Really well done! I love that song and learned it myself earlier this year. I’ll have to go back and look at your other Rock Song book posts, as I also have that book!
1 Like
Another wonderful performance, Alexis. Quite a work out to keep thos single note licks/riffs going throughout. Well done.
1 Like
That was great Alexis well done! Really dig the song and you decinitely sounded like the original. Consistent nice strumming and quite tricky riff that changes from time to time but you pulled it off very well, congratz!
1 Like
That was great Alexis. Always loved that song and play it myself on acoustic but sounds way cooler on electric. Really impressive and well done 
.
1 Like
Thanks Eddie, I also play it on acoustic sometimes. It’s a really cool riff no matter how you play it!
1 Like
I thought that sounded great! Really well played, seems pretty impressive playing for Grade 2 as well!!
Finally got around to checking this out Alexis, superbly polished playing again from you as you continue the rock project. I can believe the riff is much quicker than you think it is but that was clean throughout.
If I may, and please don’t think this is a criticism, I’m not entirely sure that the delay suits the riff, at least not at the beginning when the riff is more prominent. Regardless it’s s huge tick off of another terrific tune, looking forward to what you’re going to treat us to next !! 
1 Like
Thanks mark and feedback is always welcomed 
I chose the delay cause the original has a ton of layered guitars so it sounds better over all than just a plain ol clean sound. I think I do see what you mean about it sounding a little off during the intro sequence. Maybe next time I’ll do a straight clean in the beginning and use a foot switch to switch to the delay in further parts.
1 Like
You are doing a fantastic job with all of these from the rock book Alexis and I always look forward to watching what you have been working on.
Half way through the book now and the big question is…what will you do when you come to the end of it? 
1 Like
That sounded great, Alexis. That song always reminds me of ‘So I Married an Axe Murderer’. Well done on playing the riff consistently throughout rather than taking a short cut and using a looper as well as dealing with the variations that Justin doesn’t cover in the song lesson. Impressive work make, well done.
1 Like
Thanks!
Not sure, the book actually has 50 songs but the next batch of 15 songs is at an intermediate level and are much harder. The plan for now is to take a couple months to learn some of the intermediate techniques before even attempting them.
1 Like
High quality stuff Alexis,
that catchy riff was really well played and nicely put together with the rhythm playing too. Very enjoyable tune mate.
Song 8: Self Esteem by The Offspring
Pretty great power chord practice song, a lot of sliding and jumping across a bunch of the fretboard. Would totally recommend to any one wanting to practice their power chords cause it’s also a super fun song!
What I’ve learned/techniques:
- Power Chords. Like I said, lots of jumping around the fretboard. I decided to using 2 finger power chords, not sure why it just felt the most natural with this song.
- Muting. some palm muting with the strumming hand and parts where you have to mute with your fretting hand to get that scraping sound. Really awesome sounding.
- Timing and Rhythm. This is the hardest part of the song. There’s a lot breaks where I had to make sure I knew where the count was in the song so I knew when my cue was to continue playing. I feel like I’m usually good with rhythm and timing but I def struggled with it here whenever I didn’t have the metronome on. Most of the song is fine but you’ll see there are some parts where I’m a little off.
Sound:
I used a tonelib gfx preset called hot for teacher lol, I thought it was perfect for this song.
grabbed the backing track from: Download your instrumental songs in MP3 format - Custom Backing Tracks - Karaoke Version (karaoke-version.com) .
Here we go: Self Esteem by The Offspring! (Advice and feedback always appreciated and welcome!)
13 Likes
That was really great Alexis especially loved this hot teacher of yours (as in tone ofc)! yes songs with irregular timing are definitely a pig, but I think most of the track you were in time and doing great. Keep up the good work!
1 Like
Great stuff, Alexis! You played that super well and tone matched perfectly 
Such a cool tune! That album was by far The Offspring’s best IMO. Great tracks with chunky guitar and still had humour, just more understated than what they did later which was a bit too cheesy for me.
Palm muting sounded good and your precision on hitting those power chords was spot on. I struggle a lot with timing, so thought you did great given the large breaks in this one.
I did notice you shaking out your left hand/wrist a couple of times during the breaks, has it been aching/hurting a bit? Your left hand and forearm are at what appears to be quite an acute angle so was wondering if it might be adding some unnecessary tension which could cause problems down the track. Is that something you’ve looked at? In saying that, I’m not an expert on technique so your hand positioning could be correct for all I know! 
Just an observation in case it’s useful in helping to prevent any strain or injury
2 Likes
Sounded awesome man. Love that song. And like @nzmetal says the whole album is awesome. Although I don’t mind a bit of their later stuff (gone away, the kids aren’t alright etc), but there is some super cheese stuff as well. He asked for a 13 but they drew a 31… 
2 Likes
Yup, part of it is that I played the song a bunch as practice before I recorded but I’ve recently noticed that my wrist might be at too much of an angle lately. Specifically when I watched Justin’s lesson on E shaped barre chords he mentions wrist angle and that really got me looking into it. Right now it feels like my wrist can’t say straight no matter how much I try.
Thanks JK, I’m not huge into the offspring but this song I remember being played a ton on the radio when I was growing up. It’s a great song, I’m def going to check out their other stuff now.
I think it’s suppose to sound like that Van Halen song, Hot For Teacher. I’m not sure how accurate that is but that’s the only reason I could think that they named the preset that lol.
1 Like
Thought that was probably likely! Those heavy repetitions when recording can be brutal! 
Hmm interesting… Your technique is effective, you’re hitting the power chords with speed and precision however I thought I’d remembered Justin talking about using a straighter wrist. I have my thumb much higher on the back of the neck, coming over at times to help mute the 6th string on 5th string PCs. That pulls my palm up to the fret board and straightens my wrist. I then tend to have my index finger flat-ish for string muting and my ring finger a little more curled, although sometimes I use my pinky finger for the 5th on the wider lower frets when just playing two finger PCs (although that’s probably not the best technique! 
) . So perhaps try bringing your thumb up to a higher position if you haven’t experimented with that already? 
1 Like
He indeed did. I tried straightening out this morning during practice, but for some reason I can’t get my wrist to go straight. It could be my anatomy or just really bad habits on my end prevented me from straightening up. I want to work on it though cause ever since I read your response my wrist has ached. Maybe I injured myself while recording this and didn’t realize it until you pointed it out.
1 Like
That sounded great Alexis. You’re making great progress with your rock study. You must be well pleased with the progress you are making mate. Now when are you starting a band?
1 Like