It’s you people like this that give this group such high praise. I mean that. Instead of telling me to go pick up my guitar and quit whining you actually help me think this through.
I’m afraid I’ve spent so much time practicing and playing like Justin says I never came up for air to ask the question until my voice teacher blew up my hopes and dreams! Not that I’m upset with her, she’s awesome, but it was like an existential crisis!
When you have a whole lot more years behind you than you have in front, you have to pick wisely what you’re going all in on. Especially something like this as you know can take a huge amount of commitment and time… You hear countless people saying “I’ve got 25 years into this and am finally able to…”
Going to be 66 coming up soon, and learning hasn’t been easy. Much harder than when I was younger. But I’m playing things I never thought I could… Hopefully you can see why I’ve been taken aback when in one week I discovered bringing backing tracks to an open mic is a no no, and I have to take all those songs I’ve worked so hard on and change the key! Then do it from now on!
It’s been a long 6 years for me…
I just turned 76. Didn’t start until I was 67. Of course, I don’t plan to perform for anyone. It’s just a hobby. I’ve accepted my limitations (which are many) and enjoy using guitar time to clear my head for a couple of hours in the afternoon.
Wishing I could have started earlier; but I was a teacher in an inner city school district and it took every breath I had to do the job. I did try several times but always had to stop with my job, my own kids, etc. Now I’m old enough to do it and I see friends dying off- tends to throw a reality check in your face!
Joe
Every Major key consists of 7 chords that follow the same pattern of Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, diminished.
So if you have a song in the Key of C major and you find the Key of G major suits your voice better you can transpose it using this formula.
Here’s a chart to help you figure it. It also works for minor Keys. Just use the relative minor Key (the 6th chord)in the chord
If you match the chord progression of C to G those would be the chords to play.
Now use the chart above and play it where the C chord is the I chord, etc. It’s the same progression just in a different key.
Thinking of music as chord progressions is more useful than learning songs by rote. This is bedrock learning that will launch you into tons of more advanced concepts in the future, and it’s actually pretty simple at this point.
That’s awesome, and super helpful! I guess I need to review my early days of my Justin practice sessions, I’ve forgotten a lot…I guess my brain has to make room for new stuff by shoving old stuff into the “review again later” bin!
I went to watch an open mic tonight. EVERYBODY used a capo at some point or another.
I’ve learned some songs (or have begun learning some songs) where the original actually used a capo. The capo can be used to create chord voicings that you wouldn’t be able to achieve otherwise, and sometimes artists make use of that. Sure, learning the chord progressions to be able to transpose them yourself is also good for you. I don’t know where your guitar ability lies, but I do not have the ability to play all of the major and minor chords. I have a long way to go. So for me, a capo is the only realistic way that I can transpose a song into certain keys.
That said, getting to your point here:
For one, I think it’ll depend on how your voice work goes. If you are able to use the training to expand your vocal range, then you’ll just need time.
However, if that’s not feasible, then changing the key of the song is going to be necessary. Most people aren’t going to notice. What they WILL notice is if a song is out of your range and you’re straining and not able to get it.
If trying to replicate the “sound” of a cover as closely as possible really drives you, then I might suggest trying to avoid a really broad range of artists to try to cover. At least for now. Trying to replicate ONE person’s sound is hard enough. Let alone doing so for many different artists.
Wanna learn about someone who got absolutely obsessive about replicating the sound of ONE guitarist? Learn about this guy: MR. JIMMY
I saw him perform once a couple years ago (he’s currently with Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening - Wikipedia) and he’s an outstanding player and he has definitely done a good job replicating Jimmy Page’s sound. He at least doesn’t have to worry about his vocal range. Are you after that kind of perfection?
It’s generally a better idea to work with your anatomy rather than against it.
Personally, I do like it when people make adjustments to a song to make it theirs. Now people are variously successful at pulling it off completely. It does take another level of skill to do it well. But I appreciate the effort.
Thanks Mustella for such a thoughtful reply. I can see that I really need to narrow things down in the beginning to make things achievable. Using the capo will be good for me, one way or the other.
Time to start figuring out those few songs I can be good at so I can enjoy at least some of my dreamworld I’ve conjured up!
Any tips on getting my favorite recordings in another key so I can practice to something that sounds good? I have ultimate -guitar and it can play songs in different keys but it doesn’t do the melody very well.
Joe
Moises does a good job of changing keys with minimal distortion.
Other features that are extremely useful when learning guitar:
Muting other instruments so you can focus on listening to the guitar or vocal tracks
Slowing things down to a tempo that you can actually play at your current skill level
Adding a metronome beat when learning complicated rhythms.
automatically identifying sections of the song, which can then be looped
You can also export your changes to create a backing track. However, I don’t use this feature much… The program is so easy to use I just tweak the settings on the fly to meet my needs at the moment.
I’ve been listening this evening to an album of Leadbelly songs recorded for the Library of Congress as early as the 1930’s and released by Smithsonian Folkways (I think the one I have was released in the mid-1990’s). There are SO MANY SONGS on here that became HUGE hits for artists later on when they changed the song to be their own. Most of these songs were already old by the time these recordings were made. Folks here might recognize a few of them.
Black Betty (Ram Jam made this one huge)
John Henry (Pete Seeger did a version, Johnny Cash did one, Woody Guthrie did one)
Goodnight Irene (The Weavers, with Pete Seeger)
Salty Dog (Billy Strings does a rousing version of this one)
Midnight Special (CCR)
Easy Rider (The Byrds and others)
House of the Rising Sun (The Animals)
Nobody Knows When You’re Down and Out (Eric Clapton)
There’s almost 100 songs in here. But the biggest hit versions of these songs I wrote above in some cases didn’t come out for 50 to 100 years or more after the song was first written. A lot of these songs nobody knows who first wrote them. They’re just old folk songs that have been done TONS of times. Some versions are more popular than others. The lyrics get changed all the time. Shoot, the meanings of the songs have changed. Listen to Ram Jam’s version of Black Betty and I don’t think you’d figure that “Black Betty” was a term for the whip used on prisoners in the early versions.
Thanks for these tips of the key changes - hate to call them GAME CHANGERs for me cause that’s such a trope, but it REALLY IS!!
Have Moasis, use it, didn’t realize it did that!
Duh!!!
Thanks!
