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NGD: Baja
May 4, 2024 18:14:12 GMT
via mobile
Post by delb0y on May 4, 2024 18:14:12 GMT
Always wanted a Baja. A classic version of the Tele. Lovely.
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Post by delb0y on May 2, 2024 19:46:13 GMT
Another TE fan here. I know he can be flash and fast, but he's always musical and melodic and has wonderful technique - and a great work ethic, too, which may be the key to why he's so great a player.
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Post by delb0y on May 2, 2024 16:51:23 GMT
Continuing the theme (or rather, continuing to practice the same ideas), this time on Blue Bossa. I'm sounding a bit too mellow for my liking here. I'll be going all easy-listening if I'm not careful!
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Post by delb0y on May 2, 2024 10:46:41 GMT
I used to enjoy a bit of Duane Eddy - Peter Gunn and Forty Miles of Bad Road and that sort of thing. RIP Duane.
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Post by delb0y on May 1, 2024 7:47:40 GMT
I found the "one chord" version of Johnny B Goode I alluded to earlier. I think this is great!
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Post by delb0y on Apr 30, 2024 19:45:25 GMT
And to add yet another variable to the mix - how about time signatures? There are songs in 3/4 that have been changed to 4/4 with great effect (and vice-versa - Mr Cocker!). Fly Me To The Moon, springs to mind. I'm currently working on a Tommy Emmanuel inspired version of House of the Rising Sun in 4/4 as opposed to The Animals version (which has become the standard) in 6/8. I have a feeling that tune started life in 4/4 and The Animals came up with the idea to change it, but that might be wrong.
One thing that's fun to do is to find inspiration as to how far you can change something by listening to wildly differing versions of the same song - what Hendrix did with Dylan songs is a great example. But how about comparing Paul Anka's version of Smells Like Teen Spirit to the Nirvana original? Genius arranging by Mr Anka!
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Post by delb0y on Apr 30, 2024 15:08:31 GMT
Excellent thread, and interesting to read various folks' views. As Peter borborygmus said, with jazz all bets are off. When I first started trying to play jazz tunes I became very flummoxed trying to find the chords to songs. There were so many different versions of the same tune that trying to find the "proper" one seemed, and was, impossible. Even tunes one would think there would be consensus on, like, say Autumn Leaves have different chords on different versions. I then discovered that the same thing happens in bluegrass. Every time you think you've learned a song you hear someone who plays it differently. Blues, too - I recently started thinking about playing How Long Blues, but am yet to settle on my favourite set of chords out of the various versions out there! Keith ocarolan - apologies for inflicting my version of Streets of London on you back in the Plucky Duck a few months ago. I'm sure my version must have grated awfully. Not only do I play a D7 and a D6 at the moment you referred to, I also use an alternating bass of D and A - no F, or minor sound in earshot. I then proceed to miss out a whole chord in the chorus, too. All of which are deliberate decisions, but apologies... Derek
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Post by delb0y on Apr 29, 2024 22:45:14 GMT
Hey Alan
Good question. I think there are two opposing, but complimentary, answers.
Firstly, to improve as a guitar player it can be beneficial to try and copy something as closely as you're able, at whatever your current level ability. This doesn't have to be a whole song, it may be just an intro, a riff, a few bars of a solo, even just the chord changes. As you improve you can copy more of a specific piece, maybe get it more accurate, faster, work on tone, specific chord shapes etc etc. This is a life long pursuit. There are pieces I've been working on for years - no exaggeration - and I'm still working on them.
On the other hand, originality is the best thing about music. This doesn't have to mean writing your own music, but it does mean putting your own stamp, and personality, on it. I love it when people play music their own way. All of the stuff mentioned in the previous paragraph is, for me, about developing the chops to do the stuff in this paragraph. I've played Hey Joe scores of times at gigs and never once like Hendrix - I may use his intro and a couple of the riffs - but the rest is different. I did once learn his solo, but I've long forgotten it. I once supported a band who did a version of Johnny B Goode and they did it all on one chord. It was great. My favourite version of that song! I used to drive to Bob Dylan nights in Birmingham, fifty miles away, just to play three songs. My buddy and I would choose the three songs and then we'd randomly choose a style - say Tom Waits or Johnny Winter or Carl Perkins - and we'd try to play our chosen three songs in those styles. The rest of the evening usually consisted of people playing Dylan songs in the style of Dylan. Nothing wrong with that, but as far as I'm concerned you could simply stay at home and listen to the originals.
So, you can see where my preference lies, but you still have to put in the work to get there.
And I'd guess even now, after almost fifty years of playing, most of my practice time, maybe 80%, is working on those chops to enable the good stuff to happen when the time is right.
Not sure that helps, really...
Derek
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Post by delb0y on Apr 29, 2024 18:05:05 GMT
Very nice indeedy and yet another guitar makes an appearance Really enjoyed it Derek Phil Thanks Phil. Yes. another guitar... I do probably have too many(*), although this is my only archtop so hopefully it's justified. It's the biggest guitar I own - 17". An Aria FA71. The same model as played by the magnificent Jim Mullen. (*) Eleven Smoooooooth! Keith Thanks, Keith!
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Post by delb0y on Apr 29, 2024 14:59:58 GMT
A Gm blues in which I'm doing my best to stay away from the pentatonic scales...
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Post by delb0y on Apr 29, 2024 11:53:24 GMT
In many facets of life, these days, it feels like customer service is lacking. I agree that it's a sign of the times. Shame really.
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Post by delb0y on Apr 28, 2024 8:41:59 GMT
Pat is one of my favourite players. I've occasionally dedicated several weeks to learning just a few bars of his music, before realising how long a whole piece would take me. He's well worth delving into.
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Post by delb0y on Apr 27, 2024 10:46:17 GMT
Thanks for the reply, Keith. Yes, I saw that Josh Turner video, too. I don't think any of us should let his brilliance put us off. He really is exceptional.
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Post by delb0y on Apr 27, 2024 10:09:06 GMT
Subtitled "What are you working on, and why?"
Since I first started playing I've always considered myself a gigging musician. Not to say I've done loads of gigs - BB King used to do more in a year than I'd do in a couple of decades - but nevertheless, that was always the rationale. So I'd work on specific songs / solos / styles, with the idea that the learning would eventually be used at a gig. Covid came along and, as documented elsewhere, that sort of drew a line under the band work and I found myself with the space to really focus on solo acoustic playing. I've continued to do this, and now (also settled into retirement) I find myself spending several hours a day, most days, working on stuff. Which is great, and a few people have noticed the difference and I have been invited to do a few gigs on the back of these improvements.
I have some material for those gigs, and will work on some more (slipping back into old habits, as it were) but I find myself wondering how to plan the remainder of my guitar-playing improvements going forward. There seems to be so many things I want to be able to do (mostly for the sole reason that I want to be able to do them) that I simply don't know where to start, or at least, continue.
Hence the question, what are you working on, and why?
I'm hoping that understanding what drives you guys might give me some insight into formulating a plan out of the current chaos.
Cheers Derek
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Post by delb0y on Apr 26, 2024 18:18:42 GMT
Now the animators are within the AI crosshairs:
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