Any tips for this playing this little-known acoustic gem?

[Tine]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum, but my questions stretch back over 12 years.

In 2001 I bought a guitar magazine with a piece by Nick Harper, I tried to learn parts of it but I eventually gave up. It's great and you can hear it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVVJfv-vbSE

Now I've stumbled across both the audio and sheet music online, and I'm thinking of giving it another try. The sheet music is here:
http://www.harperspace.com/nick-harp...-space-01.html

But, possible obstacles are:

1. I'm not sure if it's been tabbed out by the magazine 100% accurately.

2. I'm still not sure I have the technique and speed.

So, an example of the first issue is in the main riff, which starts on page 12. It uses octaves, but another note is added in on the 3rd string. It first appears at fret 2, then to fret 1 and back to fret 2. So I think it plays A - G# - A, whilst the octave notes are C - B - C. But I'm not sure if this sounds right when I play it.

Now to (2.) technique.

On the penultimate page, on bars 5 to 7 we have a quick flurry of notes with double stop pull-offs from strings 2 and 3 (frets 3 and 2) to open strings.

Does anyone have any tips for pulling this off (excuse the pun)?

I think it is probably down to getting the rhythm in the right hand right (so sorry about the puns...). So would anyone have any advice, maybe on counting this rhythm, and how to structure up and down picks? And again, has this part been tabbed accurately, in the rhythm and the notes given?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[jersey]

Wow, that is one busy song! I'm afraid it's above my pay grade, but I would advise you to follow the notation as best you can, and as you go, compare the written music with what you hear and see if it's correct. Even if the notation is not perfect, following it will still get you most of the way there.

[JonPR]

I wouldn't dare touch that...

All I can recommend is download a copy of Transcribe and try and take the tune apart yourself. At least you have that tab already as a guide, and can zero in on any sections you feel might not be quite right.

That's what I'd do if I was interested. Unfortunately I'm not.... (not enough to spend the hours - or days - it would take to confirm/correct the tab, or the weeks/months/years it would take me to learn to play the thing. My life is too short for that...)
http://www.seventhstring.com/

[Bern]

This is some 'sick' tune...
My advise, learn something else.
Some music can only be played by the original composer. Even if you come close to it, it will be your interpretation at best.

[Silly Moustache]

Q1. Why do you want to copy this single version of this obviously self composed Harper piece ?

Q2. If you really find something special in it (I dolt) why not just make up your own version?

Q3. It sounds as if a lot of it is extemporised to me - so why not make up one of your own compositions - they can be in this style if you really like it.

It worries me that so many people think that there is a right way/wrong way to do a piece which was "made up" by someone in the past - and that may be a modern piece like this or something from the American Song book.

Even "classical" pieces sound different when performed by different musicians.

Your own compositions are the best way for you to develop, but if you need to cover someone else's music - which we all do to a greater or lesser extent, then do it your way and make it your own.

I am very dubious about considering tablature the way forward - it is mechanical, not musical.

Use your ears, your hands, and your heart.

[Scallywag]

Crazy tune. In this case I must disagree with the "make up your own version" suggestions. There's nothing wrong with doing that...but there is no better way to progress on guitar than by learning pieces exactly as they were intended/played by the composer/performer. It's challenging but extremely rewarding to reproduce each and every nuance of a composition, particularly one as technically challenging as this. No, it won't sound completely 100% identical to the recording... but that's not the point. The more you dig in the more you'll take away from the experience.

[rogthefrog]

That's a nice tune, I didn't know Nick Harper, so thanks for sharing.

I assume the tab shows the tuning. This tune sounds like the high and low E strings are tuned down. If the tab is in standard tuning it'll be tricky.

IME the hardest part is the very fast rhythmic right-hand strums. Everything else is pretty simple. The key it to stay in time, and keeping the beat. It'd be OK to play this song more slowly if you never lose the "1", as opposed to faster but with a sloppy beat. So my recommendation is to tap with your foot while you learn the pull-off and the strumming patterns, very slowly, making sure you keep a strong "1", then gradually going faster.

I mean very slowly. You should be able to tap your foot with the beat subdivided enough that each note has a foot tap. Like one-ee-and-uh, two-ee-and-uh, three-ee-and-uh, four-ee-and-uh with one foot tap per syllable. That will allow you to align your playing precisely to the time.