Session 2, Week 1 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

It's a brand new session! I'm so excited you guys! It's all too beautiful.
For those of you new to this page, welcome and thanks for being my students. This is where I'll post class recaps, videos, answers to questions, announcements, and other fun stuff. I usually update on Tuesdays so be sure to check in. I post all of my core classes in one update, because I like to give you the opportunity to see what other students are working on. It'll preview future core sessions for you--or remind you of how far you've come as a musician in a short time!

To begin with, my Guitar 3 Rep class is meeting on Thursday nights at 8:30p in fancy-schmancy room 101! It's so bright in there, I might have to wear shades.
We're old pros at barre chords now (conceptually, if not physically), so it was straight into the tuneage for us, starting with a psychedelic twofer with Itchycoo Park by The Small Face and Pictures of Matchstick Men by The Status Quo. We only just got started on the opening riff of the latter tune, which is tabbed out for you at the top of the song sheet. Just remember to  read that tab as though you've set your guitar down in your lap with the low-E string closest to your body and the high-E string farthest away. Reading tabs backwards makes life very very sad!
For Itchycoo Park, you'll have two barre chords to tackle. F#m is an Em shape played with a barre at the second fret, and C#m is an Am shape played with a barre at the 4th fret. (I probably should've made you try and work that out for yourself but ain't nobody got time for that.)
We're strumming this one with some swingin' chuck-a-chuck-a eighth notes the whole way through, but be sure to change VIBES if not rhythms when you get to the bridge. It should feel a bit softer and more reflective than the manic happiness of the choruses. Also, in the verses, be sure to change chords in the split measures on the 4th beat, then switch to the D on the AND of 4 in the split measure. That G chord should feel like a pick-up note that leads into the measure of D.
I was planning to call out the fancy footwork when I posted the video, but Andrea also pointed my attention to the drummer's shorts, which are very very special.

In Guitar 3 on Saturdays at 11am, we made our very first foray into the barre chords that the previous class is already building confidence with. 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.

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.

Finally, in Guitar 2 on Sundays at noon, we're in the fancy band room in the basement, which is pretty inspiring! Welcome to sophomore year! We started off with some jazzier chords in the form of Dm7 and Fmaj7. In the first one, you have to cover two strings with one finger--gasp!--at the first fret of the 1st and 2nd strings. Use the outside edge of your index finger to get an even sound, and support with your thumb pulled down and parallel to your finger on the back of the neck. You'll finish that chord with your 2nd finger at the 2nd fret of the 3rd string, and strum only the bottom 4 strings. It should sound moody, but not wholly sad and dark the way a regular minor chord might. Fmaj7 is even dreamier sounding, and you accomplish that with your first finger on the first fret of the second string, second finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string, and third finger on the 3rd fret of the 4th string. Three adjacent fingers, three adjacent frets, three adjacent strings! You only strum the bottom four strings there as well. You'll play both of those in Summertime--wishful thinking!--with a slow, simple quarternote strum.
You can further reinforce that Dm7 chord with Cum on Feel the Noize. Extra credit will be given to anyone who comes to the next class wearing a Slade inspire outfit.
We also made a start on the F chord, which you make by smashing those other two chords together so that you're covering the 1st and 2nd strings with one finger at the first fret, your 2nd finger plays the 3rd string second fret, and your ring finger is at the 3rd fret of the 4th string. You'll only strum the bottom four strings there too. It takes some hand strength you probably don't have yet, so practice practice practice!


I'm looking forward to a great session with all of you! Let me know via e-mail if you ever have any questions. See you next time!

Session 1 is Dead! Long Live Session 1!

You guys...you guyyyyys! You guys were all so amazing at graduation! My goodness I don't even know what to say. I am so proud of each and every one of you for your hard work, energy, and attitudes this session. What an incredible way to celebrate the completion of my first year of teaching at the School.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I like all of the songs I bring into class, but the songs you guys picked are particularly special to me for various personal reasons, so it was an exquisite pleasure to bring them to life with you on stage. And so here they are!

Guitar 3 triumphantly told the story of my favorite rock and roll space alien, despite the fact that I was half out of it on decongestants. Two of my fellow teachers sought me out over the weekend and told me how great you guys sounded, and I concur. Thanks to Mark for the video! (By the way, I'm doing a Bowie show again on March 22nd at Parlour on Clark. Save the date!)

On Saturday during Guitar 2 Rep, I was having a lot of feelings. My mentor at the School is departing and I was sad about seeing his last class perform. And for some reason I decided it would be a good idea to spontaneously play the lead guitar part on this tune, even though I'd never rehearsed it or, y'know, bothered to figure out how to play it. I was a jumble of nerves, but you guys are brave, so I was inspired to be brave, and it turned out alright in the end. Thanks for your kind words and support before we took the stage. Looking forward to terrorizing all of you with barre chords this week!

And last but most certainly not least, Guitar 1 Rep absolutely KILLED it with She Don't Use Jelly. Boy did we make the right choice, you guys! All the other classes did sad and heavy songs, so ours was the perfect pick-me-up, and it really sounded great. You can hear how delighted the crowd is, and I can't tell you enough how much I love to hear you all singing. I'm not 100% sure that that was the first time The Flaming Lips were heard on the Old Town School stage, but if not, it was certainly a rare jewel indeed. Thanks for getting weird with me.















My sincere appreciation to all of you for being my students! It's a joy to be with you each week, and I look forward to seeing many of you again in Session 2. For those moving on, as Woody Guthrie says: so long, it's been good to know ya!

Graduation Week!

Hello friends!
Sorry for the late update. I've been asleep with the flu for the last two days, but I think I've turned the corner today--though our tunes might have an extra Tom Waits-ian rasp to them this week with me leading!

I'm going to forego the usual recap because, even though we learned some new songs this week, I know you're all eagerly anticipating the BIG GIG this week! You've all worked very, very hard this session, so please take a few minutes to reflect on that. In just two months, you've improved your playing significantly, built your confidence, and had some fun (I hope)! All of those are notable accomplishments in and of themselves, and taken together they are cause for celebration! And that's precisely what the graduation show is meant to be--a party. It's your chance to exhale, show-off, and bask in the adoration of a room full of your fellow students who know first-hand how hard you've been working. Enjoy every minute of it--and invite your family and friends! You've earned the accolades you shall surely receive.

So Guitar 3 has boldly decided to put all its eggs in one basket and tackle the greatest opus in glitter rock history--Ziggy Stardust! (*sniff* I'm SO proud!) Watch the transitions from the intro run into the versus and make sure we all lock into a nice relaxed tempo, and mind that Cadd9 chord at the end. Those are the two sticky spots I know of. Other than that, I'm 100% confident. Be sure to rock out hard on that bridge! Tell your guests that our show starts at 9pm in Szold Hall (that's in the new building on the 2nd floor)

Guitar 2 Rep is also prepping some potential showstoppers with Heart of Gold (hammer-ons! bass note pickin'! Shifting strumming patterns!), or September Gurls. There are pros and cons to each one, so practice them both hard and we'll make our final decision on Saturday. Your guests should be seated in Mauer--where we have Second Half--by 11:45am.

And finally, Guitar 1 Rep is feeling very Alternative Nation-y in its choices of either The One I Love, or She Don't Use Jelly. As for G2R, I think there are good reasons for and against each one, so practice both and we'll make the call on Sunday. Remember that in the Flaming Lips tune, we decided to write in another |DC| G section at the end of each chorus, right before the chords change back to the intro progression. (That makes the second and third sections look more like the first one, plus those intro chords) We also discussed saying the word "Magazines" 4 times total: once over each |DC|G (3x total) and then once more over the intro chords. In the final section, we'll say "Tangerine" 5 times total: once over each |DC|G (3x total) and then TWICE more over the intro chords, both times through. Make sense? Tell your fans to grab seats in Mauer (where Second Half takes place) by 12:45p.

It's been an honor and a pleasure to be your teacher this session, and I hope to see you all again next session after we bring the house down this week!

Session 1, Week 6 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Oi! You lot! (sorry...I'm still in punk mode after last Saturday's tribute show)
We're in the home stretch here, so take a moment to reflect and look back at how far we've come this session! New strums, new riffs, new chords, new rhythms, new tunes, and new friends! Not bad for a couple of months' work, eh?

In Guitar 3, we tackled a Valentine song of sorts. CSNY's "Our House" 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. :) And make sure to keep plugging away at Ziggy!

In Guitar 2 Rep we kept Ophelia fresh, with that bass pickin' jangle jangle pattern we learned last week. Then we looked at L-O-V-E, better late than never for Valentine's Day. That tune has a whole slew of 7 chords, including minor 7s and major 7s. Dm7 is an F chord without your ring finger, and Cmaj7 is a C chord without your index finger. I hope you sang it to someone you loved.
We also took a look at We Are Going to Be Friends. Repeat after me: Thumb-one-thumb-two
That's the pattern of alternating fingers we used with our right hands to play We're Going to be Friends by The White Stripes. Your thumb always plays the bass note, which will be the note the chord is named after, and located on one of the bottom three strings. Your first and second fingers cover the 3rd and 2nd strings respectively, EXCEPT when you play the D chord. For that your first and second fingers should scoot over to the 2nd and 1st strings, respectively.
Jack White only uses his thumb and first finger in the clip up there. Do as I say, not as he does! (but do notice the way that he plants the rest of his fingers against the body of the guitar. I do that too and you may find it helpful for keeping that right hand grounded.

And in Guitar 1 Rep--whew! we did A LOT! Not only did we keep Dream Lover and The One I Love fresh (quite different sentiments in those, no?), but we tackled two new tunes to boot! For She Don't Use Jelly, the keyword is "dynamics," which is music-speak for volume. Play the intro and the instrumental sections loudly (where the split measures are), and play the verses quiet and gently. In the split measures, strum ALL the eighth ones. But on the verses, strum the chord just once on the one, and let it ring until the 4th beat where you'll hit it again to lead into the next measure. On the measure of A, do a crescendo--which  means start softly and get louder--while you downstrum all the eighth notes. I may make a minor change to that chart next week after having listened to the recording a couple of times today. That transitional section with all the magazines and tangerines is still bothering me. But don't worry about that for now.
Finally, we learned about 6/8 time and played the Rolling Stones' Time is on My Side. Remember that the one and the four are the main beats to emphasize. ONE two three FOUR five six. Your strums on those lowercase beats can be lighter and smaller. You'll want to do all downstrums or you'll goof yourself up when you get to 4 and find you have to upstrum the emphasized beat. That's just too confusing. Dance it out if you feel it! It helps!

Gig This Saturday!

Almost forgot! For the punks among you, there's a CBGB Tribute show this Saturday at the School (in Szold Hall in the East building). You'll get to see lots of Old Town faculty, students, and friends rip through tunes by Blondie, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Patti Smith, and more. Yours truly will be there with my band Vamplifier, and we'll perform a couple of tunes by The Damned.
(I'm playing BASS you guys! I've never done that in front of people before.)
Hope to see you there with safety pins through your noses!

http://www.oldtownschool.org/concerts/2014/02-15-2014-tribute-to-punk-8pm/

Session 1, Week 5 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Thanks to all of you for your pick-me-up song suggestions! I've been listening to a lot of them this week--which is proving stressful, so it's helping out a lot!
Here's a quick recap of what we worked on last week:

Guitar 3 slogged through the rest of the detail work on Ziggy Stardust. Kudos to you for sticking with it and hammering out that intro. It starts with one big strum on a G. K-R-A-N-G! Let it ring for a full beat. On beat two, you have to subdivide into sixteenth notes, so say to yourself "two E and Uh" while you strum a D chord (on two), and then add and take away your pinky at the 3rd fret to play that suss chord on the "E and Uh" bit. That's the first measure!
The second measure is a C chord that you arpeggiate.  Say it with me now: "trip-el-let" There's a one-two-three, one-two-three feel to the first two groupings. Modify the bass note of the second one (your finger will be on the 5th string, 2nd fret to produce a B note), and then take your fingers away completely for the last pair of eighth notes (four and).
If you can get that far, I'll be very happy. Take a look at the rather busy strumming pattern written out on the Stuff & Junk page and see how much of that you can grab in the verses too. We're almost there!

In Guitar 2 Rep we really buckled down on our alternate bass strumming to give Stand By Your Man that country see-saw feel. When in doubt, you can always consult the worksheet in the front of the packet to figure out where your root note is, and where your 5th is (that's the alternate note).
We also started in on Ophelia, which you can do some bass pickin' with on the one, but the key strumming technique there is the "jangle jangle!" It's only a pair of eighth note groupings at the end of the measure that you put a bit of extra energy behind. Keep your wrist super loose and just let go and have fun!
C7 is a c chord with your pinky added to the 3rd string 3rd fret, and G+ (the + means "augmented" if you really want to know!) is a G chord with your index finger added to the 4th string 1st fret.
Small changes that make a big difference!

And in Guitar 1 Rep we warmed up with Under the Boardwalk, which is sounding great! That "Golden Strum" is really coming along nicely. You can use it for the REM song too! Remember to read the riff at the bottom of the page like this: top number = string number, bottom number = fret number. If the bottom number is 0, that means you play the string open (so you could also think of that as an "O" for "open!")
The timing of the riff is: One...and three and. You let the first note ring for a beat and a half. Throw that riff in instead of the first measure of Em in the "FIRE!" section. And don't forget to add drama to other measures of Em by doing a dramatic upstrum or "rake!"
As if that wasn't enough, there's also the Calypso strum which you can apply to Bobby Darin's Dream Lover. On the first beat, pluck the root note of the chord all by itself (just like we did on Evangeline). The root note is going to be located on the first string your pick makes contact with when you're strumming a chord, so sometimes it'll be an open string and sometimes it'll be a string with a finger on it as part of a chord shape. Then on beat two, you'll D-R-A-G out your strumming motion just a little bit to give it a more deliberate sound. Finally, to really polish it up, add a mute to the third beat where you aren't strumming anything. So it looks like this all together: Root   Drag-Up (mute)-Up Down-Up

Thanks to all of you for your hard work and good attitudes! Let's chase these winter blues away with tunes.

Session 1, Week 4 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Hey Gang -
Thanks for a great week of paying tribute to Pete Seeger and learning the Song of the Session! All of my classes took a unique approach to playing Turn Turn Turn and I think we had lots of fun. Those of you who were around on the weekend and stuck around for the extended Seeger Sings got a special taste of how warm and expansive the Old Town School community can be!
Stick around awhile, will ya? Registration is open and you can save $15 if you use "PICKNGRIN14" when you register before February 9. You don't have to stick with me, but if you wanna (and I'd love to see you!) here's my registration page: http://www.oldtownschool.org/teachers/Jane-Hanna/

In Guitar 3 on Thursday, we played TTT in the key of C, and we did some fingerstyle playing. Repeat after me: Thumb, Two, One, Three! That's the finger order you use to pick out beats one and two and (a pair of eighth notes). You thumb plays the root note (which moves depending on the chord), and your other three fingers stay glued to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd string--each finger assigned to a string. It takes a bit of concentration and coordination, but it seemed like you were enjoying yourselves even though it was big brain work! Remember, because that pattern is only two beats long, you'll play it twice through in a full measure. And in a split measure, you'll only play it once per chord listed.
We also finished putting together Killing Moon, by adding a dramatic upstrum to the second measure of Em at the end of the verse (krrrrrang!). As requested, I'll try to bring in a tab for the little riff at the beginning of the song--if I can figure it out!
Great work filling in the names of the notes on the bottom two strings, those of you that did 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.
Do me a favor and revisit Ziggy this week at home so that we can spend some more time on the next chunk of that in class.

For Guitar 2 Rep this week we did a different kind of fingerpicking on TTT. Just like in G3, our thumbs were responsible for the root notes, but instead of the other fingers having individual jobs to do, we used them to pluck the three strings altogether as a chord, which has a beautiful kind of chime effect that I love. Rhythmically, that means that your thumb plays the root on every beat, and your fingers pluck the chord on every and. If you wanted to get REALLY fancy, you could go in and figure out where all the alternate bass notes are, and pluck those on the 2nd and 4th beats.

Speaking of alternate bass notes, we started looking at those in the context of Stand By Your Man, which will be one of our projects in the next class. You can always use the worksheet in the front of the packet to check yourself, but see if you can figure out the alternate bass notes yourselves by counting up five notes from the root. Once you know the note, you just have to find it somewhere on the three bass strings (E, A, D). Remember that chord families have the same root, so all A chords for example (A, Am, A7) will have the same roots. (btw Heart of Gold is sounding great, so be sure to keep polishing that one up)

And in Guitar 1 Rep we went Under the Boardwalk to get more comfy with that "golden strum" pattern. I LOVED divvying up the vocal parts so that half were doing the bits inside the parenthesis, and half were outside. It sounded great and it was a lot of fun.
For our version of TTT, I changed the key to A and talked a little about how I got there (finding the I, IV, and V chords and figuring them out in alternate keys). We played a straightforward quarter note strumming pattern, but I gave you the choice of reading the song map with the chord changes over the lyrics, or the chords to the left and the lyrics to the right. There are virtues to both approaches, and it'll serve you well if you can get comfortable with both kinds of charts because musicians tend to be a diverse bunch and we all write things down slightly differently. Being able to remain flexible and adapt is a terrific skill when playing with others.
We made a good start on Dream Lover too. Practice that one with the golden strum at home, and next week will spruce it up with some slight augmentation to the strum. Remember that there are a couple of D chords on that chart that don't quite line up with the lyrics. Look at the first "'Cause I want..." line. That one is correct. The other two times, you'll see the D is printed too soon. It should come in over "a girl." Just FYI. Sorry for the error. (just trying to keep you on your toes)
Thanks for all your terrific questions about changing strings, strumming, body position, and all things musical. Keep 'em coming!