Whatcha Playing?

[Halowords]

Just curious, what you're playing or working on with your guitars.

 

Currently, I'm doing some guilty pleasure playing and trying to learn Guns 'N Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine".

 

Other than that, putzing around with the modes, getting a better feel for the different keys, trying to learn some basic jazz stuff, and getting the fingering down for augmented & diminished chord shapes while figuring out how in the heck to actually use them in a song or progression.

 

Anybody else got anything fun going on?

[schundog]

Just got through watching Joe Bonamassa's "Live at Royal Albert Hall" DVD, and thinking about starting a bonfire to burn every guitar I have; That guy completely WAILS!! Other than that, just yutzing around tonight with my Gibson Les Paul Classic Thru a Line 6 PODXT Live thru a Traynor YCV40, trying to chase some tone. Good clean fun, allowing me to avoid meaningful advancement on the instrument. I gotta start taking some of my Truefire courses more seriously....

[Kuz]

Earlier I had my 555 Custom and "Yoder" Blur/quilt 150 through the Axe-Fx dialed to a Bogner Shiva with some delay. I was laying down some Smooth Jazz licks over a new backing track I found.

[JeffB]

Just got through watching Joe Bonamassa's "Live at Royal Albert Hall" DVD, and thinking about starting a bonfire to burn every guitar I have; That guy completely WAILS!! Other than that, just yutzing around tonight with my Gibson Les Paul Classic Thru a Line 6 PODXT Live thru a Traynor YCV40, trying to chase some tone. Good clean fun, allowing me to avoid meaningful advancement on the instrument. I gotta start taking some of my Truefire courses more seriously....

Tee hee. Yep know exactly what you mean. I spend more time strumming a big chord and trying different od's than actually practicing musical ideas.

 

I have been trying to integrate country, blues, rock and jazz cliches into a big mash. Turns out it ends up sounding like Rockabilly.

Im fine with that.

Started out trying to cultivate some country licks for a new project Im working on. I dont have the precision or articulation and I dont have the hours at my disposal to cultivate it either unfortunately. So I allowed myself to get side tracked. Turns out to be more fun. But Im still going to have to come to grips with some of these mad country techniques soon. Damn the purists for making me work out side my knowledge base. stupid finicky pendants making me learn new stuff and become a better musician.

[H]

Trying to play and sing Sheryl Crowe's 'Home' at the same time on the Hummingbird. That and the Johnny Cash version of 'Personal Jesus' have been taking up my musical time in the last week or so.

 

I'm working up the courage to go to an open mic event in a nearby village.

[tulk1]

This week I've learned:

 

Hank Jr.s - Dixie on my Mind on banjo

Dolly's version of - Shine on banjo (kinda cool, actually)

Brandon Jenkins - Finger on the Trigger

Chris Knight - Hammer Going Down

Merle/Aaron Watson - Truckin Medley

George Straight - Armardillos by Morning (hehe) (uh, knew this one, just changed the key)

Alan Jackson - Designated Drinker

Clint Black - Killin Time (drop C)

Aaron Watson - For What It's Worth

 

Okay, some of those I started last week, but kinda polished them up Fri/Sat. That'll be it for a week or so. Then we'll hit another 10 songs. Out of those we generally keep 7-8. Have to try them to see if we can pull 'em off. Sometimes they sound good, sometimes they don't.

[mars_hall]

This thread should be in The Family Tree

[jjkrause84]

This week I've learned:

 

Hank Jr.s - Dixie on my Mind on banjo

Dolly's version of - Shine on banjo (kinda cool, actually)

Brandon Jenkins - Finger on the Trigger

Chris Knight - Hammer Going Down

Merle/Aaron Watson - Truckin Medley

George Straight - Armardillos by Morning (hehe) (uh, knew this one, just changed the key)

Alan Jackson - Designated Drinker

Clint Black - Killin Time (drop C)

Aaron Watson - For What It's Worth

 

Okay, some of those I started last week, but kinda polished them up Fri/Sat. That'll be it for a week or so. Then we'll hit another 10 songs. Out of those we generally keep 7-8. Have to try them to see if we can pull 'em off. Sometimes they sound good, sometimes they don't.

 

Yikes, Kenny!

 

How on Earth do you learn so many new songs a week!?

[Halowords]

This thread should be in The Family Tree

 

Sorry. Mods, feel free to send it where it belongs.

[Halowords]

This week I've learned:

 

This week!!! Kenny, we are all secretly going to hate you.

 

Clint Black - Killin Time (drop C)

 

Do you use a long scale guitar for drop C or use especially heavy gauge strings? I've never tried much downtuning on a short scale (Gib/Heritage scale) as I just always kind of assumed they'd get pretty loose.

[psda]

As my actual guitar playing does not match my ambitions I have to go for the easier stuff.

 

Herbie Hancock: Watermelon Man, Cantaloupe Island, Chameleon

Horace Silver: The Jody Grind

Lee Morgan: Sidewinder (I love hard bop- have to learn Red Clay on guitar- have been playing it on piano for a long time)

The Bill Frisell version of Have a Little Faith in Me

Calling You from Baghdad Café

Pircher/ Pepl: Air, Love and Vitamins

Chicago: 25 or 6 to 4

Those are the songs where I have prerecorded parts on my looper

Trying to learn: Mahavishnu- Dance of Maya, All the things you are- the lick by neck arrangement, Freedom Jazz dance- the Alan Caron arrangement

The only new song I've learnt this week is One Day I'll Fly Away, although on piano, I'll try to transfer this to guitar.

 

I try to learn the major and minor modes on different positions on the fretboard but I every time I learn a new scale I start forgetting two.

[GuitArtMan]

I've been working on the solo to "Cinnamon Girl" for close to 35 years now. Give me another 10 and I'll probably be ready to play it in public.

 

I really haven't "practiced" since before going to college when I was studying classical guitar. I just pick it up a noodle around. Seriously, to let you know how bad I am my classical guitar teacher also played classical mandolin. He was as fast as anybody I've heard and probably faster - jaw dropping fast. I took one, possibly two mandolin lessons from him. We started on some very simple flat picking exercises from the Bickford Mandolin Method. I've been wanting to completely relearn my flat picking technique and apply that to guitar. I stopped taking lessons in 1981 - I still haven't learned that flat picking technique...

[koula901]

I haven't been working on anything specific - just noodling and exploring my new guitars. I spend waaaay too much time on this forum and have been thinking about shifting priorities to actually playing more, because when I'm on the forum, I'm not only having fun, but am procrastinating which is something I've always struggled with. So, the first ting I need to work on is a plan, then a commitment to the plan. Right now, I'd like to work on The Wind Cries Mary. I think it's a brilliant example of major pentatonic. Also, I got my eye on Fretboard Logic I and II combined - that's really the level that I'm at. Been playing by ear, but it's limiting when one doesn't know their theory, patterns, scales, etc. As well, need to work on the physical aspect - dexterity/speed/rhythm. So much!

[tulk1]

This week!!! Kenny, we are all secretly going to hate you.

 

 

 

Do you use a long scale guitar for drop C or use especially heavy gauge strings? I've never tried much downtuning on a short scale (Gib/Heritage scale) as I just always kind of assumed they'd get pretty loose.

 

It's 3 chord country, don't hate me too much ........... <lol> On Killin' Time I just downtune the E to C. It's very loose, and I lose that bit of snap on the first slur. But it works live. Don't have much time, or space for that matter, to have too many guitars on stage. 1 guitar, banjo and mandolin take up most of my "corner".

[LK155]

Recent lessons have concentrated on getting back to basics, like (re-)learning the 7 modes in the major scale.

Got the Aeolian, Dorian, and Lydian things down pat, but still having trouble with the Libertarian and Draconian modes.

[psda]

Recent lessons have concentrated on getting back to basics, like (re-)learning the 7 modes in the major scale.

Got the Aeolian, Dorian, and Lydian things down pat, but still having trouble with the Libertarian and Draconian modes.

Draconian's my fave

[brentrocks]

I was working on a Krokus tune the other day, "Midnight Maniac"

[Guest HRB853370]

Just curious, what you're playing or working on with your guitars.

 

Currently, I'm doing some guilty pleasure playing and trying to learn Guns 'N Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine".

 

Other than that, putzing around with the modes, getting a better feel for the different keys, trying to learn some basic jazz stuff, and getting the fingering down for augmented & diminished chord shapes while figuring out how in the heck to actually use them in a song or progression.

 

Anybody else got anything fun going on?

 

Shouldn't this thread be in the Musically Speaking forum?

 

I am still trying to memorize the positions for major and minor 7ths, both open and barred. My memory is not as good as it used to be.

[pegleg32]

My physical abilities have improved to my satisfaction over the last couple of years. They are not great, but my fingers pretty much go where I want them, and the tone I'm getting is adequate for now. What is driving me crazy is my knowledge. I'm trying to learn scales and where they fit. My goal is to be able to play a 5 or 6 (or more) chord song within 6 frets on the neck just by changing scales, i.e. notes of course. My problem is that I'm doing it all by ear and figuring out the scales one note at a time and it just seems like I'm reinventing the wheel. I'm getting very frustrated, even though I'm making progress.

[Horace]

I've been working on the guitar parts for the Marshall Crenshaw tune, "Girls". I've been loading the vocal lead and 7 vocal harmonies into a K2000 Kurzweil sequencer to teach my band-mates their parts. I've been learning to use Band-in-a-Box and practicing soloing over I vi ii Vs on piano and on guitar. I've been trying to figure out the guitar parts to "All Strung Out" by the Chambers Brothers.

 

Tal

[Halowords]

Shouldn't this thread be in the Musically Speaking forum?

 

I am still trying to memorize the positions for major and minor 7ths, both open and barred. My memory is not as good as it used to be.

 

Yeah, I wasn't thinking quite right apparently when I posted this. My apologies. Mods are free to relocate it to Musically Speaking of Family Tree. I don't think I can do that at this point.

[TalismanRich]

While I had time this afternoon, I went through these.

 

AC/DC - Thunderstruck. It's hard to get a good clean 3 minutes of 1/16th notes alternating between fretted and open. How does he do that?

 

The Who - Asst Tommy stuff. Started with Pinball Wizard (love the opening chord sequence), went on to Look in the Mirror Boy, I'm Free and We're not gonna Take It.

 

CSNY - Wooden Ships, Long Time Gone, For What its Worth, Helplessly Hoping.

 

Hendrix - Little Wing (acousticly done) and WInd Cries Mary

 

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall, Breathe.

 

and a couple of orginals that I have been working on for a couple of years.

[TalismanRich]

Recent lessons have concentrated on getting back to basics, like (re-)learning the 7 modes in the major scale.

Got the Aeolian, Dorian, and Lydian things down pat, but still having trouble with the Libertarian and Draconian modes.

I once dated a lady named Lydia, but we never got things down pat.

[111518]

One of my students this semester is a very fine singer and musician, but wanted help developing picking technique. Among the things we've done is learn a set of fiddle tunes, which are usually long strings of 8th notes (most are 32 bars long AABB), lend themselves to memorization, and sound good at a range of tempos. Then, the trick is to play with a metronome at a tempo that allows you to get through the tune with minimal mistakes, control of every pick attack, AND to concentrate on maintaining a relaxed wrist ... then gradually speed the whole thing up a metronome setting at the time. I usually try to play through the melody twice, then play the chords, then return to the melody ...so four times through the form at a tempo, assess, then either do it again at the same tempo or speed it up (or, every now and then, slow it down.) By that point, I'm pretty well aware if I'm relaxed and could keep playing, or fighting and tensing and not confortable at the tempo I've set.

 

So, in preparation for this week's lesson, I've spent a chunk of time (2-45 minute sessions)today playing those forms. I have a half dozen or so tunes memorized, in different keys --Arkansas Traveler in D, Billy in the Low Ground in C, etc.-- since different keys tend to cross strings differently and present different technical challenges. (I'm playing these on acoustic in first position, and concentrating on tone, but the same exercise could be done on electric and anywhere on the neck.)

 

So, this is working well with the student and also gives me a good reason/method to work on my wimpy right hand technique. And, it's fun, and the sort of stuff you could take out and play at a local acoustic jam or contra dance. I've been using fiddle tunes in this way off and on for years, but more regularly this semester as one part of my practice routine.