Direvus - July 2022 - Landslide + Take It Easy + Sound Of Silence + Californication + R U Mine + Swinging On A Star + House of the Rising Sun

Well that’s my whole point Brendan. Of course you need to read/look at the source material when learning a song but you then need to force yourself to play it without the sheet, book, app or whatever. Like all things guitar it’s a matter of practice.
Get either the lyrics or the chord progression of by heart first. Then concentrate on the other one. If you have to concentrate on both at once it makes things very difficult.
Once the lyric and chord progression are off pat then you can fancy up your strumming pattern, add embellishments etc.

@sairfingers Thats solid advice. It also helps to break the song down into chunks.

Nice work Brendan. Steady strumming, more precise fretting.

You are coming along nicely Brendan and that was some solid work.

As for remembering songs and the relevant chord changes it’s all about practice, practice, practice on the one song you are wanting to learn off by heart. I think eventually your brain gets into that mode and songs do become easier to remember. The best way to start is to learn a song you know the lyrics to and then you’ve only got the chords to learn and remember, as per @sairfingers great advice.

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Thanks Stefan.

With “R U Mine” in particular, I think I actually could learn the chords with too much trouble. They are very repetitive in this song.

I might be a bit unusual in that I remember lyrics very easily, almost without any deliberate effort, but chord sequences just fall right on out of my brain, a few seconds after I put them in there. I have seen a few folks commenting that learning the lyrics and/or singing along has helped them to remember the chords, but so far that hasn’t been my experience. Could just be an individual difference thing.

I have started to experiment with writing out the chords + lyrics by hand on ye olde parchment, I suspect it might be helping, but will have a better sense of that after a few days.

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A wonderful classic gem of a song. I used to sing this one a lot trying to get my kids to sleep, but only started trying to learn it on guitar a few days ago.

None of the chords are difficult but the speed of the changes in the verses is no joke!

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Lucky kids having a Daddy singing to them in his soothing voice. You did well with the chord changes Brendan.

Good performance after a few days, Brendan. I think you’ll develop that song well when you work on some guitar rhythms that will pick it up.

Smooth and steady, Brendan, well played and sang.

Have you tried turning the guitar volume down just a little? I’d love your voice to be coming through a little stronger relative to the guitar.

Thanks David, I take your point about the volume. I was enjoying the luxury of being able to turn the amp up a little while the girls were out of the house. :slight_smile:

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Hi Brendan,
This may be a new song for you to play, but your strumming is very steady. I agree with DavidP, let the vox be heard! I really had a hard time picking out your vocals…

All the best and be well,
LB

Hi Brendan,
Well done with all those fast chord changes…well done and a clear progress…
Greetings,Rogier

That’s working out well Brendan, others have commented here but it’s noticeable that your chord change mojo is building, chords are ringing a little longer and everything is nice and clean. Nice song!

Great song Brendan, I’m old enough to remember the Big Dee Irwin and Little Eva version. :smiley:

I think you’re ready to up your strumming pattern game.
Try DDDUDU. 123&4&. That would add a dynamic to your playing. Give it a try and see how you get on.

Hi Gordon, I wasn’t familiar with that version. I first heard the song in the film Hudson Hawk where it’s sung by Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello, and from there I checked out the Bing Crosby version.

Just had a listen to Big Dee Irwin & Little Eva, it was a lot of fun! The banter between the two singers was good stuff. His vocals were very stocatto compared to the other versions I’d heard.

I hear you on the strumming. On each song I tend to add more strums and vary up the pattern after I get the chord changes locked down, which for this song I’ve only just done today.

Some of you have already seen my first two videos of this song, posted in the Beginner’s Safe Space channel and recorded about 3 weeks apart. Well it’s been (nearly) another 3 weeks, so I thought I should check in again, take another recording and see how it stacks up against the previous efforts.

I have been drilling my changes to/from F pretty heavily in my practice routine, and I think you can see that paying off here, although I don’t always stick the landing on the F, I am definitely able to stay on the chords for longer before moving off.

Anyway enough preamble, on with the video:

And for comparison, the previous attempt, 17 days earlier:

And finally, the original recording, 24 days earlier again:

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Great effort… Getting the index first or near first is the issue. I had the same problem with the F but with practice it improves, in my case 9 months on it now. You will get there

Well done Brendan. Huge progress from the previous ones.
Your F is really coming on. Just work on getting the barre down at the same time or a fraction sooner than the other fingers as it’s that low E string F note you want to hit first on the first downstroke.

evidence of progress, great way to compare!

Changing from and especially to F?
practice, practice, practice and indeed, it pays off!

Keep “enriching” this song as you are doing, it will keep you company for many years to come, adding more and more frills to it. It is a great exercise platform ;D

Thanks for the advice, @SandyMusic and @sairfingers. I have to admit, with the F grip I have been planting the 3rd & 4th fingers first and then laying down the 2nd and clamping the barre down last. Not as a deliberate strategy, that’s just what felt easiest for my fingers to do. But what Gordon says, about getting the root note fretted early, makes a lot of sense.

I will start to work on bringing the barre on earlier in the change. I suspect it will take a while to retrain, but I can see the value in it.

I am keen to start using arpeggios on this song, but it feels like I should take my time and really get fluent with these chord changes first.

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