We receive thousands of positive messages and comments via
YouTube and email about our music videos and lessons. Thanks
to everyone who sent one. Here are a few of our favorites.
We received this wonderful photo and story from Ken via
YouTube.
"Mark, I was listening to you singing and
playing Homeward Bound and I remember back in October
1969 I was in Vietnam and preparing to come home after
serving my tour of duty. I was out of the field and on
the big base in Chu Lai, which was the Americal Division
headquarters. I was with a few of my buddies that I
served with and we had a transistor radio listening to
an Armed Forces station, which happened to be playing
Homeward Bound. Well, we went down to the beach and I
had my friend take my picture looking down at me. I
sent this picture home to my mom and she had it in a
frame, on the living room table. I thought I would share
this picture with you. Every time I hear this song I
think back to coming home from Vietnam and this picture.
I hope you like it. I like the song!
~Ken~"
Hi Ken, I love this story and
photo, thanks for sending it. Click to see the
Homeward Bound video Ken is talking about.
Here's a very
nice comment I received from 65strummer in the U.K. via
YouTube:
"Mark, just a few words of thanks for your videos on
YouTube. There are some good players here, but in our
opinion your skills and talents are simply "exceptional". We
have been listening to S & G, Neil Young etc for over 30
yrs, and your versions are probably the best we have heard.
Your lessons are "inspirational" to all guitar players, no
matter what level they are at in their playing. Please keep
them flowing, as I for one will be "having fun" with all
your videos. All the best from the UK. - 65strummer"
Cheers to you and
yours mate! Comments like yours make it all worthwhile.
We got this
message from the very talented Logan Murrell. She needed a
song to play on a TV show appearance.
"Thanks so much for this lesson. I took it and put it with
what I know and came up with what you see in the video
response. Thanks a million. I had to do it on TV and had no
idea where to start. Have a Great 2008.
Logan Murrell"
Here is Logan's
beautiful video of
"I'll Be Home For Christmas".
Here's a nice message we received
from Dennis via YouTube.
"Hello Sir,
I just wanted to write to you and thank you for your contributions to
YouTube. I am a beginner on guitar and I enjoy playing very much. Because of
your contributions, I can play Christmas songs for my friends tonight at our
office Christmas party. I am playing the guitar as if I were doing it for a
very long time and I am so excited about it. I wanted to write and let you
know that you are greatly appreciated and I want to wish you and your family
a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. You are very easy to
listen to and make learning a joy. Thanks a million and God bless.
Dennis"
Hi Dennis, thanks for your kind words, and Merry Christmas
to you and yours.
Here's a message we received from Mike about
making videos for YouTube:
"I love all your stuff on the you
tube. You have been a great help to me. Your lessons are some of the
best--you seem to get the most out of the space you use, therefore, I do,as
well. It helps that your hands are in time with the music, and the video is
clear and bright. The sound is very good. I think you are the kind of guy
who likes gadgets--I see you have a nice arsenal of good guitars and you
also have been experimenting with stereo recording. if my observations are
correct, maybe you can help me in my learning process of how to make a
decent recording/video. I have a nice Martin acoustic with no pickup. There
are so many options available out there, it's confusing. I live in a rural
area of Pa. with no music stores within 100 miles. I have been looking in
mail order catalogs and on the internet. If you don't want to plug
brandnames, don't. I would just like to know what kind of equipment would
give me a decent sound for vocals and acoustic guitar that I could record
and post on you tube. I know it's a lot to ask of a stranger, but if you
could help me out, it would be greatly appreciated. thanks for considering
this, MIKE."
Hi Mike, a lot of people have been asking about
my gear, so I will post a video soon about how I make videos. But in the
meantime, here are some tips. Get a decent webcam, I use a Logitec that
records 640x480 wmv files as the native format, and has very good automatic
lighting and focus controls. It was about $100. I use free windows movie
maker to edit these videos.
I recently upgraded my sound system, because the
sound quality on the logitec webcam is not very good. Now I use a headset
with a microphone for the vocals, and I plug that and my guitars directly
into a small mixer, behringer UB1204FX, and the mixer into my soundcard. I
use free Audacity software to record the audio while I am recording the
video with the webcam. Then I combine the audio file and video file in
windows movie maker to create the final video file. In your case, a decent
microphone going thru the mixer should pick up your vocals and guitar and
give you a good sound. The key is to get a good recording of both the audio
and video and then combine them.
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