rapsidy norwegian wood/ H rising sun guitar lesson review upload

[rapsidy]

G day viewers !

Its been awhile since my subscription elapsed and being a poor student i couldnt afford to renew it UNTIL my wifes tax check came yes :woohoo:

These are some songs im working on, and r quite challenging for me. I get a little disapointed when you put hours and hours of practice and you dont seem to get the rewards you like. I hope this is normal?? or that could be the difference between talent and hard work. It takes longer.

Any hints and help welcome

thanks

Brad

[tovo]

Hey Brad.

Great to see that you have renewed the subscription. Sure, it takes us mere mortals a bit longer to pick things up. So what? Nothing worthwhile comes easy mate.

OK, if there is one song in the entire Target program I am well qualified to comment on, it's Norwegian Wood. Your issue with this one mate is that you need to keep the right hand moving in order to keep the timing. It took me a LOT of practice to get it, but it does come. Secondly, you are too heavy on the strumming, lighten it up. This is Neil's "gotcha" tune. He has put it in at a 2 so that you think it will be easy to conquer. Not so my friend! Keep at it. If you want some good help, troll back to all the advice I got on it and you will be well on your way. Good luck with it.

House of the Rising Sun is a great 1st up finger-picking tune, it's the one I chose. Again, finger-picking is a matter of repetition. More emphasis on the 1st note and keep practicing it. It will come.

I enjoy your self-deprecating manner Brad, but don't get too down on yourself. It's not easy this stuff. Keep at it mate and most of all listen to the advice that is coming your way from dudes who know. If you do that, you can't help but improve.

Cheers.

[willem]

Brad,happy for you your back on the supscription,,not so happy that you destroyed the songs..lol.(i mean it funny to),,now 'm i not the one who can write great suggestions and tips,,but i look to myself what i discover and learn,,you play heavy,,maybe you can hit the strings lighter by changing your angle/plectrum to to strings(not almost 90 degree's to the strings)(more 45 degree's)(back and forth) and just hit lighter on the strummings the melody you can do some heavy'r and you can put on more strumming's on the strummings..your on your way on NW,,
FoR THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN,,Just keep practicing,,maybe one suggestion,do not think at a wals,,its more a kind of bleus 1! 2 3 4! 5 6..AcCENT on one and four..keep it goin,,,

[michelew]

Hi Brad. It's great that you're able to come back. The only way to improve it to just keep playing.

I learned Norwegian Wood too recently and it is much harder than the 2 rating suggests. You're doing much better than you're giving yourself credit for. It is very recognisable, just choppy.

You definitely need to lighten up on your strumming and changing the angle of your pick might help as Willem suggested. I recommend that you actually shorten your strum arc too so that you can get back to the picking more easily (it will probably soften it too). Think about strumming from your wrist more than your arm.

I also recommend that you practice the melody section until you have it completely memorised and can do it in your sleep. Don't even worry about the strumming bits inside the melody section until you've got it and can do it easily. Just put in long melody notes. Once you've got that down, add the strumming bits in within the melody but remember that you just need to strum the top 3 strings so it can be fairly light. You can work on the Dm/G/Dm/Em7/A section separately, just concentrate on keeping it light and smooth. You can experiment with strumming a different number of strings to change the sounds too.

Once you've got the two sections down well put them together, but slow it all down to the speed of your slowest section. That will most likely be your melody section. Once it is all at the same speed and all working properly you can speed it up slowly, until it is smooth keep it all slow.

It's a fun song. Keep at it. You'll nail it before you know it.

Your 'House of the Rising Sun' is coming along nicely. It would help to lighten up the picking too. Your fingers actually don't need to move as far as you think. Having nails helps too.

You're doing great. Keep it up.

Michele

[AcousticAl]

Brad,

Well done on both songs. It's great that you're putting up 'in progress' pieces, as that's how you'll get the most help on TG.

First off- don't discount the fact that you can BOTH sing AND play at the same time! This is a huge step that many of us haven't made yet.

Try to relax both your strumming and fingerpicking. It's tough with the camera on, but relaxing both will help your sound.

Something in particular I noticed was a change you had trouble with in 'Norwegian Wood'. Going from Dm to G. One thing I've found easier with this song was to change how I finger the G to using ALL FOUR fingers. (See the G-fingering in 'Hide Your Love Away' for example).
So when you finger the G like that in 'Norwegian Wood'- you leave your ring finger ANCHORED on the 3rd fret of the B-string between chords. It acts as a pivot point and makes for a smooth change.

Hope some of this helps.

[rapsidy]

tony- thanks for advice i was just a bit down on how many hours i have put in to where im at, was just wondering if others felt same way. I was brought up to not take yourself too seriously and to learn to laugh at yourself, that way you dont get offended i will look at your threads and advice, i also wanted to leave a progress VID. There is a common theme running through response Im HEAVY handed lol. It is an issue I have as i dont know how hard to strum obviously a lot less :unsure: I will def work on that.

Willem- I think i strum too heavy , I know i must be improving as i am underrstanding the advice people are giving more, good tip 1 2 3 4

Michele was that choppy or chopin? ok choppy will start strumming with the wrist, im getting less is more?? I really like your break it up advice and the way to do it will definately do that thanks. lol i cut me nails off as i thought they would get in the way kept hitting the wrong strings, thanks for in depth reply, i got plenty out of it

Al thanks- i do struggle with that chord change as well as Dm- Em7. The G i use i just copy of Neils lesson and thought if i used the one you suggest (which u r right would be easier)there maybe repercussions if you know what i mean and i will TRY and relax the strumming. Appreciate the tips

[Lavallee]

HI Brad,
First of all, great work! None of this is easy! I was a kid/teenager when these songs first burst onto the scene, so they are set deep into my core of music consciousness. They are both on my list for going back and doing them correctly.

You are well on your way. You have already received excellent advise on technique. Spend some more time with just freely strumming in a relaxed rhythmic way. Your "House" is going to be first rate. You have a fine voice, and you have a winning personality that shines through the camera. HOTRS is what probably got 90 per cent of my generation started on finger picking. Keep going, mate!

[Lavallee]

Hi Brad , glad to see a new video. I think both songs are coming up nicely. I congratulate your singing and I envy you to be able to do it, I just can't. You have receive nice comments before but I would like to add that in Norwegian woods, you could practice the bass notes only without strumming (not sure if this what Michele was referring to).
You could use the "play it slower" video Neil does in the lesson and play along with him just doing the bass notes as the challenge I find is to have the notes ringing as long as possible. Right now you hit the bass notes but some of them get muted because you are moving your fingers a little fast to keep up with the tempo. Same thing with the house of the rising sun, because you sing, you want to keep the speed up, but should try it way slower and not sing when practicing again to give you time to switch chords without muting the strings.

Don't worry about taking some time to learn a song. I have a song that I have practicing for a year + and still not there but it is improving, it always does. Sometimes you feel you are stock and then suddenly there is progression (moments of satisfaction).

Keep up the good work

Marc

[dekotaj]

Bravo!!Brad,on both your songs,I really enjoy you videos.I for one think you might have one of the best natural singing voices on this site.I like to sing(Hum)while I play,helps to keep things in time for me.Sounds like it helps you to.Good job on both.Dont know if this will help with you finger picking but it helped me when I started to try finger picking.When I first started it seemed the chord changes came so fast,so I started to play each chord twice.It helped me learn the pattern a little faster and help me with the chord changes,not coming to fast.Then when I got it down change back to the way the songs is meant to go.If your really wanting to finger pick,I would highly recommend Hectors finger picking exercises.Great stuff.

Thank for the post

Kevin

[suziko]

Brad,

You've already had lots of good advice from the previous commenters, so I won't add anything to that. I will say that these are great songs to begin with. You learn techniques in both of these songs (in NW: picking out individual notes while strumming, in HotRS: the steady arpeggio) that carry through to many, many other songs. Getting these really smooth will make it so much easier to play other songs well. You're doing a good job. It's great that you're persevering. It takes me a long time to learn new songs too. And, frankly, I still can't play Norwegian Wood well!

Suzi