Here's what I'm giving Freddie Mercury for his birthday

dennisg
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Mon Oct 03, 2011 2:00 pm

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to send a thanks to all of you who took the time to view this video, and especially to those who left a supportive comment. It's impossible to know what people are really like from watching their videos, but I have to tell you that Shelby's a special girl -- sweet and loving, hilariously funny, and immensely talented at so many things. She was in Seattle to do a tour of the local colleges, and she was (as always) excited to get the chance to sing and play music with her uncle. Now, on to specific comments:

MarkM: You got that right, brother. Every time I do a video with Shelby, I thank my lucky stars that I have a permanent (I hope) record of our time together. Since Shelby's father (my brother) passed away, it's been more important than ever for us to spend time together. And it doesn't ever seem to matter what we do with the time -- just hanging out with each other is hugely rewarding. Thanks for your supportive comments, pal.

Tony: Shelby has a great voice, but this song probably doesn't show it to its best advantage -- mostly because the song isn't in her natural vocal range and because she'd just learned the song and wasn't yet confident with it. All that aside, I couldn't be more proud of the job she did. I'm just sorry that the tone of my guitar gets torpedoed by my very disappointing sound system. I've got to change that before I do another video. I appreciate your support, Tony.

Willem: I'm a huge Queen fan, too, and I'd love to see some of their songs turned into lessons. "Crazy little thing called love"? Maybe soon. Maybe soon.

Chris: Thanks. I'd love to do more songs with Shelby, but due to her school issues, it's very difficult to get her up here.

Bob: It's so nice of you to say that. Thank you.

Craig: It's one of the real joys in my life to get together and make music with Shelby. Thanks.

Dave: I hope to see a lot more videos of the two of us, too. Thanks for your comment.

Nessa: This is a song I learned about 18 months ago, discovered I absolutely could not sing it, and just gave up on it. When I knew Shelby was coming up, I relearned the song and hoped she could (and wanted to) sing it. Thank you so much for your comments. I always love your enthusiasm.

Marc: Yours isn't the first comment that's referred to my "hybrid" picking. I would love to answer your question, but I honestly don't know what hybrid picking is. For many of the songs I do, I rarely have a plan for how I'm going to play them. Yes, the intro needed to be nailed down pretty tightly, but once the singing starts, I just sort of free-form my playing. Sometimes I travis pick. Sometimes it's straight arpeggios. And sometimes just strumming. I almost never think about which of those is going to occur at any given time -- mostly I just do it by feel. And thanks so much for your support.

Jim: I appreciate you taking the time to watch the video. Thanks.

Pierre: I always love your posts. Yeah, for the most part, I've abandoned my pinky anchoring -- not that that it's resulted in me using my ring finger any more than I did. Oh well, one thing at a time, eh? You're right that Shelby is an extremely quick study; she was able to learn this completely unknown song in a way that I could never have learned it. Yes, we moved away from Southern California, in part, because of the heat. In fact, the word heat doesn't quite convey what you experience down there. It was more like Dante's Inferno.

Rick: I appreciate it, as always.

Scott: Thanks very much. Since you mentioned that you'd like to hear Shelby do something she's more comfortable with, here's the song we recorded last year, when she was 15. Last year's song -- "Crazy" -- suited her voice much more than "Love of My Life." Wally makes a guest appearance in that video, too.

http://www.totallyguitars.com/forum/86- ... html#52815

Reiver: Wow, Stu, thanks. She is really a trooper for agreeing to learn this complex song.

Andy: Nice to hear from you. I appreciate the comments.

Tom: Hey, thanks. Shelby's pretty good at making singing look effortless. Me? Blood vessels on my forehead would be bursting.

Dermot: Thanks so much. Very nice of you.

Michele: You're so sweet! Thanks so much for telling me this song put a smile on your face. Just hearing that puts a smile on my face.

Suzi: Can you believe that Wally? Always hogging the spotlight. Thank you so much for your very nice comments. This song was both challenging and fun to learn.


willem
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Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:12 pm

I really confess now that you put on a fire in me with this tune,,it would be nice to have a lesson on this,,saw it in recommend a lesson and it has just 4 votes,,so i search also on the tube and find one very nice to get a bit comfort with it,,,i also work on CLTCL and find it not so difficult the hard part is to get it up on speed and find it nice to put two power chords on the lyrics''crazy litlle thing called love'' as well some bass walks...but you say ''very soon'' so i will wait,,,MMmmmm OR NOT..LOL


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skaladar
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Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:15 pm

Sorry for being so late at commenting on this Dennis. For me, the up side to being late is I was treated to two excellent videos featuring you and Shelby and the down side is I can’t do much more than agree with all the wonderful comments that have already been posted. You two really make a great team and that is very special. It’s a bit of a shame that distance and schedules prevent you from spending time together more often ... both musically and otherwise. I’ve watched both videos a few times now and for every second I wore a smile from ear to ear. Great performances by both of you. I’m sure you are proud and very deservedly so.

Thanks for sharing your time together with us :-)

♫ Ken ♫


Chasplaya
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Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:44 pm

Absolutely fantastic Dennis and Shelby what a team Like Wally's brief cameo lol! I note your comment about hybrid picking, that it kinda just happens what a talent, I wish that would come to me like that.


dennisg
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Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:21 pm

Willem: I know what you mean -- sometimes you get a song in your brain and it starts digging little holes in there until you do something about it, something like learning the song. I think I know which YouTube video you're referring to. That's the one I used as a guide to learn the song. Good luck with it.

Ken: It is a shame that Shelby and I don't get to see each very often. I'm pretty sure if we lived near each other, I'd be slapping up a video with her at least every month. And, yes, I'm enormously proud of her -- and her singing is the least of the reasons why. Thanks for you support.

Chas: That Wally is a little camera slut! He just seems to magically appear every time I do a video. Funny thing is that he normally runs out of the room when I start playing and singing -- except when the camera's rolling. By the way, I still have no idea what hybrid picking is.


Chasplaya
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Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:26 pm

dennisg wrote:
[quote By the way, I still have no idea what hybrid picking is.[/quote]

Check out Neils lesson on Greg Lakes 'I Believe In Father Christmas' this has a good example of hybrid picking essentially a combo of pick and fingers. Greg Lake up-sizes lol!


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