Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

As a first song to post on this website, I'd say we're starting somewhat ambitiously, throwing our hats into the ring of countless other ...ahem... musicians who've taken the time to put their spin on this immeasurably valuable classic.

I'm not sure that either of us ever had plans to do this one. I'm not even sure it would be fair to say that we've spent an awful lot of time listening to it before or since. But there's something about this song that almost seems to be hardwired in some of us. I'm not sure how or why, but never having played it before we knew some of the words; we knew most of the melody.

One evening while practicing other tunes, either Jeff or I started playing the song. It grew by degrees from interesting to captivating, and after a little bit of practice, we recorded this on one of our phones' Voice Memo app. Please pardon the few moments of background before we start playing.

We played it back and loved it. Frankly, we were surprised that it could have possibly turned out as well as it did. But after listening a few times, there were things we didn't like, and after another few minutes of practicing, we recorded it a second time, which in my opinion has yet to be topped. There's something in this next version that I love...I couldn't say what it is, but I love listening to it over and over, errors and all. Enjoy...

Over the course of the last month or so, we've gone back and forth via GarageBand to try to recapture the sound of these first recordings. It's a weird process to go through because some of the authenticity is lost in the endless repetition of practicing one's parts over and over again. The playing of music becomes less about expression and more about technical perfection. But to be fair, I think we came close to grabbing some of the spirit in that second recording.

Here's our final version. Jeff is singing melody and playing rhythm. I'm on harmonies and lead guitar.

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