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!
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