Author Topic: BS-105 • I Walk The Line - Johnny Cash (Read 36877 times)

Borodog · « **Reply #25 on:** January 16, 2014, 01:52:49 am »

Two things: Start very slowly, and cheat. I.e. use your thumb and fingertips on your fretting hand to mute out the upper strings in case you do hit them.

ItsMe · « **Reply #26 on:** January 28, 2014, 07:03:02 pm »

What kind of sorcery is this at 5:25?
After the boom chick-a Justin ends with:
6th string 2nd fret
6th string 4th fret
5th string open
??
Any help filling out the ?? is much appreciated. Every chord I try with my fingers positioned like his end up sounding horrible

stitch101 · « **Reply #27 on:** January 28, 2014, 07:44:56 pm »

He's just doing a walk up to end the song. One string only just like you posted and ending with an A chord.
He's using a mini barre A so he can hit the G# note again.

Pete83 · « **Reply #28 on:** March 16, 2014, 10:29:56 am »

Quote from: Borodog on January 16, 2014, 01:52:49 am

Two things: Start very slowly, and cheat. I.e. use your thumb and fingertips on your fretting hand to mute out the upper strings in case you do hit them.

I cant seem to get this to work. When i try to use my thumb, I mute the thindest string with my palm.

Borodog · « **Reply #29 on:** March 16, 2014, 01:49:05 pm »

You only need to barely touch the low E string with your thumb. Also, on this type of rhythm it doesn't sound bad if you intentionally mute the high E. The high E can get pretty bright and jangly.

DanniTSI3 · « **Reply #30 on:** December 20, 2014, 06:40:22 am »

Hey people! Beginner here! (perpetual... I do have some experience but am starting Justin's course from the beginning).

I just have a general query about this song which may be a 'how long is a piece of string' category question but just really want some feedback for some more experienced players.

I have set myself a goal to play this song with either the boom-chicka strum pattern or the more technical walking bass line strum by the middle of September 2015 as I want to play it to my Grandad at his birthday as he is a big Johnny Cash fan.

All I want to know is - Is this doable? I am practicing 5 times a week following Justin's course. How long did it take others to "get" the more advanced strums? I just don't want to be setting myself up for a failure if I am kidding myself.. As I said how long is a piece of string? hehe.

stitch101 · « **Reply #31 on:** December 20, 2014, 03:21:25 pm »

It will depend on how fast you learn. Some people complete the whole BC in less than a year. So you should
have no problem having I Walk The Line down. Good luck and remember to practice the things that you
don't know and play the things you know.

Welcome to the forum

dhalbert · « **Reply #32 on:** December 21, 2014, 01:03:00 am »

I think you will do fine. Just start out with a straight down strum until you get the chord changes mastered. Then make a simple boom-chuck (B D B D), and add boom-chucka later.

There are many Johnny Cash songs that are easy but sound great. Another easy one is "I Still Miss Someone". You can do a websearch for these and come up with chord charts easily.

If you are nervous turn it into a sing-along instead of a performance. Everyone will have a great time.

batwoman · « **Reply #33 on:** August 25, 2016, 11:00:46 am »

Can someone tell me what key this is in please?

SiegeFrog · « **Reply #34 on:** August 26, 2016, 08:00:25 pm »

Like every song in Stage 1 (accounting for the use of a capo), it's in A. However, as Justin mentions in the video lesson, the original song modulates to 2 other keys from verse to verse. That's why you can only play along to the original for the first part of the song.

GeMir · « **Reply #35 on:** August 29, 2016, 11:46:01 am »

I'm learning this song on a strat. Are there any hints and tips for better sound for electric guitar players?

phx1973 · « **Reply #36 on:** August 29, 2016, 11:24:22 pm »

Just play it clean

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dubah · « **Reply #37 on:** September 30, 2016, 12:07:43 am »

Man I am super stoked, after 3 weeks of good solid practice I was finally able to play this song while singing.

I love it, thanks Justin for teaching this. Learning songs is definitely making this a fun process...

At first I just wanted to play and make my own sounds, now that I'm playing one song I'm learning another and just enjoying all of it.

Rossco01 · « **Reply #38 on:** September 30, 2016, 08:18:23 am »

Well done Dubah it's a fantastic feeling the first time isn't it.

Laila · « **Reply #39 on:** September 30, 2016, 05:42:32 pm »

Hah, this was my first song, too Dubah :-) As a die-hard Johnny Cash fan from the age of about two it was so much fun to actually twang my way through it!

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Dubah · « **Reply #40 on:** October 03, 2016, 05:54:48 am »

Yeah, I'm surprised my wife isn't tired of listening to me play Walk the Line yet lol, I've been speeding it up slowly, I was able to play the song at 60 bpm.

But yeah, I love Johnny Cash, and am learning the 2 Elvis songs he has too, pretty fun so far.

Although I'd rather play some AC/DC or Metallica but I'm not looking to rush it either.

Laila · « **Reply #41 on:** December 22, 2016, 07:55:04 pm »

Blast! Revisiting this song three months later, and in my infinite hubris I figured it would be easy. It is - sorta. The chord changes are easy. I know the song well. The D DU D DU is easy. But putting it all together does all kinds of strange things to my singing. I find myself holding some notes, and speeding up others, so that "I walk the line" comes out "I walk ..theline", and I have no time to sing "each day (is) through"

Arg, why is this difficult? I wanted to just put up three easy recordings as a Christmas gift to my mother who lives abroad and who loves Johnny Cash, but it really doesn't sound very good. And I figured if there was any song I could add a strumming pattern to it's this one.

I wonder if changing from a simple downstrum to a down-up is confusing my brain to try to speed up singing? I should play this with a metronome, but since for the time being my phone is both my recording Device and my metronome it's a little difficult ;-)

stitch101 · « **Reply #42 on:** December 22, 2016, 08:02:16 pm »

You could record the guitar and voicals seperatly the merge them together.
Just sing to your recording of your playing a couple of times and pick the best one.

DarrellW · « **Reply #43 on:** December 22, 2016, 08:33:10 pm »

Probably too late to say now but it's a good idea for future reference, get yourself a looper pedal, with it you can record your guitar first and then sing along with it. I've got an Electro Harmonix one that gives you 12 mins of recording time; I find it useful when I learn something new, I record the track and then play along with it until I get it right.

Laila · « **Reply #44 on:** December 22, 2016, 08:38:36 pm »

Is that what a looper pedal is! Thanks

I'm a complete newbie at the techy stuff, all I have is an acoustic guitar, a tuner, a capo and my smartphone...

I've been wanting to sing over a recording many times, but couldn't figure out any way to do it with just the phone.

DarrellW · « **Reply #45 on:** December 22, 2016, 08:56:51 pm »

With a looper pedal you can layer things, and add new bits on a different layer; it's fun when you get it right. I'm not using it the way it's meant to be used, I'm adapting it to do what I want.
Trouble with mp3 files with the track on you're learning the don't have a count in so what you do with the looper is to give yourself a count in before you start to record the mp3. I've just more or less got through Bob Marley's Redemption song using it - it has been very useful and we'll worth what it cost. You can record an electro acoustic straight in or a miked up acoustic. You can also record your voice miked up so lots of options apart from its intended use.
The downside is that you do need an amplifier, so if you don't have one to use it you would need one, something like this would do the job, also be useful if at some time you decide to go for an Electro acoustic.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/LANEY-LA12C/acoustic-guitar-amps/laney-la12c-la-acoustic-guitar-combo-12w
Here's what a looper can do:
https://youtu.be/hCI4xp5xFFs

Rossco01 · « **Reply #46 on:** December 23, 2016, 09:18:30 am »

Laila, you can go the looper route or indeed go the full hog and go the DAW route but you'll need to invest in things for that e.g. usb mic.

You might want to search the app store for a multi track app. I haven't used one but I think there are a few on there. That would allow you to record your guitar first and then sing over it. It is the best way to ensure you get both the best guitar and vocal track (As you only have to think about one at a time) that said it's not always easy.

Sweed77 · « **Reply #47 on:** December 23, 2016, 03:26:42 pm »

Laila

I don't know why but that boom\chicka pattern is hard to get just right and be able to sing too. It looks so simple but...

I can sing while playing some pretty complex 16th patterns but still struggle with boom\chicka

I recorded "I Walk the Line" 2 years ago when I was doing the BC at maybe stage 6 or 7.

A simple way to play it is to use your simple 4 down pattern but make the 1 and 3 beats a Bass only strike, like this and alternate the bass...
1 2 3 4
B D B D

A link to my very old recording to https://soundcloud.com/sweed59/i-walk-the-line-key-changesmp3 It is a key change version, that stretches my range, but gives you an idea of how it can sound with simple strumming. And as you'll hear, at the time, I also had some problems making the lyrics fit

SiegeFrog · « **Reply #48 on:** December 23, 2016, 08:20:32 pm »

I think this is difficult to sing because for most of the song the vocals follow the rhythm of the guitar leading you to lock in the vocals to your playing. Then, he switches the rhythm of the vocals up. If you're not ready for it you'll most likely either mess up your playing or your singing. You have to get the playing really on automatic, so you can concentrate on the vocals.

Laila · « **Reply #49 on:** December 23, 2016, 10:00:32 pm »

Quote from: SiegeFrog on December 23, 2016, 08:20:32 pm

I think this is difficult to sing because for most of the song the vocals follow the rhythm of the guitar leading you to lock in the vocals to your playing. Then, he switches the rhythm of the vocals up.

Yes! This is sort of what I was trying to say. I feel like I lose conscious control of the rhythm of the vocal because it follows something else, most probably the rhythm of the guiatr which I'm trying desperately to keep steady.

A lot of good feedback here. I will look into an app that will help record guitar and vocal separately. At the same time the skill I'm trying to develop is playing and singing simultaneously. I'm beginning to realize that some songs are a lot harder to sing while playing than others, no matter how well I know them.