suziko learning to play The Ivory Salamander acoustic guitar

haoli25
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:26 am

Bravo Suzi! Great video. You, looking as pretty as ever, a great new Martin guitar(welcome to the Martin Club), and your new house, that natural wide wood molding is incredible.
You are very close to nailing this one. When I first watched Neil's lesson I thought to myself, 'this will be easy'....NOT! At least for me I found that we practice hammer-ons on a lot songs, but not the pull-offs. That was a big weakness for me to get the pull-offs to sound clean and not just slurred notes. I have been practicing those a lot!
Again, a great video. Thank you for posting it.

P.S. Don't lock the cat out of the room. They tend to want to SING TO YOU through the closed door...LOUDLY! :) :)


Bill Image


BigBear
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 11:18 am

Suzi- excellent job! what a beautiful home you have. I love the dark wood door and window casements.

Obviously, this is a work in progress but is getting very close. Marc hit on a good point that if you can be distracted by your cat to that degree and not miss a beat you almost have this song nailed. Plus you rarely looked at your hands; another good sign.

The fluidity isn't quite there yet which is simply a function of some tough chords and a challenging song. I haven't found a Doobie Brothers song yet that is easy to play!! Your left hand position is wonderful in my point by the way!

The only thing I noticed is make sure you are getting the bass note on the first beat of each measure. This song a little more lively feel to it; maybe a bit of bounce and clearly catchting that bass note will help.

It's always a joy to watch your videos kiddo! Keep up the great work and I can't wait for your next video! :cheer:


rapsidy
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 12:00 pm

that was almost puurrfect :laugh: :unsure: :dry: sorry

hhmm plateu??? you need to look at WSTR you have come a long long way

and that was very enjoyable


Brad

loved the cat


suziko
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 12:23 pm

Shel- Thanks so much for your thoughtful and lengthy response! I really appreciate it. You were the first (followed by Jay and then Bear) to comment on my bass notes, and I think you're completely right. Upon re-listening, they are very much drowned out by the treble notes. So I'll start working on bringing them out a bit more with my thumb. I like having a specific thing that I can improve on, so that's great advice. Thanks for the observation regarding my posture- I'll take a look at that in the video and see if it's something I'm regularly doing or was just in that video. Lastly, thanks for the kind words about my new guitar and my Martin. I think both suit me well :)

Al- You could try switching your guitar to your left leg. I do find it helps with getting the neck higher... but there are times I'd like to switch back to my right leg and now I've become so accustomed to my left that I can't.

Dennis- as always, I really appreciate your support and enthusiasm. You heard me talk about this song a lot this summer, so it was fun to finally put it out there, warts and all. I've been using my left knee since you've been at TG, I think. I switched when I was learning Harvest Moon, because it made it easier for me to play higher on the neck. As I mentioned to Al, I now kind of wish I could more comfortably play on my right leg because with some songs it just seems more appropriate. I think I'll just have to work more on getting used to switching back and forth. Oh, and I very much thought of Wally when my cat decided to make her debut. "Any thing dogs can do, cats can do better," says she.

Jeff- thank you. I still very much feel like a novice, but I appreciate the kind sentiment.

Jay- It is my first video with the Martin (00-28VS). I bought it used (but in near-mint condition) in June at a local guitar store. I love it so much. As I mentioned to Shel, you're right about the bass notes. Now that it's been pointed out to me, it's obvious. I'll start working on that. As for my video of Fields of Gold, I had sort of decided to not post it. I was planning to post that instead of this, but then I felt like it was just too similar to Circle Game. I didn't feel like it demonstrated anything new about my playing. So I went with this instead. But hopefully I will be posting a bit more regularly now that school is back in session.

Bob- Thank you! Looking forward to a video from you again soon.

Bill- thanks so much for everything. Yes, at a level 5, I didn't expect this song to be nearly as tricky as it was. It was, by far, the hardest song I've tackled so far. But it was also one of the most fun songs I've learned to play. It's one of those guitar instrumentals, like Windy and Warm, that is so catchy. My household has been humming it for months.

Bear- Thank you. Like Michele and Jay, you pointed out the bass notes, and I appreciate that a lot. I'll definitely work on bringing them out a bit more in my playing. It's easy to let the treble drown out the bass when fingerpicking, at least it is to me. Thanks for all of your observations. I always appreciate the feedback.

Brad- he he! I think my cat was very proud of her performance. I do feel like I've made a lot of progress since WSTR, and I attribute a lot of that to TG and all the support I've had from fellow Target members. Thank you!


michelew
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:26 pm

Sue,

I looked at the way my guitar sits against my right leg and it is more against the edge of the guitar than I realized. Mind you, I've decided to get a strap button on mine because it often does feel like it's slipping. So if your Martin doesn't feel like it might slip off your leg, there's probably nothing to worry about. I think it might be the shape of your Martin that is tricking my eye.

BTW - even though the left leg is definitely the best overall position for me, I get what you mean about wanting to be able you switch legs sometimes. Placing your palm near the bridge for palm muting feels awkward. Do you find that too?


suziko
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:08 pm

Michele- I like to use a strap when playing, but the Martin doesn't have a button strap and i haven't decided if I want one put on it yet. But when I try to play on my right leg now, especially without a strap, I feel like the guitar is slipping all over the place. It just feels so much more secure on my left leg. Still, it would be nice to be able to use my right leg. I haven't really had that experience yet with palm muting, but as someone who wears a skirt 95% of the time in summer, it does make playing in front of people a bit tricky......


michelew
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:32 pm

suziko wrote:
Michele- I like to use a strap when playing, but the Martin doesn't have a button strap and i haven't decided if I want one put on it yet. But when I try to play on my right leg now, especially without a strap, I feel like the guitar is slipping all over the place. It just feels so much more secure on my left leg. Still, it would be nice to be able to use my right leg. I haven't really had that experience yet with palm muting, but as someone who wears a skirt 95% of the time in summer, it does make playing in front of people a bit tricky......
As someone that now doesn't own a skirt (with the exception of a sarong I wear over my swimmers), these may not be the most insightful options, but these ideas come to mind:

- learn to play standing up, this will come in handy when you start doing gigs,
- adopt the old Stevie Nicks look - full flowing skirts;
- wear jeans when you think you might be asked to play in front of people (may be a bit hot).

You could put this question to the women members of the community. It could be an interesting thread or poll to hear from more girly members who have to deal with this problem too.

Michele


michelew
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:33 pm

Hi Suzi,
I add my compliments to how you play. Very nice! What jumps out when I see you play is your great posture and quiet left hand position with your thumb staying at home at the back of the neck. How you or anyone does that is inspiring. It is something to try emulating in my playing. Great job.


tovo
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:38 pm

michelew wrote:
You could put this question to the women members of the community. It could be an interesting thread or poll to hear from more girly members who have to deal with this problem too.

Michele
Hey c'mon Shel don't discriminate, I'm sure plenty of guys have thoughts on womens clothing options and in some cases maybe even practical experience!


michelew
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Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:59 pm

tovo wrote:
michelew wrote:
You could put this question to the women members of the community. It could be an interesting thread or poll to hear from more girly members who have to deal with this problem too.

Michele
Hey c'mon Shel don't discriminate, I'm sure plenty of guys have thoughts on womens clothing options and in some cases maybe even practical experience!
Hmmmm... yes the mind boggles at the comments that we might get from those of you that don't have any experience in wearing skirts.

In fact, I was going to suggest that Suzi could also consider adopting Neil's cross-legged guitar position, but now I've got an image of Neil sitting in a Stevie Nicks style skirt (bells attached, bare feet of course) and I'm thinking that the moustache just doesn't work with those bells.


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