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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2018 17:14:40 GMT
I've been slowly progressing with all things guitar over the last 18 months or so. Recently I realised I'd been focusing much more on my left hand than my right, for many months. This was shown to me when I started trying to play Kristin Hersh's lovely track, 'Your Ghost'. I'd been just strumming the chords in the past (very simple song, just open Am, G, D chords looping ad infinitum), but when I listened closely and transcribed it properly, I realised she was plucking the root and 5th before the strums (pattern is root, 5th, D, D, U, which I believe is a very common pattern). I watched a live video of her playing it too, which confirmed this. You can see them both below: However, when I tried to play it, I realised my right was terrible at finding the right string for the root and 5th, and would often miss! I decided to try and rectify this. I spent about two weeks playing it slowly, but deliberately watching my right hand like a hawk, and focusing on hitting the right strings. When I could do it OK 90% of the time, I spent another two weeks practising it "blind" with my eyes closed. I am now at the stage where I can again hit the right strings about 90% of the time. But that's not good enough for me, I want to be able to do it 100% of the time, without thinking about it, like Kristen does in the live video (and Lord knows how she also manages to sing it at the same time!) I guess I'm posting for two reasons really, one to show that I'm happy I did get better, to encourage others, but secondly to ask for advice on how to get even better! Am I on the right track? Should I just keep on practising it blind until I can do it 100%? Or go back to really focusing on my right hand again for a while? Do you have any little technique practice routines that are good for getting your right hand string picking accuracy better? Another thing I've been doing very recently is focusing on my right hand when I do my scale practise too, whereas in the past I'd only ever looked at the left hand or done it blind. Thanks in advance, Gregg
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2018 10:58:51 GMT
Bump, anyone?
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leoroberts
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Post by leoroberts on Mar 5, 2018 11:08:41 GMT
Hi, Gregg HermetechI don't think there's any easy way to get this apart from practise, practise, and then do some practise. It helps, of course, that it's a relatively slow song. Are you trying it on different guitars? If so, the different neck widths, or radius, or scale length might be throwing you off a bit. Not much help, I reckon, but if you're getting it correct 90% of the time, you're nearly there, lad
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2018 11:35:05 GMT
Thanks Leo! Only got one acoustic here so that's the one I'm using, but it's a comfortable guitar for me. Not tried playing it on the electrics yet.
Yes, as with everything in guitar, practice makes perfect, so I shall keep on with it!
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 5, 2018 16:11:46 GMT
Stick to just root-fifth-downstrum-space to give yourself time to get accurately back to the bass note. Go more slowly till you get it. Then add the other DU strums, still slowly if nec. then faster. It'll come. Try it with other chords too otherwise all you've done is learn one particular song - gain the facility to do it with other chords and you're well on the way to play other songs too.
Also work at root-downstrum-fifth-downstrum on various chords - much more flexible and fots loads of songs. Sometimes the fifth is above the root, sometimes below - more to learn! You could end up a bluegrass hero, though the technique is far more widely applicable than that, esp with varied strums.
You can move towards playing a tune with bass notes alternating with strums too.
Good luck!
Keith
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2018 16:37:40 GMT
Thanks Keith, fabulous suggestions! I shall slow it down a bit and just concentrate on the Root-5th-Strum for this week. I am practising it 5 mins a day, 5 or 6 days a week as part of my daily routine at the moment.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2018 16:38:51 GMT
PS: ocarolan Can I get in on those two forums that I can't seem to get in on at the moment? Haha.
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 5, 2018 18:30:12 GMT
PS: ocarolan Can I get in on those two forums that I can't seem to get in on at the moment? Haha. Curmudgeonly Old Gits and Cheerfully Optimistic People? That can be arranged, of course. You can belong to either, or even to both groups if you wish - just ask, either here, or PM me as you wish. It's just a bit of silliness really! Keith
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2018 18:41:58 GMT
Both please Keith, just curious to see what I am missing out on, haha.
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 5, 2018 18:48:41 GMT
Both please Keith, just curious to see what I am missing out on, haha. Both it is then! (Though only one can be displayed on your profile, you now have access to both.) Completely reversible by the way! Keith
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2018 18:57:42 GMT
Thank you!
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Post by andyhowell on Mar 6, 2018 11:39:37 GMT
A very interesting post Greg and a few thoughts.
Firstly, I think many people underestimate the importance of the right hand. It is where the rhythm is and even where the mojo is. You can see the importance of this is all kinds of situations. Consider playing live. As the player you know when you make mistakes or miss a string or play a wrong note or ghost note. Audiences don't seem to notice. But if you screw up the rhythm audiences do notice that. Making a mistake when playing is not a problem – well all do it but alter the rhythm, even momentarily, and the audiences will pick that up. Keeping the rhythm going is all in the right hand even if the left messes up (and vice versa if you are leftie).
As for playing effortlessly, you have to build up knowledge and speed naturally. This is one of the reasons I am wary of tabs. I ran a club for years and I was constantly having people turned up who'd learnt pieces from Pierre Bensusan and others. All the notes were there and even there in the right order. And yet the timing was not natural. It was not a rhythm or tempo that the player could control.
You get there by adopting things to a level of complexity that you are comfortable with. Make things easier. And as you go you will be naturally get faster. From time to time you can go back to a piece and think about how you can add to it and you'll often find you can when you couldn't before. But this really has to be your addition. If you keep going back to the tab you'll as often as not find yourself back to the same problem. The tab is an introduction and a guide. It is not a manual to be followed note by note.
Another thing I encourage young players to do is to adopt practice pieces that are not complex but that can be used to improve touch and feel and flow — really important ingredients to a decent sound. Do this and they can easily get to be as crap as I am myself.
I would hazard the opinion tat you will never play the piece as 100% as Kristin but if you are lucky you will play it 100% as Gregg.
About 20 - 30 years ago I spent a lot of time on Martin Simpson instrumentals. Back in those days he included a tab book with every instrumental album. I quickly realised I could replicate the feel and beauty of a piece even if I had to simplify the technique. Over the years many of these pieces have stayed with me but the tunings have changed — the Drop D tunes are now all in DADGAD. They still sound Simpson-esque to me. With a couple of other tunes I play versions in a similar style but have no idea how close they are to the original.
Years ago Simpson recorded a version of Richard Thompson's Strange Affair with June Tabor. I love this tune and over the years worked out an arrangement in C sus 2 tuning, which I thought this tune was in. Now Simpson had created an accompaniment and not a 'tune'. My version is an instrumental and so was designed to follow Tabor's vocal. A few years agoart a Martin Simpson residential I found a list of his tunes that had been tabbed which listed the tuning. My version was not only different in following a vocal line but it was in a completely different tuning. But — and this is my point — it still sounds like Martin Simpson to me. It is a simpler style, a different approach and a different tuning. But it still sounds like Mr Simpson and my guess is that if I posted it here within a couple of hours somebody would say that it sounded like Mr S!
So, the feel of a piece and the feel it creates is not dependent on replicating technique that closely. But, right hand technique and rhythm are very important and the natural flow tempo critical.
I hope this makes sense rather than seeming rather pretentious or crap.
Your aim is to be the best Gregg that you can be and if Kirstin helps so be it.
When I am trying to build up an arrangement off a tune that I have somewhere as a recording I deliberately stop listening to it because I know longer need the reference but need to make something mine. Recently I went back to those Martin Simpson albums some of which I hadn't listened to for a very long time. I confirmed that he was much better than me (for one thing he never seems to fluff notes). But you know, I preferred my arrangements to some of the tunes that his originals!
But then I might just be deluded. Well, indeed I am.
But two things are important with this music game. You need to dream. And you need imagination.
I'm off to a new open mic tonight. I've no idea who will be there or what to expect. But I'll just be the best me that I can be. And if I'm crap on the night. So be it. If people don't like it F*&ck them ;-)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2018 16:26:34 GMT
Fabulous post Andy, thank you, lots of food for thought there! I think June Tabor did a version of Clive Palmer's "A Leaf Must Fall" (off the first Famous Jug Band album), which I have also been learning recently. HUGE Clive Palmer fan here (the first C.O.B. album is probably in my top three of all time!) Indeed, learning by rote can be good practice in some ways, but I agree it's also necessary to develop one's own "feel", absolutely. My intention has been to stick with the Justin Guitar courses for a few years until I feel my chops are good enough to really start exploring things on my own, but of course I am there already too, and have been since I first picked up a guitar! I have a pretty intense (for me) practice routine right now, and am sticking with it so I can progress faster. But there are also times when I just give it up for a week or two, and only play for fun. It's actually necessary, as in these "down times", a lot of the stuff I've learned (both intellectually and in muscle memory), actually starts to get used and develop on its own. Fun times.
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Post by andyhowell on Mar 6, 2018 17:51:43 GMT
Fun is the important thing!
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Post by walkingdecay on Mar 7, 2018 10:28:49 GMT
I used to put my little finger down on the pickguard and use it as a pivot point for accuracy and tone control. (Should be followed by one of those sticky tonguey out face thingies for people who don't agree.)
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