Old Man - MarkM

MarkM
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:37 pm

I was messing around between some conference calls and came up with this. I'm not sure that I'm completely happy with either version though. One is with no pick and just my thumb. Obviously much quieter but I think the tempo is more consistant. The other is with the pick which brings out the individual notes much better and ofcourse much louder. This guitar surprises me sometimes with the volume. I thought about singing and actually tried a few times but I'm not there yet as the playing suffers as I fall out of time too often. I'll work on it for a future post. As always, thanks for watching and I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.


MarkM

With Pick




Without Pick



tovo
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:47 pm

Hey Mark, thanks for posting. I have no points, only that I really enjoyed listening and I much preferred the pick version. Nice.


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:03 pm

HI Mark, nice playing! I'm with Tony.... pick version is better... strong and clear.


dennisg
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:32 pm

My god, that guitar is like a wild, roaring beast! What incredible power and sound comes out of your new Taylor. You made the right choice, Mark.

I have mixed feelings about this experiment: on the one hand, the specific song you chose to play doesn't really lend itself to volume and power, so I appreciated the subtlety of the thumb version. The downside of the thumb version is that your guitar is so cavernous, your thumb mutes the high end, and the sound was out of balance. On the other hand, the pick version resulted in far more brightness out of the treble strings which you seem to need in order to maintain parity with the bass strings. I could hear everything equally in the pick version.

To me, the ideal would be the pick version played with a slightly lighter touch.


izzyhara
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:43 pm

dennisg wrote:
My god, that guitar is like a wild, roaring beast! What incredible power and sound comes out of your new Taylor. You made the right choice, Mark.

I have mixed feelings about this experiment: on the one hand, the specific song you chose to play doesn't really lend itself to volume and power, so I appreciated the subtlety of the thumb version. The downside of the thumb version is that your guitar is so cavernous, your thumb mutes the high end, and the sound was out of balance. On the other hand, the pick version resulted in far more brightness out of the treble strings which you seem to need in order to maintain parity with the bass strings. I could hear everything equally in the pick version.

To me, the ideal would be the pick version played with a slightly lighter touch.
Yea - what he said. I was preferring the sans-pick version, but I didn't know why until Dennis verbalized it for me. Nice posts. Thanks for sharing. Izzy


tovo
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:49 pm

Dennis is a verbalizer of some note Izzy! Perhaps the "invisible pick" approach might work? The thumb and forefinger together? Could give the feel with sufficient volume. Of course, I could be talking loco...it's happened before.


BigBear
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:50 pm

Mark- that was great! This song must be picked if you want to get the true NY sound. Like Dennis said I love the sound of your Taylor!

A couple of observations:

1. Try to become a little more percussive with your attack on the intro lick. It takes a little practice to master the palm muting technique that Neil demonstates but it's worth the effort. That technique works well with lots of other songs as well.

2. Watch your fingering on the first D chord coming out of the intro. That first chord is a D(no 5th) with an open E string. It is not a Dsus2 or Dsus4 as we would usually play it and you have to hammer the F# on the E string hard to make a full D chord (if that makes any sense). After the hammer then you can go to the Dsus4.

Other than that you really played it well. Congrats on another great video. Thanks for posting!

Cheers! :cheer:


MarkM
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:03 pm

Thanks All!!

Tony - Thanks I agree. I prefer the pick version as well. Need to soften it up a bit though. Still getting used to this guitar.

Chris - Thank you!!

Dennis - Thanks. Yea I tried a lighter approach and held the pick a little lighter as well and it seems to help. Yes it's quite louder than the DN4. Projects very well and maintains the Highs and lows very well. I'm very happy with this guitar so far.

Izzy - Thanks. In a quiet room the thumb works great but not quite the NY feel.

BigBear - I totally agree. I never seem to do the intro the same way twice. When I do get it from time to time it sounds very good. That little run/picking part comes after "you were" in the begining has always given me problems for what ever reason. I can't get my head wrapped around it. Something to do with the timing of my strum I think. I'll have to go back to Neil's lesson and try to focus on that part for a while.

MarkM


BobR
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:23 pm

Hi Mark,

I am with the majority here. I like your pick version better. Although you seemed to get a bit louder towards the end of the thumb version. Also as Bear noted a bit of palm muting would be cool.

Thanks for posting and BTW SaWeeet! guitar.

Bob


cosmicmechanic
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:35 pm

Mark, nice job for sure. I would prefer the picked version, with palming.

I've been working on Old Man also, playing by memory and returning
every now and then to Neil's "play along" video.
I then find I may have improved some details, but previously unnoticed bugs
show up unexpectedly. Add to that the hope of singing it in synch, and
this is gonna take longer than I thought to learn well.

I think the palm muting is a real hoot to learn, it gives the song such character.

Have you practiced it much with the "play along" video? I think that's the
best advice I've given myself for this song.

Pierre


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