Rough demo / backing track all mixed down...
Piano (track 1)
Acoustic guitar (track 2)
Bass (track 3)
Drums (to be done eventually, after I rehearse and find the right type of flavor to go with the 4/4 tempo ballad, at 74 beats per minute).

The Road Less Traveled

The Road Less Traveled (MIXDOWN)

This song is called "The Road Less Traveled" and I wrote it back in 1979/1980 after I graduated high school.  I was serving in the US Coast Guard and wrote this to an old girlfriend I had back in the day.  She went off to college, I went into the Coast Guard.  She loved folk music, Jim Croce, John Denver, James Taylor, style of music.... So, I wrote this from the heart.  I tossed the song aside for decades, thinking that it sucked.  Believe it or not, I discovered it about a year ago, and here I am, retired from the USCG, a grandfather, etc... and I decided to get it back out, redo it, re-record it, etc...

What you are hearing here is me using Reaper on my Lenovo laptop (piano, acoustic guitar, bass) already mixed down.  Then I put a drum track onto it, playing my Alesis Nitro Mesh electronic drum set myself, instead of using a drum machine.

Reaper_Drums_Mixdown

A rough demo recorded on my new Tascam DP-03SD, 8 track digital multitrack recorder.  Keyboards, drums, acoustic guitar, bass, vocals & harmony vocals, all done and mixed by me.
Edit:  Sorry if my vocals are a little sour... This  was way up at the top of my vocal range - you figure I wrote this when I was like, 18-19 years old back in the 70's, and tossed aside for 40+ years because I thought it sucked...

Track 1: Alesis Nitro Mesh electronic drums.
Track 2: Alvarez 6 string acoustic.
Track 3: Yamaha DGX-505, full size keyboard (piano w/ string quartet mode in the background).
Track 4: Samick 4 string bass (a cheap P-bass copy)
Track 5: Harmony vocals.
Track 6: Lead vocals.

The Road Less Traveled (DEMO)

This is me on my old 1977 Ibanez mandolin in the key of "D".  I am playing a simple arpeggio in D, G, A, and back to D.
Feel free to take this, download this, use it as an intro to something in "D".

Mandolin Intro

My (late) buddy Tim Adams song that he and I composed together, with him writing the lyrics, and me helping with the arrangements, musical notation, chord progressions,

Mechanicsville Garage 2002

Hands of Time

My bass track for a collaboration effort.

BASS00 3.WAV

1) Mandolin intro
2) Drum machine (Yamaha keyboard) @ 73 bpm
3) Yamaha keyboard (w/ left hand playing electric bass/split keyboard)
4) Acoustic guitar
5) Mandolin
....All played/recorded by me on my Tascam DP-03SD multitrack recorder.

Brighter Days

Brighter Days (rough mix)

Just a basic rough sketch of a track that I came up with, using my Tascam DP-03SD multitrack recorder, playing all the instruments:
1) Fender Player Stratocaster w/ Boss Katana amp & MXR Phase 90.
2) Old, beatup, POS, Samick bass (P Bass copy).
3) Old Ibanez mandolin.
4) Yamaha DGX-505 full size keyboard, in church organ mode.
5) Alesis Nitro Mesh, electronic drums.

GFC.EmBm

1) Fender Strat (MXR Phase 90)
2) Samick bass (P bass copy)
3) Ibanez mandolin.
4) Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard (church organ mode)
5) Alesis Nitro Mesh electronic drum kit.
6) Fender Strat (Solo - Fuzz Face & Mid/Neck pickups @ 2:50 +/-)

Butch Ammon

GFC (mixdown)

This is a beautiful karaoke backing track, that I enhanced a little with Audacity on my laptop, and saved it as an .mp3 file.

You'll Never Walk Alone (karaoke version)

I am a multi-instrumentalist and play a little of everything.  But my main instruments are:  Trumpet and Guitar.

I am retired from the US Coast Guard and have been in a few bands here and there over the years and loved every minute of it.  I enjoy playing, writing/recording music, and of course performing on stage (if given the chance).  I don't care too much for singing lead vocals though.  My voice is too deep for singing rock 'n roll (i.e. I have sort of a Johnny Cash voice).


Butch Ammon

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