It's been a few months since I've posted this. I always found it interesting to see other's efforts and methods as well as type of playing they're doing or even just recording.
The last time I posted this, I had a list of 21 songs that I was learning to play. It was a subset of a massive amount of songs that got narrowed down to 105. Still too much, I nailed it down to 21. Alas, medications being what they are, I slowly expanded back up to my 105-ish.
It was pretty much my goal for most of the past year to go from knowing only a handful easy 4 chord songs to learning a whole bunch of songs a rung or two up the ladder. I've pretty much done that, although the more practice I get, the better they will be. Not forgetting about them now, rahter they are my "fun" portion of guitar playing.
When learning something, you discover that there are things you don't know. That's fine. That's part of the fun. Whilest strumming my way into camp-fire mediorcity, I discovered for myself a few additional directions I wanted to take. In short, Blues rhythm, blues lead, rock lead, power chords, single-triple note playing in rhythm instead of bashing all strings and jazzy sounds/chords.
So, after all that, here is my practice regimen. I do not and will not require a following to a "T" as I have to do this in small peices to avoid discomfort, but during the course of the day, this is what I mix in.
1. Minor Pentatonic Scale (Position 1) – Down and up 5-10 times. (Thanks Wes!)
2. Major Pentatonic Scale – Down and up 5-10 times
3. Blues You Can Use – Chapter 1 Exercise – 3 times
4. Blues You Can Use – Chapter 2 Exercise – 3 times
5. 5-15 minutes of Led Zep's 10 Years Gone (single-triple note picking in rhythm)
6. 5-15 minutes of Girl From Iponema (Jazz chords - Thanks D. Hodge!)
7. 5 minutes of Blues improvisation following a scale (Thanks Wes!).
8. AC/DC Back In Black (Mainly power chords, but getting feel for driven amps, albeit low volume)
I'll still be playing those other songs. I need to work on a couple of the chord shifts on some of them, especiallt an open to barre transition. SOMETIMES, on occassion, I can get Lay Lady Lay rolling very nicely.
So, what are you folks working on?
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
For the Essex Guitar Orchestra:
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Mozart
Oh, heavenly peace - Handel
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Morriconi
Introduction and Fandango - Boccherini (and it's $££%$£%^!£ hard!)
Michelle - Lennon/ McCartney
I saw her standing there - Lennon/ McCartney
I know him so well - from the musical "Chess"
Sailing - Gavin Sutherland (yes, the Rod Stewart song)
A couple of traditional Italian melodies, a couple of 15th century songs by guys whose names I can't remember, and an anonymous Spanish thing.
For me:
Recuerdos de la Ahmabra - Tarrega
Odd bits from Castles of Spain - Moreno-Torroba
Scales, arpeggios, cadences etc from the DipLCM syllabus.
Stuff nobody's ever heard of:
I have a decent bass riff which I'd like to put some melody over. I need more time to do it though.
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
A couple of new covers;
Grateful Dead - A Touch of Grey
Status Quo - Paper Plane
A couple of new songs in open D tuning;
Back On Track (This week's SSG song) - got the basic version down, working on the whistles and bells.
As yet untitled - just a riff so far with some slide guitar
And an old song of mine;
Blindman. I have recorded it before, but never been happy with the way it's turned out. Altered the chords slightly this time, and fingers crossed, this'll be the one....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Working on getting a gigable set list with my son.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Well I've had a big breakthrough with new chords, speed of a lot of the chord changes and generally working on strumming because its too dependant on me concentrating entirely on the rythmn rather than just using a strumming pattern and being able to sing over the top of my rythmn.
I'm only really working on songs at the moment, to further improve my playing and to get some good songs under my belt:
Been playing since the end of March
==============================
*Animals - House of the rising sun: can play this pretty well apart from the bridge.
*Roxette - Things will never be the same: Awesome song (checkout the album Tourism for a lot of accoustic stuff)
*Roxette - Here comes the weekend: Great melancoly (sp?) song about missing someone you love over the weekend (school/work I guess).
*Verve - Drugs Dont Work: Thanks Justin!
*Coldplay - Trouble: Thanks Justin!
*Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead or Alive: Awesome song, quite easy and sounds powerful even on a single guitar.
*REM - Everybody Hurts: Sounds cool, very simple and can be added to if you're into mixing.
Guns n Roses - Sweet Child of Mine: This is a song I will be improving forever, only missing the last solo and about 10 years practice lol.
Beatles - HELP!: I quite like the baseline walking in this song.
Priestess - Lay Down: Love this song on Guitar Hero, so I'll be working towards this as the months go onward.
Allman Brothers Band - JESSICA: Theme from Top Gear, difficult but nice single note melodies.
* These are songs I believe I can play
All in all I'm actually running out of time and finger tips for practice, not enthusiasm! :mrgreen:
@Alan Green: I noticed you seem to have a lot of historical music and even some spanish stuff, is it flamenco or something? I'd love to hear some of the things you play!
Arranging and recording Hendrix songs for lap steel and slide guitar, had to take a break this summer for various reasons, but hope to have the CD available in time for my 50th birthday in December..... 8)
There are some rough mixes on my MySpace site if anyone's interested; http://www.myspace.com/steinargregertsen
Most of the stuff i have been working on are songs i play in a sometimes band :D
House of the Rising son
Angel of Montgomery
Heartbreaker
I'm the Only one
Lovin' touchin' squeezin'
Knights in White Satin
The night They Drove Dixie Down
and a whole host of their own original songs
some of which can be seen here 8)I am in some of these videos and i would be the 3rd fat guy to the left :(
There are a bunch of songs with the guys I play with the two newest are Judas Priest Songs:
Hot Rockin- Rhythm is pretty easy so I've been working on doing the dual solo with the other guitar player. It's a short solo only about 20 secs or with each player doing half and it's with alot of pinch harmonics so there's alot of squealing goin on. I have the timing down but need to work on getting those harmonics out everytime. That could take a bit not sure I only have an amp to play one day a week.
Electric Eye - I've just started this one and even the rhythm is going to be a bit of a challenge on this one. There's alot going on in the song and there are no real spots that slow down so this one will be a workout. The solo might be a bit over my head so I'm not sure if I'll even attempt that now.
just got an email from the other guitar player and he wants to do a Thin Lizzy tune Hollywood so that might be next. I just heard the song a few minutes ago for the first time.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
A couple of things I'm bouncing around with:
1. Imagine, finger style. I may try strumming also (chord, bass note). **
2. Heart of Gold. Also working on the harmonica solo w/ chord/melody note.
3. House of the Rising Sun, finger style and chord arpeggio. Can't decide which I like better. **
4. I Hear You Knocking, 12 bar blues. Trying to work out the intro and middle solo. *
5. Proud Mary. Trying to work out the middle solo. * **
6. Dust In The Wind, the intro: getting my fingers to work properly. Using really as a finger exercise. Not ready for the whole song yet.
7. Sundown. **
8. Working Class Hero. * **
* I play the rhythm of these with the recording, all the way through.
** I'm working mainly on making my chord changes properly.
I'm sure this is probably too much for me to be working on at once, but I chip away at them. I'm almost ready to play Heart of Gold all the way through by myself (can't play that one with the recording... that darn Neil Young! :lol: ).
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
I am working on selling my hosue and keeping my sanity as strangers walk through for viewings.
also, working on a collab using Big Train, learning more about recording so I can further play with Shock Corridor.
not practising guitar like you all, but learning two note harmonies up and down the neck.
making headway there. starting to bend them and actually sounding like a nashville gutiar player.
so that is satisfying the country player in me.
I am itching to play the blues and step on my overdrive pedal soon.
well im trying get through as much instrumental writing as I can before I go back to uni in October. Also having a go at some slap n pop for the guitar...dont think ill be any good at it though. :?
This week's list is:
1- SInce I bought a 12 string, i've decided that I'll work on the intro to Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi. Its fairly simple, so I should get it rather quickly.
2- Lately I hit a plateau in my playing. So I'm trying to find ways to expand. I've recorded several different styles of original songs. I'm trying to introduce new phrasing into my lead/fills and incorporate dual rhythms in my songwriting.
If you ask me the same quesiton next week, I'm sure you'll get a diffrent answer.
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Unfortunately for me, the schedules gotten a little crazy so my practice sessions have been shorter lately. I try to at least get the following in every day:
1. 10-15 minutes - Minor Pentatonic Scale, learning to put all 5 positions together in different keys.
2. 10-15 minutes - Blues You Can Use, I believe its study 10 (Getting Funky). I have it down at slow tempo version and working on playing it cleanly on full tempo.
3. Then I'll spend anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour on learning songs. I've got two I'm working on now. First one is Sweet Home Chicago which I finished learning a few weeks back and trying to clean-up (mainly the solo portion). Second one is Albert King's Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong. I really have come to love his work and just recently got a book with a bunch of his tabs, good stuff if your into his stuff.
just playing a lot, learning the instrument, working on creativity.
This is always a very interesting topic. Fun to see all the different things. There is never, ever, ever going to be an end to learning this instrument. That's a good thing, not a bad thing.
Steinar: I checked out your MySpace songs. Very good stuff. I enjoyed.
Ksac: I checked out the deb&greg band site too. Still have most of the videos to watch. Looks like a fun group. 8)
Cnev: I never heard that tune either. Found it on youtube. Gotta check out Granny rocking out with the kids. Good for her. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GuE9zEej9c
Minotaur: I like playing Neil Young songs. Some I do nicely, and some not so nicely. I do entirely strumming on Heart Of Gold. The House Of The Rising Sun song I do too, but an entirely different way. I started the arpeggio using the GN lesson by David Hodge. One day a couple months ago I just started wailing on the LP on some light gain setting and it kind of took off on me. A very hard strum is probably the best way to describe it. Three minutes later, my ear was throbbing and I was in a pretty good sweat. Rock & Roll Rules!!!! (The closest thing I can come up with in comparison to describe it might be Metallica's version of "Turn The Page")
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Morriconi
That'll be interesting to hear. I'm trying to picture it.
Working on getting a gigable set list with my son.
What's it looking like so far? Eveyrthing we've heard sounds really good.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
