I took my five string electric bass to the sing-around today and led on three songs.
I started with a cover of Holding Out for a Hero by the late Bonnie Tyler (who passed away this week). I found that I could get the gravelly character of my voice if I dropped it from A minor to E minor. Although a fairly simple song, it has some interesting moments. I like the end of the bridge where it suddenly switches to an ascending series of diminished chords – all the same notes but shifting up a minor third each time. In E minor, I had G°, B♭°, D♭° and, a particular favourite of mine, F♭°!
Probably the less said about the second song, the better. It was meant to be a version of the sea shanty Santiana but I’ve got a feeling that the melody I sang was more like New York Girls (which I know better and has a chorus that starts “Away santy…”). One to work on.
On my third go, I returned to an old favourite, Diving Duck Blues. I didn’t do a particularly good job of it but I think it was the first simple blues song we’d had all afternoon so extra points for one that was easy to join in with.