AlexisDuprey JG Rock Songbook Studies (Songs 1-10 of 50) latest - Should I Stay or Should I go added 9 March

Community Recordings Audio-Video Of You Playing
42

You’re correct that I learned it with my pinky because that’s how Justin’s taught it. As I get more and more experience I see that fingering options for chords really just depends on what you’re doing within the song. So you’re right and I’m definitely going to learn it traditional next time I get to a song with it.

It’s definitely one of my favorites! I’m trying to learn it with that mix of fingerstyle and picking that’s used originally so it’s really going to be a fun one!

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43

Rock study is coming along well. I like how you list the things that you have learned from the song. You’re are inspiring the GAS in me to get a decent practice amp and start learning some of those rock songs.

I think that its better that you post each song on a dedicated topic as when you see a topic with a lot of views/posts it can give you the impression that you’ve already viewed it. And I wouldn’t want to miss the next edition.

@DavidP has made a couple of good observations on the last three songs (as he always does). Nothing I can add but vibes on the study and consolidation of Grade 2. Especially when quite a few of those beginner songs in the Rock Songbook are a level above Grade 2 so you’re doing fantastic.

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Thanks James. I’ve learned so much in this month and a half of consolidating and I’m only halfway through the time I set aside for it.

Deconstructing each song into practice parts has been so valuable too. It’s usually what I put in the what I’ve learned section.

Gotta say that one of the best purchases I’ve made is the Boss Katana MKII. It’s such a versatile amp that can do so many different sounds. Especially if you connect to a computer and mess with the tone studio application.

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47

That was great Alexis, some tasty work going on there and a great one to cover.

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48

Thanks Stefan, definitely a really fun one. It’s a great tune to practice rhythm and strumming.

EDIT: @SgtColon I forgot to mention that I actually looked at your cover of the song when I was practicing it. It helped me figure out how I was gonna strum the bars with half C half G so thanks!

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Hey @alexisduprey. :slight_smile: Great work you’re doing here! Can we share your project on the site and social platforms? Please message me, and I’ll work that out. Cheers!

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50

Great stuff Alexis you are doing great!

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51

Hi Alexis,
This is great, super tones :sunglasses: :clap: :bouquet:,and I always like to see that picture in picture… Ooo, I still have so much to figure out :see_no_evil:
Greetings,Rogier

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Thanks Rogier,

It’s really cool and fun to do. I don’t know if you’ve ever used any video editing software but it’s actually fairly simple to do on adobe premiere. This was the first time I’ve done it and it took me maybe a half an hour to figure it out.

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Hi,
Thanks for the tip,
I just heard from my wife next to me that it must be on (her)the computer…so in the future I will definitely try it out…I have a few seconds of a video i want to delete on You-tube ,well I had been working on that for much longer than an hour,…but now I will just call in my wife for the job and she can explain it to this techie in the making… :grin:
Greetings

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Alex

Huge apologies but I got behind following your project. In fact finding time to listen to any AOVYP is proving to be a challenge these days. So by now you will be on to what #5 ?
No time to go through what’s been said so far but it all sounded pretty good to me and a nice production using the karaoke-version BT there is some great mileage there for a small but valuable outlay. My daughter was a huge Manics fan back in the day and I chauffeured her to a shed load of concerts, so this actually brought back good memories and a solid performance.

I’ll try and catch up with the subsequent recordings this weekend as I think this is a great project. I bought the JRSB years back but not all the tracks float my boat (its an age thing) so cherry picked those I wanted to learn - shoot need to get back on that boat for sure - but great you plan to make your way through them all. Great stuff sir.

:sunglasses:

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Thanks for listening Toby! I’ve never even heard of the Manics before picking up Justin’s book, but that’s one of the great things about this project besides just getting better at Rock guitar. I’ve been broadening my horizons and being exposed to all different types of rock sub genres that I normally would not have listened to. Every song I find something new to appreciate!

On number 6 now actually. :slight_smile:

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I’d seen there was a new one but didn’t catch the number ! Yep I’ll be dropping in for a listen, as there are, like you, bands not on my radar ! :sunglasses:

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Song 4: La Grange by ZZ Top

Love this song, and I appreciate it so much more now that I covered the rhythm part. It’s way harder than it looks, I spent a month on it and I still mess up. Still, I feel comfortable enough to post it and move on.

What I’ve learned:

  • Playing off the beat. Parts of this song major riffs play on the ANDs which can be super hard if you’re used to hitting those down strums on the beat. I had a rhythm section of my practice that focused on this plus hitting the rests right on the beat.
  • 4th Diads (hope I spelled that right). The bridge plays C5, Eb5, and a F5 with just the 5th and the octave. Distance between those is 4 instead of 5 but still playing a power chord from my understanding because the root and the 5th are still there. Someone who’s better at theory can correct me if I’m wrong.
  • Hammer on. There’s a hammer on that I still don’t do too well because it’s super fast on the bridge. I do like the sound you get when you do it.
  • Recording once but changing tone in DAW. I recorded the whole thing at once with one tone then went into garageband and changed the tone to hit the distorted guitars at the right time. It felt a little weird because I couldn’t tell if the distorted guitar would sound right since I was playing it clean to whole time but I think it turned out okay.
  • EDIT: Adding Hybrid picking. Like most things with guitar it felt impossible at first, but I switched from a medium pick to a T sized pick which helped a little. It was especially difficult because the song is ~162 BPM. After a while I got used to it and realized that all you need is hit the strings a little with both the pick and fingers to sound good.

Side note: The first thing I did after recording it is cut my nails, I hate having my nails long, but I’m not so good finger picking without it. :sweat_smile:

Sound:
I just purchased a Tonelib GFX license so I opted to use that instead of my katana. for the clean tone I used the preset called “Compressed Air” for the distorted part I used the preset called “La Muerta”. Didn’t make any changes as I thought they sounded pretty good for the song as is.

grabbed the backing track from: Download your instrumental songs in MP3 format - Custom Backing Tracks - Karaoke Version (karaoke-version.com)

Here’s La Grange: (Advice and feedback always appreciated and welcome!):grinning:

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Hello Alexis, what a great idea to spend your consolidation phase on :smiley:. I’m certain, that your song book study will keep this time very interesting for you, and you will definitely learn a lot.
In addition, we can enjoy your song videos. La Grange was super :star_struck:.
I’m already looking forward to next ones :hugs:.

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Wow, Alexis, that was great! I admire your project and your persistance. I love the sound of your guitar and the colour is just gorgeous.

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@Helen0609 @NicoleKKB thanks you for the kind words!

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Superb stuff Alexis. That’s to me was the most challenging of the rock study songs you’ve done to date. In fact I think its listed as a Grade 4 song. So you’ve really pushed yourself forward in your Grade 2 consolidation period. You did the song justice and should be extremely proud of the progression you have been making. Well done mate.

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Thanks James,

This is 100% the most difficult song I’ve ever played. That’s partly why I decided to post this song despite having more mistakes than I would like. In practice I’ve done better and I’ve done worse so I think this accurately represents where I’m at. Definitely proud of the what I’ve ultimately done.

Excited for the next one too, Nirvana’s In Bloom which is actually way easier than this one. I’ll probably post that one in a couple of weeks cause I’ve played it a million times during practice so it’s just getting it good enough to post here.

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Not an easy one to cover Alexis but you definitely did it justice, well done it sounded really good!

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