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Hi everyone,

This is a beautiful song by Tracy Chapman. I still need to work on it. I know I need to play it a million times to get everything working properly, but here is my progress. I can sing it by itself, play it by itself, even do the two together OK. Put me in front of the camera and all of my weaknesses are highlighted.

There’s a line in the chorus “look at me losing control...”. How apt. When i sing it I lose concentration almost every time and something goes out the window; the percussive strumming, my singing, the words, ... something. Oh well, good thing this is a learning site. I think it’s because I’m concentrating to ensure I lift my wrist a bit so I can put my pinky flat against the strings and release the tension a little to mute them. I actually particularly enjoy the percussive strumming in this, even though it’s not automatic yet.

I actually considered doing a poll about playing in front of the camera with all of the options being some degree of the camera SUCKS! I whinged to Nessa instead... Thanks for the therapy Ness.


All comments and advice welcome.

Thanks for the lesson Nessa. I’ve really enjoyed learning it.



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FOR You too!

Bravo Chel, very well done. You relaxed more on this song than any I've seen you do. The picking/playing was crisp and sharp. Excellent job. No guff. The first thing that captured my attention was how accurately you played.

Ya got my vote for sure.

Scott

Now thát was a $#%@$#$@% fantastic surprise this morning!!!! :woohoo:

I'll get back to you! :cheer:

Nessa

Well Shel, what can I say, wrote it in the other thread as well, just LOVED to see you play this and just thrilled that you've learned a song from one of my lessons!!! :cheer: :woohoo:

You make the fingerpicking look SO easy!! And you did just great playing and singing it all together!! As for the muting, I was only wondering if you were also releasing the strings with your left hand, I couldn't really tell from the video.

In any way, again, I just LOVED to see this this morning, SUCH a nice surprise! AWESOME job Shel!!!! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

Nessa

Scott and Nessa thank you B)

Scott - more relaxed you say. Well that's a good thing. Yeh! Hopefully the outside appearance will percolate through to the inside at some point and I will actually be relaxed. I was extra careful with the placement of my fingers because it's such a beautiful song (and because Teach sees and hears poor notes instantly ). The ringing notes really add to the beauty of the song. You'd do a sensational version of this. I hope your shoulder is healing up nicely. Thanks for the sweet word.

Nessa - well getting FOUR seriously fabulous comments from you is &$&?#{%#¥ FANTASTIC!!!! I never get enough of it and it makes the camera woes worth it. I LOVE that I surprised you and your reaction just blows me away. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're the sweetest friend anyone could have.

TGVanessa - (yes any excuse to use your new name) Thanks for the question about releasing the pressure while muting, in truth I don't know if I'm doing it in the video, but I do release when playing it off camera. On camera there's just too many things happening in my head and I get distracted. I love the sound of the percussive strumming. It's very cool. Thanks for helping me to get it down. I'll keep working on it until I no longer need to think about it. Thanks Teach!