Hows this for a good ear? Or something

bud7h4

bud7h4

Silver Member
Years ago in my first cover band we showed up to practice one day, me on guitar, all having learned KISS "tears are falling" (I said it was years ago!). Keep in mind we tuned a whole note down from E to D.

We get through the entire intro and my singer comes in with the first verse, right on time, in perfect tune . . . . . . . . . . not with the band, but with the CD. And keeps singing in E until I realize something is terribly wrong and stop playing and look at him in total awe.

There's just something freakishly admirable about that to me.
 
Wow that is ridiculously impressive, how is that even possible? Some people just have brains wired that way I guess, must have had perfect pitch. I have a great ear for relative tuning but my absolute pitch is on existent.

Did he realise he was doing it at all? Was he just trying to show off or did he just have the pitch of his vocal part completely internalised?
 
Did you record the rehearsal?

I am equally impressed that you were able to determine he sang it perfectly in E. Usually if someone can't hear how their part fits into the music in real time, they don't sing anything perfectly IME, lol. If it's true he sang the whole thing correctly, but in the wrong key, that's amazing.
 
Maybe he memorizes things so a T and can't adjust on the fly? With me, I do more memorization that actually picking out the harmonies or lead vocal key, so maybe he just rehearsed a ton and stuck with what he knew.

Paul's vocals were impressive in the 80's and he sang a lot higher on those era albums, so kudos to that dude.
 
I don't understand why you dropped it a full step, if the singer could sing it in the original key.

Still, the guy is either really accomplished, or really out of touch.
 
I agree with Larry, sort of. Almost sounds as if he is tone deaf, but surprised he wasn't thrown off key by the band being in another key.
 
That's 2 agreements in one day Grunt. Why not make it 3 and take that borax and kiss your arthritis goodbye lol.

OK I'll stop. Just trying to take away a bunch of your pain.
 
I have a hard time believing that this singer isn't completely tone deaf. Singing one key while a band plays another is like doing long division in your head while three rodeo clowns shout random numbers at you.
 
Great tune, great vocal, great guitar solo. Its tuned down already half a step on the album.
 
Did he realise he was doing it at all? Was he just trying to show off or did he just have the pitch of his vocal part completely internalised?
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He had no idea. Our band was also his first gig singing, and the guy was fantastic. Great voice.

I don't understand why you dropped it a full step, if the singer could sing it in the original key.
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I don't remember why, it was too long ago.

Great tune, great vocal, great guitar solo. Its tuned down already half a step on the album.
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It's not detuned. I think it might even be tuned up to F. Point is he learned it in a different key than we played in and he sang it in that key as we played. Just insane.
 
bud7h4 said:
He had no idea. Our band was also his first gig singing, and the guy was fantastic. Great voice.
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Guess you could say it was a Trial By Fire, but Any Way You Slice It you might be a bit Secretly Cruel mentioning it in the forum years later. Perhaps he thought he was King of the Mountain and assumed you guys would learn it his way. I hope he corrected the problem to continue the gig with the group, because Who Wants to Be Lonely?

I am so so sorry.
 
T.Underhill said:
Guess you could say it was a Trial By Fire, but Any Way You Slice It you might be a bit Secretly Cruel mentioning it in the forum years later. Perhaps he thought he was King of the Mountain and assumed you guys would learn it his way. I hope he corrected the problem to continue the gig with the group, because Who Wants to Be Lonely?

I am so so sorry.
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Brilliant! I see what you did there!
 
bud7h4 said:
It's not detuned. I think it might even be tuned up to F. Point is he learned it in a different key than we played in and he sang it in that key as we played. Just insane.
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Hard to say, as I don't have the original recording. I have watched videos of them playing it live, though, and they play it in E - in other words, the intro sits on an E chord and open E bass string. Where it gets tricky is that most, but not all, versions I found are detuned just like Kiss normally does. Obviously Paul could sing it either way.

I suppose that matters not. The important thing to me is, your singer couldn't tell if he was singing in tune with the band or not, which by my definition means he wasn't a good singer. Harsh, I know...

OCD footnote - I played along with the mp3 from the original album on Amazon, and it wasn't precisely in tune with any tuning, but was closest to F, lol. They either manipulated tape speed after recording or just tuned the guitars with one another and went for it. ;)
 
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