Black Shapes/White Noise

Nic de la Riva My whole life revolves around Sound and Light Bass, Drums, Guitar, Uke 1/3 of XOXO Staying true to yourself and being hated for it is far better than holding yourself back just to fit in and be liked. 500px Photos! XOXO debut EP "Ready" out on iTunes

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So RIP to a SF icon, but I can't ignore the fact that it seems like my friend is saying he LITERALLY SHIT HIS PANTS the other day.

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Secret Tumblr Video #6! Everlasting Light (Uke Cover)

It's late, it's raining, and I can't sleep. Soooo here you go. I actually tried a bunch of stuff but didn't like any of it, including this one.

But you know I'm committed to getting stuff out regularly (read before my Final Cut trial runs out) so here you go. Falsetto will always be hard, but if your a fan of it, knock yourself out. To play this in the original key, I had to tune down my uke a half step. I hate doing that. It makes everything feel all loose and weird, just like your mom. Kidding. 

This is a song by The Black Keys. It's the first song off of Brothers. Super short and sweet, but really catchy and soulful in that classic way.

Anyway, it's past 3AM so as always, check the tags for more videos! And feel free to say hi!

[blackshapeswhitenoise]

Secret Tumblr Video #5! Hurt in Your Heart Cover

So now I DEFINITELY know no one is going to see this at 3AM. Gives me a chance to get off the ukulele for a sec and do another incredibly sad song. Actually I haven't really done that many sad songs in this series. Well, at least I haven't posted them.

This is a sort of forgotten 80s classic. Phil Collins drummed on it. I felt it was fitting to play this synthesizer I have from 1983. It's a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600. It was made right here in the Bay in SJ! Pretty cool, right? It's also going the a sort of shimmering reverb on my Eventide H9. Reverse shift? 80s? You know it.

Anyway, we are 5 out of 26 down. Sorry I was absent for a few days. I lost my voice trying to teach myself Japanese with six hour sessions a day. Btw, I will be in Japan in June. And this series is a test that if it goes well will be followed by a series in Tokyo for a video for each train stop.

Ambitious. Not sleepy.

[blackshapeswhitenoise]

Life on a Curve

Never compare yourself to others.

You are in a class all your own.

Of course, that means if you are grading on curve, you will always be average and therefore deserve a constant C. Over and over again.

Dammit, why do you and I always seem to need improvement?

Wait a minute, why do I say that like it's a bad thing?

A good life never has to go downhill.

[finalfantasys]

[blackshapeswhitenoise]

you give lessons on instruments ?

I will be starting up giving lessons on bass, uke, Pro Tools, and Ableton Live in the very near future again in the SF Bay Area and through Facetime or Skype if possible. You can email me at [email protected] if you have further questions.

[blackshapeswhitenoise]

Secret Tumblr Video #4! The Ballad of Dorothy Parker (Ukulele Cover)

See now here is something worth being secret about. This video will probably never become not unlisted because I'm afraid that Prin©e will get mad and sue me for a million dollars or something. Don't I feel hardcore now?

This is the earliest I've posted one of these videos and that kind of sucks because it's probably the worst one so far; but it's good to be challenged I guess and one of the reasons I'm doing this is because it's like high stakes practicing in front of everyone (but we all know that no one's really watching).

I've actually lost two followers since starting this series, but gained three so hey I'm up one and don't that feel good?

Anyway, check the tags below to find more of my secret vids and yeah hope you enjoy.

[alexandrinaionita]

[justjustinnn-blog]

OMG LMFAO WHAT DID I JUST READ.

[dorctorwho-deactivated20140121]

THIS IS EITHER THE BEST OR THE WORST LOVE STORY I CAN’T DECIDE OMFG.

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I wish this was the ending to a real movie. I mean what if 500 Days of Summer ended like this?

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Secret Tumblr Video #3! Do You Realize?? on Uke

Yeah ok here's another the song that I love that I'm so glad to play to an audience of what feels like virtually nobody! ;) That's why I love Tumblr for this series because the retention time is so quick, that these videos can sort of just sit in their own little place on the net out of the tumblr feeds of most of you guys.

But again, this is part of an ongoing series. Please check the tags at the bottom to see the first two vids! I really liked the Adventure Time one.

These videos will probably be mostly acoustic cover songs, but I will bleed in some originals here and there and when I'm done I MAYYYYYY have an actual free release for people that have been listening. Maybe. Probably not. We'll see. I dunno, stop talking to myself.

Anyway... this is a great song by The Flaming Lips. I'm not sure how many people who follow me know this song, but it sure would be nice if it turned out more than thought. Hope you guys enjoy another one of these late night bloopity bleepity things whatever.

I'm getting tired of this camera angle.

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Secret Tumblr Video #2! Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley) on Uke

Ok we're picking up some steam here. This is the second video in my series of unlisted vids that I'm posting only on my Tumblr, where I'm sure nobody really follows me.

This is where you can hear fuck up and practice and stuff. Today I kind of just wanted to mess up the most beautiful song I know. So here you go. There are probably too many versions of this song on the internet, but I guess I couldn't think of anything better to do. And honestly I practice with song a lot. Not like it's helping me any.

Self deprecation! Yay!

Anyway, hope you enjoy. And if you are actually following me, stay tuned I guess.

The end of this series happens on the 26th video (I'm 26) and then I'll either make them public or delete them. There will be a tag that you can find these videos with.

[blackshapeswhitenoise]

Secret Tumblr Video #1! Adventure Time Medley Solo Uke/Bass

This is the first in a series of fun unlisted videos I'm making just for funs.

Yeah I have too much free time. Most of them will be one take tries that I do while I practice. Is it weird that I record myself practicing?

Anyway, have fun with this video. Hope you think it's cool. If not, just let it fade into internet obscurity!

These are the Adventure Time songs I did.

Adventure Time Theme All Gummed Up Inside Remember You Fry Song Not Just Your Little Girl I'm Just Your Problem My Best Friends in the World

I wanted to Dream of Love really bad, but then that would have made the video hella long!

If you want to know the chords, they are seriously all on the Adventure Time Wikia.

And finally, yeah I like cartoons. I probably always will. Hope you enjoy this and feel free to give me feedback! I'm only a little sensitive and self conscious.

[blackshapeswhitenoise]

Don't Leave (XOXO Acoustic Cover) Ukulele Closeup

So as promised, here's a closeup view of what I play on the ukulele for the Don't Leave video.

I dunno. For some reason I'm really proud of this riff. It's probably the most fun I have playing ukulele these these days.

Here's a copy of the chords from my description. It includes chord shapes.

Chords: |Dmin-D7-|Gmin---|C---|F-A7-| repeat until your hands hurt. The F chord does a suspension so if strings go (GCEA), you're looking at (2011) to (2010) Other than that, here are some shapes: Dmin: (5555) D7: (5655) Gmin: (3231) C: (0003) Fsus: (2011) Fmaj: (2010) A7: (0100)

So let me know what you guys think. And please spread this around because honestly it would be kind of cool to see people take on this 90s classic. In the years I've been doing this stuff, I never really see people do this song much less on the uke.

So yenno, give me some feedback, ok? Feel free to reblog, like, and ask questions!

:P

[blackshapeswhitenoise]

XOXO - Don't Leave (Acoustic Cover)

Hey! We did my favorite Blackstreet song!

Yes, we probably had way too much fun with green screen? Do I regret it? Hell no.

There is a ukulele tutorial video in the description. So if you want, check it out! I will create another post for it in a minute.

There is plenty of new material that we (XOXO) is working on so maybe we can be a little more prolific than we have been lately.

So spread this one around and have fun with it!

I promise I'll be around a little more.

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Oh snap. I must have got Usher's parking space.

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Good old tubes in shitty new mics!

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Just me and my ukulele

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Yeah Spotify, I also haven't listened to Milli Vanilli or Black Box in awhile... SO SHUT UP!