Linda sings 'I Can't Help It'

[Deleted]

Recently posted... and accompanying herself on guitar!

[erik]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Ms. Swift really needs to see this video, and to listen closely to Linda's phrasing here, to get an idea of what it really means to be able to sing sans Autotune.

[sliderocker]

This is a better version of this video than the two other versions I've seen of Linda performing this song. The color is definitely brighter. Linda isn't playing that many chords on her guitar but I'm wondering if this performance is a composite of at least two performances? The part where Linda appears to stop playing the guitar for a few seconds while singing the "it's hard to know another's lips have kissed you" lyric suggests another performance or possibly a pick up piece, as when she is singing the "heaven only knows" lyric, it seems to be part of what was seen just before she apparently stopped playing the guitar.

[erik]

The thing they've always said about what country music is (or used to be anyway [grumble, grumble]), is "Three Chords And The Truth."

As for Linda playing acoustic guitar--well, she never thought she was very good at it. However, she really shows herself to be very competent at the very least (IMHO).

[sliderocker]

I don't think Linda is a bad guitarist, but I know a lot of guitarists and non-musicians who would pick her apart because she wasn't playing fifteen chords on the song. If all a song needs is three or four chords, I don't understand why some think there needs to be more. The Beatles's "Yesterday" for instance only has four chords. On "Anthology, Vol. 2," you hear Paul McCartney telling one of the others (presumably George Harrison) what those four chords are, yet I've been to some guitar chord websites where some have posted twice as many chords as what's actually in the song. Or have known musicians who added more chords to the song than what's actually there. The reason they do stupid stuff like that is they think it gives the song more color and want to show off what they know. Or they suffer the suffer the slings and arrows of music critics who have berated a musician or a song because all it had was three or four chords. Linda looked right at home playing guitar and I truly wished she had played it on every song she ever performed or recorded, but that she didn't only makes the few moments where she did all that much more magical and special.

[Richard W]

What's left out is as important as what's left in, whether it's guitar chords or notes in a melody. You don't need to throw in every chord you can play just to show you can play it just as you don't need to cram in every note you can sing simply to demonstrate your abilities.

Kind of reminds me of a turducken, a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. It can be done, but so what? More often than not, a simple piece of properly done chicken is plenty.

[erik]

Quote by sliderocker:

The reason they do stupid stuff like that is they think it gives the song more color and want to show off what they know. Or they suffer the suffer the slings and arrows of music critics who have berated a musician or a song because all it had was three or four chords. Linda looked right at home playing guitar and I truly wished she had played it on every song she ever performed or recorded, but that she didn't only makes the few moments where she did all that much more magical and special.

The male chauvinist mentality at work here again, in my opinion. They think if you don't "shred" your guitar, you're not much of a guitar player.

Linda, however, as she proved on "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (three videos of her doing that one), and "Long Long Time", is far from shabby when it comes to a more traditional finger-picking style, which I think she does quite well.

[Dianna]

very nice. how do people play an instrument and sing at the same time! Since I don't play an instrument I could never figure that one out..

[sliderocker]

Aug 7, 2012 12:57:45 GMT -5 Richard W said:

What's left out is as important as what's left in, whether it's guitar chords or notes in a melody. You don't need to throw in every chord you can play just to show you can play it just as you don't need to cram in every note you can sing simply to demonstrate your abilities.

Kind of reminds me of a turducken, a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. It can be done, but so what? More often than not, a simple piece of properly done chicken is plenty.

Some musicians simply want to show off their skills and think if they don't use every chord in the book (or even made up ones) and every time signature there is, they're just not impressing anyone, not even themselves. You can also add wanting play every musical instrument there is. It's all about their ego in the end.

[sliderocker]

Aug 7, 2012 13:07:51 GMT -5 erik said:

The male chauvinist mentality at work here again, in my opinion. They think if you don't "shred" your guitar, you're not much of a guitar player.

Linda, however, as she proved on "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (three videos of her doing that one), and "Long Long Time", is far from shabby when it comes to a more traditional finger-picking style, which I think she does quite well.

It's male chauvinism to a degree. Many male musicians playing any kind of musical instrument have tended to look down on a female musician as being not as good as they were or as any man was. Male guitarists are a particularly bad bunch when it comes to thinking a female guitarist is no match to any male guitarist. The usual rubbish is there's no female equivalent to Hendrix or Clapton but my counterpoint to that argument is how many male guitarists are up tp Hendrix's playing or Clapton's style of playing. The fact is some think being all flash (showing off that you know every chord there is) and playing loudly puts them on the same level as Clapton or Hendrix. It doesn't and if you want to be as good as Clapton is and Hendrix was, you have to do what they did, which was learn your craft.

[Long Long Time Fan]

I have sung all my life but, like Dianna, I never learned to play an instrument and it still amazes me that people can do both. A very competent and compelling job of doing both. I'm wondering if it is possible to copy a utube video to my computer and, if so, how? If not, is there someone who can provide a link? Thank you!

[Dianna]

Side note, I don't think I've ever heard anyone who has sung so beautifully in both english and spanish.. ever.. where the words and pronounciation are perfectly sung.

[buttercup521]

What's funny is how some pros criticize her guitar playing. Some people play the guitar and some are guitar players.

I know some don't like the state of Country these days but a perfect example is Kenny Chesney vs Keith Urban. Chesney plays the guitar. Urban is a Guitar player. But KC doesn't claim to be a great player nor does Linda.

[Deleted]

Keith Urban is widely considered the best guitarist in country music today..an example:

[erik]

All good and fine--if you like hotshot guitar players. Personally, I don't much care for them.

Linda is more of a Joan Baez-type guitarist, as I've said, just a traditional finger-picking stylist, and she does it well (IMHO).