Mack the Knife & King of the Road

Community Recordings Audio-Video Of You Playing
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Been working on this for awhile. Still have not achieved the pocket I am aiming for. Let me know what you think.

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Congrats on recording yourself, it sounds good. Congrats on playing and singing. (i’m struggling with that). Nice sound on the guitar too.
What i noticed right away, it that your rythm doesn’t seem to sync with the rythm of backingtrack.
Keep practicing and you’ll be in the pocket in no time! (maybe try to tap your foot along with the backing track, to keep the tempo visible).

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Love it Mal! Some cool syncopation going on there. Not easy with the key changes either :slight_smile:

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Thanks Paul, it is getting there though more difficult than I first thought.

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I might try, if I ever had the chops, to simplify a little and perhaps a little less choppy at times. Build it up at appropriate moments, slow and steady to the climax.

The drums didn’t do anything for me. I think you play and sing well enough to cover the song solo.

Certainly making good progress and will be worth sticking with it. Such a classic song.

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Thanks David, the drums are more to keep time, but they are not great.
The feel I am looking for is a smooth jazz flow, which is, I am finding, difficult to achieve solo. Bobby Darin is the version that is being taken from. Onwards and upwards. Thanks for the listen.

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Wow :scream: Mal you took me back about 53 years with that :joy: I had a music teacher at Primary School, (yes, I know he didn’t do a very good job did he :roll_eyes:), he had been in shows I believe. He had us do a production of this song, I’ve never forgotten it :roll_eyes: probably traumatised :rofl:

Nice work, coming along.

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My pleasure, Mal. I gave the BD version a spin. I can imagine quite challenging to achive something inspired by that arrangement. Perhaps try using the thumb to drive a bass line and fingers plucking all the targette strings in a chord simultaneously. Throw in some percussive hits, palm muting. All that in the blend may sound OK . . . or not.

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Thanks David, yes the arrangement is a challenge. and many things are being tried. At the moment I am simply trying to get it to sound right. Some of the chords are not quite correct yet. Embellishments will be added later.

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Thanks Craig. I have always enjoyed this song from when first hearing it as a child. Just trying to give it some Malz treatment. :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

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Very cool Mal on an old classic.
At first glance, have you tried upstrums 'chips" on the off-beat, rather than down on the beat?

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Thanks Shane, chips is a good idea, I will try it.

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I think it’s coming along nicely Mal. These old standards can have difficult phrasing and you’re coping with it well.

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Thanks Gordon, more work is certainly required but since the recording it is getting more flow. As we say ‘practice and practice till it is down’, or someone does. :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

It is not only the phrasing, the arrangements on some of these old tunes are amazing.

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Hi Malz,
Thanks for posting, it’s so useful for everyone that a good player has put up work in progress for us to look at and think about.
I’ve been having a go at some similar kinds of songs lately too so this stuff has been on my mind.
You are right about the pocket. On this recording it kinda feels a little like you’re playing it in 2/4 rather than 4/4 and that’s probably why you’re feeling the version is lumpy: there’s double the number of strong beats, and phrases are getting chopped in two.
So here’s my thoughts on what I’d do to try and get the feel.
Try the rhythm
WHACK-chuck whack-chuck
Interspersed with
WHACKA-chucka whacka-chucka
where Whack is just the bass note and chuck is the chord is the rest of the chord played with a quick flick

Chord voicing wise, There’s a really great group of short Justin tutorials (a v young Justin. These must have been filmed when he was about twelve :joy::joy: ) that I’m looking at frequently at the minute that I’m sure you’d have a ball with.
(There’s an great way to play this progression all close together on the neck starting with a Cmaj6 or Cmaj7 with a 6th string root)
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/major-type-jazz-chord-extensions-ja-021

https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/minor-type-jazz-chord-extensions-ja-022

https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/dominant-type-chord-extensions-ja-023

Thanks again for posting,
Cheers
Ruaridh

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Thank you sir, You have provided some good ideas. I must have seen the lessons you refer to but will check them out.
Sometimes when working on a song it becomes to close to see past what one is doing. This is to the detriment of the song. I do find it helps to post a work in progress and get feedback. I will see what you suggest sounds like.
Thanks for the feedback Ruaridh.

Just having a look at the vids you suggest, they are old. :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:
I will get something from them.

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Now, you’ve got me looking at this song…:smiling_face_with_sunglasses:
The more Blues I play, the more Jazz stuff I see and like.
Shell triads sound pretty good here (1,3,b7 - 3,5,b7 - 1,3,6) etc for the various chords.

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Yes it is a good song. Which version have you listened to?
Yes, jazz and blues are very close and I enjoy both. Triads are how I am leaning at the moment, still working it out. Thanks again.

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I’ve now listened to so many now…mostly the older ones…Derrin, Armstrong, Sinatra etc. pretty much a jazz standard…Robbie Williams one is pretty good…

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Yes, they are all good. The one I am going from is Bobby Darren.