For the sake of transparency, I recorded 3 clips and merged them together with Shotcut. The reason: I’ve been working on this song since a year now and I’m still unable to get a clean take of the entire song. The intro repeats quite a few times and trips me up every time. I wanted to show the progress I’ve made and that I can play each part individually, and quite honestly to get me out of the rut I’ve been in since Christmas. Using a video editor for the first time was an added bonus, but as you’ll notice, I’m quite the novice. Hope you enjoy.
Well done! I still haven’t worked up the courage to post a video of me playing yet . And I think you’re doing well to play the riff without looking at your hands too. Might need to just slow it down in a couple of places in the riff, but otherwise keep up the good work
You are well on the way, Sandy, and have made progress. I know you will bring this up to your level of performance in time, with more practice.
Sometimes when I am working on something and feel that I am on a plateau, putting in hours of practice but not feeling like I am getting any better, then I take a break. I find it refreshing to focus on something else for a while, usually another song but could also be a new technique. And then often when I come back, I am almost immediately better.
Keep on keeping on with the song, with the learning, and enjoying guitar.
Great work! The strumming and singing are all on point. Something that might help with the picking parts is anchoring. You can do it with the pinky touching around the sound hole/pick guard. Also practice picking the G major scale with the metronome. Down strokes on the beat. Start slow and increase speed. Then go to alternate picking with 8th notes. You’ll have the intro part down in no time!
That was great Sandy you’ve got all the pieces there. It is a long song with vocal, strumming and picking so that was a good idea to record it in ‘bits’.
You’ll soon have the whole thing nailed now I’m sure. I agree with David about coming back to it in a week or two with fresh enthusiasm.
You looked confident and your playing and vocal were really good. Well done. Vibes from me!
Morning Sandy,
I enjoyed that. You’re making good progress on all fronts.
(It’s a sign of how good the song is, that has withstood been butchered by so many of us over the years )
I learned a very basic strumming version early on, but never did go back and learn the intro/solo picking bits. Sigh…
That said, I hope you do occasionally just strum and sing the whole song through without the riffs just for the enjoyment of it
I hadn’t realised Justin revamped the video for this without hammer-ons etc. This might be the right time for me to revisit and finally try to learn, eh?
You are making great progress, Sandy. The transition from strumming and singing to intro is tricky but keep at it and it will become more natural. The second lead can add some spice to the song and is worth spending some time to learn.
Like you, I have been attempting to learn this song for about a year. Coming back to work on it with every new lesson has been helpful with technique. Currently I am taking a break from this song to concentrate on another that is proving to be more challenging than I thought it would.
Keep at it. You are progressing well.
Thank you Ingrid…yes, I’ve been practicing with the original but it’s a hard song. Post a video. Take the plunge. It’s quite liberating and gets easier.
That sounds great. I have a few songs that I have played forever it seems, and still can’t get a full take. Especially if they are longer and somewhat complicated. It often seems to take a lot of patience and perseverance. Keep it up!
Thank you Joe… it never occurred to me to use anchoring… I’ll give it a try but not sure I’ll be able to switch between anchoring for the picking then remove the anchor for the strumming.
Thank you Gordon… it’s a beast of a song. I did ten takes yesterday, only the last one, I got the first intro, then as I transitioned to the C, I fumbled, then I fumbled going back to the intro after the verse… that’s when I said, enough is enough… I did the verses separately. Now to learning the solo…
Thanks David, I’ll be setting aside now to simmer… would like to learn the intro, ,and maybe try it again next year… but still practice it from time to time.
I remember Justin and I talking about anchoring when I did my private lesson with him years ago. I just looked it up. There are two versions on Justin playing the song out there. It looks like he anchors in both of them. The most recent one using his pinky on the pick guard. The older one it looks like he’s maybe resting his hand on the bridge? Either way, you’ll see how his hand moves from a one position to strumming and then back. It’s all unconscious and he’s definitely not thinking about it though.
It’s a beast of a song… but I love it so much. The intro part is really difficult and it repeats, getting it once, yeh, but you gotta get it every time. I plan on tackling the solo eventually. Even if it takes me 5 years to get it good, I’ll be satisfied.
For sure. I think keeping your hand floating in space when trying to pick individual notes introduces a lot of tension making harder to keep time and stuff.
I’m in a waiting room now and watching videos of my favorite guitarists. Seems like they all anchor in some way when picking.
You’re on the path, Sandy, and you’ll get there. I agree with what everyone says, particularly David and Gordon talking about taking a break from the song and coming back weeks (or months) later. When I do this, just as David says, often it seems I can play the song better after some time away just from having practiced other stuff. One other idea for the intro riff is to just practice that bit for even 5 minutes a day, using a metronome, or the song slowed down sufficiently that you can play along with it. You can then speed it up just a bit at a time until you get it up to speed. I find both of those ideas very helpful for me, use a metronome, and play along with the song. I use an app called Anytune to slow the song down to a speed that I can play it at (there are a lot of apps out there that do this, I don’t think this one has been mentioned very often on the Forum). I find it very helpful for me so that I remember to play the entire part I’m working at at say 50% of the actual tempo, rather than 50% of the actual tempo for the hard bits and 80 or 90% of the actual tempo for the easier bits of what I am working on!
It’s great to see you posting, keep at it. And keep playing - and have fun!
Hi Sandy, that was another fine performance, playing and vocals. It’s truly a joy to follow your progress. There is nothing that I can contribute of value that hasn’t been covered. You’re definitely on the right path and progressing nicely. Well done to you
Right what can I say?
I think your singing strumming and confidence is definitely getting better but I worry that you’re practicing mistakes. In the last 4 phrases of the intro you seem to be going too fast, apart from that your timing is occasionally a bit erratic. Slow down a bit and get things right, practice the troublesome bits first.
That said I think that you may have overdone it on this piece and need a rest from it for a while, just bear in mind people’s observations. Right, go have fun with something else for a while!
. And I think you’re doing well to play the riff without looking at your hands too. Might need to just slow it down in a couple of places in the riff, but otherwise keep up the good work 
)
