Tried playing black by Pearl Jam

First time trying this song . Tell me what is wrong .

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Don’t have much to say about what you might be doing wrong, but I really enjoyed listening to you play. Great stuff!

Aw. I wish I have such a lovely supporting wife :heart:
Probably try to sing along, you need the main melody to make a song, a song. Ha!

Haha, my wife is a good sport one time per song. So I wait till it’s ready to post. So far not impressed, lol.

I don’t think I was trying to impress anyone but trying to learn the guitar and get positive feed back.

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Hey Jeff, I hope it didn’t sound like I was saying that’s what you are doing. I was making a joke about my wife not being impressed by my playing. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way your playing and it sounds great. Particularly impressed by the consistency in you strumming. You’ve got good rhythm.

Hey Jeff great song choice! You are asking what is wrong so I can give you some feedback - first off where did you get the tabs from? You know how to play, you change chords well and you strum well too, but to me something is wrong with speed and rhythm in general. It doesn’t sound like Black to be fair and after few first bars I wasn’t able to follow with your play while singing.

My suggestion would be to play along to either original or to Justin’s or someone else’s cover on youtube. At the moment you play the right chords, but accents, pace and timing is just not like the original hence it doesn’t sound similar.

Don’t get discouraged, with playing along to original you will get a hang of it :wink:

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Thanks that’s the feed back I was looking for thanks this will help

Chords and strumming clean. To add a bit more to @adi_mrok’s comment, you’re not playing in 4:4. It’s been a long time since I’ve played black so I can’t remember details of pushes/etc but it’s 4:4, so a 4 count per bar, and change chords. Do what Adrian says about playing along to a backing track, and tap your foot. You’re changing chords usually a bit early (e.g. on a 3 count, not a 4 count). Once you get your timing sorted most other things should fall into place.

Hi Jeff. Well done posting and asking for advice. You played confidently and pretty cleanly but I’ll echo the comments made by @adi_mrok and @jkahn.

I’ll add a comment of my own. Posture. You appear to be sitting on a bed with one leg curled up under you. You’re heading for back pain issues if you spend a lot of time playing like that. Get a decent chair and sit up straight. Alternatively you could get a guitar strap and try playing standing up.

Thanks for all the comments. I am going to work on timing and need to find out is the cord that is marked a full bar or does the cords break up a bar in the song. So maybe need a better tab or maybe like you guys say ,listen to the song and try to break down where the cord switches are. Thanks to all that commented.

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Being such a huge fan of PJ, I really loved it however….and I’m knew so have limited technical knowledge, or any knowledge for that matter, however I’d have to agree with the timing. I started singing when you began playing but I kept finding myself ahead a little. That aside, great work! Very envious

Cate

Sound good ! Full sound. Constant rhythm. Clear chord changes. Great !
One day I’ll sound as fluid… :sweat_smile:

Here is great insight on strumming this song from the man himself. Definitely a relaxed strumming “feel” vs. a strict pattern which you appear to be doing. Your strumming is very good for sure but this song requires a different feel.

Great thanks

I see nothing wrong.
Good playing technique, solid sound, and excellent chord changes.
Good strumming consistency!!!

This is one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs! Your strumming is solid as are your chord changes. I have a short clip of me playing black at a gig last month. I’ll attach it here in the event that comparative analysis is beneficial for you, but I thought you did better with it than I did.

Black—Pearl Jam (Live)

Lovely consistent strumming there Jeff. Like others have said give the vocals a go and update the post maybe? Well done :wave::wave::wave:

This is my second try after months of learning timing and sus cord still needs some work but its a work in progress. March 26, 2023 - YouTube

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Nice! Very solid rhythm, good dynamics and variation between song sections. I could hear the vocals in my head.

No notes! :wink: