I think this is the most on point comment so far Sandy, kudos for your hard work but you don’t want to be practising mistakes. Slow it down that’s the main point, then split the intro into many different sections, work at each one separately for 5 mins a day or so. It really is a difficult song and personally I wouldn’t put it on beginners level, more like early intermediate.
To give you some encouragement and to make you aware all of us have been there - I have been learning a song for over a year now and I was hoping to post it by Christmas. Well that didn’t happen because I was never happy with the recording and all was pretty much ready! It wasn’t just one off mistake I was making but basically every section which was repeating had something wrong with it. I learnt the song sort of in a very inaccurate way - I believe the picking sequence I came up with was wrong which caused a lot of accidental hits which made the song just wrong as a whole.
So lately I faced myself in a mirror (figuratively speaking) and said to myself right, you learnt it the wrong way, change this bit and try again. I tried and it’s like learning the song all over again back to 0.4x speed! I basically now put the song on sidelines, do 5 mins a day max very very slow picking to get this in my muscle memory engraved and go back to other songs. I learnt the hard way what Justin was saying about practice making it permanent and I think this is what you need to take out of this lesson, just change the way you learn this song, try again and I am sure you will sort it out in no time all the best.
Well done, Sandy. You’ve clearly put in a lot of work and come a long way on this one.
I see that you’re going to give the song a rest and come back to it later. That’s a good approach on a piece that is proving challenging. My advice in the meantime is to focus a chunk of your practice time on rhythm and timing with a metronome or drum beat. When you return to working on Wish You Were Here that effort will serve you well.
Hey Sandy. Happy to see another recording from you. I enjoy watching your progress. I’ve read the comments and agree with all the tips. There were also things I also needed to be reminded of. Also, I’m going to finally take Mari’s advice and download an app - either Anytune, or another one I’ve heard about from Justine, Transcribe. Anyway, great advice from the forum members. It seems many of us have what Justin calls a “ Dreamer” song.
Not sure how I missed this but that seems to happen a lot in the new house. Well you certainly have all the parts figured out and are making good progress. Not long before you can stitch it all together. Not much else to add given I am late to the party, yes some timing inconsistencies but they’re all things that can be worked on, especially if you try to play along with the original and use it purely as a groove guide. Looking forward to the next instalment.
that’s great, this is one of my favorite songs too. I play it regularly, and can feel the improvements, it is much more difficult than it first appears. Kudos on the singing too.
Thanks Phil. Weird thing, two weeks later with the pressure off, I played it all the way through without any hicupps, but I was feeling relaxed that day… no recording… I could never play live… I tried playing live for a few friends on a Zoom meeting… it did not go well. LOL.
Sandy, take a moment and think back to when you first picked up the guitar, learning and strumming the first chords, the first song and then reflect on how you play today.
Based on my own observations it is just a matter of time and continued practice, playing, and recording. And over time you will become more relaxed when recording. And in yet more time you will become comfortable enough to have the confidence to play live for people. And over time you will become relaxed playing live.
When ever I have a moment of doubt and am giving voice to it (either spoken or written) eg ‘I could never play live’ I re-word to include the word ‘yet’ in my statement eg ‘I’m not yet confident enough to play live’. It may sound a trivial play on words but I believe that those words have positive influence on our selves and enable learning and growth.
You are yet to play, sing, and record WYWH in a single satisfactory take and in time you will!
Wow! Sandy that was incredible! I’m so jealous of your vocal ability! Your voice really captures the emotion that I think we all feel when we hear this song.
When you’re playing the hammer-on riff, try leaving your fingers down a bit longer after you hammer-on. It could be the Capo but I think that’s something I’m hearing that makes the riff sound a bit different than the recording.
Thank you Dale… I actually started crying at the end of the chorus on one of my recordings as I was so deep in the lyrics thinking of my late father and the people I miss and my beloved cats I had to send to heaven in the past year. Wish they were still here. It grabs you.
Thanks for your words of wisdom David. I shall repeat: ‘I’m not yet confident enough to play live". Funny isn’t it? Back in December I put up my name for this show: I was going to play, Brown Eyed Girl or Three Little Birds, but my thinking turned negative and I started doubting my capabilities and it all went down the hill from there. Time to regroup. What does WYWH mean?
all the best.
cheers, Mike
keep working at it, you’ll get there. 
