Session 4, Week 5 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

I hope you're all heading out to Millennium Park tonight to watch Spinal Tap! It's mandatory viewing for all guitar players. I'll be there with my bandmates and some other pals. If only we had a picnic table that was a 12" scale model of Stonehenge!

I am told that the early registration discount code will be emailed out next Monday, so watch your inboxes like hawks. It's only good for a quick second!

Now onto the recaps

Last week Thursday's Guitar 4 finished the heavy lifting in The Smiths' tune. Please enjoy this brilliant use of YouTube, which combines the song with a montage of the life-is-so-hard-without-this-product moments form infomercials. Completely perfect in every way. Your homework is to practice the two "goodies" back to back so you become used to the transition between the two. The printed goodie, which you are playing only half of--but when you team up with your buddy and your powers combine...MAGIC!--slots in over the two measures of Bm. (you can play it again over the 2 measures of Bm at the end of the second verse too!) Listen to how quickly it goes! Practice practice practice! The handwritten goodie slots in over the GM7 and A, and the first beat of the Dm7 measure that starts the second verse. It comes immediately after the first goodie.The mandolin fancy business at the end is the same notes/changes as the printed outro on the song chart, but without all the super-charged strumming. I think this one might be a performance contender, so work hard at it!


Saturday's Guitar 4 worked up Just What I Needed using power chords, which are supposed to be easy but proved challenging. Take note of the intro! You play eighth note down strums on the E string ONLY for 6 beats, and then you let the chord ring on the 7th beat. Do that four times. Then play the string alone for 6 beats, followed by the chord twice on 7 and 8. Listen and it'll make sense: http://youtu.be/TsPh-EgH65M
There are a number of small lead parts you can play on the high strings (tabbed out) which mimic the keyboard parts in the song. Listen and follow along and in our next meeting will spend some more time getting those nailed down. And remember, we're swapping out the solo for two measure of plain old E, just to keep things simple. (And hey, don't let Man Who Sold the World get rusty either because I'll want to run through that again too)

And Sunday's Guitar 3 worked up CSNY's "Our House," which has some rather pleasing walk-downs. Just follow the chord charts as you alter the bass note of the chord measure by measure. Remember we're playing the bass note twice by itself in a light and bouncy way, followed by two similarly light strums on the chord. (If you listen to the recording, it's more like a 1:3 split on piano between bass note and chord, but on guitar it sounds better our way). That changes a little in the split measures, where you'll play the bass note once and then the chord once, then the next bass note and the next chord once each. Play that Eb chord by sliding a C shape up until your index finger is at the 4th fret, and then add your pinky on the 1st string 7th fret. Easy! Please feel free to throw in some "la"s so I don't have to do ALL of those by myself.

Session 4, Week 4 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Yikes, guys! I guess maybe Wednesday is my new update day for this page, since I can't seem to get a window on Tuesdays anymore. (aren't summers supposed to be relaxing?! I'm busier than ever!)

Thursday night's Guitar 4 class--at long last--played The Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want." It's in 6/8 time, which is a new concept. Don't think of it like 3/4. It's more like 2/4. Emphasize the first and 4th beats. There's a strumming pattern shown on the songmap but you'll have to double it to make up a full, single measure of 6/8 strumming. There are a few new chords we talked about, most notably G major 7, which can be written as either Gmaj7 or GM7. Capital letter means major, lower case means minor! You play that one by modifying a regular G chord on the 1st string so that you're playing the note on the 2nd fret (F#) instead of on the 3rd fret like you normally would. It's only a half-step different than a regular G chord, but it gets a little finger-tangly so be patient with yourself.
I broke up the class into 1s and 2s and we'll pair up to tackle the first of the fiddly bits next week. You'll only be responsible for either the top line OR the bottom line of printed tableture. You and your partner playing your parts in unison will form the chords. Remember I mentioned that that sequence is written as 4 measures, but it's really only two. The rhythm is: One-and-two-and-three-and four five six (which you do twice).
The second bit of fiddly business--the handwritten one--should be relatively straightforward so I want everyone to learn it. We'll put it all together in class, and also start looking at the Radiohead tune.

Saturday's Guitar 4 class...is a mystery to me! I was having ye olde goode tyme at the Ren Faire with my family, so you'll have to update ME this week. I hope you had a good time with Chris in my absence. We'll work on Man Who Sold the World a bit and also make a start on The Cars tune.

And Sunday's Guitar 3 class finished up with Kodachrome by confronting the double-time section. Remember, I'll count you in with a "one, two, one-two-three-four" to show you where the eigthnotes come in. Those will become your base unit of measure when we change to the down-down-downup-downup strumming pattern on the sixteenth notes. Deep breaths, don't panic. There's a lot of space and time in there--much more than you think. So try and relax through it, stay loose in the wrist, and count.
We also worked on Killing Moon, which is an excellent barre chord strength training exercise! Play the G and Cm in the chorus both as barre chords. You can leave your index finger down on the 3rd fret, while you move an E shape (or an Am shape! Same thing!) back and forth. Conceptually, it's easy, but it's physically difficult--and it's a great way to build up your hand strength. Finish by adding a dramatic upstrum (rake) to the second measure of Em at the end of the verses (krrrrrang!). You can also do it on the first measure of Em each time through the instrumental passage (intro and middle of song). Great work filling in the names of the notes on the bottom two strings on the worksheet! The closer you can get to memorizing that map, the easier it'll be to move barre chords around and feel like a musical master of the universe. CSN is the plan for Sunday and it'll be fussy but fun.

See you soon!

Session 4, Week 3 Recap -- ALL Classes

Oooof! I hope you're all having a better week than I am. I have exactly 10 minutes to do this update so it'll be painfully short. (but hopefully sweet!)

Guitar 4 on Thursday night spent our meeting going through Rainbow Connection (see video a few posts back). You can add the walk down the E string to connect the G and Eminor chords at the ends of the lines if you so choose, but it's not required. We're going to smart The Smiths this week, so if you don't already know this tune, take a few listens: http://youtu.be/yRYpd3_roHg  I'll have copies for those of you that got packets that were missing this one.

And Guitar 4 on Saturday continues to valiantly forge ahead through some heavy scale work in Man Who Sold The World. I'm not going to do a lot of 'splaining here because it's all tabbed out for you on the goodies sheet. But I do have some bits of advice. Bit #1: Look for patterns. Your fingers make certain shapes multiple times when you play scales. Look for those and learn to love them. Repetitive motions make life a lot simpler and there are really only like 3 maneuvers you have to make in that tune. Once you've isolated those motions, you repeat them on different string combos, and there you have it. Bit #2: PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. The only way to take this from confounding to competency is to do it. A lot. Muscle memory is a real thing and your fingers will start to act on their own in the correct way but you've got to train them first and that takes time and repetition. You can't play it once, skip the next 3 days, and expect it to have gotten better. Be consistent and watch yourself improve like magic! Take breaks to practice fingerstyle playing on the Iron & Wine tune, and any other 4/4 tune in the book.

Finally, Guitar 3 did a great job on Kodachrome. The riff at the top slots in INSTEAD of the measures of G it's listed next to, so don't play both things! You'll replace those Gs with the riff each time. I think the riff is pretty self-explanatory from the tab, and it has a lot of repetition inside it so try to memorize it! It'll be the Golden Strum on all full measures, and straight quarter notes on the beats inside of split measures--unless there's an exclamation point telling you to hit the chord just once and let it ring for 2 beats (instead of strumming it twice). Dmaj7 is played by barring the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings all at the 2nd fret, and strumming from the open 4th string down. We'll work more on how the timing changes at the end when we meet this weekend.

Slight Delay

Hi guys! I'm still recovering from Square Roots and my big Broadway gig last night, so I haven't had a chance to get an update posted today, but I'll have more time tomorrow--so stay tuned!

Session 4, Week 2 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Summertime! And the livin' is easy. Or so they say.
I'm in crunch mode prepping for a gig so this'll be fairly short.
Coupla things pertinent to ALL:
This weekend is Square Roots Fest! http://www.squareroots.org/
Come for the music, stay for the beer! It's the most fun you'll have all summer. There will be an Education Tent where teachers and students are welcome to hang out and strum a song or two. I'll likely be there Saturday and Sunday before and/or after my classes, so stop by! There will also be extended Second Half jams on Saturday at 12:30p and Sunday at 1:30p, during which yours truly will supply the Twin Spin, so show up and lend me some moral support.
IMPORTANT "BUT!": BUT! parking will be an awful challenge so come early or take CTA.

Ok onto business.

Thursday's Guitar 4 did not meet last week due to holiday laziness (but my mom thanks you heartily!). See the previous post for a video lesson. We'll pick up from there this week.

Saturday's Guitar 4 continued to contemplate the meaning of the word "intermediate," after a somewhat grueling lesson on scales. Remember, WWHWWWH or the weird phone number 221-2221 in order to memorize the intervals that make up a major scale. 1 fret = H, so 2 frets = W. You can play up a single string, or break across strings to stay in one position using either an open or closed scale form. Open scale forms utilize the open strings--hence the name! But they can ONLY be played in one place because open strings are a fixed note/ position. Closed scales on the other hand, are modular and moveable. So long as you know where your root note is, you can use the same finger sequence to from any starting position. Don't forget that the second diagram--the one for CLOSED scales--shows you finger numbers, NOT fret numbers. Very important! We'll put it into further practice with Man Who Sold the World, so hopefully you practiced up on the hammer-ons and chord progression we started with last week.

And Guitar 3 on Sunday also used their brains more than they maybe meant to. this week worked on the F barre chord. It's just an E shape with your second, third and fourth fingers, played above a barre at the 2nd fret. It's mean and it hurts, but once you've mastered it, you can move that shape up and down the neck to any position. If you know the name of the note you're barring on the low-E string, you know the name of the chord you're playing! Wanna make it minor? Use the E-minor shape instead.Same rules apply to the Am and A shapes played with a root note barred on the 5th string. If that doesn't quite make sense, don't worry. It'll sink in and we'll work on it each week. But let's get started by completing the homework sheet in the packet. Fill in the names of the notes on the bottom two strings and we'll go from there. Practice the Otis Redding tune to get that F chord into your fingers. (and perfect your whistlin' skills!)

Confidential to Guitar 4 on Thursday Night

Friends --
I'm enjoying my minibreak and I hope you are too. As promised, here's your video lesson for this week. Have a happy holiday and see you next Thursday!
http://youtu.be/LmhHTn1kKkY

Session 4, Week 1 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Session 4 already?! Where is this year going? Somebody stop it before it starts snowing again!
At any rate, it's a fresh session, a new round of classes, and a new blog.
A huge welcome to both new and returning students who are checking this page. As I mentioned in class, I try my best to update on Tuesdays, so check here every week on Tuesday evening or later for your class rundown.

Week 1 is always a fun chance to knock the rust off (even for those of you who've been signed up for class all along--the post Showcase rest is enough time to rust!). But now it's time to get back to work, so here we go!

Thursday night's Guitar 4 got started on some new fingerpicking work (and politely endured some 80s-cheese) with the Bowie ballad "As the World Falls Down" from the Jim Henson movie Labyrinth. The hair! The costumes! // jane dies //
Listen to the bass part here and you'll get the vibe of our fingerpicking pattern. Your thumb bounces twice on the root note of each chord shape, your index finger plucks its note once, followed by your 2nd and 3rd fingers together, plucking a mini-chord. The count is "one-and-two-and..." and just rest on 3 & 4 in the basic version, or add an extra index-chord-index on "and-four-and" for the pro-version. In either case, nothing happens on the third downbeat.
This song is in 4/4 time, but that pattern helps us get prepped for our next challenge, the other half of our Jim Henson two-fer--Rainbow Connection, which is in 3/4. http://youtu.be/jSFLZ-MzIhM
For now, stick to playing a waltz rhythm with your pick--pluck the root note on the 1, and strum the chords on 2&3. I'm guessing that if you listen to the intro and think like a banjo, you'll figure out how to do a Labyrinth-style finger pattern on RC, but I'll post a video lesson later this week with the specifics.
And remember, the Thursday night class is NOT MEETING THIS WEEK! Enjoy your night off. My mother appreciates your willingness to let me out for a visit.

Saturday's Guitar 4 also got started on some fingerpicking. Spend some time looking at the exercises in the back of the songbook. There are great resources back there to help get your fingers into pickin'-shape. You can apply the techniques to the tunes in the book liberally for maximum results! I think we'll take a look at Aragon Mill this weekend, which is the song of the session, and apply what we started with week 1. We worked on Faded from the Winter by Iron & Wine. Remember that your thumb, which plays the root note, also counts out the beats so in order to play a full measure, you have to double the pattern written on the page. The finger order goes: T-2-1-3, applied to strings 6-4-5-3 in that order (confused yet?). Your fretting hand is just making a two-note shape that moves up and down the neck as indicated. Here's the fully-bearded version. We'll play it a bit slower than the recording for awhile though! http://youtu.be/7e-sba4tIss

And in Sunday's Guitar 3, we made our very first foray into the barre chords. We started with Bm, which you make by forming and Am shape with alternate fingers (2, 3, 4), sliding the whole shebang up two frets so the fingers are making the shape on the 3rd and 4th frets, and then setting your index finger across all the strings at the second fret to form a barre (but you only have to strum--and technically only barre--the bottom 5 strings). Watch your thumb so that its parallell-ish to the barre and can help support it. Also, try to use the outside edge of your index finger rather than the underside, because the padded part is just too squishy to get an even barre out of. The outside edge of your finger is more evenly bony and therefore easier to press down with. Your body position also matters. Raise up the neck of the guitar slightly, pull your elbow off of your ribcage if it's glued there, and drop your wrist and thumb down so that you have room to support the chord and maneuver in and out of it. If you feel kinked up, stand up with a strap. That should help reset you into a natural frame. We played With a Little Help from My Friends to get that Bm into our fingers. Just chop chop chop chop on the quarter notes with muting in between to give it that special flare. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBDF04fQKtQ
I introduced the F chord as well, so practice that shape so we can use it in a song this week. It's just an E shape with alternate fingers (2,3,4) moved up just one fret, with the barre across the first fret. It's a doozy! Extra hand strength is required when you're playing so far away from your body, which is why it's essential that you practice and build up those muscles.

Have a nice Fourth of July! Play folk songs on your guitar! It's a very American thing to do!