Ever have a mental block on a song?

[Minotaur]

Something you just can't get past? What did/do you do about it if it happened to you?

Since the time I picked up the guitar again 3 years ago, I have had an absolutely hard time with the little riff in the intro and verses of Imagine, i.e. the A A# B (single notes) to Cmaj transition. The whole passage is

C...Cmaj7...Fmaj7......B |----------0--|
..............................G |--2--h3-----| back to Cmaj. Instead of the open B string t could also be 3rd string 4th fret, but the problem for me is the same. It's the hammer on. Total mental block.

Most people play it as a hammer on to the A#, release it quickly then play the B note. Unless you release the A# hammer quickly and not let it ring, it sounds really nasty ringing while the B rings. John Lennon plays it on piano as an arpeggio. So what's so great about the hammer on?

Maybe I should stop trying to work so hard at playing it the same way "everybody else" does. Maybe it's am unconscious resistance to playing it the way "everybody else" does. Funny enough, JL plays it in his acoustic version without the riff.

This is probably about the only mental block I have in playing anything. Maybe I'm trying the riff too fast, but I just seem to have an aversion to that hammer on.

Lately I've been picking out songs from my iTunes list and books, and chords off the 'net of songs I like and getting through them start to finish not bad on the first run through. So I can't blame it completely on my suckage as a guitar player.

What a hobby!

[rick-slo]

Hmm. It sounds better with the B on the open B string so it rings while moving to the C chord.
To keep the A# from lingering over the B note as part of the hammer to A# try lifting the index
finger at the same time, do the hammer with the ring finger, and go for the C chord shape while
hitting the open B note.

[Minotaur]

Thanks. Yes I do that (or try to). I'm working on it now and I just realized I am not hammering the A# hard enough, and/or lifting it off too fast so it doesn't step on the B. I am over-concentrating and just going too fast. I slowed it down and it is a lot better. I think when I was learning it, it stuck in my head when my teacher said not to linger on the A#. So I try to rush through it.

[ocmcook]

i do mostly flat picking and if i find a run or rif that doesn't seem to work for me i change it to something that does flow better for me. doesn't work for an exact cover but i am not fussy

[Chordpounder]

Originally Posted by ocmcook

i do mostly flat picking and if i find a run or rif that doesn't seem to work for me i change it to something that does flow better for me. doesn't work for an exact cover but i am not fussy

amen. I spend most of my "new music" time taking my old 60's chord books and finding where they flow for me, too! It usually means a key change, and finding how to use as many of the 14 frets as I can. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has moved to Em for me in the last couple months so I can hit an Abm up on 11 with little buzzing. "Here, There, and Everywhere" just moved to C.

To me, it's not much about an exact copy, because I just ain't that good. It's about fitting the most of the song where my fingers can hit 'em.

It feels sooooo good when I make it fit. "I Will" is my latest.

Oh yeah. I wonder if I'll ever get over my Beatles addiction!

And to the OP, I get mental blocks all the time. For me, the key to to play more slowly. Crank that metronome back to 2nd grade!

Richard in Neenach, California