webostick learning Norwegian Wood v1 guitar lesson

BigBear
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Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:40 pm

Thanks everyone for your comments and advise.

Point number one -- It is clear that you all call to a higher standard, and I'm not going to maintain my old sloppy playing habits. "Can't get away with #%&@!" ;) It is going to be a real challenge to not use my thumb to wrap up and over to mute the 6th and 5th string. Probably a compensation for inaccurate string striking on my strumming. It's been easier to mute with the thumb and flail away rather than to get the pick to the correct bass string.

Point number two --- Slow it down! Message received loud and clear. I had no idea I was going too fast for comfort.
Thanks Bob, Tony, Chas, Willem, Brad, Chris, BigBear.

Willem, thanks, capo at second fret it will be.

MarkM -- yes, that thing I do on the G chord is just a blues type bass line. I can drop it if is annoying. Just something I sort of felt a natural thing my fingers want to go to. Not at all in keeping with the recording.

BigBear wrote:
- slow down!! You are playing at an almost frantic pace! This song has a rolling, bouncy feel that requires extra emphasis on the first note of each measure.

I might add that you should work hard on getting your left thumb behind the neck and not on top of it. Neil has several lessons on this bad habit that we've all had to break! Your turn! lol! Seriously, I had the exact problem you are having until I improved my hand position and it just went away! It's always the simplest things that have the greatest impact.

If you rotate your wrist down a little and form a gap under the neck and your palm you will not get all those clanker, dead notes. This is really important when picking out melody notes with your pinky!

I really liked your alternate chording on the chorus but at the speed you are playing it's getting the better of you and causing several missed chords. It would be better at this point to forget the embellishment and just focus on the Dm-G-Dm-Em7-Am7 standard version (as I recall from my desk).

I think it's critical that accuracy always wins out over speed. You can play this song dead slow while getting the melody perfect before you increase the tempo.
:
Thanks BigBear. Nothing escapes your attention. So many years of ingrained bad habits. I know the advantages of correct hand posture, but when I try even elementary chord shifts doing it the correct way it feels like my fingers have gone blind, and don't know where to find the place they need to go. Just my complaints, and resistance to change. I will make an effort, but it feels like I am going back to a very unskilled and elementary place in my ability to play.

Thanks to all for your help.


Lavallee
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Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:17 pm

Hi Wally , you are a good player and a hard worker. Changing the habits are certainly as difficult as when you start as you get the feeling of going back so far and not progressing . I also had tons of them (still have)but it has improved since I joined TG thanks to Neil and TGers patient reminders. It is a good investment to work on the new way of doing things, as you were saying.

Marc


BigBear
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Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:55 am

webostick wrote:
Thanks BigBear. Nothing escapes your attention. So many years of ingrained bad habits. I know the advantages of correct hand posture, but when I try even elementary chord shifts doing it the correct way it feels like my fingers have gone blind, and don't know where to find the place they need to go. Just my complaints, and resistance to change. I will make an effort, but it feels like I am going back to a very unskilled and elementary place in my ability to play.

Thanks to all for your help.

Wally- the best thing about this site is we've all been there. I watch a lot of pretty good guitar players and last night I was watching this guy named Gilmour and he used an absolute baseball bat grip. This is almost universal with electric players. But I think they are playing an entirely different style of music that doesn't demand the accuracy of serious finger style or classical.

But, and this is huge for me, when I have problems playing chords and melody it's almost always related to hand position. My old, knarled hands just aren't very flexible anymore so I need all the help I can get!

You're doing fantastic, don't sweat the small stuff! :cheer:


RicksPick
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Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:21 am

Hello Again Wally

Wow you are working hard, good to see,dedication to improve and you are.
So well done keep it up.
To change things can seem to be a step back at times but once done there is a big jump foward too.

RicksPick


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