Thanks Rogier! I I’m using the riffs and variations Justin lays out in his rock songbook. Which is the 2 separate intro variations then the main riff. I usually when I can go with just what the songbook says but I’d love to try different variations. I do remember him saying in the video lesson that’s it’s loose and can be changed throughout.
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Nailed another one, Alexis! 
Such a great song and although you’ve said it’s straightforward (and your confident playing certainly makes it look so), I know it’s not having tried playing this myself in the past! Really well done on a top performance! 
You seemed to be consistently hitting that vibrato and make the change from what I could see, despite the challenges you mentioned, so all that practice certainly paid off. I have no advice there, I think you handled the transitions well from what I could see 
Muting is tough eh?! But looks like you managed it well, the odd minor miss didn’t detract from the performance for me. Your grip seemed to work well and if it’s comfortable to play, then all good!
You’re certainly leading the way on the rock book study, inspiring others to follow and your solid dedication to getting these songs mastered is to be applauded sir! 
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Thanks Jeff, for watching and the kind words.
Understatement! 
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Typing as U take a second listen to this. Man, I thought you were going to take off on that lead (at least I was hoping you were). Nonetheless, really good playing and tone. Make sure you post the rhythm and lead together when you get there. I know you will. Well done!
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Thanks for the watch Dave. Haha I’m not quite good enough to break out the solo. I have started learning lead this month so eventually I do want to go back and do the lead. The song after next in the song book (smells like teen spirit) has an easy solo so I think I’m going to try to play the solo as well as the rhythm when I get there.
Nailed it Alexis. Played really tight, and great tone too.
Where can I get some free peanuts? 
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Super stuff Alexis. You said it’s straightforward but I think that’s partly down to how much progress you have made over the last year. You’re inspiring me to put down the acoustic and learn some rock songs.
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An all time classic song Alexis and performed with your usual outstanding quality! Very good quality backing track thank you for sharing the link to that site, could be very useful in the future for me!
Can’t wait for your next rock instalment!! 
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@jkahn @Socio @Notter Thanks so much for the watch guys!
You know, I didn’t read my shirt until I was watching this video while editing, lol. It’s a reference to a character in a book series to I love so when I read it I was like oohh nice.
So funny cause everytime I see your videos I think the same thing about acoustic and blues. I really like this bluesy kind of rock with eric clapton too.
Love that website, you have to purchase the backing tracks but they’re really cheap. I spend as much as that on my coffee in the morning. You can remove specific instruments so I can play the rhythm and keep the lead track on there until I get good enough to play the lead. I can always go back to it since i purchased it too. In a million years from now (lol) when I’m good enough to play the lead track here I’ll download the backing track sans rhythm and lead and play both parts.
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Fantastic job again Alexis. Some really sweet playing there.
With all the techniques you’ve picked up going through the rock book, are you finding you are learning the next song in the book quicker than what you were doing?
Thanks Stefan!
This may sound like a cop out answer but yes and no, lol. Yes, because generally I do feel like I can pick up most songs at the beginner level fairly quickly cause most of these techniques aren’t new to me anymore. No, because there is always something that each of these songs bring that is a little twist of something I’ve done before.
I usually spend the first week on practicing a song really just playing around the different parts seeing where my weaknesses are. Then I spend a couple weeks focusing on those weaknesses. I still have a 10 minute session where I try the whole song a couple times a day, but most of my practice is focusing on what I need to play the song. Example: Right now, I’m learning should I stay or should I go now. Relatively easy song but there are a couple of chord changes that are really really fast so I’m spending a lot of time on chord changes now.
At this point I could probably pick up a simple song with a day of practice but it def won’t be as refined as my post have been. I also force my self to spend at least 3 weeks on a song (for this study I mean) before moving on so that I can suck as much technique out of it as possible.
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Song 10: Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash
This is 100% the most fun song to play out of the 10 from the rock songbook that I’ve covered so far. Pretty simple open chords save for a couple of tricky things that I’ll go over below but I had a blast with this one despite my serious concentration face in the video lol.
What I’ve learned/techniques:
- Double time Rhythm. This was pretty difficult to grasp at first. It gets really fast and had to make sure I had the strumming part right. In the video lesson justin suggests down, down, up, down, up and in the rock sock book he suggests old faithful. I actually use both in the cover.
- E Shaped barre chords. In the video lesson justin basically suggests e shaped barre chords sans the bass notes for the G → F parts but I figured since I was just starting grade 4 that I’d just do the full barre chord for practice. A lot of chord perfect practice to make sure I can do the G and the F and slide between them without it feeling awkward.
- Changes. By far the hardest part of the song was the switch between D → E shaped G barre chord. I had a whole 5 minute section of my practice dedicated to switching between them. It wasn’t until a couple weeks of doing this did I really start to feel comfortable with the change and another incorporating it into the song but I think it was worth it. It’s def not perfect but good enough to play it for sure.
Sound:
I used a patch by Juca Nery that was designed to sound like the song. It sounds exactly like it to my ear but I guess you be the judge.
grabbed the backing track from: The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go - Guitar Backing Track with Vocals - YouTube. Seriously excellent backing track with a great count in which is great cause you have to keep time without drums for the first part which can be difficult.
Annnnd here we go Should I Stay or Should I Go!! (Advice and feedback always appreciated and welcome!)
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Awesome job Alexis!! The switch to the E barre in the double time section is by no means easy, with the little bit of work I’ve done with this it’s what always catches me out, that was super smooth from you there. And you’re right, it’s a really fun one to play, kind of simple but challenging all at the same time!
The tone / patch you used sounded great to me as well. Another big thumbs up!!
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Thanks for the watch Mark. Simple but challenging is the perfect way to describe it!
Well done Alexis, you definitely nailed this one down and definitely found a good tone, with your Gibson that was a perfect match! Not an easy strumming bit especially with G barre but you pulled it off well, so take a bow Sir!
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Thanks for watching Adrian.
Niiiiiiice Alexis. Pretty sweet tone, great playing. I liked how you got those little decorations during the intro. Those little touchs add that extra bit of polish.
You nailed the changes, I can see you’re still feeling a bit hesitant on the barre chords, with more playing of them they’ll be as quick as open chords.
I’m always impressed with your timing. Really nice, tight timing again. Oh, and thanks for the backing track tip, will help me out later when I go hunting for one 
.
(Edit: Forgot to say there is a typo in your Youtube title)
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Alexis, that was sweet 
Those stops are on point, nicely done
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Such a great song, Alexis, and you sounded just like the original to my ears.
For my own education …
Does the chorus double up the tempo, or is it a shift from 1/8 to 1/16 note strumming? I guess that may be a bit theoretical, and irrelevant from a practical perspective as from a guitarist perspective it would sound the same (I think).
Maybe it makes a difference from a drummer’s perspective, the drummer being the band’s metronome? @jkahn as our resident Grohl, can you comment on this or would reaching for Grohlsch be a better option
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