Every year I stop learning new songs in December and instead go over all the songs I have learned in the year to see if I can still play them. If not I try to bring them back to life with a few days practise. And every year there are some “strugglers” - songs I started to learn during the year but that never quite made it to play-through level let alone one I was happy with. They get a bit of focused TLC to see how far I can get in a second attempt. This process also helps me to see what I have learned this year, and what I want to focus on in the next year.
One thing top on the list for next year is to take recordings and videos more regularly: several songs I have learned this year have no recordings at all - especially the ones from Jan and Feb. Missed opportunity to see progress (or lack of). I’m trying to fill those gaps now while I am off work for a couple of weeks and have more time to just “play around”. I’m going to share some of these consolidation recordings here.
First up is a cover of Rodney Crowell’s song “Leaving Louisiana in the broad daylight”. This is actually one of the last songs I started learning this year and is slowly coming together now. I looove this song but I found it quite challenging to keep it interesting when it is just me on my guitar given that 2/3 of the song are just “G-chord” grips. So I’ve added a small instrumental break at 1:40 and then again a longer instrumental “play-out” from 3:28 onwards. And a bass run to almost every C chord in the verses. I would really like to hear what you think of my attempts at making the song performance more interesting - is it too much? or not enough and is it all still too repetitive?
That was Awesome, I have a big smile listening to that. I think both of your riffs sounded nice, also the way you paused the guitar part before that final instrmental was very effective. I knew something was coming and I leaned in for it. So you achieved that anticipation, in me the listener. Then it came the nice longer picking at the end 3:30 mark was like wham, then the finale closing. So neat and well done. I bet it took some practice getting it so smooth.
Thanks for sharing
Edit: I love the idea of going back and reviewing your repertoire. So smart.
Well done Molly that was really great and you succeeded in keeping the song (which is very repetitive) interesting. Your bass runs and instrumental breaks were spot on. I don’t know the original but I imagine it’s got multiple guitars, slide guitars and country style fiddles that add to the mix.
Other than perhaps repeating the mid song instrumental break I don’t think you could add much more without it becoming overly embellishment for embellishment sake. There is only so much you can do with one voice and one guitar.
This seems so obvious but you’ve put that thought into my head now. I often feel there are so many new songs to learn, why go back to the old ones. But you’ve got me thinking now!
That was most enjoyable Molly. I really appreciate the bass runs and other embellishments. Clearly you worked hard build this song - which is why it looks effortless on camera.
Hi Molly
Lovely song, guitar playing friends of mine used to play this song in the early 80s. it really brings me back in time. You played and sang it very well.
This was lovely Molly. Few chords sounding repetative is greatly reduced if you are singing. The attention is moved in part from guitar to your voice. I loved the small instrumental parts.
Really nicely done. Admirable accuracy in picking out the bass notes. You never miss!
Do you have a background in classical guitar? I notice you keep your thumb glued to the back of the neck, your chord grips look like a classical player.
Oh wow, thank you all so much for watching the video and your kind comments!
So much positive feedback, don’t know what to say
Sounds like I am on the right track here then. And one day I will dare and play it at an open mic
Running through some of the specific questions and comments:
Thank you so much Jason @Ontime but I can’t take credit for the pausing - I nicked it of Rodney himself I saw him doing it in a video and thought that’s a cool effect, I’m going to copy that!
It did. When I started learning the song I always wanted to add something else to mix it up a bit, but “simple” embellishments were not enough. So then I tried to echo the melody in the break - it’s a bit more purposeful. And while moving between strumming and instrumentals is one of the holy grails (for me) I have not actually managed to do it successfully in many songs yet. I wasn’t sure if I would get the instrumental up to speed and then go in and out of it without hiccups…It helps to really like the song so I didn’t get bored of practising it until it started to come together
Thank you so much David @DavidP for your comment! As for the spaced repetition - I totally recommend it! I find that December is always so frazzled I don’t get much structured practise done anyway. And it never takes that long to bring back a song even if at first it feels like they have slipped away.
Thank you so much Gordon @sairfingers for your comment! This one in particular was one of the things I was not sure about. I settled in the end for running through only one verse progression, because it feels long when I am playing over two verses. But its different for a listener and on that receiving end it might be preferred to have a longer break. I’ll experiment with this a bit more…
Thank you so much Michael @mfeeney0110! I can tell you I worked very hard on beeing as relaxed as possible when I was recording the video
Thank you so much Pam @pkboo3! More videos are on their way
Thank you so much John @jjw for your comment on the bass note picking! And then this interesting question. No, I have never played classical guitar in my life. I’ve played a lot of classical piano but then felt stuck in it. I can’t play a single pop song on the piano. One of my reasons to pick up the guitar was to break out of that mental block and the brief for guitar was “anything but classical”. But maybe the piano background explains my hand position - It feels most comfortable to me. The glued thumb works as an anchor - when playing standing up there is no full view of the fret board so it helps the fingers to find where they need to go.
I saw him doing it in a video and thought that’s a cool effect, I’m going to copy that!
