I'm re-learning a short little practice song in Guitar For Dummies called Chuck's Duck. It's a 50s rock & roll song very similar to Johnny B. Goode. There's tons of eighth-note double stops and I don't know if they should be played using all downstrokes or if I should alternate-pick. Using all downstrokes, the sound/tone is correct but it's choppy because it's harder to keep up to the tempo, which is 132 bpm. Using alternate picking is more fluid rhythm-wise, but the upstrokes are difficult (the pick catches in the strings) and it sounds different than downstrokes.
Are the double stops in Johnny B. Goode played all downstrokes, or alternate? And is it possible to get all downstrokes to sound fluid, given enough practise?
with Johnny B Goode I use downstrokes and upward bends.
Yes I agree use down strokes for the riff. To learn it and get it fluent don't start with it at the actual tempo. Get a metronome and get it down at a much slower tempo. Once you can do that then increase the tempo and practice a the lick at that tempo until you get it down. Then bump up the tempo again (you may need to do this three of four times) until you get to the actual tempo of the song.
It may take awhile but you will get it if you take this approach and practice!
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I just dusted off my copy of Guitar for Dummies (If you don't have the book, the TAB is here courtesy of the book's publisher. No laws were injured in the making of this post) and tried it both ways.
I think it sounds more Chusk-ish with all downstrokes.
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Cool - thanks everyone. I was doing the double stops all-downstroke, so I'm glad I don't have to un-learn what I've been doing. I can do it at 120bpm now and the more I practise the more fluid it becomes - I was worried that it would be impossible to get it to sound right using downstrokes.
As always, do what sounds best to YOUR ears. But I agree if you want to sound like Chuck, play it like Chuck.
Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton
Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith
The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<
Patrick asks a question that's been bothering me also.......do the double stops at some point just start to sound more fluid? I have a nice riff to practice, I usually use all downstrokes, but to me it sounds awful. Like 2 separate notes being played. And doesn't seem to be improving. I'm wondering if I just need to keep practicing or if I'm missing something on my technique. Or both.
Brian
There's no special technique that I am aware of to play double stops.
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Doing anything on any instrument requires only two things, time and repetition. The more you do it, the better you get at it.
When learning something difficult, I use the two minute method. Works for me and others, but not everyone.
1) Play the difficult passage for 2 minutes as fast as I can play it correctly. Correctly is important as you don't want to practice wrong notes or anything else wrong.
2) Put the instrument down and do something else for 2 minutes. Type on the Internet, read some comics, anything that isn't related.
3) repeat the process.
I find I learn things quicker this way that I would if I didn't take the break. Not sure why. Perhaps it gives the muscles and nerve cells time to solidify the connections. That's a wild guess. I'm sure a biologist has a better answer.
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Bob "Notes" Norton
Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith
The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<
Actually notes there have been studies on that. I'm not sure about a 2 minute rule but yes your brain/muscles need time to assimilate what you just tried to teach it so banging away for minutes or hours at a time has dimiinishing returns and you are correct your brain is making those neural connections even after you put the instrument down.
I think that's pretty much what you see, you practice something for days and don't get it and then all of a sudden one day viola you can play it...your brain and muscle memory finally caught up.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
indeed. there was a study of the brain and where long term memory iis located. that area is at the back of the brain.
new sensory input enters the front cortex and travels to the back storgae part of the brain.
all the time new sensory input is coming at us. the brain has a way of sorting out the things that are unimportant.
important things then are allowed to travel deeper into the brain to the ares it is needed.
I read that to remember something important is to not interupt it's journey to the storgae part of the brain. it takes ten minutes, more or less. so if you work out a guitar lick or a passage of poetry, do not play or read anything for ten minutes. that way there is no override of the info you want.
I write this with no assumed authority, but it sounds like it could work that way.
