Another smooth transition to another song I had never heard of. It reminds me a bit of Led Zeppelin's tone for some reason.
As I mentioned elsewhere I'm working on an original blues song entitled "I Went Down to the River." It's been a LONG time since I've done this and I am having so much fun doing it I cannot quite believe it. -That in part because I really like the song -- but maybe even more because I am truly stretching myself in doing so. No backing track. I want it to be complete -- and interesting -- with just my voice and a single guitar. To do that I am finding voices thru things like fingering and long three-finger slides that for me are new. And (the biggest challenge) trying to do things with my voice that truly are on the outside of what I've long seen as my limits. How "good" the end result will be I truly do not know. Many years ago I worked with gifted vocalists -- people to whom an idea could be turned into a sonorous sound with ease. Now I have just have very limited me. I'm hoping to make a quick vid of it soon. But whether I'll share it or just shiver at my own hubris remains to be seen. Still, to have a song reverberating in my head that makes me WANT to push myself is itself kind of thrilling, no matter the outcome. -don
Last song I was learning was Smells like teen spirit. That was about a month ago, we’ll see what next
Not Fade Away by Buddy Holly. Actually I'm working from the Greatful Dead version that has short breaks in it. It seems simple enough: you just whack away on 3 chords, but I've been playing a sloppy version for years. I'm trying to get crisp and clean with fretting and picking. It's like trying to play Freddie King stuff. Sounds dead simple, but doing it right is another matter. Also working on Union Man by the Cate Brothers. It's basically R&B and requires precision on the rhythm parts.
About 2 or 3 months ago a buddy of mine (whose decades-long record collecting habit at thrift shops, yard sales, junk sales, and estate sales was starting to crowd him out of his house) gave me a few milk crates of LPs, a copy of "The Captain and Me" was in there, that had me playing 'Long Train' for a couple weeks. 'Electric Ladyland' was in there too, so I've been re-learning 'Long Hot Summer Night' and learning 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp.' I've been strumming thru 'Brokedown Palace' a lot lately, just learned that one. Also, have been developing/learning some new, so far untitled tunes with my band co-guitarist at our weekly, socially-distanced Sunday jams.
Still working on "Have you ever seen the rain". Man I started this back in March. But I've made some decent headway the last 2 weeks. Jim
Thanks I'm hoping to have it learned by Thanksgiving. I only have 14 or 15 more measures left. I'm going to have to dig out the lesson video and see he does it. But I feel like I've accomplished a lot in the last couple of weeks. Thanks Jim
Finally got round to getting an interface for my pc so I can do some proper-ish home recording with Ableton 10. I've got a very rough 1st mix of something I've been meaning to put down for ages...a cover of 'The Machman' by Tubeway Army. I've also picked up a midi keyboard.....my head is spinning with getting used to new tech but it's great fun and very satisfying.
George Harrison wrote the song, I think, and gave credit to Ringo. I like Ringo's version with Clapton on guitar.
