Tracy Chapman For You by michelew

[michelew]

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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[sbutler]

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

[TGNesh]

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

I'll get back to you! :cheer:

Nessa

[TGNesh]

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

[michelew]

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!