who wants to join a friendly "learn an new song" challenge?

[TBman]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Can't wait to hear how it goes Barry.

Its got a good groove to it. I think it will be slow going for a couple of weeks and then I might be able to take off with it. I've been watching some guys play it, (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King tear it up) and some other people, including some on piano. Its a neat little tune and everyone brings something different to the table. Its interesting to go through Youtube watching other performers and how they make the song their own.

I'll be happy if I can play it and someone can recognize what it is,

[UncleJoe]

I've been hesitant about this but decided, what the heck.

I started working on the Queen song; 39, from Night at the Opera. I played around with it a bit back in the 80's but didn't put much effort into it. Last week I decided to take the time to really learn it. I've got the basic structure of the intro so far. Needs a lot of smoothing out. I just keep repeating it and it seems the more times I loop through it the worse it gets.

So after an hour or so per night for a week, this is what I have. I think I'm going to record it once a week to listen for progress. I'll also start adding the verses and then work in the lyrics.

Spent some time working out a chorus of my own. I put something sorta interesting together and recorded it on my phone so I don't forget it by tomorrow. I'll keep working on it as I go along but I like what I have. I just need to learn how to play it with the alternating bass!

[TBman]

My looper is getting one heck of a work out. The one part that felt impossible at first is almost there at 3/4 speed.

Thank goodness I recorded the chorus I arranged on my cell phone 2 nights ago because it was gone from my head last night. Played through the first two verses without errors and then went to work learning how play my chorus. Maybe I shouldn't have written something hard! Needs more work but I still like what I wrote.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Thank goodness I recorded the chorus I arranged on my cell phone 2 nights ago because it was gone from my head last night. Played through the first two verses without errors and then went to work learning how play my chorus. Maybe I shouldn't have written something hard! Needs more work but I still like what I wrote.

Cell phone video is a life saver, lol

Had a free hour last night so I worked on the new song. Realized I was playing a part of the second verse wrong. Argh. I was playing 6-4-6-6-6-4... in the bass when it's supposed to be straight 6-4-6-4-6-4... Finally played it right after a lot of effort then worked on the part I wrote. It's getting smoother. Still can't play all three verses together yet.

How are the rest of you guys doing?

Not much time to work on the new song (my son's soccer game tonight). BUT after trying it multiple times I played it all the way through without a mistake, including the verse I arranged. Very happy. Now to smooth it out and record it.

Anybody else want to post an update? I'd love to hear how you're doing.

[LeftArm]

Hi Doug (and everyone else).
I've been away since the weekend so haven't had a chance to get near the guitar. A quick run through "after you've gone" this morning is getting better and I can now begin to see the more troublesome parts. I'll try to concentrate on these going forward as well as some of the chord changes that jump up and down the fretboard.
It feels like slow progress at the moment but I haven't given it enough time yet and I often find that after a while something will click with a tune and it will come together quite quickly. After that only the challenge of the recording.

[LeftArm]

I'm a long way off "all the way through without a mistake"!

Originally Posted by LeftArm

Hi Doug (and everyone else).
I've been away since the weekend so haven't had a chance to get near the guitar. A quick run through "after you've gone" this morning is getting better and I can now begin to see the more troublesome parts. I'll try to concentrate on these going forward as well as some of the chord changes that jump up and down the fretboard.
It feels like slow progress at the moment but I haven't given it enough time yet and I often find that after a while something will click with a tune and it will come together quite quickly. After that only the challenge of the recording.

Sometimes going slow isn't necessarily a bad thing. I tend to rush things and get my expectations too high. And I too find recording challenging.

Originally Posted by LeftArm

I'm a long way off "all the way through without a mistake"!

Nobody is more surprised than I was that I got it right!

[TBman]

I get better results when I practice a song in slow motion. I memorize things better this way and builds the muscle memory a lot faster. The only thing with doing this is when you get up close or at performance speed there are some positioning tweeks that we all need to do, so you have to practice slowwww and then try to do it a lot faster to see what those tweeks are going to be.

Not a lot of time for guitar last night but I did play the new song through without mistakes a couple of times. Thinking about recording it this weekend.

Well I recorded it warts and all. Here's the link to the show and tell thread:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=395192