Colin Clark

Into the Mystic (8/30)

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:30:57 +0000

“Into the Mystic” has got to be one of the most gorgeous songs of all time. Laryn and I watched the movie ‘Immediate Family’ this weekend and this song is featured throughout the movie, so I felt obliged to cover it.

Download audio file (Into-the-Mystic.mp3)

Download “Into the Mystic” by Colin Clark

Birds (7/30)

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:24:53 +0000

This is a song that I wrote recently. I wrote it one evening when I was leaving the office and I looked up and saw hundreds of black birds swarming in the sky. I started wondering how that many birds can all fly together and if they always get along or if sometimes they just don’t see eye to eye.

Download audio file (Birds.mp3)

Download “Birds” by Colin Clark

New Slang (6/30)

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:20:38 +0000

I first heard this Shins song on the Garden State soundtrack, then promptly bought the Shin’s album and they then became one of my absolute favorite bands. This song is still one of my favorites.

Download audio file (New-Slang.mp3)

Download “New Slang” by Colin Clark

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 1 (5/30)

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:45:17 +0000

Day 5 goes out to my good friend Ryan Beck who requested this song. This tune by the Flaming Lips was originally released in the early 2000′s. It’s a really quirky song that I’ve always loved.

Download audio file (Yoshimi.mp3)

Download “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Part 1″ by Colin Clark

The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down (4/30) – RIP Levon Helm

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 01:59:24 +0000

The music world lost a big part of its soul today when Levon Helm passed away today. He was a massive influence on me. I wanted to pay tribute to him by covering, The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down, which is one of my favorite songs that he sang.

Download audio file (The-Night-they-drove-ol-dixie-down.mp3)

Download “The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down” by Colin Clark

Grace is Gone (3/30)

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:18:35 +0000

I was a massive Dave Matthews Band fan back in the 90′s. This was one of those songs that really didn’t get a lot of play but that I really loved, so I thought I would cover it for day 3. Enjoy….

Download audio file (Grace-is-Gone1.mp3)

Download “Grace is Gone” by Colin Clark

Don’t Think Twice (2 / 30)

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:18:59 +0000

For day 2 of my challenge, I decided to do a song that I’ve loved and played for many years. The song originally appeared on the 1963 album, ‘The Freewheelin Bob Dylan’.

For this version I decided to slow down the tempo just a bit, fingerpick the acoustic, and although the original recording has harmonica, I decided to leave it out of my version.

Download audio file (Dont-Think-Twice-Colin-Clark.mp3)

Download “Don’t Think Twice” – Colin Clark Acoustic Version

Hunger Strike (1 / 30)

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:33:12 +0000

Hunger Strike, by Temple of the Dog is one of those songs that I’ve always really loved, but I never really had an excuse to learn it. I thought that it would be a great song to kick of my 30 day challenge.

I did a really simple acoustic guitar arrangement and a lead vocal track as well as one backing vocal track and a harmonica solo in the middle. Enjoy… (by the way feel free to download, share, remix, re-use, destroy, or otherwise mutilate any of my recordings. they are my gift to you!)

Download audio file (Hunger-Strike-Colin-Clark.mp3)

Hunger Strike – Colin Clark

30 Day Music Challenge

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:29:44 +0000

One of the things I’ve discovered in life is that if you don’t make time for the things that are important to you, then they can easily fall by the wayside. I’ve been a musician for my whole life. Recently I’ve also become a dad, a husband, a business owner… These things are important. But, it means that I’ve had less time to make music than I would have like.

So, I’ve decided to challenge myself to a 30 day challenge. For 30 day’s I’ll post 1 song per day that I’ve recorded in my home studio. Some of these songs will be original songs that I’ve written while others will be covers that I’ve played for years, and others will be covers that I’m playing for the very first time.

I’m not interested in really over-thinking this thing. I just want to do something to get back into playing a lot more music. A lot of these songs won’t be perfectly recorded. I’m not striving for perfection. I just want to have a lot of fun and play a lot of music.

See next post for the first day’s recording….

Fender Jazz Bass – Replacement Bridge

admin — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:06:14 +0000

For the past few years I’ve been playing bass for several of the bands that I’m affiliated with and I’ve been using a fairly decent Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass. Throughout that time period I was pretty rough on the old girl and the bridge in particular had sustained a lot of wear. Most of the chrome had flaked off and the exposed metal had rusted significantly (probably due to the fact that I get really ridiculously sweaty when I play bass).

Besides looking really awful, the worn-out bridge was killing my tone. I noticed this especially when I loaned my bass to another musician who had broken a string. With the exact same amp, cables, and petals, his tone just died when he switched from his bass to mine.

So, I finally decided to fix the problem, and it was really easy and inexpensive. I did a google search for ‘fender jazz bass replacement bridge’ and came across a company called Stewart-MacDonald who sells lots of replacement parts for stringed instruments.

They had a Gotoh Standard Bass Bridge that seemed to be essentially a direct replacement for the worn-out bridge that I already had. Plus it was only $23.46 plus shipping (which put it just over 30 bucks), so I went ahead and placed the order.

3 days later, the package arrived. Installation could not have been easier. I simply removed the strings and the screws that secured the old bridge and cleaned off all the residual rust that was stuck to the body of my bass. Then I matched up the new bridge to find that the screw holes matched up perfectly (the new bridge even came with screws that fit the existing holes). There were also 2 additional screws at the front of the bridge which my old bridge didn’t have, so I drilled a few pilot holes and inserted the included screws. I feel that these additional anchors add great stability and maybe even some sustain.

After I restrung the bass, I noticed that the strings were pretty high on the fingerboard (probably because the old bridge had had bent up over time), so I adjusted the tension rod until the action was just right. My bass plays and sounds SO much better. And the best part is that whenever this bridge gets all worn out I can just replace it again. Here’s a picture of the new bridge with the old bridge next to it to give you an idea of what I was dealing with.