Radek - August 2023 - O Tannenbaum (Classical challenge no 7)

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It’s been a while since the last recording but here it is, classical challenge no 7, traditional German song “O Tannenbaum” (“O Christmas Tree”). It is not even close to Christmas but I hope it is acceptable :slight_smile: .

I need to pay closer attention to base notes, when I struck the string with my fingernail it can be too loud but when it happens with soft fingertip it can be almost not audible.

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Hi Radek,
That’s nice to hear now :sunglasses: :clap: and I just look in the distance and there are a few there, so in the middle of summer this one is also fine ,I hope they feel you and my vibes :smiley: :sunglasses:
Greetings

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That’s delightful Radek! :heart_eyes:
Very smooth playing and the tone of the guitar is super as always!
You had me relisten to sing along the italian lyrics…

:notes: oh albero, bell’albero…ricordi a noi il Natale! :notes:

Also more than appreciated, to think of the cold winter as we’re literally rosting over here…at night we have 30 degrees Celsius indoor and can’t sleep much :hot_face: Hopefully temperatures will go down in the weekend :crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers:

The thumb…I find it tricky as well, to find the right spot of the nail to make it sound good!

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Hi Silvia ,
I give you a good vibes ,but I
actually mean a truck with this … :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube: :ice_cube:… because that is really not normal and fun anymore :see_no_evil:
Greetings

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Lovely to listen to you play, as always, Radek.

I did notice the issue you mentioned with the bass note, specifically in some moments when playing the bass on the low E after playing notes on the A string. I never thought the bass was too loud at any point, so maybe just about being consistent in your plucking action to ensure you always use the nail? Those moments playing on the low E without nail were inaudible on my playback device and volume.

Keep on plucking :grin:

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Thanks Roger. Now when you said it, there is a big pine tree in my backyard, a reference point :slight_smile:.

Thank you Silvia. I had no idea that there is an Italian version of this song but why shouldn’t be? There are Polish and Swedish variants too. Hope that the temperature will drop soon in the Italy and you have some relief. Can’t imagine how 30°C feels indoors, 25 we had not so long ago felt too much.

Thanks David. Yes, the thing is to use fingernail whole time, subconsciously I’m hitting with the tip from time to time, definitely something to work on. It also feels very quite odd because I have not noticed it in any other of my previous recordings.

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Hi Radek!
A blast to listen too!! Really really nice!
Have the same song for christmas in norway too :grin: dont remember what its called though :see_no_evil:

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Making good progress Radek, taking on increasingly difficult songs. I know exactly what you mean about the thumbed bass notes. I find the same thing happening with the acoustic blues exercises I have been learning. And the muted/dead bass note makes it stand out more. Thumb nail shape seems quite important and I am not sure whether mine is quite right.
Sounded lovely as its the first time I’ve experience the song by a solo acoustic only. :+1:

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Thank you kindly Trond :slight_smile:. It indeed seems to be very popular tune in countries other than Germany. Quite interesting that it originated as 16th c. folk song transformed into Christmas one in the 19th c.

Thank you Toby. There is something to it, dead base note that is. If the note comes isolated there is no problem, it can occur when another note is added but not always, also it seems like it is only limited to the low E string. I replicated the problem but couldn’t find the answer other then longer fingernail.

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Thanks Rogier :hot_face: :hot_face::hot_face:

how’s that english tongue twister like?

Whether the weather is hot
Whether the weather is cold
We have to put up with the weather
Whether we like it or not!

:joy:

P.s.: the correct one from Google…

Whether the weather be fine, Or whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Or whether the weather be hot, We’ll weather the weather, Whatever the weather, Whether we like it or not.

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I agree on this, I’m not aware yet of what the ideal shape is, though.

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Great work Radek. The tune was recognisable and very well played.
I’ve heard of “Christmas in July”, so maybe Christmas in August is just as acceptable :slight_smile:

I also get non audible bass notes sometimes when I tend to lean towards the thumb tip rather than nail. But we probably wouldn’t even have noticed it in your song if you hadn’t mentioned it, because I thought it sounded nice overall.

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Thank you kindly Sandro. This piece is in the middle of the study list so I had no choice :sweat_smile:.

True, I have only noticed it when I look at the recording. It is surprisingly tricky to get it right in this tune, it didn’t ruined the experience but made me pay more attention to this aspect in the future.

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That was lovely, Radek. It’s never to early for a Christmas song. I hope you’ll be entertaining people with it this Christmas.

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Thank you kindly Stefan. I probably will learn something new for the occasion :sweat_smile:.

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