Others have mentioned how Ren is self-taught on guitar. In his interview with Justin Hawkins Ren describes how he memorised the shapes of chords as he related to them. It's really interesting. Thanks for your reaction, very informative.
Fred Again is an EDM artist out of the UK. How Ren was able to take 5 songs of that type of music and turn it into an acoustic masterpiece is pure genius. This is one of my favorites. Thanks, Ken!
. This was one of the treats Ren gave us last year. Filmed in his apartment in Calgary. There is also a BTS he dropped more recently. I had a quick listen to Fred Again first. Not being into EDI, it left me cold, but this translation by Ren is one of my all time favourites. Ed to add, I am sure he has picked up things here and there as regards to his playing; however, he was basically self taught as a child from watching the greats online.
Ren has said many times, he is actually self taught on the guitar, he spent many many hours when ill watching youtube videos of guitar greats, learning that way. He also has done similar with his vocals, in fact he surprised Chris Liepe (online YT vocal coach) during a 1 on 1 interview by telling Chris he had been following his channel and coaching technique for a few years. (its a nice interview). Thanks again Ken. Kia kaha from Middle Earth NZ.
It's his apt in Canada. 5 different songs done by edm artist Fred Again. Rens favorite artist over 2023. Went to a couple concerts and broke down with that last one. He had to grab his knee to stop it shaking at the end there. All that emotion because it perfectly described the last 10 years of his life. I love this song and video. His voice has soo much texture to it. And he does have the range for that low note. He is just collecting our tears for his secret weapon. He has large hands. Taught us that thumb technique in Patreon. No training at all other than You Tube.
Always enjoy hearing your insights and opinions! I value reactions by musicians, singers and producers for the knowledge they share. Yes - this was the first time in awhile you've shown up in my feed, so will be catching up on some Aurora and Billie I've missed. It's really a shame it's so challenging to do music reactions on YT.
In Ren's first YT interview with Justin Hawkins ( Group Darkness) Ren goes into great detail about his guitar playing and music background. Basically his parents were full blown hippies, and as a kid took Ren to festivals. Ren was making and selling Rap beats at 12yrs old. His dad gave him a beat up acoustic guitar around 10yrs old. Ren says he took it everywhere with him and always was practicing. He's totally self taught. If he wanted to learn a different styles of music, guitar techniques. He would go onto You Tube until he found a guitar teacher he could resinate with. He did the exact same with singing, finding a YT vocal coach. During lockdown Ren says, he was getting worried about his voice, singing those high notes, like in, Trouble so hard, by Nina Simone. He found an Opera singer, on YT coaching, how to look after his, voice and breathing exercises 😊
@PoliticallyPink Yep, I saw the interview but couldn't remember his name. Chris was shocked when Ren said he learnt a lot from Chris, especially the emotional side of singing 😊
I remember the reactor / singer / songwriter Andrea Silvestra reacted to this mash up, she's a big Fred Again fan. I think she mentioned there's 5 songs Ren's weaved into one here. Thing is with Ren, his re-imagining of songs from artists he respects and loves are way more then covers. He sprinkles musical fairy dust on them and puts his whole heart into it. Loved your breakdown, especially the guitar hacks!
Ren was still in Canada receiving daily medical care when this was recorded. Loved your reaction Ken, since this was a mash that, many artist would not get.. Ren is an artist for all men and all seasons. From the classics to the most modern genres he finds a way to breed familiarity to the listeners ear.
That moment at the end when he puts his hand on his leg to steady himself makes me so emotional🫠🥹It's like he has to physically stop the music from oozing out of him!❤
For the first time in a LONG time I made it to a premiere…a mash up of EDM tracks that I was unfamiliar with, along with Fred Again. Didn’t expect to have tears running down my face when he said “ fuckin up .I’m battlin I’m battlin, Everybody leave me alone “ and the end just broke me.
Always enjoy your reactions Ken. This was released earlier this year as the first of three cover / ‘retake’ releases and I loved how he signalled the next song each time - ‘cos there ain’t no love in the jungle’, heard in this piece, followed by ‘Back on 74’ (by The Jungle), during which he referenced Nas (‘that’s a Nas shout-out with an awkward… pause’); the next release was his retake of Nas’ ‘Halftime’, which had a few Easter eggs, like the track was exactly half the duration of the original.
I Love his vibrato... his vocal And guitar vibrato are the same! Also... his playing gets me! You can tell hes self taught... he uses his right index like a pick! Even holds it like a pick during solos!
In an interview, Ren said he slowed down videos of John Fruschianti and Jimi Hendrix (both used their thumb). There are probably more musicians he slowed down as well to learn the shapes for the sounds being played. The last part, 'Angie' (I've been lost), deeply affected Ren at a Fred Again concert he attended in 2023 and you can see it in this video. I love all of the things you bring up in your reactions. I love learning more about music. Thank you.
Love learning more about what he is doing with the guitar, thank you! It amazes me that he taught himself by just trying to copy finger shapes and sounds he liked. It's not breaking the rules if you never learnt them!
I believe this a mash up of 5 Fred Again songs. I did listen to some Fred Again songs but they're not my cup of tea. This shows off Rens Guitar Skills together with his unique vocals - he has a style of singing that gets you in the feels.
Fred again is the name a producer/artist who Ren appreciates, if I remember correctly Fred works with synthesizers and electronic music, I am no expert though so I could be blowing smoke!
I always like your comments. REN’s guitar playing: his hero’s are Jimi Hendrix and John Fruciante. Self-taught Ren has another advantage many of us would-be players don’t have; he has big hands, all the easier to get his thumb around the fret board. Not hard to tell he’s spent many hours working on his technique (singing, too).
The Fred Again songs Ren samples are : - Jungle - Delilah ( pull me out of this) - Leave me alone - Clara (the night is dark) - Angie (I've been lost). Appreciate you 😊
Someone must have told you about Ren's musical history by now, I mean you've been doing Ren reactions for a while. I would've thought you knew the answer to that question about (Ren receiving classical guitar lessons), "Ren has never been taught classical guitar" or had any formal lessons on the piano, bass, drums, or in studio production. Ren has stated in multiple interviews that he may have had a total of 1 or 2 formal guitar lessons in his entire life. He is not well versed in musical theory, other then what he's picked up along the way. Ren also freely admits his finger picking is very unorthodox but it just works for him. Ren's tutorials consisted of constantly rewinding video tape & later moved on to using TH-cam to study some of his favorite guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante & Django Reinhardt.✌🏾
Someone must have told you by now to reread your words before posting, I mean you have a lot of history commenting. I would've thought you knew you can come across as rude even if you don't mean to. 😉
Dude! Never knowingly pause a guitar solo! You completely killed the vibe. Your point easily could have waited. Golden rule unless the entire thing is a long solo DON'T freaking pause ffs.
An acknowledgement was made at the time. Ken can do what he wants on his own channel. Any "rule" (golden or not),, is set by the creator of each channel. Just because you may wish your first listen to be without pause, others work differently and may not. Neither is right, nor wrong, just different ways of approaching an experience. As viewers, whilst we may get frustrated at creators for various reasons, there are polite ways of putting a point across and there are not so polite ways. Then again, there is also the option to not comment, or even just leave the room.
Others have mentioned how Ren is self-taught on guitar. In his interview with Justin Hawkins Ren describes how he memorised the shapes of chords as he related to them. It's really interesting.
Thanks for your reaction, very informative.
Fred Again is an EDM artist out of the UK. How Ren was able to take 5 songs of that type of music and turn it into an acoustic masterpiece is pure genius. This is one of my favorites. Thanks, Ken!
Not under quarantine time. It was when he was getting treated in Calgory, Canada. This was in his apartment there.
I think this was when he was under treatment in Canada.
The fact that he can do THAT with EDM songs is AMAZING.
. This was one of the treats Ren gave us last year. Filmed in his apartment in Calgary. There is also a BTS he dropped more recently.
I had a quick listen to Fred Again first. Not being into EDI, it left me cold, but this translation by Ren is one of my all time favourites.
Ed to add, I am sure he has picked up things here and there as regards to his playing; however, he was basically self taught as a child from watching the greats online.
Ren has said many times, he is actually self taught on the guitar, he spent many many hours when ill watching youtube videos of guitar greats, learning that way. He also has done similar with his vocals, in fact he surprised Chris Liepe (online YT vocal coach) during a 1 on 1 interview by telling Chris he had been following his channel and coaching technique for a few years. (its a nice interview). Thanks again Ken. Kia kaha from Middle Earth NZ.
This is probably my favorite Ren mash-up. He is so emotive and his guitar skills are spectacular. Thanks for a great reaction.
It's his apt in Canada. 5 different songs done by edm artist Fred Again. Rens favorite artist over 2023. Went to a couple concerts and broke down with that last one. He had to grab his knee to stop it shaking at the end there. All that emotion because it perfectly described the last 10 years of his life. I love this song and video. His voice has soo much texture to it. And he does have the range for that low note. He is just collecting our tears for his secret weapon.
He has large hands. Taught us that thumb technique in Patreon.
No training at all other than You Tube.
Thanks for this holiday gift, Ken! I appreciate your expert observations. I Respect that you correct yourself in your written edits.
Always enjoy hearing your insights and opinions! I value reactions by musicians, singers and producers for the knowledge they share. Yes - this was the first time in awhile you've shown up in my feed, so will be catching up on some Aurora and Billie I've missed. It's really a shame it's so challenging to do music reactions on YT.
In Ren's first YT interview with Justin Hawkins ( Group Darkness) Ren goes into great detail about his guitar playing and music background. Basically his parents were full blown hippies, and as a kid took Ren to festivals. Ren was making and selling Rap beats at 12yrs old. His dad gave him a beat up acoustic guitar around 10yrs old. Ren says he took it everywhere with him and always was practicing. He's totally self taught. If he wanted to learn a different styles of music, guitar techniques. He would go onto You Tube until he found a guitar teacher he could resinate with. He did the exact same with singing, finding a YT vocal coach. During lockdown Ren says, he was getting worried about his voice, singing those high notes, like in, Trouble so hard, by Nina Simone. He found an Opera singer, on YT coaching, how to look after his, voice and breathing exercises 😊
He used Chris Leipe, probably not exclusively, but their interview is great, too.
@PoliticallyPink Yep, I saw the interview but couldn't remember his name. Chris was shocked when Ren said he learnt a lot from Chris, especially the emotional side of singing 😊
I remember the reactor / singer / songwriter Andrea Silvestra reacted to this mash up, she's a big Fred Again fan. I think she mentioned there's 5 songs Ren's weaved into one here. Thing is with Ren, his re-imagining of songs from artists he respects and loves are way more then covers. He sprinkles musical fairy dust on them and puts his whole heart into it. Loved your breakdown, especially the guitar hacks!
Bar chords. Bard core. That Ren... Thanks for another great reaction.
Ren was still in Canada receiving daily medical care when this was recorded. Loved your reaction Ken, since this was a mash that, many artist would not get.. Ren is an artist for all men and all seasons. From the classics to the most modern genres he finds a way to breed familiarity to the listeners ear.
Such a beautiful emotional song. My favorite. Thanks for reacting to it ❤
Thanks for a great and informative reaction! Vocally this song is one of my all time favorites ❤
I don’t think Ren has ever had any guitar training, he is self taught.
I know the feeling. I haven't ever had lessons in any of the things I do and just learn through TH-cam and friends helping along the way.
LOVED IT! I've always liked your Ren reactions hopefully you do another soon!
Excellent reaction 👍 Thank you for the guitar lesson, I didn't know 😉 Ren and his guitar... 😍 Pure velvet... Thank you 😘
So glad to see this reaction to one of my favourite Ren performances.💕👍🦇
This is 1 of my favs great reaction Thank you
I love the guitar solo on this. Glad you gave it so much attention.💕👍🦇
“Man he is good” 💯 😊
Beautiful reaction, This is a beautifully vulnerable song.
Thank you for doing this, one of my favs ❤
Love this one! Thanks for covering it. 💜
That moment at the end when he puts his hand on his leg to steady himself makes me so emotional🫠🥹It's like he has to physically stop the music from oozing out of him!❤
For the first time in a LONG time I made it to a premiere…a mash up of EDM tracks that I was unfamiliar with, along with Fred Again. Didn’t expect to have tears running down my face when he said “ fuckin up .I’m battlin I’m battlin, Everybody leave me alone “ and the end just broke me.
Always enjoy your reactions Ken. This was released earlier this year as the first of three cover / ‘retake’ releases and I loved how he signalled the next song each time - ‘cos there ain’t no love in the jungle’, heard in this piece, followed by ‘Back on 74’ (by The Jungle), during which he referenced Nas (‘that’s a Nas shout-out with an awkward… pause’); the next release was his retake of Nas’ ‘Halftime’, which had a few Easter eggs, like the track was exactly half the duration of the original.
This such a clever mash up.
I Love his vibrato... his vocal And guitar vibrato are the same!
Also... his playing gets me! You can tell hes self taught... he uses his right index like a pick! Even holds it like a pick during solos!
Self taught mutable instrument You should see his piano playing
Have nice holidays!
Thanks for explaining the thumb on the bass string 😊😁🥹💜
One of my many fav Ren tracks❤thanks❤
Season greetings to you too
I think Ren is the actual definition of a prodigy ❤
In an interview, Ren said he slowed down videos of John Fruschianti and Jimi Hendrix (both used their thumb). There are probably more musicians he slowed down as well to learn the shapes for the sounds being played. The last part, 'Angie' (I've been lost), deeply affected Ren at a Fred Again concert he attended in 2023 and you can see it in this video.
I love all of the things you bring up in your reactions. I love learning more about music. Thank you.
Love learning more about what he is doing with the guitar, thank you! It amazes me that he taught himself by just trying to copy finger shapes and sounds he liked. It's not breaking the rules if you never learnt them!
Thanks mate!
I believe this a mash up of 5 Fred Again songs. I did listen to some Fred Again songs but they're not my cup of tea. This shows off Rens Guitar Skills together with his unique vocals - he has a style of singing that gets you in the feels.
Who else can feel the effort to really trying.
nice work
Love that song
Sime can be amazing it makes one focus on the music. Great reaction thanks❤
Fred again is the name a producer/artist who Ren appreciates, if I remember correctly Fred works with synthesizers and electronic music, I am no expert though so I could be blowing smoke!
I always like your comments. REN’s guitar playing: his hero’s are Jimi Hendrix and John Fruciante. Self-taught Ren has another advantage many of us would-be players don’t have; he has big hands, all the easier to get his thumb around the fret board. Not hard to tell he’s spent many hours working on his technique (singing, too).
The Fred Again songs Ren samples are :
- Jungle
- Delilah ( pull me out of this)
- Leave me alone
- Clara (the night is dark)
- Angie (I've been lost).
Appreciate you 😊
Someone must have told you about Ren's musical history by now, I mean you've been doing Ren reactions for a while. I would've thought you knew the answer to that question about (Ren receiving classical guitar lessons), "Ren has never been taught classical guitar" or had any formal lessons on the piano, bass, drums, or in studio production.
Ren has stated in multiple interviews that he may have had a total of 1 or 2 formal guitar lessons in his entire life. He is not well versed in musical theory, other then what he's picked up along the way. Ren also freely admits his finger picking is very unorthodox but it just works for him. Ren's tutorials consisted of constantly rewinding video tape & later moved on to using TH-cam to study some of his favorite guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante & Django Reinhardt.✌🏾
Someone must have told you by now to reread your words before posting, I mean you have a lot of history commenting. I would've thought you knew you can come across as rude even if you don't mean to. 😉
Bar Chords for the Bardcore.
You should check out the original songs to fully appreciate what Ren has done here.
❤❤❤❤❤
He's self taught on guitar
I'm subscribed and they haven't put you in front of me for a while.
I have a little to catch up on.
Same here!
TH-cam is so weird.
You should check out the BTS video of this on his other channel RenMakesStuff, they are amazing insight to his process.
Great reaction thank you. Re the thumb if it was ok with Richie Havens It's ok by me.
I was unsubscribed .. subbed again,,,I was onr that asked on your 1st Ren !!'
I knew I'd find you here😂❤❤❤
Hungry cat!!!
Calgary is not quarantine. It's Cow Town.
❤
👍👍🎄🎅✌️
I think he copied Hendrix with the thumb when he watched Hendrix on TH-cam.
Dude! Never knowingly pause a guitar solo! You completely killed the vibe. Your point easily could have waited. Golden rule unless the entire thing is a long solo DON'T freaking pause ffs.
Chill dude, its Ken's channel, he can do what he wants. His explanations are worth the pause.
I appreciated that he pointed out the thumb thing.
Dude! Go watch the original if you don’t want a “reaction” 👍🏻❤️
An acknowledgement was made at the time. Ken can do what he wants on his own channel.
Any "rule" (golden or not),, is set by the creator of each channel.
Just because you may wish your first listen to be without pause, others work differently and may not. Neither is right, nor wrong, just different ways of approaching an experience.
As viewers, whilst we may get frustrated at creators for various reasons, there are polite ways of putting a point across and there are not so polite ways. Then again, there is also the option to not comment, or even just leave the room.
TH-cam sucks
❤