I think the main problem with the grade system is that it sometimes offers false hope, and you dive in only to find you’re learning a massively simplified version of the song that doesn’t really satisfy.
I suppose the other question that I would ask Daphne comes from her mentioning playing AND singing. @Daphne20 can you play through the song if you don’t sing as well? From my limited experience, until you can play through while watching the television (or something like that) then the additional mental process of singing is going to be too much. Or is that you can play it OR sing it just not both at the same time?
I don’t think that teaching a complex song with all of its intricacies in the beginner course would serve the purposes of the beginner course. A lot of folks start from scratch when they find Justinguitar, so I don’t really see why finding simple versions of potentially more difficult songs would create false hopes. It’s better to start easy than to dump lots of details on beginners that they may not even comprehend, let alone be able to reproduce.
I think you’ve missed my point. I’m not saying it would be right for a beginner to tackle all of the ins and outs of a complex song, just that it can equally be disappointing when you think you’re about to learn some song you love and then realise you’ll just be strumming 2 chords throughout. I think sometimes it would be better just to have some songs later in the grades when they can be tackled a bit more authentically
Yes, the riff as played at the beginning and during the quiet parts of the song.
You can play it either with hybrid picking or using a combination of a claw technique, single string and double-stop fingerstyle. Sometimes you pluck 1 string, sometimes it’s 2 strings simultaneously, sometimes it’s 3 strings simultaneously. The loud part works with some good-ol’ left-hand muting and strumming (very SRV-like).
I can’t play finger-style worth a damn, so I’ll come back to this song after I decide to focus on fingerstyle for a while.
I think it is a combination of things. It has an F chord and I still struggle with changing between a partial bar F and open chords. It has a 6/8 time signature and I am not that familiar with playing 6/8. I spent a lot of time playing the picking pattern only to realize that I need to work on the timing.
@adi_mrok It is so disappointing that I don’t enjoy playing the song… I love listening to the song and the history of the song is so fascinating. It is so much harder to play that I realized.
@mattswain
"There’s definitely a school of thought that is that we must go on at all costs or its failure but I don’t subscribe to that. "
I feel the same way. I sometimes feel like I should be more like that but the times I try to be like that, it makes me frustrated.
@DarrellW Thanks, I will take a look at that. @Richard_close2u Yes, I kept plugging away thinking that I should finish the song. The picking pattern the 6/8 signature, the F Chord all in one song was too much.
That is a good point, I think that is a big thing that threw me off.
@elevatortrim
I have realized that I need to make sure I am learning both easy and songs that are a little more challenging. Justin has a video on types of songs to learn that I think I will watch.
Sometimes your favourite songs are the hardest to learn, it’s hard to settle for an approximation when you are so familiar with all of the nuances and detail.
Also, there is value in learning how to learn and knowing when your current limits are. The next song you come across that has a barré chord, you may now know just to leave for now. You may now be able to spot a tune which you can play along with for fun using a simple strumming and then be able to add that solo down the road or develop the strumming pattern etc making it a more useful learning aid…
Setting aside doesn’t have to mean abandon forever. I have songs I come back to as I learn more and develop my technique.
@Daphne20 even seasoned veterans learn songs in 3 stages.
1 song structure and chord progression (simplified version.)
2 embellishments, picking or strumming patterns and solos.
3 words and music together.
Some songs take a few hours to learn some take years, The good thing is songs aren’t going anywhere and if you learn the simplified version the song can grow as your skills grow.
You have to remember the songs you here on a recording are from musicians with decades of playing behind then.
No fun - no play. Try something else that you like and forget about HOTRS. I bet when you retry HOTRS in a few months you’ll be surprised about how well you can play it. I’ve done this many times. There are too many good songs to let one get in the way.
For many of us, the App is/was a superb learning tool…especially when we were getting started. But, like anything, it has limitations, and you move beyond it.
However, I don’t understand the repeated comments from several posters here that keep disparaging the App. Especially when they have never actually used it.
Perhaps you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a beginner? Or were lucky enough to skip some of the steps that some of the rest of us had to go through?
Edit: Maybe this is a bit off topic , and deserves it’s own thread. But might be related, I dunno.
I don’t know. I just prefer the song lessons on the website, the whole vibe of them. It’s probably because I found the website shortly before the app came out so I got used to it and followed a different path than some of us. If someone prefers the app, that’s totally fine with me.
All the songs I have ever ‘learned’ have been beyond my playing ability
I ‘simplify’ them (with a blunt carving knife) until they fall into my strumming capability, (at times reduced to one strum per bar).
Justin usually teaches songs for different skill levels. It’s ok to make it even simpler than he teaches
I subscribe to the same thinking that if the learning process for that song isn’t enjoyable then put it on a shelf. I’ve done that with a few songs to be honest and they usually get pulled back off that shelf at some point.
There’s always other songs anyway
And then it still goes very sometimes…
but luckily that didn’t stop him
Keep it fun, make music, copy it perfectly,… or sometimes adjust it to your level or grab chords that sound nice and put them in a row,Start with two and ad one and you have created or unconsciously copied a song mostly … the latter is for many the easiest way to make music for me
… the latter is for many the easiest way to make music for me