I’ve practice this basic riff on Yousician and since I really liked the sound of it , I did a recording
For the tone I used the trebble boost on my amp ( Vox mv50 Brian May )
That’s the first time I use it in a recording
I’m not a good power chord player so it is an easy power chords practice
I hope you’ll like it
VERSION 2
I re recorded the song for my guitar teacher so Im sharing it here as well
Trying to mute between the notes , adding silences
I lowered my strap , it feels more comfortable to play
( and since Im an idiot , I didnt check the camera first … Im too close to the screen and the camera cut my strumming hand ! I did another recording but it had a latency between the backing track and me so I kept the first video )
Cool sounds and good vibes on this @GrumpyMac
I hope you’re okay with some constructive feedback.
As you learn power chords and all down 8ths strumming, try to develop with good rhythm habits and technique.
I notice a few things that I think you can focus as technique, not just for this song, but all of your playing.
Make sure that your hand and wrist are in constant down and up motion. You are playing all down 8ths which means for every bar your hand moves down eight times (and up eight times too of course). You have a habit of stopping between the times when the strings are / are not hit. That is challenging in this song because there are big gaps. To keep things all moving rhythmically, keep a count in your head or out loud, move your body to the beat, allow your wrist to keep moving - even if just small movements to keep momentum going.
When you come to those moments when you kill the sound of the strings with a mute, you are making a very definite and obvious move of your whole hand and stretching your little finger out to mute between the pickups. You will benefit from working on palm muting and learning how to make micro adjustments so you can mute / unmute with a micro move of your hand and wrist. This will mean you also re-learn your hand position and allow your picking hand fingers to uncurl out of their loose fist so they can hand down and your fleshy outer rests just behind of or just in front of the bridge.
in fact no … I pick single notes in between all the time
thats why i have to stop the movement in this song.
on a song like like “ not ready to make nice by the chicks” ( on the musopia app ) my arm would move all the time ( i should record this one too , to compare )
but I agree about the muting , Ill see that with my guitar teacher that’s something to work on
My apologies, I was unclear.
The rhythm / pulse is all down 8ths.
The song only requires that you play some of those 8ths, not all by any means. But if you move your hand constantly to that beat, in constant motion, you will be hitting the strings when required and moving across but not hitting them in the moments when you do not play the chords / notes. That was my meaning. Hopefully a little clearer now.
Do I understand you have an in-person teacher?
Ask them to show you how to gently rest your palm on the bridge for 2-string power chords and single note picking. Or use your little finger as an anchor on the guitar body.
If your hand is floating in the air, not anchored, you will have a tendency to move your forearm in bigger arcs than is needed. You only need a small wrist and hand rotation so you are never far away from the strings you need to strum or pick individually. You don’t need to stop to hit those single strings, it should all be part of the same rhythmic motion in your picking action.
That also makes for an easy transition to palm muting.
Oh now I see what you mean !
Yeah I completely forgot to apply that lesson ^^”
I re recorded the song ( no little hat and different guitar )
I guess this is where the hand must be
But I dont like keeping the rythm with my hand all the time
I sing the rythm in my head , I just play the music in my head its hard to explain , thats how I follow the rythm
Yes I go to the local music school and see a teacher once a week so Ill ask him for advice on palm muting for this song
I sent him the video
Sounded like you nailed it. You looked relaxed playing. Maybe next time lower the song’s volume a tad so we can hear more of you is all I can think to add. Keep up the great work!
Hi Deborah,
Nice soundand video
And after Richard’s words are pointless to add anything else , posting a video here proves once again its invaluable value , have fun continuing, keep it up
Hi Deborah, what could I add after our wise man Richard has commented on your recording? Only wanted to let you know my impression, that you did good work on this one. Your picking and timing sounds very confident. What stands out for me is your gorgeous guitar tone! Nice one!
[quote="jvlynch, post:14, topic:396270”]
Maybe next time lower the song’s volume a tad so we can hear more of you is all I can think to add
[/quote]
My teacher said the same thing ah ah
next time Ill reduce the backing track volume
[quote="Helen0609, post:16, topic:396270”]
What stands out for me is your gorgeous guitar tone!
[/quote]
ah thanks , I just love the trebble boost on my amp
awesome sound
I dont even try to couple it with the red special yet … Years of practice ahead of me to get the full potential out of it
my teacher added this :
Sounding good. It is difficult sometimes to differentiate with the recording in the background but I think maybe some silences are missing?
Impossible to reference it in an email about a video, but there is a short passage that reoccurs in which you play 4 individual notes. Maybe this could benefit from som vibrato on the last note and some direction in the phrasing? The phrase (group of notes making a section of melody) should “aim” at a note and have a sense of direction. In this case they should go towards the last note.
We can look at that on Wednesday of course!
So its going to be tomorrow’s lesson
I sent him Richard’s comments by mail
( ah yes my guitar teacher is Brit, its perfect to make the jonction between the lessons online and in real life )
Your positive experience has encouraged me to try a live instructor. I wonder how easy it will be to combine Justin’s method with the private instructor.
depends on who your instructor will be …
I tried a guy once and I didnt like his method so i tried the school
dont hesitate to change if the teaching method does not suit you
I hope you ll find someone like Marcus ( my teacher )
He has no problem with me learning from JG and YS cause he knows that half an hour a week is not enough
He has no problem to help me using the material from JG
( for example , im at module 13 : the blues introduction so we’re seeing the blues too every wednesday )
Im glad that you wanna try a teacher
just post on your log how it goes , I wanna follow your evolution
, posting a video here proves once again its invaluable value