A TOUGH test for my playing - a "Road Trips" Project
Apr 12, 2017 22:03:35 GMT
Phil Taylor and Riverman like this
Post by ocarolan on Apr 12, 2017 22:03:35 GMT
They do sound different alright. A good thing. Both sound good!
I'd return to Phil's point about memorising - I really think it would help you to memorise the melody; not the arrangement, yet. The melody. The choon. You won't be able to play the piece with conviction until the melody is within you; until you can whistle or hum it. Or at least hear it inside your head.
Once the melody is ingrained you will play it with feeling, and that will help with the timing, not only of the melody itself, but also the placement and timing of the bass notes.
How to memorise? Try not playing the piece for a while but listen over and over to the various versions of it on Youtube - not just the DADGAD guitar versions (most of which, including Mark Thomson's superb one, have a "wrong" note - the 4th one in the B tune - when compared with the original fiddle tune) but standard tuning guitar versions, and especially versions played on fiddle, accordion etc. Just listen and absorb the melody. The aim is to detach the melody from the guitar and get it in your head, because the object is to play music. You just happen to play it on the guitar - listening to other instruments playing it can be really helpful; then when you play the guitar, the melody can come out of you rather than off the page. The page can be a reminder, but it isn't the music, only a skeletal representation of it. You add the flesh onto the bones with your own expression.
Then return to the piece and play the melody. By all means play the complete arrangement , but make the melody your priority to play expressively and let it dictate how the arrangement as a whole gets played.
As for ornamentation, try to play what is in your head after multiple listenings rather than what is on the page - something that sounds and feels natural to you, that falls under the fingers. And, as Phil rightly says, simplify where necessary, at least at first.
None of this is meant to detract from your versions so far, in fact I reckon your version of the piece is coming along nicely. But from your posts you sound to be getting frustrated with your efforts - be kinder to yourself and relax - it will come through in your music, as you yourself say in your comments on improvisation! It really is worth internalising the melody - you will find it can liberate you from the page if you let it.
That's more than enough pontificating from me so I'll shut up now!
Keith
I'd return to Phil's point about memorising - I really think it would help you to memorise the melody; not the arrangement, yet. The melody. The choon. You won't be able to play the piece with conviction until the melody is within you; until you can whistle or hum it. Or at least hear it inside your head.
Once the melody is ingrained you will play it with feeling, and that will help with the timing, not only of the melody itself, but also the placement and timing of the bass notes.
How to memorise? Try not playing the piece for a while but listen over and over to the various versions of it on Youtube - not just the DADGAD guitar versions (most of which, including Mark Thomson's superb one, have a "wrong" note - the 4th one in the B tune - when compared with the original fiddle tune) but standard tuning guitar versions, and especially versions played on fiddle, accordion etc. Just listen and absorb the melody. The aim is to detach the melody from the guitar and get it in your head, because the object is to play music. You just happen to play it on the guitar - listening to other instruments playing it can be really helpful; then when you play the guitar, the melody can come out of you rather than off the page. The page can be a reminder, but it isn't the music, only a skeletal representation of it. You add the flesh onto the bones with your own expression.
Then return to the piece and play the melody. By all means play the complete arrangement , but make the melody your priority to play expressively and let it dictate how the arrangement as a whole gets played.
As for ornamentation, try to play what is in your head after multiple listenings rather than what is on the page - something that sounds and feels natural to you, that falls under the fingers. And, as Phil rightly says, simplify where necessary, at least at first.
None of this is meant to detract from your versions so far, in fact I reckon your version of the piece is coming along nicely. But from your posts you sound to be getting frustrated with your efforts - be kinder to yourself and relax - it will come through in your music, as you yourself say in your comments on improvisation! It really is worth internalising the melody - you will find it can liberate you from the page if you let it.
That's more than enough pontificating from me so I'll shut up now!
Keith