I was surfing through some guitar clips on YT and found this young guy who likes Led Zep a lot, and does a hell of a great job playing some of Zep's songs on his YT channel! Kid's got very good taste in music! As a big fan of Jimmy P, it's nice to see a young kid jamming some Zep! Check him out! And, he has red hair! My son has red hair-although it's short right now! I told my wife maybe when he's like about 15-16 he'll have hair like that!
Related Tags: Jimmy+Page Led+Zeppelin Mini+Jimmy+Boy
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Nothing like a new pair of strings! Restringing and tuning
Last night I changed the strings on my acoustic guitar. I had been putting it off and putting it off some more, but I knew that I really needed to do it. My strings were pretty much dead-they sounded like rubberbands! And old rubberbands at that! The strings I had on it-Martin Marquis's lasted a long time and sounded great for a long time, but they needed to go! Changing the strings gave me a chance to do something with the saddle that I had been wanting to do for a long while also. The action on this guitar was pretty poor especially (as is usually the case) as I neared the 12th fret. I know that you should have a little bit more space in this area so that the strings will not buzz, but this was ridiculous! I think that this amount of "play" in this area was also affecting the accuracy of the tuning for the notes higher up.
Anyway, I took out the saddle and sanded away, but I was a little hesitant to sand too much, since I didn't have a "backup"! I read up on the 'net on how do this and saw too many horror stories about sanding too much and being out of a saddle-heh heh-out of the saddle. Well, I put the saddle back in and tuned up, it was still a little too high. The 6th string pin kept coming out also as I tuned up. More about that later. I resanded, this time more assured that I needed to take a bit off for this to work, and after I tuned up, what do you know-it was still high!
One last time I sanded this time sure it would be perfect, and it was but I still had a little trouble keeping the pin in for that damn 6th string. I did get some great information from Justin Sandercoe, http://www.justinguitar.com/ www.youtube.com/user/JustinSandercoeSongs?ob=1 who's stuff I have liked on Youtube about how to restring your acoustic guitar and how to deal with the pins being pulled out. I thought this was some great information. I really like his idea about giving the ball end of the string a little 45 degree angle! Check this out! (Actually, I still had trouble with this 6th string pin for a while until I was able to get it to wedge in there! I was a little wary of the pin popping out though for a while as I continued to retune after stretching!)
I liked part two of this little "lesson" about restringing, and I tried to do what Justin says he does in regards to how he inserts the string in the tuning pegs and how he winds the string, etc. I checked out several clips about how one should proceed with the tuning peg thing-some people said insert the string all the way and begin tuning with no slack in the string, and some say leave a little string slack" so that this slack can grab the string that's inserted in the tuning peg hole. (Like Justin's method)I chose to do it like Justin, since it seems like some windings around the tuning peg would help to keep the string in place and in tune. I had just done this before when restringing, just not as "neatly" as Justin does, with my windings going kind of haphazardly around the tuning peg!
My new strings are now beginning to stay in tune. I like to stretch them out somewhat, but I like to just play and do some lead stuff with a lot of bending to get them to stretch rather than stretching so much! Once I get the strings in tune or near pitch, I like to use the harmonic method described here by Jennifer Gamble (I think she was a little nervous on this clip-hell I don't blame her-I would be too!) from NextLevelGuitar.com http://www.nextlevelguitar.com/ to tune the strings to each other.
I have used this method for a long time, and it usually works pretty well for strings that are in good condition and if your intonation is ok. I don't do the part where she says to tune the B/2nd string to the B harmonic on the E/6th, and the E string to the E harmonic on the A string. I just use the B on the 3rd string/4th fret, to tune the B, playing the G string and the B string together to get a consonant or nice "G chord" sound. I also play the two strings together with the open G and a the C/1st fret and D/3rd fret to see how those sound-hopefully consonant, otherwise the B string may be too sharp or a little flat. The B string on a guitar can sometimes be the most difficult to get just right! It's kinda touchy and if you are off by not too much it can mess up your tuning!
I use the 5th fret on the B string to tune the E/1st string. I also play the two strings (B and E together) to get consonance. With the G string/C note-B string, G string/D note-B string and the B string/E string played together, what I am looking for is that 5th chord sound. A kind of "mini power chord" type sound.
So...what I'd like to know is-what method do you use to restring and tune up? Does anybody have some tips about bridge pins in a acoustic guitar? I would like to hear if someone has some different ideas about these things.
Related Tags: restringing acoustic+guitar Justin+Sandercoe Justin+Guitar.com Nextlevelguitar.com Jennifer+Gamble tuning
Anyway, I took out the saddle and sanded away, but I was a little hesitant to sand too much, since I didn't have a "backup"! I read up on the 'net on how do this and saw too many horror stories about sanding too much and being out of a saddle-heh heh-out of the saddle. Well, I put the saddle back in and tuned up, it was still a little too high. The 6th string pin kept coming out also as I tuned up. More about that later. I resanded, this time more assured that I needed to take a bit off for this to work, and after I tuned up, what do you know-it was still high!
One last time I sanded this time sure it would be perfect, and it was but I still had a little trouble keeping the pin in for that damn 6th string. I did get some great information from Justin Sandercoe, http://www.justinguitar.com/ www.youtube.com/user/JustinSandercoeSongs?ob=1 who's stuff I have liked on Youtube about how to restring your acoustic guitar and how to deal with the pins being pulled out. I thought this was some great information. I really like his idea about giving the ball end of the string a little 45 degree angle! Check this out! (Actually, I still had trouble with this 6th string pin for a while until I was able to get it to wedge in there! I was a little wary of the pin popping out though for a while as I continued to retune after stretching!)
I liked part two of this little "lesson" about restringing, and I tried to do what Justin says he does in regards to how he inserts the string in the tuning pegs and how he winds the string, etc. I checked out several clips about how one should proceed with the tuning peg thing-some people said insert the string all the way and begin tuning with no slack in the string, and some say leave a little string slack" so that this slack can grab the string that's inserted in the tuning peg hole. (Like Justin's method)I chose to do it like Justin, since it seems like some windings around the tuning peg would help to keep the string in place and in tune. I had just done this before when restringing, just not as "neatly" as Justin does, with my windings going kind of haphazardly around the tuning peg!
My new strings are now beginning to stay in tune. I like to stretch them out somewhat, but I like to just play and do some lead stuff with a lot of bending to get them to stretch rather than stretching so much! Once I get the strings in tune or near pitch, I like to use the harmonic method described here by Jennifer Gamble (I think she was a little nervous on this clip-hell I don't blame her-I would be too!) from NextLevelGuitar.com http://www.nextlevelguitar.com/ to tune the strings to each other.
I have used this method for a long time, and it usually works pretty well for strings that are in good condition and if your intonation is ok. I don't do the part where she says to tune the B/2nd string to the B harmonic on the E/6th, and the E string to the E harmonic on the A string. I just use the B on the 3rd string/4th fret, to tune the B, playing the G string and the B string together to get a consonant or nice "G chord" sound. I also play the two strings together with the open G and a the C/1st fret and D/3rd fret to see how those sound-hopefully consonant, otherwise the B string may be too sharp or a little flat. The B string on a guitar can sometimes be the most difficult to get just right! It's kinda touchy and if you are off by not too much it can mess up your tuning!
I use the 5th fret on the B string to tune the E/1st string. I also play the two strings (B and E together) to get consonance. With the G string/C note-B string, G string/D note-B string and the B string/E string played together, what I am looking for is that 5th chord sound. A kind of "mini power chord" type sound.
So...what I'd like to know is-what method do you use to restring and tune up? Does anybody have some tips about bridge pins in a acoustic guitar? I would like to hear if someone has some different ideas about these things.
Related Tags: restringing acoustic+guitar Justin+Sandercoe Justin+Guitar.com Nextlevelguitar.com Jennifer+Gamble tuning
Monday, June 2, 2008
Bo Diddley December 30, 1928-June 2, 2008
I would be remiss if I were not to mention that today the rock and roll world lost one of its great pioneers, one that lived in Los Lunas, NM, just South of ABQ, where I live. Bo Diddley died today of a complications from a stroke and later heart attack.
He moved to Los Lunas, NM in the early 1970's, and was a deputy sherriff for two years in that city. He moved from Los Lunas in 1978 to Archer, Florida, and lived there till his death.
He was and is a icon for rock and roll, blues, American Music. Who could ever forget that riff for "Bo Diddley"? So many people copied that riff! Here is a little video clip to remember Diddley's style and sound.
Related Tags: Bo+Diddley Los+Lunas New+Mexico
He moved to Los Lunas, NM in the early 1970's, and was a deputy sherriff for two years in that city. He moved from Los Lunas in 1978 to Archer, Florida, and lived there till his death.
He was and is a icon for rock and roll, blues, American Music. Who could ever forget that riff for "Bo Diddley"? So many people copied that riff! Here is a little video clip to remember Diddley's style and sound.
Related Tags: Bo+Diddley Los+Lunas New+Mexico
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Give a Little Bit and Feel Like Makin' Love
For this post, I am going to give my interpretation of some of the often-confused chords and chord progressions for two songs-Give a Little Bit-by Supertramp/Roger Hodgson, and Feel Like Makin' Love, by Bad Company.
I have played these songs by ear for years now, and recently, when I wanted to check on some of the chord voicings and tablature on the Internet, I found tabs and chord charts that had chords and parts that I feel aren't accurate or even missing parts-(Give a Little Bit).
For Give a Little Bit, the basic chords are: A7, D, G, Bmin, F#min, Esus4, E, with some other variations of the main chords thrown in. I have seen information given for this song where the A7 is a "regular A," or where the Esus4 is Emin7 or where the A7 , G and D in the main verse is a harder to play "unopen" A, G and D at the 3rd and 5th fret with the respective 4th string root notes. My point? I just feel that for a beginning guitarist who sees these transcriptions, it would be frustrating to play them when the song doesn't sound like that. Also, this song is fairly easy for a beginning guitarist to play. Many of the chords are two or three-finger chords and many of them are open chords. Why make this song so hard? Play it with those open notes that just ring out! If ever there was a song that was meant to be played with open chords, this is that song! (*I noticed that this mp3 copy is a little sharp. You may have to tune slightly sharp to match the tuning on this version.)
I started off this Give a Little Bit thing with planning a simple explanation of the chords and then I realized that there were some changes I needed to note so I kept going until I had several pages of chord changes completed. Considering the song's title, I guess that's ironic! I made some mistakes and corrected until I got the charts to where I think its understandable.
Below is the main verse part with the chorus and bridge. (click to enlarge)
Next, are some parts of Feel Like Makin' Love by Bad Company. For this song, I saw the opening descending acoustic riff done mostly correctly on one transcription, but I noted it here just in case you're interested in learning it. For this opening progression, you play that descending riff and then the second time it finishes with the open D at the second fret. I do the distorted heavy guitar part on the chorus by muting and quickly playing the C on the 5th string/3rd fret and the open D 4th string and "ending on a "regular" D chord. I do this by holding a D chord and using my middle finger to play the C on the 5th string and then moving to the F# on the 1st string/2nd fret for the D chord. Palm muting is important here as the riff wouldn't sound right if the C and D of the riff are not played in this way-at least for my ears. The C and G chords in this heavy part sound to me like (and are more easily played using these) "regular" C and G chords, and I did note chord names in the tab.
For the first clean solo, I just transcribed how I learned to play it by ear. Where it says barre I am barring the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings on that whole little passage with my first finger (and hammering on with my 2nd and 3rd fingers) until it gets to the Bmin/D, and D13 where I barre the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings, etc. It may be wrong, but I think this way sure sounds similar to the way Mick Ralphs played it. If you have any questions about the lick or anything about these chord for both songs, don't hesitate to leave a line or two about it! Thanks for coming by! (click to enlarge) PM=Palm Mute H=Hammer on
Related Tags: Supertramp Give+A+Little+Bit Rodger+Hodgson acoustic+Guitar classic+rock Bad+Company Feel+Like+Makin'+Love Mick+Ralphs
I have played these songs by ear for years now, and recently, when I wanted to check on some of the chord voicings and tablature on the Internet, I found tabs and chord charts that had chords and parts that I feel aren't accurate or even missing parts-(Give a Little Bit).
For Give a Little Bit, the basic chords are: A7, D, G, Bmin, F#min, Esus4, E, with some other variations of the main chords thrown in. I have seen information given for this song where the A7 is a "regular A," or where the Esus4 is Emin7 or where the A7 , G and D in the main verse is a harder to play "unopen" A, G and D at the 3rd and 5th fret with the respective 4th string root notes. My point? I just feel that for a beginning guitarist who sees these transcriptions, it would be frustrating to play them when the song doesn't sound like that. Also, this song is fairly easy for a beginning guitarist to play. Many of the chords are two or three-finger chords and many of them are open chords. Why make this song so hard? Play it with those open notes that just ring out! If ever there was a song that was meant to be played with open chords, this is that song! (*I noticed that this mp3 copy is a little sharp. You may have to tune slightly sharp to match the tuning on this version.)
I started off this Give a Little Bit thing with planning a simple explanation of the chords and then I realized that there were some changes I needed to note so I kept going until I had several pages of chord changes completed. Considering the song's title, I guess that's ironic! I made some mistakes and corrected until I got the charts to where I think its understandable.
Below is the main verse part with the chorus and bridge. (click to enlarge)
Next, are some parts of Feel Like Makin' Love by Bad Company. For this song, I saw the opening descending acoustic riff done mostly correctly on one transcription, but I noted it here just in case you're interested in learning it. For this opening progression, you play that descending riff and then the second time it finishes with the open D at the second fret. I do the distorted heavy guitar part on the chorus by muting and quickly playing the C on the 5th string/3rd fret and the open D 4th string and "ending on a "regular" D chord. I do this by holding a D chord and using my middle finger to play the C on the 5th string and then moving to the F# on the 1st string/2nd fret for the D chord. Palm muting is important here as the riff wouldn't sound right if the C and D of the riff are not played in this way-at least for my ears. The C and G chords in this heavy part sound to me like (and are more easily played using these) "regular" C and G chords, and I did note chord names in the tab.
For the first clean solo, I just transcribed how I learned to play it by ear. Where it says barre I am barring the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings on that whole little passage with my first finger (and hammering on with my 2nd and 3rd fingers) until it gets to the Bmin/D, and D13 where I barre the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings, etc. It may be wrong, but I think this way sure sounds similar to the way Mick Ralphs played it. If you have any questions about the lick or anything about these chord for both songs, don't hesitate to leave a line or two about it! Thanks for coming by! (click to enlarge) PM=Palm Mute H=Hammer on
Related Tags: Supertramp Give+A+Little+Bit Rodger+Hodgson acoustic+Guitar classic+rock Bad+Company Feel+Like+Makin'+Love Mick+Ralphs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
