, “If I live the life I’m given, I won’t be scared to die,” we all realized this unfamiliar song was not a cover, but a new Avett song.
It has since become one of my favorite of their songs. Find a discussion of this song on forum at the Avett Brothers website here, and my PDF of the lyrics and chords here.
I recorded this video with a Flip MinoHD (older version at 30fps), and the audio with a Zoom H2, and mixed them together with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 on a Macbook Pro. My guitar is a 2004 Santa Cruz D/PW (Dreadnought Pre War).
I stumbled on this awesome widget for figuring out what guitar chord you’re playing.
I’ve used this both for figuring out chords I’ve come up with when composing, and for determining how to annotate chords figured out when I’m laying out songs, as in my Avett Brothers Archive.
I’ve just created a special page on this site for my guitar arrangements of songs by The Avett Brothers, including “Shame,” “I Would Be Sad” and “Down with the Shine.” I’ve got about 16 or 17 songs uploaded a this point, with another 8 or 10 I’m hoping to upload in the coming days.
No band has inspired me to play so much, and I can credit the Avett Brothers’ music with helping me to improve my guitar playing dramatically. I hope my arrangements will be helpful for others Avett fan guitarists. Check out the page here.
Today, the Feast of St. Mark, I cantored solo for only the second time at St. George Church in Aurora. The first time was last week, when the regular cantor called me while I was driving to the Church to say he wouldn’t be there.
I tripped up fewer times today than last week. My biggest speedbump today was that I went astray in the middle of the Exaltation (“The angel declared unto her . . .”), having hit the wrong interval somewhere. I don’t think it sounded bad—I didn’t slip into another key or really depart from the character of the piece, but it took me a while to find my place again.
I recorded this video with a 
I’ve just created a special 