David saved me some money (yes, that is correct) and I was able to use that money to buy myself a Dual Footswitch. I started my Guitar journey with Justin back in November and Zombie by the cranberries has always been my “that song”. A month back I bought the Beginner Songbook by Justin and to my surprise and joy, the song was there. I have been practicing following the book and the App. The only thing I couldn’t do was, change the distortion in between to get that “Zombie” feel. But thanks to @DavidP I am getting there .
I used the Justin Kleen start and AC/DC katana patches and was using the footswitch to change over. Please let me know how I did and how I can improve. Thank you very much!!
So not a full saving, rather a re-directing money to a different cause
You used the peal to good effect the changing the tone, Shashata.
The playing sounded good to me, smoo9th strumming, clean chords. Perhaps you sped up a little after the first chorus? Next challenge is to play a drum loop through the amp aux and get the hang of playing to drums.
I’m not a tone-master, so hopefully others with more experience will give me feedback on the distorted tone. To my ears it dropped in volume, or maybe it was just due to the high-mids/high frequencies dominating the sound. I would try to tame some of that higher end ‘fizz’ with EQ, perhaps boost the lower mids. and listen closely to the relative loudness of each part. I’d suggest the over-driven chorus part should be louder than the verse and bridge.
But I can see much fun lies ahead exploring the possibilities opened up through having the foot-switch.
That was intentional, in the original song and in the App too, the tempo changes after the first chorus! I am not sure by how much, but I am trying to keep it consistent with the app
You’re absolutely right! I am still trying to learn what all those effect does. Just started to play with them last week, and I couldn’t get to the original sound. Maybe someone can help me with a patch. It is kind of overwhelming for me right now, so I just used the ones available in the website! One strange thing is, when I am recording the play, the volume or the master level on the amp, has no affect on the sound that goes through the USB input. It could be I am missing something there and I need to do more research.
Thank you for the encouragement David! I will keep on learning and posting
Hi Swashata,
Nice consistent rhythm guitar … and as far as the sound is concerned, what David says and more and heavier with a lot of basss, but that’s just turning a few knobs…
Greetings …
Mmmmm an interesting one. Where did you get the chord progression? I couldn’t quite see what you were playing on my phone but the intro should be Em, C, G and the D/E… ideally you then play a powerchord variation for the distorted parts… there is no change in tempo on this song it’s just the drum rhythm changes which might give that impression.
If it’s the song app your using I’m guessing it’s using some different chord fingerings perhaps.
We’ll worth looking up Justin’s lesson on this one as it’s spot on. The little picked solo before the main verses is very easy to add as well.
On a positive note the chords sounded relatively clean and switching between them was good. Just a little tidying up to do.
A tip on tone would be to play all the intro sequence ( and subsequent clean parts ) with a clean amp setting and chorus ( the original uses a 70s chorus ) then switch the chorus off and add a distortion for the solo and heavier parts. Actually a lot of distortion on the original comes from the bass guitar so it’s a tricky one to emulate on just one guitar.
Hi Swahata, your playing isn’t bad, nothing wrong with your chord changes that a bit more practice wouldn’t cure, your basic tones need adjustment - as already said the clean tone needs a bit of chorus and the distorted tone needs to be without the chorus and with a not too heavy distortion but basically with the same amp settings as the clean and playing power chords - this is how it would be live. The biggest difference would come from using a backing track, this is a fairly good one, definitely better than just playing along with a quiet full track.
Thank you Rogier, I am still learning all the thing we could do with the Katana Studio. Hopefully one day, I can get there.
Hey Rossco, thank you for dropping by and I really appreciate your feedback. Let me get to your questions one by one.
The one on the App says Em -> C -> G -> D and one on the book says Em -> Cmaj7 -> G6 -> G6/F#.
I haven’t learned the powerchords yet, still learning the F barre chord. So I thought I could mix up those two chord changes and have fun .
I am not sure about this. I’ve been playing with the App for a long time. My hand does strum faster after the first chorus (one progression of Em -> C -> G -> D, to keep up with the app. It highlights when a chord change was supposed to happen and I cannot be missing that .
Could you please share the lesson you are talking about? I couldn’t find one by Justin and this is the only thing I found from the old forum.
Thank you very much! I am still trying to figure out what all those settings can do .
Thank you very much Mari. Yes you’re absolutely right, it just feels so nice and happy .
Thank you very much Darrell. I have to learn what and how to do those chorus thingies you mentioned. One thing is I cannot play powerchords yet, so I will definitely get back to it once I’ve learned. Thank you very much once again and kudos for the backing track .
Hi Swashata…back on my laptop and some time now so I’ve had chance to check things and bizarrely I think I must have been imagining learning this from Justin (or indeed it may have been pulled from YT) as I can’t find his lesson either but also struggling to find the lesson I used. However the chord progression that I provided has one correction which is D/F# instead of D/E but that should give you a good set of chords to play with. When you play the distorted part its still Em, then C5, G6, and finally G6 shaped powerchord but with an F# root (G6/F#)…so play your G5 but stretch your first finger up from fret 3 to fret 2…it sounds great. Justin describes in his book these as open chords but you really need to play them as powerchords (for the distorted part of the song).
In terms of your Katana it sounds like you are switching between two presets (which is probably all you can do on a K50 with a footswitch)? so I’d create a new clean preset using the clean amp and then add a chorus effect as a modulation…that will give your clean parts setting…then I’d personally copy that preset, take the chorus off, add in a distortion pedal and perhaps increase the gain on the amp. Then you just switch between the two. You probably should look up how to build presets rather than just download them…but that’s a rabbit hole in itself.
The little riff thats played before the verses is:-
High E String 7 h8 5 h7 3 h5 2h3p2 (h means hammer on, p means pull off)
B String 3 0
Nicely played @swashata. I too have tried playing this song. I have also learned the lead riff, but like you I have wondered how to switch between the clean and distorted tones while playing. The replies to your thread have given me some ideas.
Sounded good sir, and you went at it for almost four minutes! I’d say you have this one well under your fingers.
As for tone and chord progressions, there are those that want to match the original recording verbatim, and that’s a fine goal. Then there are are those (such as myself) that happily play it however they feel it, or in some cases just play something different but in the same style.
The latter can be something to aspire toward, but not that out of reach to try other effects. Slow it down or speed it up, try it with a wah, or flanger, change/add/drop a chord, etc. The former can be very frustrating to newer players because what we hear in a recording can be hard to nail down exactly in our bedroom.
Thanks for sharing – I also really like that song as well. Funny side story, I had only ever heard that song over the radio until recently and discovered the title was actually Zombie – I had always thought they were singing “Tommy, Tommy …” - embarrassing.
Its been so long that I can’t remember if there was a lesson but it was in Stage 9 of the old BC and included in BSB 1 page 198 (which I know you have). I honestly thought there was a lesson but long time ago since my cover.
FWIW the progression in BSB 1 is Em Cmaj7 G6 G6/F# so I guess like many other songs its been simplified on the app, certainly my ears were picking up on something.
@swashata bar some of the technicalities mention of distortion and the actual chord differences, the main thing was your playing was solid throughout as were the changes.
The only thing I could not tell as the distortion was quite shrill and high pitched, was if you palm muted that section ? If not that certainly needs to be incorporated for the song.
But overall a good job.
Hi Swas bit late to a party but I think you did well. Not sure about one section where I feel could be a bit faster than origjnal (something Jason I think touched on) but orher than that your playing is really getting better and better with each week. I am impressed!
Hi,
As others mention about tone, it is a bit up on the treble side. Just something to be aware of I think. Your strumming and consistency is good. I can’t speak to the chords used as I really don’t know the song. Good stuff though and keep up the good work.
Thank you very much for your awesome feedback everyone. I am sorry I haven’t been able to reply earlier. I got caught up with a little work and some house chores .
Thank you very much Rossco. I am yet to learn the Power Chords, and I will definitely give this a revision once I am there. Still trying to learn the F Barre chords .
Thank you very much, JK.
Thank you Malcolm, I am glad I could be of help. Just an FYI, I was using the Boss Katana 50 mk2 amp with the Boss FS-6 dual foot switch.
Thank you very much Clint. I am glad you liked it.
Oh yes yes . I am very fond of this song, and honestly, I play it almost every day like you’ve mentioned “however I feel it”. I am totally with you :D.
Thank you Stefen. I cannot express in words how happy I was to read that you were able to recogzine the song . You’ve definitely made my day.
Thank you, Scott. If you think that’s embarrassing, you must see me trying to sing .
Thank you very much Toby. No, my paml was not muting that section. I have used the Boss Katana patch from here. I definitely need to sit down some of these days and start experimenting, but I’ve set myself a goal to do all those after finishing Grade 2 .
Thank you very much, Adrian . I think I need to clarify on the tempo difference. Next time I will play it with the app on the recording.
In the beginning when chord progression Em -> C -> G -> D/F# (1 bar each D D D DU U D DUDU) happens before the drum kicks in - is a little slow.
After that, the drum starts along with those distorted power chords - which is a little faster than before, but that is the tempo that continues for the rest of the song.
And oh, I sure am happy that you’re impressed .
Thank you very much, LB. I will definitely try to spend a little bit of more time with the tuning next time I record .
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. I am very fond of this song, and honestly, I play it almost every day like you’ve mentioned “however I feel it”. I am totally with you :D.
. I think I need to clarify on the tempo difference. Next time I will play it with the app on the recording.
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