When do you move on...

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

I am less than a year into my fingerstyle deep dive. I took lessons for several months, and they gave me a good foundation. Since then, I have been working on the same tunes I did during that time. I have also written one or two as well. Learning each tune has been a struggle, in one way or another. But I have always stuck wth it, and have been able to get down the basics of each one, even if it is not so pretty.
But, recently, I have dived into some James Taylor tunes which present a different challenge. As y'all know, he uses unique voicings and anything but a consistent, patterned bass, like the set and forget ones I am used to. Frankly, I have spent a couple rugged hours on just the first two measures of the introduction to one of them, trying to wrap my mind around it. And it is a tune that is etched in my brain. While I am no where near throwing in the towel, it does make me wonder how and when you decide that a piece is just beyond your pay grade, and move on to another than may be more attainable. And what do you do when you want that particular tune bad, but it does not want you back in the same way.
Thanks
David

Often people starting out look for and fall into picking patterns where they can float along more or less on autopilot. In tunes with more varied picking requirements they can get lost.
Find some simple tunes but that have different picking patterns within them. Practice some on single note scales, on double stops, barre chords, arpeggios as well as alternate thumbing
stuff. Maybe some simple classical guitar pieces for variety. You will always have you pattern picking but you can develop a knack for focusing also on individual notes and the intervals
between notes.

[slimey]

One of the things you have to recognize is James Taylor won't play a song the same every time. There is a documentary somewhere where he actually says this.
Musicians get bored , improvise, miss a lick, etc, etc, etc.
Sometimes you come across music that the style of the original player just does not work for you, for what ever reason.
Get the general chords down, if there's critical licks every one knows , get those down, then make it your own.
I play in a band that often plays cover songs, we go out of our way to make the song our own and make it fit what we do and play to our strengths, you'd be amazed how often people come and say they prefer our version to the original. But I've never had anyone say they didn't like our take on a song. ( maybe we're too scary looking )
Even classical musicians " interpret " a score.
https://youtu.be/Un-FO8iXCrA

[Robin, Wales]

I can usually tell pretty quickly if a song is going to be a "fit" for me or not. I have started to learn quite a few that I have ditched within an hour and moved on. But there have been some that I sort of knew that I'd eventually be able to perform but they just needed time to get the building blocks that I was missing in place. Billy strings version of "Tennessee Stud" being one:



I can "campfire" perform this song and have tackled it in a building block approach. I started by getting the groove, words and chords down with the open lick and a few of the fills Billy uses. Then every now and then I go back to the video and see something else and add that. I have been singing the song for a couple of years but each outing I'm sort of adding something else. I haven't got the short but fast cross picking section on the A7 shape chord in the chorus in place because I don't have that building block - nor can I solo around the tune at all as I don't have those building blocks either - yet!

Another song I play that is a performable "work in progress" is Little Annie by Tim O'Brien.



I'm really happy performing this song and have most of Tim's licks, fills and lead breaks down (except for the fast cross picking). It is another song where I re-visit the video every now and then and steal something else from it.

Songs that I have "moved on" from tend to be those where I struggle with the vocals (Lost Highway, and just about anything else by Hank Williams!) or if the accompaniment has a lot of barre chords that I can't figure a work around. I can't play barre chords, so I tend to stick to songs written on guitar that use open chord shapes.

I rarely approach learning anything on guitar from "start to finish" but tend to be a bit more modular. I learn by ear from listening to the tune or by watching a live performance on youtube. I can't read TAB. I often have to transpose tunes to suit my voice but I seen to be quite good at hearing a phrase in one key and then playing it in another if I need to. And I'm happy switching root chord shapes - so, if someone is playing a song out of a G chord shape (G, C, D, Em) I'm happy to transpose that on the fly to say a C chord shape root or D chord shape root etc. I use a capo constantly to pitch tunes for my voice.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by slimey

I play in a band that often plays cover songs, we go out of our way to make the song our own and make it fit what we do and play to our strengths, you'd be amazed how often people come and say they prefer our version to the original.

OP here. Very sensible approach to a cover. And, no doubt, very gratifying. When people hear a cover, they have expectations, and inevitably compare the interpretation to the original. A pro once said that if you are going to play someone else's tune, you'd better buy it a new dress. I really like that sentiment, and the imagery. You just got to make it a pretty dress.
In the department of coincidences, as I write this, I am watching an episode of Stranger Things, and JT is doing "You've Got a Friend" on the car radio in the background.
David

[emtsteve]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

...For those of you who have played guitar all your life, I hope you still have the same experience I do when I am able to stitch together a few notes of a precious song that I have lived with forever, but never had the opportunity to reproduce. When I finally got down the intro to Something, it was an extraordinary moment. For the first time, I was bringing to life the sound of a song that I have known and loved for more than half a century. That is as powerful a motivation to trudge on as I can imagine.
David

I am 10 years in (slow learner) and getting some JT tunes under my fingers in the last couple years was quite an accomplishment for me. I can now play and sing (fairly well I think) Something In the Way She Moves, Fire and Rain, and Sweet Baby James. Like you, I had a bit of a feeling of heaven's gates opening when it all clicked. These are precious songs and being able to do them justice on guitar is infinitely satisfying.