My First Upload - Tears in Heaven - Need help with Bridge and more

dennisg
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Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:26 am

Bill,

A very, very good first effort on a tough song. A couple of things that jump out at me: 1) Get your left elbow off your leg. That's a bad habit to get into and throws you into a very unnatural position. Playing the guitar is hard enough; you make it harder on yourself with your position. I'd recommend getting a comfortable strap, shortening it up, and getting used to it; 2) Even in areas other than the bridge, there are some timing issues in this song where your tempo drifts. You might want to slow the song down until you can maintain a steady tempo; and 3) It seems clear that you've spent a lot more time on every part of the song other than the bridge. Watching you play it, it doesn't look like anything's going on in the bridge that's overmatched for your skill level. It just looks like you haven't played it very much. Stick with it and in another week you'll have this song nailed.


BobR
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Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:33 am

Bill,

Very good first post. As the others said it will take some more practice, but sounding good already for the most part. Just wanted to let you know I enjoyed it and will look forward to an update in the future.

Bob


buddy
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Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:07 pm

Bill,

Way to dive in with both feet and great post. As others have said, the Elixer strings are great. I would really encourage you to work on the barr chords becuase once you have them down it opens up a whole new world of guitar playing. On this song, I like to use the thumb over technique for many of the chords, this does make the bridge easier to play once you have it down. Keep on playing and don't get discouraged and it will all come together for you. Based on what I saw on the video, you should have this song down with no problems if you keep working at it.

Good luck and keep on picking,

Bud


johnrfeeney
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Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:14 pm

very impressive for not only a first video but for only working on it for a week

can't imagine it a month or two down the road

well done!


dieguy
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Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:56 pm

First Off thank you all for the kind words of encouragement, I really needed it. I wish I would have explained my issues with the Bridge a bit better when I posted. I obviously need to practice this section much more but I can't seem to settle on one way of playing it that sounds good to me. I am mainly working from the Tab from TG along with the video. The picking pattern spelled out in the tab just sounds odd to me when I am playing it. I have made up some of my own patterns but am having trouble with the flow of the picking. This is especially true in measures 27 and 30 of the tab moving from the D/F# to the E and Em7, I just cant seems to get it sounding correct. I was hoping some of you were maybe having some of the same issues.

In response to your other advice and comments:

Haoli25 I will definitely check out the String cleaner and Finger Ease you mentioned in your post.

Many of you mentioned the Elixir Strings and I am afraid that is already what I am using and these are only about 3 weeks old.

Many of you also mentioned my "Caveman like Posture" :laugh: which I didn't really notice until you all pointed it out. I will definitely try to improve this. Its funny I never even realized I rested my elbow on my left knee. I did have my right leg raised when I made this video about 3-4". I have been thinking about getting a better strap and see if that helps me. I think I need to find a better chair with adjustable heght to aid me in this as well. Anyway sorry for the rambling, Again thanks to all and hopefully within a week or two I can repost and show you how much your advice has helped.

Bill


dekotaj
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Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:04 pm

Bill,

Sounds good to me.Wish I could help,But I am still stumbling with the bridge section.


Kevin


MarkM
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Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:42 pm

Bill,

Very good first post and the fact that you have only been playing this for about a week I think. You can see where you practiced more as those parts were very good. I really enjoyed the first half or so. The rest will come with practice. Others have given you great advice. So stick with that and you'll be playing this flawlessly real soon. Thanks for sharing. Oh and I use the Elixir PB's as well. Not much noise with those.



MarkM


Chasplaya
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Thu Apr 22, 2010 3:19 am

Hi BIll pretty darn good for a weeks work on this song. I think I may know your issue with the Bridge as its something I was troubled with for a while also. Now I don't use the TG Tab and haven't really checked it out, but the end of the measure before you go into the bridge is actually part of the bridge the last two notes are 16th notes leading into two 8th Notes then a [sup][sub]1[/sub][/sup][sub]4[/sub] then 8th [sup][sub]1[/sub][/sup][sub]4[/sub] 8th, if you don't get that fluently it does sound strange. Also if your listening to the actual music on cd remember Andy Fairweather Low is playing something slightly different to Eric. So its close attention to note value when making the transition. Good luck its coming along nicely

regards

Chas


AcousticAl
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Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:05 am

Great first upload! I agree with you about the bridge. Something very tricky about it that you just have to practice before you get it right.

In particular, I would go back to Neil's lesson and pay careful attention to the change between the Am to D/F# (in the bridge). There's an economy of movement there that you're missing and it will really help you out. You basically leave your ring finger anchored and pivot between those two chords.

My other suggestion would be to only play the song as fast as you can play the most challenging piece. Meaning don't play the first part faster than you can play the bridge.

Nice work though. Looking forward to an update.


wrench
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Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:00 pm

I thought that was a great first post Bill.

I won't heap on any redundant advice, you already got a lot of quality tips here. Except for the string talk - it has been suggested here on TG that some ladies consider string talk sexy, so you might not want to give that up just yet. And your thumb - while you have good left hand wrist and thumb positioning, try arching your thumb somewhat backward, thus avoiding "hooking" your thumb to the neck. This may help speed up chord changes, and generally play a little cleaner.

Welcome to the posters' club, and I'm looking forward to more of your work.

Dan


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