What tricky things are you working on?

michelew
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Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:20 pm

More searching questions from me. Hi y'all!

What tricky things are you working on at the moment? They could be songs, techniques, a specific chord change, tricky timing, anything that is making you work harder than normal to make it happen and improve upon it.

I'm making slow progress getting a move to work in Crazy - Seal. I have to barre at least the bottom three strings and then lift and hammer on the third and fourth fingers. Ness makes it look SO easy of course. But initially I couldn't get it to make a sound. I was muting with the fingers instead of hammering. After persisting for a while it's starting to work a little, but I have much more work to do.

What's causing you to work at it?

M


TGNesh
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Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:55 am

Hey Ms. 'Great questions'! ;)

How cool to hear you're working on Crazy! I still regret that I didn't do a play through for that one, which was I think because of lack of time or something. In any way, I would of course love to see you playing it. :)

I'm working on this intro, which is só easy on piano compared to playing it on the guitar. :S I can play it fine now, but there is absolutely no room for any minor whatevers. I gotta land on the strings exactly right everywhere, as in up and down the neck going from 1st, to 7th, to 5th, to 2nd position and back to 7th. Including a few mini barre's, open strings ringing, so I gotta make sure I don't accidently mute them too. And this is just the fretting hand. :blink: It'll probably look easy, but I can assure you, it's not really. :)

Ness

michelew wrote:
More searching questions from me. Hi y'all!

What tricky things are you working on at the moment? They could be songs, techniques, a specific chord change, tricky timing, anything that is making you work harder than normal to make it happen and improve upon it.

I'm making slow progress getting a move to work in Crazy - Seal. I have to barre at least the bottom three strings and then lift and hammer on the third and fourth fingers. Ness makes it look SO easy of course. But initially I couldn't get it to make a sound. I was muting with the fingers instead of hammering. After persisting for a while it's starting to work a little, but I have much more work to do.

What's causing you to work at it?

M


sbutler
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Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:05 am

I've had my fingers crossed (forever)to have a lesson on "Pride and Joy". Now that we have it, I find it's not so easy. So it's become a challenge . Along with "Silver Wheels". Both songs are going to be along term project.

Scott


dottmcse85630
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Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:04 pm

Wichita Lineman for me. Barre chords and timing.

Dennis


fjeanmur
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Sun Jan 22, 2017 8:45 am

Hey Michele,

Boy am I late to this one. "Crazy" is the name of my work is year.

I've been rather eclectic this year, doing a little bit of everything trying not to pigeonhole myself.

I guess the trickiest thing I've been working on is a couple of measures from the last part of Neil's "The Good Life." I kind of abandoned that last part because there was one measure that seemed impossible. At camp, Neil and I went over two of the other parts, but his response to that measure was something like, "Yeah, well . . ." meaning there was no way to get around it.

Well, no sooner did I get back from camp, lo and behold, that measure was now possible. I'm sure it had something to do with another discussion we were having about elbows, arms and shoulders. It's not just the hand.

I've gone back to some other things that were a little too difficult a couple of years ago and working on a couple of things Neil sent me back with. Also Dennis mentioned Vanessa's "Boys of Summer." I had forgotten how much I liked that one, so I think I'll have another look. Also "Crazy" was never on my radar, but now that I watched that lesson, I think I'll line it up. And then . . . ????? Too much! I just might short circuit.

I hope you're having a great start to the new year.


spinland
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Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:20 am

Compared to some of the stuff I've already seen you folks play, "tricky" is a relative term for me. I'm working on "Father and Son" by (duh!) Cat Stevens, and already have the backing tracks cut. I shared here a copy of the raw MIDI practice track I made a while back, which exists only for timing practice.

The tricky part for me is the intro. I can make a chord change from G to C and back again quite crisply, but going to C/G, despite moving fewer fingers, gets my fingers a-jumble and I keep losing the bass G. Then the quick transition to the fingerpicking part, but I'm getting quicker at that. I'm learning (oh, so very slowly) fingerstyle and for this song I'm intent on using hybrid picking to get the intro notes in because I see that as a great way to practice the technique.

Also playing around on the electric with "Thank You" by Led Zeppelin because that is one of the most beautiful songs ever written (IMNSDHO) and I want to sing it so badly over my own playing I can taste it. :silly: For that project the tricksy part (my prrrrrecioussssss) is analyzing the song and working out my own arrangement by ear. I'm making a point not to download any tab for it, it's a practice project for me. The opening Dsus4/Dsus2/D sequence is easy, it's the rest that's, um, interesting. :side:

M


thereshopeyet
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Tue Jan 24, 2017 3:55 pm

:ohmy:



:woohoo:


michelew
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Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:19 pm

Thanks for responding everyone. Sorry I'm late to reply to your contributions.

Ness - OMG if you're having to work at it... then mere mortals like us will need to invest some time to do it justice. :) but it's great to know that there are some things that you need to work at too.

Scott - gosh they would be long, long, long-term projects for me. Have fun and it will be great to hear how you progress.

Dennis - I haven't delved into that lesson myself. But I absolutely hear you on barre chords. I'm working on improving mine too after avoiding them too much for too long.

Jean - a nice list of things there. Isn't it funny how something that was tricky can suddenly become easier when you're approaching it the right way. Thankfully we have two amazing gurus to guide us. I've lost track of the number of times they've helped to simplify something I was struggling with.

Mark - you're so right. Tricky is a relative thing. One of the reasons I posted this thread was to allow people to share their experiences; to allow us all to get some validation as often other people are also finding those same things tricky and can confirm for us that if you just stick with it it will get easier; and to potentially allow people to get some advice that might help them to tackle their tricky issues. You're working on a lot. Keep us posted about how you're going.

Dermot - so.... I'm a bit confused by your post. Are you practicing your scales Lui-style. That would indeed be tricky. ;) I'd suggest starting slowly. If not, What are you specifically working on at the moment that fits the question here?


thereshopeyet
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Thu Jan 26, 2017 3:21 pm

Hello Michele ( one L) :dry: :ohmy: :P

I just thought she was playing something tricky. :S
I'll delete her if you're being a real bad bass player about her !
:silly:


Scales, now there's a thing..... NO ! ....Probably should be mmmmm.
I've just been working on some easier songs with the aim of improving my strumming and chord changes..... any suggestions?
Re-visiting songs I've tried before and some are getting easier, a slow process for me but I'm having fun ;)

Dermot


michelew
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Thu Jan 26, 2017 5:45 pm

Hey Dermot! Thanks for the clarification. Yeh they're all great things to be working on of course.

No need to delete the video. I was simply a little puzzled as to whether your tricky missions related to Lui's playing style. Lui is amazing of course.

While it isn't hard to be a better bass player than me, I think you mean bad-ass. Yeh that's me, I'm very scary. :P

Thanks for sharing what you're up to.

M


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