build a repertoire of five songs I love that I can confidently perform on guitar

and a bad cough – will put a recording of something up as soon as I can!

In California by Neko Case off Canadian Amp (the falling bass line thing never gets old), and Ontario, Quebec and Me by Billy Bragg and covered by Mary Lou Lord.

I’m still not certain about the chords – a lot of music I like is not popular enough to have sheet music, or sometimes even online guitar tabs, with which I can check if my hearing is right. And when there are guitar tabs on the internet, they are often wrong.

Getting closer to the way I’d like them to sound though – I’m hopeful that in the next two weeks I’d be able to put a recording of one of the two songs up here.

This is me doing Suspicious Minds the My Morning Jacket way. I think one chord is still off, and when I have time I’ll get that right as well. It’s still very hard for me to listen to my own voice. But, erm, here it is. Pardon my limitations, okay?

I may have to give up on being able to sing Hopefully by My Morning Jacket for now – just can’t figure out the right key for it to suit the range of my voice, that is if I can sing it at all. Instead I’m working on their great live version of Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds – who’d thought it sounds so stunning played slow? And I think if this works well and sounds good, I can record it and put it on here, to achieve my other goal of releasing a song I’ve recorded onto the internet.

and it’s getting easier. I’m finding that I really love singing. My voice is strange, and I can’t quite make up my mind whether it’s good or not. Sometimes it sounds very good, other times it makes me cringe it’s so awful. Think it has a lot to do with how relaxed I am at the time, and whether I’m breathing properly. Also depends on the range – for some reason Ryan Adams’s Oh My Sweet Carolina really suits my voice. I need to figure out what my range is.

I’m getting closer to achieving this. Some songs that I think I can perform on the guitar:

Hopefully by My Morning Jacket (possibly a bit of problem with the singing in terms of my range, but everything else is pretty close to perfect)
The untitled track from the Tilly and the Wall debut album
Plastic Jesus as done by Paul Newman/ The Flaming Lips (very simple, have known it for a while)
Oh My Sweet Carolina by Ryan Adams (one of those songs that seems to suit my voice quite well)
How to Open My Heart in 4 Easy Steps – Erin McKeown (again, a very simple, but beautiful song)
Tonight You Belong to Me as done by Erin McKeown and Josh Ritter (again simple, but sounds much better as a duet. Also wish I could play a brass instrument for the instrumental section)
Waitin’ For A Superman – The Flaming Lips (pretty simple)
Ontario, Quebec and Me – Mary Lou Lord (got most of it, just a few finishing touches)

...so that’s eight songs. The problem is with the “confidently” part. I’ll be working on that.

Ten is ideal, but let’s start with five. Five is a good, reasonable number. The trouble with me learning guitar is, I learn bits and pieces here and there, but never a whole song. So I don’t feel confident on the instrument, and when people ask me to play them something, I can’t.

It’s great fun to figure out songs completely by ear. Playing from tabs is boring.

Right now I think I have two that I am close to confidently playing: the hidden track from the first Tilly and the Wall album, and Tonight You Belong To Me, as done by Erin McKeown and Josh Ritter. Next I’d like to try the Mary Lou Lord cover of Ontario, Quebec and Me. I may work on that this weekend.