I love this song and was around to enjoy it when it was first released in 1965. It always puts a smile on my face in the winter and is fun to play. It has me thinking of visiting California. Never been to the States but from what I've seen on tv there is some spectacular scenery to be seen there.
What would your recommendations be for 'must places' to visit both natural and social?
Great tune, nicely played. Might be fun to add another track or two with some of the refrains like the vocals in the original.
Your biggest problem visiting California will be what you must leave out for lack of time. Here's are a few of my favorites. Some are cliche's but they got that status by being incredible places to be. Lots of these places have great hiking trails if you're interested:
1. Yosemite Valley 2. Giant Sequoias National Monument 3. Big Sur (take a day to drive from LA to Carmel via Highway 1; or add a night to catch Hearst Castle on the way. Get lunch at the Big Sur River Inn, eat it from a chair sitting in the river, dinner in Carmel or Monterey, finish drive up to San Francisco via Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay. You could spend several days on this drive alone and not get bored) 4. San Francisco (Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Fisherman's Wharf) 5. Joshua Tree National Monument (in the high desert east of Palm Springs - still looks like an old western movie, including bullet holes in rusted water tanks) 6. Lake Tahoe. Pretty too look at, too cold to swim in. Casinos available if that interests you. Great winter skiing.
And on, and on, and on....
Greg Huemann is tuned into the Blues Scene around San Francisco, and would be a great resource for entertainment ideas.
Can I ask how you also get to come up with such great backing tracks? Do you have a program on which you can remove vocals? ---------- HARPOLDIE’S YOUTUBE
@ easyreeder Yes those Mama Cass harmonies were buzzing through my head while playing, so that would be fun to try. Thanks for the info man, that’s just what I’m looking for. Yes I love hiking and I also swim a lot. San Francisco is a must but I would rather spend most of my time out on nature trails and along the ocean. I wondering what the best time of the year to go (I’m not into skiing) to have a chance of some decent weather. Obviously it doesn’t need to be too hot for hiking but warm enough for swimming. If any other Californians or visitors to Ca want to chip in here that would be most welcome.
@ Tooka. Ah yes ‘Those were the days my friend’ I don’t think I’ll be covering that one :-) - Mary Hopkins wasn’t it?
@ Aussiesucker . Gene is right, there is so much stuff to be found, a lot of it on youtube. Search for the song title with the words Karaoke, Instrumental, Piano, guitar or Midi and you’ll be surprised how much you can find. I got California Dreamin’ this way.
If I want to remove the vocals or the harmonica on a particular song then I use the free download software Audacity. Here is a LINK to a You tube tutorial on how to do it – It’s pretty straightforward. Skip to around the 30 second mark for the start of the tutorial. Audacity will not remove all the unwanted sounds but it will subdue them so that you can play over the top. Although I should say you still have to be fairly accurate in your playing to prevent the other player’s harmonica sound coming through. I used this technique on the recent vid I posted of ‘Give a little’ by Michel Herblin.
I have found that Audacity works better on some songs that others. There are extra plug-ins that you can download to get even better results apparently but I haven’t tried these yet. You would probably have to buy professional software to eliminate the vocals entirely. .__. (°,°) /)_) ” “ Grey Owl YouTube Grey Owl Abstract Photos
Last Edited by on Feb 21, 2012 12:39 AM
Great work on that song.I also remember when that song first came out. I remember really liking the sound of that ocarina in it. It's been years since I've been to California, but I remember that it was way to crowded for me. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
I've only ever been in southern California. I got as far north as LA, but I was mostly down in the San Diego area. Pretty mountains, great weather... the terrain was very strange. Lot's of patches of green where people watered their lawns, but in general not a green place. I think it made the mountains look bigger.
California is such a huge place though. I drove back across country to NY, and some of the places I saw that were still a lot closer to San Diego than say, San Fran, but I think I'd crossed the state line. There were mountains made up of stacks of boulders the size of small trucks. I had one half-hour stretch where I went from 5000 ft. elevation to below sea-level to back to over 5000 ft. elevation.
The ocean is beautiful. The Spanish influence on the architecture is nice. Balboa park is nice. It's really such a huge state though.
Thanks Sarge. I guess the big tourist attractions are going to be packed but I was hoping that the hiking trails are not going to be overrun with people.
John Sebastian was the harpist--he was in the Mugwumps with Cass and Denny (I can sing just like Denny!) @nacaron I'm in San Diego, I live about a mile from the Zoo (Balboa Park).
Last Edited by on Feb 21, 2012 10:42 PM
Grey Owl Thank you very much for the info on backing tracks and removing vocals. I am very familiar with Audacity & will delve further. ---------- HARPOLDIE’S YOUTUBE
@GNarly Did you find that documented somewhere? The album liner notes don't even mention harmonica.
P.S. I went to SDSU in the 70's. The one harp lesson I ever had was from John Gindick, in his apartment. We jammed in Balboa Park a couple of times, and there were a number of harp players that hung out there at the time. What's it like these days?
