My cover of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car as taught by Justin

Community Recordings Audio-Video Of You Playing
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This is one of my favorites from Tracy Chapman, and a real classic. Thanks for taking a listen and I hope you enjoy!

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Looks challenging to play and sing, Benji, maintaining a consistent tempo, rhythm, and clean chords. The switch between picking pattern and strumming also a challenge. I think you stepped up and delivered a smooth rendition.

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Hi Benji,
What a wonderful song you perform here :clap: :sunglasses: :clap: :sunglasses:
beautifully played and sung, I think you have a good voice at times and sometimes really very good voice. :sunglasses:… you seem to have your voice more under control (loudness and thus purity)much more than with some other songs … Super :sunglasses:
Gtreetings,Rogier

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Nice! Always good to hear a Tracy Chapman song. I remember when would see her for $1 at the school pub. She was one year ahead of me at Tufts. She was great even then.

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Really good Benji. Very difficult vocal phrasing in that song and you managed it nicely.
The only thing I’d raise is thumb position. Convention says it should be in front of the fingers. However, it’s working for you so …….
Well done.

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Thanks David. Yes the timing is a little tricky, but I actually thought getting the strumming pattern to match the chorus was the most challenging part. Playing along with the original really helped figure out the timing of the versus.

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Thanks Roger, definitely some good food for thought… :+1:

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Wow! Lucky you… :smiling_face:

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Thanks sairfingers! Playing along with the original really helped. I thought figuring out a suitable strumming pattern for the chorus to be the trickiest part…

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Nice job Benji. Not an easy song to sing and play but you nailed both. :+1:

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Very good job Benji. Clean picking, and good vocals. I wonder if you could incorporate strumming using a pick to possibly increase dynamics? Well done!

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Excellent job on this Benji. Your fretting looked really solid and the nuances of the timing were really strong.

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Wow! That was awesome! You’ve got a great voice for this song, you really sung it with passion and commitment, loved it! :clap: :star_struck:
Nothing to suggest in terms of the playing, thought you did a great job and would have been tough getting that all put together with the vocals. Minor suggestion for the video, would be to get more light coming towards you perhaps so you’re more illuminated and we can see you’re playing more clearly, but in this instance the lack of direct lighting perhaps works with the atmosphere the song creates, so… :man_shrugging: :sweat_smile:
Well done, very impressive! :sunglasses:

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Thanks Eddie, yeah the strumming rhythm is a little tricky at the chorus. Really helped to play along with the song though… :guitar:

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Thanks MadMod, I’m just too lazy to pick up a pick if I’m finger picking a song… :smile:

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Thanks ClulessLuthier! I really feel this song when I play it, which I think makes learning it easier. Still took a few weeks though.

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Thanks nzmetal! Really glad you enjoyed. Yeah, I’m really bare bones here. Just using a GoPro with no mic or lights. I’ll try to get some light on me for the next one, and eventually get some better gear overall!

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Cracking cover Benji. Not an easy one and you have done an excellent version of it.

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Wow Benji, that was a really great rendition of this beautiful song :+1::clap::smiley:. I enjoyed listening to it a lot.
I admire your fingerpicking skills while singing along simultaniously :astonished:.
And I especially like the changes of dynamics as well as your passion for this song, which can be felt the whole song through :star_struck:.
Very well done :+1:!

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Thanks Sgt! I found the trickiest part to be the chorus, strumming on time really through me for a loop. Playing along with Tracy Chapman was very helpful with the versus.