So my goal in the long run is to have the skills and knowledge to play my favourite tracks by these guys and then be able to solo etc in the style of them.
I will hopefully use this page to track my progress as it progresses.
So to start the ball rolling here is my first video, I first played some chords into the looper and then tried to improvise over the top of them in the style of Peter Green.
It might sound like a song you have heard before 🙈😜
Nice one Danny, so where do you see the work best put in to take this one to the next level?
I would have to say that to progress I need a far better understanding of the rhythm instead of just playing by feel and better technique such as muting strings while bending.
I Could list of whole load of things but above will do for now I think.
Paul, do you have any Taplature sheets that use the 5 minor pentatonic pattern shapes in swing rhythm?? That would be handy? kill two birds with one stone, practice swing and my scales 😁
I'd say "Need Your Love so Bad" fits your description. How about zooming in on some of the building blocks of that intro? Here I've drawn up a loop in Taplature of the first couple of licks with the first three notes ("pick-up") leading back in each time from the end.
This is a bit more intricate than the swing stuff we've seen up to now. Here some of the triplets have been split into triplets themselves! Let's zoom in on beat 4 of the top line.
To time these triplets within triplets first try saying "Hick -o -ry dick -or -y Up -or y" while tapping your foot down as you say "Hick" and lifting it as you say "Up". Then add the notes on the correct part of the count.
If this seems tough, try zooming in even closer. This gives you more foot movements to tie the notes to until the pattern starts to make musical sense (ie. you can "hear" it).
See what you make of that lot! A video of your practice on it would be good.
Wow, That's brilliant mate, your effort is much appreciated. But I'm a dafty and confused, I understand what your saying and trying to get me to do (ish), However how do I count Hick -o -ry dick -or -y Up -or y" against the count? is it 1 = hick 2 = o 3 = ry 2 = dick 2 = 0r 3 = y 4 = Up 2 = or 3 = y. Is that right?
@dannycopeland Dead right! Keep your metronome on triplets like we had on Thursday to build it on.
Busy weekend ... quick video before bed demonstrating the notes placed on the "zoomed-in" foot tap and count!
Ok, here it goes
Ok so here is the only video I can show as the others had a lot of swearing, however I will post another video shortly this week showing my progress. On the plus side my normal triplets are getting better.
" On the plus side my normal triplets are getting better " - Great point! You're working on a tougher but fully related challenge and when dropping back to plain triplets things should feel a whole lot better.
Next step has to be with the metronome and I bet you'll see your speed come up pretty steadily. If it's tough to get going at 30bpm get rid of the triplets within the triplets on the metronome and use three beats as one. At 30bpm that would give you 2 seconds between each of the nine syllables of the challenge and would equate to a speed of 10bpm (30/3). By the time you get to 90bpm this way it's the same as 30bpm with the subdivisions.
If that doesn't make sense let me know and I'll post a video.
i think so 🤔. If you would be kind enough to post a video that would be good Having a visual aid always helps me and someone to play along with normally helps as well.
Try this for size!
Paul, Video helped a lot, thanks. So think I'm getting there now couple more days and I should be able to practice this without the brain hurting. Ill upload another video over the weekend. I had my daughter come up out of bed asking why I was repeating Hick -o -ry dick -or -y Up -or y over and over again so she became the director for this one.
I think this was at 50bpm
Great stuff, that's the hardest bit out of the way! The original runs at 50bpm which equals 150bpm as you're currently viewing it. If that seems like a long way off ... it's not! Once you've pushed it to about 100bpm I predict you'll feel the "magic" as you start to hear the pattern as music rather than thinking of it purely in mechanical terms. Watching with interest!
Here's one for you Danny if you've never tried it before. Watch your last video at double speed (click on the gear icon at the bottom of the video box for playback options). Sounding pretty good!
Paul, Please tell me I'm getting closer! The long pause before I start is me trying to find the beat haha.
It looks like you've jumped the speed too far and lost your mojo. Let's get things so you don't need anyone to let you know what's going on. The maxim is "If you don't know 100% that it's right then it's probably wrong!" ;)
The cure ... take it back to the speed at which you know it's definitely right (which it was in your previous video) and only notch it up 5bpm at a time. Keep the out loud count until you know you don't need it any more. Jot down your top speed for the day and forget about it for a while. Rinse and repeat!
Something else you could try is singing the notes in time with just the foot tap. No guitar required!
Maybe you've hit mental overload with this one for now and there's benefit in letting the new pattern sink in a bit ("latent learning"). This one is purely a mental challenge and it's possible a switch-off from it for a day or two yields more improvement than trying to force it. I'm sure there's plenty of other things you'd like to look at!
ok! kick and man when he's down lol
how's this? 70bpm
Looks good to me! Bring on 80bpm!
Here's another angle to attack things from. Let's see how the pattern you've been working on links to the next bar. Taking the note our lick leads to and placing it at the start of our practice pattern we create a loop that should be more recognisable from the song.
Over to you Danny. Is this easier or harder?
Haven’t even tried it yet, but the answer is harder. I’m off today so will give it a go. I did have a go at the whole thing the other day to the actual song but slowed down, yes I did jump the gun, I was curious how it sounded now Ive being have more focused practice in timing. sounds better but I lost the count in my head when I was remember what notes to play etc.
Wow! If you put that next to the video you posted on 26th April they're worlds apart! How about re-recording what you did that day with the looper for a true like by like comparison?
I noticed on the double-stops towards the end you're changing the shape whch makes it more awkward than needs be. Try this:
... or you could play the same notes on the B and G strings all the way up (starting at frets 10 and 11) though this benefits from a bit more left hand muting to let you loosen up with the picking hand.
Not impressed with this, but thought I would post anyway.
This video should fill in the gaps. Notice how I'm timing the chord changes, lifting off the old chord on the 3 count (as the foot comes up) and dropping the new chord each time on the beat (as the foot goes down). Feeling both chord and foot moving up and down together is the key
(see https://www.oldswannerguitartuition.com/blog-1/guitar-chord-changes-the-missing-link).
This video includes the taplature for the chords and first lick played over in a loop. Getting so you can do this right every time is a great first step!
ok, So I watched the video, and just as a test I did a video straight away without practicing it first with the intention of spending 30mins after practicing then do another one and compere the two.
As promised here'
s the second video after about 30/40mins. Better but still a few more sessions on this yet.
The second one's certainly better although you can hear that the metronome and the backing aren't in sync. Maybe try it at 30 rather than 50 bpm (or slower using the method discussed above of using three metronome beats as one). Keep the out loud count as an essential part of things until you know for sure you have it right! To make it easier to count try simplifying the pattern by omitting the release and re-bend of the bent note on beat one and just holding it instead.
As an aside, what do you make of this one? You'll know it well and it should help with the project at hand!