Yesterday - Chord Melody based on Justin's arrangement (JK)

[GNS]

Far beyond what I’m capable. All I can say it was nice to the ears

[jkahn]

@Silvia80

“The Spicing effect”

Oh I love that. If you marinate for long enough with the right spices it becomes a cover song rather than a re-creation of the original

@NicoleKKB

I hear you, JK. We want it all, and we want it now . At least, that’s what it feels for me, although I’m not intermediate

Want it all, want it now, there’s so many songs to learn, and the gap between learning and performance level is a lot of practice… yeah, it’s hard to choose.

@sclay

Some beautifully delicate touches there, good dynamics, and tempo. (And thats double praise from someone who thinks most Beatles music is, ‘meh’ )
Man, you have come such a long, long way in such a short time. You must be stoked at your progress.

Are you one of those stones guys then Shane? Thanks for the kudos mate.

TBH, I spend more time focusing on what I can’t do yet (or can’t do well) over what I can do. Although I played this one for my mum to impress her

@CD02

Its funny but watching you (and many others) you look like your left hand movements are so relaxed and like you have all the time in the world,

Hmm, I wonder if that’s a hand tension thing? I tend to have a relaxed fretting hand, if I get tense, playing gets way harder. Enough practice and the fingers know where to go.

Nothing wrong with distractions like string bending, etc etc. I try stuff from above my play grade at times when it’s something I want to learn. Thanks for checking it out.

@JasmineJ

I’ve been playing this song on my uke.

Oh it’s a great song, apparently the most covered song ever. Glad you liked it and that you’re going to give it a shot on guitar Jax!

@Helen0609

Oh my god! Since May? Hey, you are one of the most active members of this community, so no reason to feel behind schedule !

Can’t quite tell if that is tongue in cheek… I wasn’t including the OM or mini-gig in that, but those seem different to me. I don’t know why but I find live performance easier than recording. Live is one and done, recording is I’d better get this right or it will be etched forever with my mistakes.

Thanks for checking it out Andrea, hope to see some more marinated songs of yours soon

@pkboo3

I think you did very well, James. Such a beautiful melody.

Thank you Pam! Yes it’s hard to feel progression at the intermediate stages. I’ve got some thoughts that perhaps focusing on repertoire rather than skills is the way to go but I keep slipping back into the skills part… hmm. Your collabs have been great.

@GNS

Far beyond what I’m capable. All I can say it was nice to the ears

Thanks Aurimas! You’re capable of it, it just takes practice. I find chord melodies are very slow to learn. Especially the first one. Happy Birthday and Greensleeves are good places to start (in the Grade 2 & 3 courses).

[sclay]

@jkahn

Are you one of those stones guys then Shane? Thanks for the kudos mate.

TBH, I spend more time focusing on what I can’t do yet (or can’t do well) over what I can do.

Funny you say that. The Stones are my other " ‘meh’ supergroup".

That’s called smart practice, and why you’re progressing so readily.

[adi_mrok]

Well done JK superb arrangement and you managed to stay cool and play it well, thanks to being relaxed as you mentioned in one of your previous replies. Really recognizable, so much that my wife started humming before I managed to tell her what am I listening to

[jkahn]

Thanks for checking it out @adi_mrok, your wife humming along makes it extra good

[JasmineJ]

@jkahn

played this one for my mum to impress her

Nice! I love this!

[Dro_1]

Nice skills shown here JK! The melody was clearly recognisable. I think we need more fingerstyle stuff from you and your guitar

[Sebastian_Dewulf-Ortega]

First thing I have to say JK is that I’m jealous of your Maton

Very nice rendition, and I love the way you roll some of the chords.
To my taste, you can add more of those.

[nzmetal]

Great job, JK! That looks tough! Having tried some similar stuff in the past couple of days and it being a complete car wreck I tip my hat to you, good sir!
Always things to work on and I know you’re well on top of that, but that’s some tricky stuff to get under your fingers so plenty to be pleased with there! Keep 'em coming mate!

[jkahn]

@Dro_1

I think we need more fingerstyle stuff from you and your guitar

Thanks Sandro. I’m all over the place, working on some other fingerstyle stuff but I’m not sure if I’m going to specialise yet

@Sebastian_Dewulf-Ortega

First thing I have to say JK is that I’m jealous of your Maton

Ah, Matons are quite common here in Australia. Would you believe the sound you’re hearing is 95% from its pickups? I recorded with mic too but it was very weak - should have used a condenser. Thanks for checking it out!

@nzmetal

That looks tough! Having tried some similar stuff in the past couple of days and it being a complete car wreck

Thanks Jeff! Believe me, this was a car wreck when I started it .

[DavidP]

Playing slowly slowly catch-up.

Well played, JK, and the Maton did sound exceptionally good.

[Mari63]

Sounds good, JK. Chord melody fingerstyle arrangements are lovely, and this one in particular because it stretches far beyond a typical I-IV-V progression. Very nicely played.

[RadekSiechowicz]

Well done JK, not an easy piece of fingerstyle!

@jkahn

I’ve played it better and I’ve played it worse.

Very true indeed, practice session is one and the recording is other.

[roger_holland]

Hi Jk,
Where do I start… first just a moment uh…bis bis

I saw this already appear 5 day`s ago in the suggestions under the topics and thought …crapperdecrapcrap … someone " beat" me to it,
i started practicing this one from the beginning when Justin came up with it and practiced in 3 long periods and played it 3 or 4 times for the first time last week with no mistakes (in the second part to the C with pinky on the g grrrrrr) , but during recording it always goes a little too big wrong (I play it faster) and i had actually hoped to have my acoustasonic already and try it on that, but that will take at least another week (if I like it)…i enjoyed this version and I am considering that a bit slower could also be an option for me .Thanks for that
Greetings…

Edit:I was so focused on your fretting hand that I only just noticed that you are playing with your picking hand with the thumb in your hand…(or did anyone report that?)…that’s a bad habit and asks almost for a photo…although that doesn’t seem necessary to me and you are aware of it and you are already practicing it …

[LievenDV]

Hi JK

Great workout, such a fingerstyle piece!

I think my playing would benefit from something like this, doing that more myself but I can’t find myself doing it as I could just as well sing (lazy lazy me :D)
Respect.

I think you are in a typical spot of a healthy learning curve there. More so, you are already pretty far up that curve, kudos!

High accuracy percentage and very recognizeable song with a certain flow to it already.
Your chord grips are quite…articulate; the movement of your fingers is a bit exaggerated and could use a bit of “economy”. But that is an efficiency thing, not an error.

Now it is time to take it to a new level to solidify the main rhythm.
Adding subtleties and dynamics will only make sense when you can identify and feel your own rhythm. You’ll have to pop up a slow metronome or backing to be drill sarge for that and mixining on and off with the metronome will make the rhythm in the back of your head a little “louder”

Why do I tell this? because I sometimes hear a note being played that is correct but elongating a ppart, a measure. Knowing what you can omit and doing that on the fly to serve the flow is more important than playing as much correct noes as possible.
Knowing what to omit now and then and being able to do that because your being feels you wont make the timign for the next beat is a very valuable skill. It will grant you the space to respect the timing better and even better; it is the sister of the skill that makes you feel where to ADD notes and complexity as soon as you are very confident and you want to express yourself with some personal touches.

Did that make sense?

[jkahn]

Thanks for the watches and feedback peeps!

@DavidP

Well played, JK, and the Maton did sound exceptionally good.

Thank you David, I appreciate you checking it out.

@Mari63

Sounds good, JK. Chord melody fingerstyle arrangements are lovely

Thanks Mari, yes, they are lovely sounding and fun, although challenging to get under the fingers (for me at least)

@RadekSiechowicz

Well done JK, not an easy piece of fingerstyle!

Thanks Radek, I appreicate it, especially as you’re a fingerstyle aficionado so know what these are like to learn!

@roger_holland

I saw this already appear 5 day`s ago in the suggestions under the topics and thought …crapperdecrapcrap … someone " beat" me to it,

Hey Rogier, you know it’s not a race, you can also post yours when it’s ready. Don’t let it deter you. If truth be told i played it far worse for the camera than I do normally. But I wanted to get it uploaded anyway - it still took around 3 or 4 takes as I got RLS.

Curious you find the C with pinky down tricky in this one too. That and the B7 barre are the hardest bits for me. Strangely I can get the pinky down just fine with strumming or regular fingerstyle songs, but it poses an issue with this chord melody piece for some reason - the speed of the melody notes I think.

Picking hand, thumb… yeah I’ve seen the picture before. Honestly I’m not focused on that. I’ve tried to sticky my thumb out like in the infamous picture and I don’t have the hand flexibility, it feels stiff as if I’m extending my fingers in all directions. So I just go with a relaxed hand. Maybe in time it will sort itself out.

[jkahn]

@LievenDV

Hi JK

Hi Lieven, always great to see one of your comments.

@LievenDV

I think my playing would benefit from something like this, doing that more myself but I can’t find myself doing it as I could just as well sing (lazy lazy me :D)

I’m sure you’d be able to do it just fine, I’ve seen your fingerstyle. And if I could sing easily, I think I’d rather sing too. I’m not sure how much I am going to focus on chord melody overall, but I enjoyed learning this one and will keep playing it.

@LievenDV

Your chord grips are quite…articulate; the movement of your fingers is a bit exaggerated and could use a bit of “economy”.

Thanks, I agree. I noticed my flying fingers during some parts when watching the recording too. Funnily enough it doesn’t seem to happen much anymore in regular playing but does in chord melody. Probably because it’s a challenge for me.

@LievenDV

Now it is time to take it to a new level to solidify the main rhythm.
Adding subtleties and dynamics will only make sense when you can identify and feel your own rhythm. You’ll have to pop up a slow metronome or backing to be drill sarge for that and mixining on and off with the metronome will make the rhythm in the back of your head a little “louder”

Why do I tell this? because I sometimes hear a note being played that is correct but elongating a ppart, a measure. Knowing what you can omit and doing that on the fly to serve the flow is more important than playing as much correct noes as possible.

That’s a really good tip, and yes, it makes sense. It’s been a long time since I played it along with the recording (Justin’s one at least, as I think this is in a different key than original), I should go back and do that. There’s definitely a part in the middle of the verse (descending bassline to C) where I’m not sure I’ve got the rhythm right, and it’s probably true for other parts.

Thanks for checking it out and for the feedback!

[Jenndye429]

Really well done JK! Instantly recognizable and very enjoyable to listen to.

You really are such a versatile player and it shows in your performances- both live and recorded.

[Socio]

@jkahn

I think this is in a different key than original

The original I believe is played in the Key of G with all strings down tuned a tone.

[Sweed]

A Beatles tune I’ve always loved, really enjoyed your video. Loved the tone and dynamics, well played.