I know, I know!!! This is a prime example of why beginner guitarists shouldn’t go near STH with a barge pole. Anyway, I thought i would share to give everyone some smiles (and cringes). When I started playing guitar with JG five years ago I remember looking at the chord chart for STH and thinking that I would never in my lifetime be able to play it. And I know I still can’t, but 2 months ago I set myself the task of trying and put aside about 10 minutes every day to give it a go. This is my first full play through including lots of mistakes and requiring a lot more work - but it’s a start - and it’s my start!! Apologies in advance especially for the singing - I was just mumbling through trying to remember the words and see if I could sync them up with the guitar playing. I’ll post an update in a month or so.
Hi Jon, there’s a start to anything, we all start somewhere, and this actually seems a bit more than a start, well done! It’s a long recording with different techniques, very different sections…and singing too…that’s a great challenge! There are parts where you are really confident…and parts that will require work. You can use this recording to help you observe yourself and decide what seems right already and what you need to work on. Have fun with it! I look foward to a new recording in a month or so!
That’s a tough one to handle playing and singing, but all in all, pretty good for 2 months of practicing it. I enjoyed it. I’ll keep an eye out for the next post of it in a month! Thanks for sharing. Never apologize for performing. That’s my motto. You did great!
Kudos on your performance, that is NOT easy and you managed it very well.
I am currently studying STH and while I can play most of the song’s rhythm guitar progression, I cannot sing it at all.
While I’m playing I do have the words for the lyrics mostly going in my head, but if I try to sing it my right hand becomes immediately handicapped and I mess-up whatever strumming or fingerpicking I was attempting. Breaking the secret to play and sing has eluded me so far (need to get back to Justin’s material on that and attempt a more focused effort one day.)
@CD02@Silvia80@heckler@tony@jvlynch - Hey guys - many thanks for the kind words of encouragement. Its definitely not an easy song and i think it will take quite a while before i get to a respectable version - i think its one of Justin’s “longer finger” songs. Even though its difficult, its very enjoyable to work on as there are so many different parts and a big part of the challenge will be to get them to flow together. To complete the song (whenever that might be), im thinking of adding a strummed version of the solo, but im not sure, as it is obviously pretty long as it is.
Thanks for being willing to share your hard work! I know it is a really good idea to record myself so I can see my improvement and critically identify areas that need attention. But, honestly, I’m scared to do it. LoL. Kudos to you and thanks for helping me to drop the worry and just go record. I look forward to being able to play that someday too! Thanks and keep it up, Jon!
Nice work and a lot of it I am sure. It did pay off and keep it up! Your dedication is paying dividends and what you learn on this song will surely help you on others!
Always good to hear an absolute classic.
You’re way too hard on yourself - you certainly can play it.
I defy anyone who knows the original to not instantly recognise it and sing along and play air guitar to your version.
Singing and playing is not easy - so again, nice job.
Ok, so a month or so later, my second recording attempt. Forcing myself to do another recording has kept my interest going - though not sure its improved the playing much!! I have, however, changed the arrangement a bit to what i think works best with a single acoustic guitar (with no solo). It took me 2 goes to record this, and being so long, i just didn’t have the heart to try to record it again without a few of the obvious fumblings. One of the things i immediately noticed was my lack of confidence with picking the strings with a pick (ie the “There’s a feeling i get…” bit) as i am totally looking at my hand the whole time - something to work on immediately. I’m not sure what the best way is to include an updated version of a song in a previous post, so there’s a fair chance no one will see this - but its still a good exercise to do if only for myself.
