I am playing Morning Has Broken, which was popularized by Cat Stevens in 1971 and reached top 10 in US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
I liked the piano intro so much that I taught myself the intro on both hands one note at a time, even though I never completed book 1 of intro piano. I used it to pretend that I could play the piano later in life.
I have played the chords fingerstyle to give some feeling of the piano intro. Some day I will play a more exact version. Here is my video:
I don’t think this song is in any of Justins song videos or books, but I just had to include this since I have been practicing for the last month. I also noticed in the grade 3 video song lesson for Wild World, by Cat Stevens, that Justin says” Big fan of Cat Stevens”.
The intro chords are: C F G E Am G C F, one chord per measure
I did about a dozen takes and was never satisfied, but finally realized that attempting to do a perfect take or rendition of the song is a silly thing for me to attempt for this song at my current level of playing. I played a G at one point when I should have played a C and I made a mistake in the lyrics even when reading the lyrics, but the overall playing was pretty good with this take so I am using it.
The song is not in my range but I like how it sounded in the key of C.
I have just finished the lessons for module 16 (Grade 3) and starting module 16 practice so I tried a little falling leaf time flexing in the song, especially slowing at the end with the 2 barre chords I also did a chord roll flourish on the end of one or two of the lines.
Lovely rendition of a beautiful chord progression. Great job!
You now just need Rick Wakeman to guest and put the tinkly piano in like he did on Cat’s record.
One of my very favourite songs, and how well you played it! Well done sir, especially the transcribing part from the intro from the piano! Very well sung too. If you feel it is outside your normal range, try whatever key is easier/more comfortable to sing with using your capo, the accompaniement will still sound very good when you transpose it up and you don’t need to relearn the whole progression.
And, if I may encourage you, try to play it by heart comfortably, it will allow you to focus more on the beauty of the song and less on getting the words or the chord progression right. I think Justin has a good Tutorial on Singing and Playing at the same time.
That was nicely played and sung. Not a song I’m familiar with so was a real treat to listen. It’s difficult to tell with the camera angle and lighting but you may want to check out finger positioning i.e. positive finger placement. A few times it also looked like the strings were being pushed up but that could just be the angle of the camera. At the end it looks like you’re going from an E shaped barre chord to an Am shaped barre chord, if so you want to move the bar down to mute string 6. Overall that was a very good and enjoyable performance. kudos for singing and finger picking at the same time which isn’t easy to do and playing without looking at the fretting and picking hands. You’re making great progress. Well done you did a great job of a song that looked quite complicated to play.
@twistor59 Phil, Cool bit of trivia. I wasn’t aware of Rick Wakeman’s involvement and had to relook at the wiki entry. Who know that there was a link between this early 20th century church hymn with traditional Scottish Gaelic musical roots and prog-rock.
@Socio James, Thanks for the review and the helpful hints. I did a quick review in slow-motion and definately saw some issue with pushing the strings occasionally. I haven’t done One Minute PFC’s in a while, but I’ll probably need to do some and record and analyze my finger placement. It is easy to slip into old bad habits when you have been playing for many years. And that’s also my excuse for the barre chord changes
When I first learned 6th and 5th string ( E and A chord shape) barre chords I didn’t know you were suppose to move your index finger down. I know better now, but under the stress of recording sometimes old habits return. Also, I haven’t practiced barre chords much yet in the last few months. I’m mostly focusing on power chords and knowing the 5h and 6th string note names without hesitation.
I’ll probably redo this song later on, when I refresh my strings and set up a my home recording/DAW setup.
@TRJ Thanks for the kind words. I must confess that I did not transcribe the chord progression but found on a guitar chord website several years ago.
At first I smiled and ignored your advice on looking at Justin’s tutorial on singing and playing the guitar at the same time, since I have sung and played the guitar for 40 years, although with just simple strumming and open chords. But then after a few days I thought to myself that my goal is to get better and you can’t expect to change if you continue practicing singing and playing the same way.
I had seen the tutorial before, but I looked at it again and realized that I had been ignoring much of Justin’s advice. I haven’t listened to the original Cat Steven’s recording of Morning Has Broken for several years and just practiced playing and singing this song based on my memory of the song. I will definitely need to set up a new song practice routine based on Justin’s 10 step method for learning to play and sing a new song. I especially need to include active listening and strumming and singing to the recording several times before putting the two together.
Thanks so much for helping me to improve my habits. That’s what this site does best.
Hi @SteveL_G99, thank you for taking my suggestion so kindly.
I wish I could follow it consistently myself. Ever since I went in the direction of country blues fingerstyle, I do find myself struggling with the simultaneous singing and playing of some songs but not others. Strange I thought, because in countrystyle blues you have both the bass and the melody line, which is a big support for the singing. Still whenever things happen in the accompaniement which is rhytmically different from the singing, I can’t manage it.
When trying to follow Justin’s lesson, there is one thing that I totally fail at, which is to have a conversation, or recite some text in parallel to playing the song on the guitar. I still have my own struggle ahead of me.
Once I do manage mastering playing a song and singing it simultaneously, at least I do not have to look at the tab, and I can look at the public, or in the lens of a camera, so as to deliver the song.
Having said all of that, I will be looking forward to hearing more songs from you - it seems to me we are pretty much compatible in musical taste.
It sounded lovely Steve. There is true wisdom in accepting that what we play at the specific point in time is the best we could do. More than often I’m forcing myself to play something that is way above my head only to get frustrated. You’ve done it nicely and should be proud of it. If you enjoy it, just keep playing, one day it will become what you would like it to be.
I also did a chord roll flourish on the end of one or two of the lines.
