I'm trying something new

[rico47635]

I am trying something new. I have always liked Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly", but have never tried to learn it because it's considered a song for women to sing. After settling that internal argument with myself, I have embarked on learning how to play it. Getting the chords down was fairly easy, and I can strum away while I sing it. That part is no problem. What's new is that I would like to do more than just strum along while singing it. I'd like to add some life to the way I play it. I'm finding this to be more difficult than I thought. Please bear with me as I explain what I am doing. I have never done this before, am too chicken to make a recording, and will explain it as best as I can so you can hear what I am doing in your head. I play the song with a capo on the first fret, using these chords--Am7, D, G, Em, B7, C, A, E, and a modified Fmaj7with the A string fretted at the third fret.

This is what I've come up with thus far: I start the song off by playing the notes of the chorus around the middle of the neck. Just notes, no chords. I am leaving a beat here and there out (for effect), and add the slightest bit of vibrato here and there. I play it a little slower than normal tempo and use the neck pickup with the tone turned all the way down, to give it a mellow jazzy kind of feel.

Then, I play through the following chords at normal tempo, in what I think is called arpeggio (I strum the chord and then play the bottom three strings twice followed by the bottom two). Am7, D, G, Em, Am7, D, Em, Am7, D, G, B7.

I then go into the first verse, strumming the chords with a Latin feel to them. Am7, D, G, Em, Am7, D, Em, Am7, D, G, B7.

Then comes the chorus. Em, Am, D, G, Em, A, D, C, G, C, Fmaj7, E.

The idea is to keep the structure of the song similar to her version, but I want to make it my own.


The song sounds perfect--IN MY HEAD. I can picture it in my head. I can hear it in my head. I just can't seem to play it with my hands. I am having quite a bit of trouble getting everything to flow together. It hasn't been every day, but I have been working on this for over a month now. I'm trying to move my playing to another level. Is it this difficult for all but the most talented among us to move our playing beyond simple strumming? Am I going to go through this with every song I try play in a way other than strumming through the chords? I need some advice. What can you suggest. Sorry for the long post.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by rico47635

I play it a little slower than normal tempo and use the neck pickup with the tone turned all the way down, to give it a mellow jazzy kind of feel.

Hey, this is an acoustic guitar forum, get outa here!

Seriously, it's hard to advise without (a) hearing what you're doing now, and (b) knowing the sound you want. But here's my $0.02 anyway...

I've played this song myself (backing a female singer), and a lot of the difficulty (IMO) is the slow tempo, and getting a good rhythmic feel at that speed. It's not like some ballads, where you can sometimes be a little loose with the timing; this needs to be precise, IMO.

Behind the vocal, you can (and should) keep it simple; the attention needs to be on the lyrics, and the vocal delivery. It's in the gaps between vocal phrases - and maybe at chord changes - where a little more detail can be welcome.

One thing you can do to improve the feel is add 7ths to the chords - this can help the changes flow, and also (occasionally) helps reflect the melody. Here's the chords I use (staying with your key):

| Am7 | D9 |Gmaj7 |Cmaj7 (sweeter than Em),
| Am7 | D9 | Em(add9) | Em |
| Am7 | D9 | G | B7

| Em7 | Am7 | D7 | Gmaj7 |
| Em | A7 | D | Cmaj7 |
| Gmaj7 | C | Fmaj7(#11) | Fmaj7 | E(maj7?) |E(maj7) |

That last Emaj7 is technically out of key - it should be E7, to lead back to Am, but it does make for a nice surprise, at least at the end of the song.*

The Fmaj7(#11) can be played like this:
-0-
-0- ... (add 1st fret with index on beat 2 or 3)
-2- middle
-3- pinky
-3- ring
-1- thumb
The point of the open 2nd string (B, #11) is it's the opening melody note which resolves down to A ("soft-ly"). You could leave the 2nd string open all the way to the E chord if you wanted.

The 9ths on the D9 and Emadd9 are also just there to echo important melody notes, so don't have to always be there. The D9 could be played as Dsus2; the 7th isn't critical.
Notice not all the chords have 7ths - sometimes the plain triad works better (that's an aural judgement, usually dependent on what the melody is doing).

Of course, some of these shapes can present additional complications for the left hand, and it's important not to introduce new hurdles to get in your way! Try them to see if you like the sound, but the extra work involved may not be worth it.

Right-hand wise, I'd probably use some kind of fingerpicking rather than a flat pick. Sometimes I'd be picking 3 or 4 strings simultaneously, for a full chord, otherwise I'd be arpeggiating - in a random mix of quarter notes and 8ths, nothing too busy. But it's communicating that steady half-time pulse that I think is critical to this song. IOW, if you regard each chord as lasting one 4/4 bar, then the beats are on 1 and 3, 3 being the offbeat.

In fact, a cute jazzy trick for the end of the song - if you can handle it - is to make the Fmaj7 into a very jazzy F7(#11), which resolves neatly down to Emaj7, or E6:

-x----0----
-0----2----
-2----1----
-1----2----
-3----2---
-1----0----

The F7#11 is a bit "whoah!", doomy and dramatic, and the E6 is then a sweet resolution. (You've got to be really on top of this technically - and believe in it - to make it work.)

[mr. beaumont]

Why capo?

I find jazzy/latin rhythms much easier to play with without open strings ringing around...this tune needs a little funk, a little soul to it...I would approach it with a fingers/pick+fingers style as opposed to strumming too...

Just a few thoughts.

[rico47635]

Jon, thanks. You sure gave me quite a bit to digest. I will most definitely try your suggestions. And you are correct. With this song the emphasis is usually on the vocals. My idea is to put a little more emphasis on the guitar, mainly because I am a guy and I'm trying to make it more of a guy song. You know, make it more a song about a man going to hear someone play who is blown away by the guitar playing moreso than a song focused on the intensity of a woman's emotions. There are parts of the lyrics that make this kind of difficult, like the part about finding letters and reading each one out loud. What guy writes letters and who would he write them to, himself? lol It's just that I've always loved this song and felt that more emphasis needs to be put on the guitar. Once I get things flowing a little more smoothly maybe I will make a recording and post it. BTW, I've played it on my steel string, my classical, and my electric. I don't like the way it sounds on my dreadnought at all, I like the way it sounds on my classical, and I really like how much easier it is to play on my electric. Dat's why I picked the electric--the path of least resistance.

Jeff, I use the capo because when I looked the chords up that's how the site said to play the song. Like a lot of us, I try to play along with the original recordings of songs before playing it by myself. I always end up changing the way I strum songs once I learn them, but playing along with the recording is how I start the process.

[slewis]

Originally Posted by rico47635

I am trying something new. I have always liked Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly", but have never tried to learn it because it's considered a song for women to sing. After settling that internal argument with myself, I have embarked on learning how to play it. Getting the chords down was fairly easy, and I can strum away while I sing it. That part is no problem. What's new is that I would like to do more than just strum along while singing it. I'd like to add some life to the way I play it. I'm finding this to be more difficult than I thought. Please bear with me as I explain what I am doing. I have never done this before, am too chicken to make a recording, and will explain it as best as I can so you can hear what I am doing in your head. I play the song with a capo on the first fret, using these chords--Am7, D, G, Em, B7, C, A, E, and a modified Fmaj7with the A string fretted at the third fret.

This is what I've come up with thus far: I start the song off by playing the notes of the chorus around the middle of the neck. Just notes, no chords. I am leaving a beat here and there out (for effect), and add the slightest bit of vibrato here and there. I play it a little slower than normal tempo and use the neck pickup with the tone turned all the way down, to give it a mellow jazzy kind of feel.

Then, I play through the following chords at normal tempo, in what I think is called arpeggio (I strum the chord and then play the bottom three strings twice followed by the bottom two). Am7, D, G, Em, Am7, D, Em, Am7, D, G, B7.

I then go into the first verse, strumming the chords with a Latin feel to them. Am7, D, G, Em, Am7, D, Em, Am7, D, G, B7.

Then comes the chorus. Em, Am, D, G, Em, A, D, C, G, C, Fmaj7, E.

The idea is to keep the structure of the song similar to her version, but I want to make it my own.


The song sounds perfect--IN MY HEAD. I can picture it in my head. I can hear it in my head. I just can't seem to play it with my hands. I am having quite a bit of trouble getting everything to flow together. It hasn't been every day, but I have been working on this for over a month now. I'm trying to move my playing to another level. Is it this difficult for all but the most talented among us to move our playing beyond simple strumming? Am I going to go through this with every song I try play in a way other than strumming through the chords? I need some advice. What can you suggest. Sorry for the long post.

Rico, I'm pretty sure that fourth chord of yours -- Em -- should be a Cmaj7. Great tune!