From what I know of First Cut I’d imagine that you can take a similar approach to me, building it up in layers. It means that you get to something you can enjoy playing relatively quickly even if the final version is a while off. I’m more familiar with Sheryl Crow’s cover of First Cut but I think it will be a good song to learn
Learning songs that I like already is what gets me through the difficult days. Struggling with a song that I don’t care about sounds like work!
Hopefully I’ll be in a position to post that video in the fairly near future 
1 Like
@ConstanceClaire Dive in to First Cut Is The Deepest. I learned this a couple of months ago and I found it a bit easier than I thought it was going to be. Sure, it takes some practice, but you knew that already!
The Cat Stevens chord progression is basically G D C D. For the Sheryl Crow version, my preferred version also @mattswain, the progression changes to D A G A. It’s a fairly easy transposition and most of Justin’s video still applies. Obviously you can’t play along to the video though!
Oh, and move the riff down from the 12th fret to the 7th, using the same strings.
2 Likes
I’ve continued to practise Sheryl Crow’s version of First Cut is the Deepest and I can play along to the recording now. I think the main issue I need to fix before I call it good enough is around timing… I tend to move my chord shape a little early so the final picked note of each bar can get a little truncated. I say it’s a timing thing because I can do it right, I can do the chord changes fast enough, I just move my left hand sooner than I need to.
I’ve started looking at Good Riddance by Green Day. It’s a mixture of picking and strumming. The original is pretty fast so it might be a terrible idea. I’ll see where I am in a week.
I mentioned on another post today that I’m seeing my concentration as being a weakness at the moment. I’m talking about losing my place in a chord sequence, or losing my place in a song and missing sequence changes. I’m sure that everyone does it occasionally, it just seems to happen a lot. Playing a sequence like GADAGADAGADA as in First Cut, I seem to lose track of which of the A’s I’m on so play a D instead of a G or vice versa.
Other than this, just keeping on practicing the songs I already know for fear of forgetting them!
2 Likes
I’ll start with a statement of the bloomin’ obvious - when you’re learning a new song it really helps if you know it… no I mean really know it. I started learning Polly by Nirvana this week and I can play it already because actually it’s a simple song with just a couple of patterns / rhythms to learn but what trips me up is not knowing when the changes come! It’s funny because I’ve listened to Nevermind so many times but never really with a guitar players head on. So this week I need to learn the song itself!!!
With First Cut is the Deepest it’s kind of the simple bit that’s tripping me up - finding a strumming pattern for the chorus that flows nicely with the song. There are a few obvious ones, I’ve just not found one that I really like yet.
Good Riddance by Green Day is getting better but I’m a distance away from playing full speed along with the song. It’s going to be a long term background task
2 Likes
A bit of a different entry today because I’ve spent the day learning from a guitar technician. There was 4 of us on the course, a good number to see some variety in guitars but not so many that people didn’t get individual attention. I took along a new acquisition that I knew needed some attention.
We started just removing strings, cleaning and then restringing - first time I’ve restrung a guitar with locking tuners and it’s sooooo easy! After that it was about getting the guitar action right which consisted of 4 things…
Truss rod adjustment
Nut adjustment
Saddle adjustment
Setting intonation
At the end of all this my guitar definitely plays better and I’ve got a much better idea of what I’m looking for where basic guitar set-up is involved. I feel more confident that I can now make these adjustments without ruining a guitar.
I think knowing what to look for is the key thing. One of the other students had spent money twice on getting his guitar setup and it was still terrible but being a newish player he wasn’t in a position to know better. Now he (and I) knows.
Only the most basic tools are required at this level. The relevant screw drivers, the correct size allen key for your truss rod and a metal ruler that allows you to assess string height above the 12th fret.
Definitely a day well spent.
Aside from this regular practice is continuing, a lot of the same stuff plus also Spirit in the Sky as I want to play around with fuzz effects
6 Likes
Sounds extremely useful. I wish they would offer such courses here…
Will there be further guitar technician course meetings?
This was a one day course around an hour away from where I live. There’s no follow-on from it or anything like that but I’d say it’s enough for your typical home player who just wants to get the best from guitar as it is. He does one course a month, the rest of the time he’s a self-employed guitar technician which sounds like it keeps him fairly busy.
3 Likes
Justin covers it here:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlwfspJqZ127q4BGDA0RnYu8JCGZn-gGL&si=ACpYu5W7AqYjblAf
I’ve also known people get guitars back from professional setup and they’ve been unplayable.
3 Likes
I think possibly the neatest “trick” I was shown yesterday when assessing whether the truss rod needs adjusting was making use of the guitar strings rather than buying tools.
If you’re right handed you press on a string (thick E is easiest) with the little finger of your left hand, press on the last fret with the little finger of your right hand and then reach your thumbs into in the middle as far as you can reach and assess the gap between string and fret by tapping. There wasn’t an exact measurement but there should be the tiniest gap but no more than that. It definitely shouldn’t be touching and equally there shouldn’t be a load of daylight. The sound of the string tapping on the fret is the clue - it’s hard to describe but fairly obvious in a demo. This is making use of the fact that a wire under tension between 2 points is a straight line rather than buying gadgets to do this.
He did say not to worry about truss rod adjustments. If you do it in small steps (as everyone advises) you’ll see that you’re going in the wrong direction before you do damage
Thanks @rorystrat , I hadn’t seen that yet. There are videos here for you everything. Will have a look 
@mattswain Matt, did the technician say by chance what to do if the output resp. I put jack has been dropping into the body of a hollow body guitar (no idea that could even happen). There is but a hole where the jack used to be (and the guitar is now a rattle). I fear getting that fixed professionally will be ridiculously expensive…
No we didn’t cover repairs. I’ll bet it’s not as expensive as you fear though. It might be as simple as something needing screwing together properly and/or some strong glue 
Supposing that it’s possible to fish that thing out of the guitar body again 
1 Like
That looks like the 13mm nut has come off and the jack socket has fallen in the guitar. Is there an opening on the back of the guitar with a cover. That would make it easier to fish out. If not, just fiddle around until it protrudes a bit and try to grab it with some tweezers. Pull it through if you can and put a jack plug and lead into to it to stop it falling in again. Then look for a 13mm nut. Looks like there should also be a washer too. Might be cheap just to get a new jack socket and pinch the nut and washer(s) off that. You will have to take the jack lead out again to get the nut on so try to secure the socket with some masking tape first to stop it falling in again. Put the washer and nut on loosely just enough to hold then put the jack lead back in. Remove the masking tape and tighten nut. Simples?
Edit PS: it might be easy to get into the body by taking a pickup off but I don’t know the guitar.
2 Likes
Absolutely 
I’ll send you a DM.
@mattswain sorry for hijacking. 
1 Like
All of this Oasis talk has got to me so I’ve added another track to my learning list, probably my favourite of theirs, Stand By Me which works really well on acoustic guitar. There’s a couple of new things I need to learn for it, B7 and F mini.
As many will know B7 is a bit awkward, but as it’s a transition from a full G, I’m picking it up fairly quickly. I can play the full F, but when bouncing between C, F and D on successive down strums, the mini version makes more sense. I think I’m going to get to a simple but fun version of this fairly quickly.
I’ve also put together a spreadsheet of all of the songs that I have learned, am learning and want to learn soon. It’s not a particularly big spreadsheet but there’s enough songs on it that I want to make sure I’m not in a position where I’m learning one new song and forgetting another! It would probably be better in some sort of notebook but I haven’t decided on a format yet. I think I’m looking something digital rather than paper based but haven’t decided yet
2 Likes
The past week has been something of a rollercoaster with time lost to a stomach bug 
and a weekend away 
but I’ve still squeezed a good amount of guitar time in among it.
Really enjoying learning Stand By Me (Oasis). I manage about half as many strums as Noel but it’s still sounding reasonable. I suppose he’s doing 1/16th notes, maybe I’ll get there some day in the future. I’d say there’s some transitions between different strumming patterns where I’m a bit inconsistent/choppy that is my number one thing to correct at the moment. Overall I can play along with the recording from start to finish so I’m really happy. Learning B7 or mini-F hasn’t proved a problem which I feel is a real sign of progress.
3 Likes
Have continued with my Oasis theme. Have been learning Live Forever with 1/16th note strumming. I’m nearly there with it… it’s a bit rushed at the moment because it’s at the upper limit of how fast I can strum right now. That said I couldn’t play it all a week or so ago so perhaps I’ll do a recording of it soon.
I did look at Don’t Look Back in Anger but there’s too many chord changes for my brain to remember right now.
I practice the picking of Good Riddance by Green Day a little each day. The song is way too fast for me but it’s a useful exercise anyway, both in picking accuracy and concentration!
2 Likes
I’ve had a little holiday at the start of this week so was good to pick up my guitar after 5 days this morning and better still I hadn’t forgotten everything!
I’ve included a little recording of me practicing Live Forever by Oasis this morning. The 1/16th note strumming is definitely at the upper limit of what I can manage right now but I’m pleased with progress so far. I have no idea why I keep looking at my strumming hand in the video, it’s not like it helps in any way 
Practicing Live Forever by Oasis, acoustic
5 Likes
It’s been a few days since I got my Mustang GTX100 amp and it’s definitely increased the time I’m practicing each day because I’m now practicing acoustic and electric most days where previously my electrics were gathering dust.
On acoustic I’ve been practicing more of the same. I’m more comfortable with the Live Forever strumming than I was in my video a week ago and can play it through pretty reliably now. I’m keeping working on some picking for Green Day’s Good Riddance. I’m using an app to loop a section and I’m gradually increasing the speed but I’m still not close to full speed.
With electric I’ve started a course on metal guitar techniques. The GTX is set to it’s “Uber Metal” preset for making noise At the moment I’m just playing some very basic riffs, power chords with some basic alternate picking with muting. There’s also exercises in playing 3 notes on a string with alternate picking at speed - that doesn’t come naturally to me. That said, I know from how I’ve developed with acoustic guitar that with patience and persistence I can get there.
3 Likes
Yesterday I was thinking I really need to finish off Wonderwall which has been on a back burner for ages and I found I can now play it up to speed, just need a few more run throughs smoothing out the transitions between the sections really. I was then on YouTube and saw a tutorial for D’you know what i mean also by Oasis. It turns out that uses the same chords, mostly in the same order as Wonderwall and (in my opinion) it’s a much better song, so I’m going to learn that. I can already play all of the bits but again it’s the transitions from one section to another that just need a little work (and remembering not to slip into Wonderwall strumming )
2 Likes
