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my bubble is burst

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(@anonymous)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 8184
Topic starter  

Hi everyone.
I have had a great week playing my guitar or so I thought.
I learned Tears in Heaven from the Easy Song Database,
Always on my Mind and Unchained Melody from PlaneTalk's website and am now working on the Ragtime lesson also from PlaneTalk.
Ok this morning I decided to seranade my wife and procceeded to play Tears in Heaven. She recognized the song but said it didn't sound right and put on the CD. I played along with the CD and it sounded ok to me. Hey critics right?
So now I am working on that Ragtime thing. I have the first 5 bars down pat and it is sounding pretty good. I am thinking I might even be playing a little fast so I load up the video to see where I am.
WHOO wait a minute, is this thing in fast forward!!
He is playing twice as fast as I am maybe more.
I lower my head and sigh :cry:


   
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(@rodya-s-thompson)
Estimable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 207
 

Don't sweat it. He's been playing that song for a LOT longer than you have, so don't get discouraged. Hell, he wrote it!

And as far as being slow - once again, an issue of practice. I'm on a bit of an AC/DC kick now, so I learned the rhythm to Back in Black easily enough, moved on to Highway to Hell, but am taking it very slow - getting my fingers used to the chord changes so I can make them more fluid in general.

And as for the "not sounding the same" - I hope she realizes that Clapton sings differently and plays what is probably a completely different guitar than you (unless you do have a Martin 0-range acoustic - in which case, please help my Brian-wants-a-vintage-Les Paul fund? Only quarters a day!). So of course you're not going to sound like him - you're going to sound like you!

Best of luck, keep working at it, and don't get down - it sounds like you're doing great!

-Brian

Henry Garza, Saul Hudson, and Darrell Abbott could not be here tonight, but they all had sex and are proud to announce the birth of their two-headed baby, Rodya S. Thompson.

- Paraphrased from the Tenacious D series


   
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(@david-m1)
Estimable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 122
 

Don let the critic's get you down, my wifes is my toughest critic.

As far as why your version sounds different, it may be a situation where you've learned the basics sort of a bare bones version of the song. I know I've learned songs and thought they were okay and then when I play them for my teacher he will play it completely differnt but sounding much more like the original. If you watched Clapton play you may notice he is doing things a little or a lot different, I think thats what seperates the beginners from the pro's they will use transition chords, aternating bass, pull offs, hammer ons, bends, slides.... and the list goes on. Dont let it get you down though because as you learn more songs what you learn in one will often times help you improve others. Keep at it, if you learned three songs in a week i'd say your doing great, my teacher will often work with me over a month on a song, and it's still not perfect.

Stick with it, have fun, and dont let the critics get you down...


   
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(@racer-y)
Estimable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 114
 

Hi.
uhhh i don't really know much about the songs you are learning
but as far as your wife being a critic...lol I know about that :)

Anyways, a problem with playing a song exactly as it is written, is that it
might not sound like it was being played that way. especially an
old familiar song. people's memories fade as time goes by, the brain
will "make up notes and tempo" in songs....

Like if you play a cover tune somewhere and somebody thinks you've
played it wrong, you learned the correct version, but the listener has
heard the complete song and more likely bits and pieces of the song for
years and years, it's just not going to sound 100% correct to everybody.

Or like me, you go to one of those tab sites, see a song you remember
hearing long ago and decide to learn it. you playing along the tabs and
you get to a point in the song and go,"WTF!!!" " That ain't right".
then you hear the song somewhere, focus on the point in question, and go, "...oh".... :)

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but when
you're a 22lb sledge, do you really have to be?


   
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(@piano-man)
Eminent Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 34
 

Where do I find the easy songs database??????


   
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(@artlutherie)
Noble Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 1157
 

Where do I find the easy songs database??????
ElectraBlue Is working on it it should be up soon. in the meantime go here:ESD

Chuck Norris invented Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous secret recipe, with eleven herbs and spices. But nobody ever mentions the twelfth ingredient: Fear!
ChuckNorrisFactsdotCom


   
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(@captain-jack)
New Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 2
 

I don't often post but I love to read these things and this one strikes close to my heart. It was very early in my musical journey that my Mom banished me from the house with the comment "Nobody wants to hear that. Nobody wants to hear your practice." But I was not deterred. I played and practiced even harder. (Sometimes louder)

Years later my wife bought tickets to a SRV concert at the beginning of his career and ended up paying me the best complment (back-handed) I had ever had as we left the small theater. I was going on and on about how awesome the experience was when she stopped me and said, "Look, I know this is special for you and all that and you don't get to listen to stuff like that but I can't enjoy it on that level because I hear this stuff from you every day, day in and day out. It's just not that special."
I was speechless, "You mean I...? That you think that I sound that good???
Nobody could talk to me for a week and my head wouldn't fit through any doorways.

The moral? Chin up bucko. Even if your wife has discouraged you, (unintentionally I'm sure) you can turn it into something positive by staying focused, applying the other things written on this site and listening to what you are playing. Record yourself and you might find that you agree with your wife a little bit. Ultimately I did.


   
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(@anonymous)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 8184
Topic starter  

Thank you everyone for your kind and thoughtfull words.
I am indeed not giving up and have vowed to practice even harder.


   
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