Wild Thing - #1 Grade 2 Graduation

[lilnamida]

Wild Thing - #1 Grade 2 Graduation

Wild thing was the first ever song that i learned on guitar, one year ago. Of course, watching Justin’s tutorial, learning it with the A, D and E open chords.

So, it was obvious to make this song (that i truly love, thanks to Jimi Monterey’s performance) the first one in my Grade 2 Graduation Project.

My grade 2 Graduation Project consists in recording in a straight live situation, from start to finish, 10 songs out of my repertoire.

I’m opened to every criticism, and i want to know if for you this song fulfills the requirement for become the 1 out of 10 that allows me to graduating from Grade 2 to Grade 3.
At the same time however, i set a personal rule where every song will be allowed to have some very minor flaws (but only VERY minor) just because i think that if i try to have all the songs to the maximum perfection, i will stay in grade 2 for like 8 months.
Of course in the future i will continue to improve revisioning these same songs.

For this one, from the first one version i decided with the new knowledge to make it a little more personal in translating the open chords to power chords, with some others things here and there.

I’ve recorded just with my phone, and just for setting up a decent balance between the volume of the backing track and the one of the guitar, i spent like 30 minutes.
I’m really sorry because i know that this isn’t nothing special considering that the audio quality is bad, but i really have to manage my time daily, so i hope that with the training of today, the next videos will be better.

[tony]

Congratulations. Very well done. No critique on how you played the song from me.

A minor note on your comments and not related at all to your performance: You referred to maximum perfection… highly overrated. Perfectionism is a curse.

[lilnamida]

Thank you very much Tony! And wise words

[twistor59]

Really enjoyed it - I can’t see anything at all to criticise. The audio and video quality is great too.

[Silvia80]

All I can say is that it is very well played​:raised_hands: Also the quality of video and audio seems good to me.

[Socio]

What a perfect way to start your consolidation of Grade 2. Taking the first song that you learned back in Grade 1 and applying the techniques that you learned in Grade 2. Very well played, Alessandro. Onwards and upwards my friend. I’m looking forward to the next one on your list.

[nzmetal]

Great job, Alessandro! You played that super well, clean transitions between the chords, and with lots of passion and power, loved it! I have zero criticism and think it should definitely be one to keep in your repertoire. In fact, I could totally see you rocking that on stage as is! Brilliant stuff!

[adi_mrok]

That was really good Alessandro well done, I can gladly say you are more than ready to crack on with another song. You had some solid rhythm going on there and chords were really clean, not an easy song where you mostly use barre chords. Well done, I am sure @LBro and @oldhead49 will enjoy it as I think both of them covered it not that far ago all the best!

[DavidP]

Bravo, Alessandro, that was well played and nothing wrong with the recording quality, audio balance between guitar and backing was fine.

I loved the energy and passion, including your silent sing-along.

I did notice your foot-tapping tended to start and stop. Caused no issues in you staying in the groove. So keep an eye on that, in other situations you will find it is helpful to keep the foot-tapping consistent on the beat.

Similarly in other songs you may find it best to keep the strumming hand moving consistently with the beat, without pausing at times based on the song’s rhythm.

As I said, nothing in those comments that led to issues in playing this song. You’ve made a cracking start and look forward to your next!

[jkahn]

Awesome playing dude. Definitely worthy of grade 2 graduation - power chords!

I liked how you focus on the dynamics of your strumming. The backing track, it had some guitar in it - eg the solo - did you use one with the rhythm guitar stripped out? Or did you play on top of it?

Totally agree on not seeking perfection. No point polishing a song to the level a 10 year guitarist could play it at when you’re 1 year in. I reckon make a song performance worthy, not perfect. Performance for your level. Then move on and learn more stuff.

[Helen0609]

You definitely should keep this song for your graduation. Very well played, clean transitions and played with passion. All the best for your further consolidation projects!

[Rossco01]

Nice job Alessandro and good example of making excellent progress. Sounds pretty good to me…now go out and find others to play with and get that band going!

[roger_holland]

Hi Alessandro,
Great
All good has been said,…enjoy it
Greetings,Rogier

[Notter]

Sounds and looks spot on to me Alessandro, tick off #1 there!
Everything sounded clean, like you I enjoy developing a few songs that I learned in the beginning, serves as a great tool to remember how far you’ve come! And in this case you’ve come a long way.
Look forward to recording #2.

Ps great tone dialled in there!

[DarrellW]

Very nicely played Alessandro, nothing to add to what’s already been said. Well worthy of ticking that one off, looking forward to seeing your next one!

[lilnamida]

@twistor59 thank you very much Phil!!

@Silvia80 grazieee silvia

@Socio thank you very much! I’m happy that you want to hear the next one, and yes, that’s exactly what i did, growing songs that you already have with some new skills it’s a really good thing to do for improving

@nzmetal wow!! You made my day, i appreciate your comment, thank you

@adi_mrok thank you very much adi! I also really appreciate that you tagged other 2 friends, i need to check their version too!

@DavidP thank you David! You’re absolutely right, as Justin said these are two fundamental things. Although, in this particular song that has a simple “ear rhythm” but a trickier one if you want to count it on the beat, i found much more comfort in myself just keeping the tempo by ear and by head(this one without any conscience at all lmao, i move my head a lot and i find that out only when i re-watch the video). It could even be that i know the song very well(the Jimi monterey’s performance is absolutely iconic) and that i listened to it like millions times, so overloading the memory for this particularly one maybe didn’t worked just for me. But of course, in general i need to work on this and in looking the camera more!

@jkahn thank you very much for pointing that out, the feeling of it it’s exactly what i focused on. I used a backing track that has only bass and drums in it, no guitar. In the solo there is only that flute, so i played the rhythm over it too. If you want, i can post directly the backing track.

@Helen0609 thank you very much for confirming that, it’s the most important thing at the moment eheh <3

@Rossco01 I truly wish that this kind of things will happen, where i am at the moment it’s not the most florid place to find people to play with. But it’s really a little dream of mine, thank you for this comment <3

[lilnamida]

@roger_holland thank you Roger, i’m looking forward to read you again!

@Notter Wowww, thank you for confirming that i can tick off the first song on the list. I totally agree with your thought, it’s really a great way to improve your guitar skills. I’m looking forward to read you again too, my friend!

@DarrellW thank you very much, also for the most important thing: ticking that off ahah!

[jkahn]

Ah, it’s a flute solo! I figured it was lead guitar, just because that’s what I’m used to hearing.

[Eddie_09]

That was really good Alessandro and nothing more I can add that hasn’t already been said. You are more than ready to move on to the next level. Really well done .

[NicoleKKB]

Hello Alessandro, wow, that was really great . It’s a very energetic song and you played it with lots of passion - it was a real joy listening to it .
Keep on with the great work you’re doing .