Finally uploaded most of my old phone vids to Youtube earlier today and this very first one spooked me with a copyright claim (I suppose it’s somewhat a good thing that the AI knew which song I was trying to play, right?)
Tears In Heaven was one of the first songs that I aspired to learn after watching Justin’s video lesson for it. I’m pretty sure that when I was originally trying to “learn” from his video, I was just using it more as a visual guide to show me which notes needed to be hit individually/collectively and just tried to sort of imitate what he was doing with his hands - even though at the time I had little understanding about the chords that were being used on top of it. I suppose I was trying to run before I could walk (or even crawl). I accepted the fact that the song was out of reach for me at that stage, so I put it on the to-do list.
I came back to it later on after getting some proper understanding of the basic guitar fundamentals and it became much easier to progress with this song over time.
I tend to use weird alternate hand shapes at times because my fingers are too short and stubby that I can’t seem to physically use conventional placements for certain chords, for example I have an awkward way of doing the D/F# where I give up the thinnest E string so that I can hit the bass note instead.
Even though these are old recordings, I would still do the exact same thing at the moment haha. I might need to get a kiddy-sized guitar with a thinner neck to help me work on that after I get back into the swing of things.
Below are the youtube and soundcloud links for this song. Feedback is welcome, thanks…
Youtube link:
P.S. I only had a small amount of old videos to share, in comparison to the number of audio recordings that I had uploaded yesterday. The video versions were usually done when I was comfortable enough to go through a song in one go without too many stuff ups - so all of my audio versions were from the earlier stages of learning that specific song.
P.P.S - I can’t seem to figure out how to embed the video here. So I have just pasted the URL in the interim.
Hi there nice try overall soudned really good and you did a great job! One suggestion I have is that in around 00:27 there is something not quite right, this fretted bottom e string sounds super off to me, I checked quickly some tabs well reviewed at UG.com and there is definitely some discrepency between what you play and how it is played in the original which I suggest looking up again.
Your technique was okay I think, good right hand thumb positioning that is for sure. I would try smaller guitar as well to see if you feel better playing it, make sure to visit local music shop to try out different sizes first
In terms of embedding you need to tick the box while posting your video on youtube, you would need to now go back to your videos edit this one and find the tick box allowing for embedding.
Hi Adrian thanks for the feedback. At 0:27 that just sounds like me messing up trying to get to the B string with my pinky finger and semi hitting the E on the way through by accident I make plenty of stuff ups in the next old video that I’m going to share here later!
I immediately assumed your point would be referring to those little “embellishments” that I threw in at 0:15-0:17 and 1:04-1:06. Unless you did mean that part? haha.
I think i tried to add those in because of the extra stuff in the clapton music video and I thought it sounded ok to my ear at the time when I was testing things, but it was just randomly thrown in by me.
I checked the settings on my uploaded vids and they were all ticked to embed already… weird.
When I copy the embed code in the text area on the left side while creating a topic here, should we be able to see the video preview on the right side area before saving? or I’m probably just dumb and adding the code in the wrong area… anyway, I’ll test around with it a bit more and try to figure it out.
Thanks again for your feedback on the song and the help on the embedding stuff.
Yes sorry I meant 0:17 not 27 duh! Embolishments are fine but not this one unfortunately, when you fret b string on 1st fret you play C note which is not matching the key of A major this song is in which makes it like it doesn’t belong here. This one you repeat as well around 0:32 and 1:09, try putting your finger on 2nd fret B string or just play it open and it will sound much better since note C# and B are in the key of A maj (2nd and 3rd).
You played really well overall it’s just this one repetiton that makes it a bit less great but still very very good!
In terms of youtube once the box is ticked all you need is just paste the link to your video and it should work
Finally got the embedded video showing up. I was actually using the full embedding HTML code, when all I had to use was the full URL of my video to make it show up… bloody hell!
Thanks for helping @adi_mrok
That looks like a full in classical neck , at least 50 mm if not more. If you have reach problems with it, have you looked at the crossovers? I just tried a Taylor 114ce-N. , with nylon, 14 fret at the body and 47.6mm nut. It was a sweet guitar, used and over priced at $650. They are around for less. Cordoba has nice ones too at similar price ranges. Both 12 fret and 14 fret, 48mm nut.
Thanks Josh. Yeah, this is a classical guitar that my dad bought for my mum (back in the early 1980’s I think)… because she used to play when she was younger. However I guess she stopped playing after we came along, and the guitar had just been sitting there unused for decades. So I decided to “steal” it from her to try and see if it was in good enough shape for me to begin with as a 30-something year old, haha. I just wish I had started when I was a teen or in my 20’s.
The guitar is older than me, and to be honest it is the only one I have ever used and I haven’t experimented with any different types of guitar yet. But now that I want to get back to progressing, it did cross my mind to see if I could get something more mainstream like an acoustic-electric with a cutaway if possible. Cheers mate
What classical guitar is it? I have been doing a lot of research with the eventual goal of buying something. Maybe I could tell you a little about it, or look it up, because I find that fun.
If you like nylon, the crossovers are a great option, with cutaways and electronics. Very modern and smooth playing. A little too much like my steel string, so not what I am really looking at.
I’m pretty sure the name of it was Shiro… but don’t remember the exact model off the top of my head. I’ll have to check that bit the next time that I dig it out to play.
@Jamolay Hey Josh. In case you were still wondering, it’s a Shiro: Model No. A577, made in Japan.
I finally took the old girl out for a spin again; checking to see if everything with the guitar (and my hands) are still in working order. My fretting fingers are already feeling a bit sore, but I’ll push through my practice playlist some more before I decide to call it a night
Interesting. Does it say anything else on the label?
There are some forums of Japanese guitar aficionados, but with a quick search I couldn’t find that specific guitar mentioned.
Around the time that guitar was built (70-80?) there were (at least) Shiro Kiboto brand guitars (named, I think, for where they were built) and Shiro Arai (the founder of Aria guitars) who may have made under that label.
It seems Japanese guitar labels can reflect anything from a well known Japanese builder, prefecture or a Spanish name to make people think they were made in Spain, like Cervantes, Hernandez, etc.
Anyway, both Kiboto and Aria are pretty well made it seems. In fact it sounds like many of these Japanese guitars can be very nice with Japanese artisans essentially copying designs like Ramirez and doing it well.
My guess, which is worth nothing of course, is that you have a nice instrument that will serve you well and it’s best value is to keep it and play it if you like it. It may even be something a little special, but no way to tell except by ear and feel.
I have been pricing classical (used) guitars and similar guitars seem to go for the $400-$800 range on Reverb and eBay. Better than the the lower range.
Nothing else in regards to serial number or extra build details. Only written in spanish “Construccion Artistica de Guitarra”
Thanks for the other interesting details that you mentioned. It has indeed served me well so far to learn on it from scratch and I do enjoy playing it. It also does have an added sentimental value to me because it was something that my mum used to play before I was even born.
Hello again. Here is another old one that I uploaded yesterday…
When I was in “24/7” beginner learning mode if I heard some cool acoustic tune anywhere, I would write it down so I could check it out during my next practice session to see if it was simplish enough for me to do.
I remember hearing this cool intro riff in a random movie that I was watching and thought it would be nice to learn. When I had a look at the chords used for the whole song I found that they were sort of do-able for me at that stage, so I decided to give the rest of it a go.
I had somewhat known of this particular Doors song before then, but it wasn’t a song that I was lyrically very familiar with - so I guess it was a bit harder for me to pick this one up on the go, when compared to other songs that I would normally listen to more often.
As mentioned in one of the comments from my first AVoYP thread, this one has plenty of stuff ups/mistakes… like the strumming is off at times and I kept being late on almost every B7 change because that chord was relatively new to me at the time. But hey at least I’ve got another song to practice now, simply because I thought the intro riff sounded cool
Below are the youtube and soundcloud links of me trying out this song. Feedback and laughter is welcome, thanks…
P.S. I only had a small amount of old videos to put up on youtube, in comparison to the larger number of audio recordings that I had uploaded recently. The video versions were usually done when I was comfortable enough to go through a song in one sitting without “too many” stuff ups (i.e. mistakes) - whereas all of my audio versions were generally done before those, during earlier stages of me learning that specific song.
A great tune and your recording is unmistakable, Sandro, so I am smiling, enjoying and certainly not laughing. Keep working it with special attention to the B7 changes, the usual One Minute Changes approach, plus rather than playing the song from start to finish, loop on just the part where you have to make the change to the B7…practice what you can’t do far more than what you can do.
Yep David, I thought this tune sounded so cool that I fast-tracked it ahead of the other couple of Doors songs that I was trying to learn at the time.
I might try to record newer videos of me playing at some point when I’m back into the swing of things. But in the meantime, I only had my old stuff to share with you guys.
Also thanks for the advice mate: for the parts that I can’t do, I will go back to practicing them like a broken record cheers
Thanks Josh! No, I don’t think Justin had done one for this song when I was learning it (unless he made one recently?).
But I remember looking up the chords/tabs on something like ultimate guitar and then cross checking it with any videos that I could find at the time. That was my usual process anyway, cheers
I make plenty of stuff ups in the next old video that I’m going to share here later!
Embolishments are fine but not this one unfortunately, when you fret b string on 1st fret you play C note which is not matching the key of A major this song is in which makes it like it doesn’t belong here. This one you repeat as well around 0:32 and 1:09, try putting your finger on 2nd fret B string or just play it open and it will sound much better since note C# and B are in the key of A maj (2nd and 3rd).
