Beginner's videos

I need some pointers on my singing and guitar playing.. if any come to mind feel free.. i dont mind criticism

Man, you do choose some difficult piece to cover don't you.... whatever happened to good ole Horse with No Name... :roll:

I think you're doing great, but maybe trying to run before you can walk. This is just my opinion ok, and other's will have their, but if you're going to attempt these sorts of songs solo, I reckon you should think about using a backing track. There's some pretty cool ones available and it will help with your timing and flesh everything out a bit.

Playing that sort of lead and singing doesn't really work without backing - I mean, it's great to listen to and BIG kudos, but just doesn't work (for my ears anyways).

I think the singing and playing is a natural progression and will come more naturally the more you do it. Just keep at it, but try to keep the timing in the music first - if the singing distracts you, then don't! Just play and add some fillers.

So, think about backing tracks.... You're doing great. Get yourself in a band.

Keep Rockin On!
D 8)
ok.. thanks :D .. lol. since ive never had any lessons.. i have never heard of a horse with no name :?
the first song i ever learned was the sweet child of mine intro..it was pretty pathetic at first.. but i watched the video tutorial on it and it helped me figure tabs out and stuff and tahts how i started.. Im going to try a easier song next time.. and maybe if i can find a backing track then put it in.. but i thinkill just find a song that doesnt need one.. :)

Okay. I said I would do this... :shock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CG64gty6JU

It is just a snippet of "Little Conversations" by Concrete Blonde, and I'm really only posting this so I can figure it all out. Wasn't sure how much time I could have on my poor old antiquated Mac, how high a quality of video I would need, how I'd post it on YouTube...

So, I'm also going to do a snippet of classical, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtajOTI9mM

and maybe try to sing a little along with House of the Rising Sun or something equally over-played :roll:

This is pretty confronting stuff, but I KNOW it will get easier :wink:

Many congrats Lisa!

Your playing in the first video is pretty good. The strumming, the chord changes, the timing... Really it is a great playing!

The second piece seems harder to play, the fingerstyle is not easy. However, you play it very good, too, just there is a couple of minor troubles. The tone is very beautiful! There isn't many nylon string guitars at GN and those necks are not easy to play (btw, perhaps it would be easier to you if put your thumb behind the neck and not "over" the neck, there will be more space for moving the fingers).

Well done! 8)

Thank you for that Nuno. I didn't even realise I had been doing that with the nylon. I think it might be a bad habit that's snuck in from muting the E string on the steel string when strumming. I will definitely keep an eye on that!

Now I drawn that line in the sand, I have somewhere to move on from :D Looking forward to doing my first song with vocals (now THAT will be scary!) :lol:

Watched you vid's, very nice. Now, don't let singing scare you. You can do it with a little practice. :)

Very well done! Your strumming is smooth and you've got some great wrist work going (usually beginners will use their entire arm). Very nice.

And the classical bit is good, too. Only advice I'd give you is to take it just a tad slower until you're more comfortable with all the fingering changes. Then work on the speed. It's easy to get frustrated with muffed notes, but that's going to happen (and still happens to everyone, regardless of what you might think). Getting things done in a steady, though slightly slower, tempo will make it easier for you as you bring it back up to speed.

Looking forward to more.

Peace

Well done Lisa.
I really liked the classical guitaring.
I've been thinking of buying an acoustic (never played one) and after seeing the wide neck on yours, it's one that I'm definitely going to consider. I've been looking for a guitar with a wider neck.
Anyway, thanks for sharing that.
I think we all learn something from these videos.

KR2

Hi Lisa

I will voice my congratulations also, not only did the 'old' Mac perform it's duty well, but both videos were very listenable...

I cannot, and will not give any guidance on playing...mainly 'cos I need it myself, but it's interested to hear David's thoughts on your playing, and as KR2 says, I think we will all learn from watching your vids and the comments you receive.

It was great to see the thought waves moving back and forwards from the fingers to the brain but not quite keeping up sometimes,....ahhh, very therapeutic... :wink:

I suffer from the same thing and my problem is definitely trying to play things too fast (which is the correct speed for most tracks). Also I suffer from not practicing just a few tunes and getting the correct, but delving into the libraries and playings lots of tunes badly... I'll slap my own wrist... :roll:

Rock on!
D 8)

Well done Lisa.
I really liked the classical guitaring.
I've been thinking of buying an acoustic (never played one) and after seeing the wide neck on yours, it's one that I'm definitely going to consider. I've been looking for a guitar with a wider neck.
KR2

I suffer from *stoopid little hands* syndrome (all my family has lovely long fingers... mine are stumpy and I'm the only one trying to play guitar :roll: ) so I had to actually find a classical guitar with a neck that wasn't too wide. My reach has improved considerably since I first picked it up, but it will always be limited.

I was very lucky that my ex-husband was always happy to go guitar shopping with me and test drive second hand guitars for me (he was/is a very good player).

I will voice my congratulations also, not only did the 'old' Mac perform it's duty well, but both videos were very listenable...)

I ended up using a mic through the video camera as the camera's mic picked up too much extaneous noise and made things sound really tinny, so hopefully the guitar sounds a little better because of that (I need all the help... :lol: )
It was great to see the thought waves moving back and forwards from the fingers to the brain but not quite keeping up sometimes,....ahhh, very therapeutic... :wink:

hehe... yeah, maybe I should have practiced a little beforehand :shock: but sometimes you just have to do it, warts and all :twisted: I will do some practice with it and see if I can improve on that in a couple of weeks.

This is great! Now I know I can get the technology to work, I have a whole new focus to work towards.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Hi Lisa... very nice fingerpicking on the second video, unfortunately, I can't hear sound on the first one.

Can you offer some advice from your experience up to this point? I am a few weeks in to focusing my efforts on fingerpicking and your second video is just what I am hoping to accomplish in time. Can you tell me what you have been using for study material, lessons, music/tabs? Do you have an instructor, or are you self-studying?

Hi lue42,

I confess that I have had a teacher in the past, so my "beginner" status is a bit in limbo -- not quite a beginner, but not good enough to go into the next group.

I had learnt a little piano as a teenager, and even though I can't play a note these days, I can still read music. Because of this, and the fact that I was happy to learn the classical guitar, I have a range of simple classical pieces my teacher gave me to learn initially.

Something like this book --> http://www.amazon.com/LIBRARY-GUITAR-CLASSICS-Classical-Guitar/dp/0825616174/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b might help?

I still use my first learnt classical pieces as warm ups. I guess it depends on whether you like the sound of the classical guitar. When I started, I had no intention of buying one. I thought I'd be a Thrash Queen. (And I still hope to be some day :lol: ) But the sound captured my imagination... Aw heck, I'm going to have to have a play now :note2:

Thank you for the advice!

When I started out learning to play I did not really have a specific genre or style that I was interested in. I pretty much listen to every music there is, so it is hard to say, I want to play "this".

But, over time I have been focusing more and more on fingerpicking - contemporary, classical, country, whatever.

There is a fine line between admiration of an amazing player and frustration at their level of playing and the fact that no matter what you do, you will never been that good. So, when I think of fingerplayers, I don't generally focus on the icons, such as Michael Hedges... he is just too darn good and it makes my brain swim even thinking I could play like him.

So, my main muse for the past while has been a YouTube star named "jawmunji" (Jason Waddell). He is an amazing musician... my musical life would be complete if I could play like him.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jawmunji

So, I have been trying my best to learn from a couple of books, guitarnoise lessons, various websites, my weekly instructor and JAW's videos and tabs. (California Dreaming and Here comes the Sun are two of my favorite).

The current song I am working on is "Breathe - Pink Floyd". Some day, I may even put a video up of it... but right now, I have never made it through 100%... once I do, even at a slower tempo, I will record it. I get my new guitar at the end of May (cutaway acoustic) and should be able to do it soon after... right now, I can't fluidly reach the higher notes without a cutaway.

To anybody that is interested in fingerpicking, I highly recommend checking out jawmunji's videos.

I've actually seen his videos, found him after I found Michael Chapdelaine, which is what most of his stuff is based off of.

I'm actually working on the California Dreaming song (only about 1/2 way through the first page up to speed), and yeah, his style of percussion and rhythm and finger picking is amazing and it's a very very...VERY VERY...VERY...VERY...tough thing to play, if you are a straight beginner, I would honestly stray away from that type of finger picking due to the fact that it may deter you away from the guitar because it's incredibly hard. I'm still learning finger picking, but after trying some other pop variations decided to hop into that one and work on it every couple of days for a while, just going through it very very slowly.

If you are giving it a go, then best of luck in getting that one done, it's insane!! LOL

I just finished recording my version of Scarborough Fair (which is very close to the version posted by David Hodge.) :) I look forward to hearing what you think about it. I've been playing guitar for about 6 months and singing for a very short time.

http://www.soundclick.com/TylerDavisTyGuy