Author Topic: m_c Learning Progress ... continued from Beginner's Thread (Read 17002 times)

m_c · « **on:** March 21, 2015, 10:07:06 pm »

Now I finally have functioning broadband, here's a couple I just recorded.

First up is California Dreamin'. If it wasn't for Rolandson's attempts at this, I would of just ignored it, and I think I've just about got it. It stops just before the solo section, as my mind went completely blank at that point, as it quite often does at random parts of this song.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20150321-californiadreamin

Second up is Hurt. I really like this song, although I stumbled a couple times while recording it. It's songs like these I'm almost tempted to buy an acoustic, but you'll have to put up with it on the Strat

My chorus to verse transition isn't quite there yet, but I wasn't going to spend all night trying to record a perfect version!
Quick Edit - I've condensed it down a bit, as the verse gets a bit tedious with no vocals!

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20150321-hurt

And last up, just for a bit of fun with distortion, here's a little bit Fly Away, which highlights I need to lift fingers a bit more during changes.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20150321-flyaway

chix2 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2015, 10:25:02 pm »

@m_c

california dreamin was good

hurt it sounded ok on electric, yes there was as you mentioned the transition needs bit work an there was little imperfection on the start of the second verse. but good effort

fly away out of the 3 song you presented this one needs the most work on it

how long you been playing m_c?

m_c · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2015, 12:32:56 am »

Cheers, chix.

I'm happy I managed to get California Dreamin that good. It's quite an intensive song, given the spectrum of things that you need to get right for the song to come together, especially for a beginner.

In terms of playing, on and off for nearly 20 years, but only truly started learning and progressing properly since starting the BC around Christmas.

m_c · « **Reply #3 on:** April 06, 2015, 08:32:28 pm »

I've had a pretty lazy day, so after far too much noodling throughout the day, here's this evenings recordings.

First up is the latest recording of Caliornia Dreamin, which suffered from a bit of red button anxiety, but mistakes are reasonably minimal.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20150406-californiadremin2new

Second is one of my favourite songs, Hey Soul Sister. I can just about play in time with the actual track, but opted for a bit more relaxed pace for this recording.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20150406-heysoulsister

I did spend a little bit time playing with pick-up position, tone, volume and strumming technique, and I think the tone is better than previous recordings. The biggest improvement I feel was down to strumming technique, and concentrating more on the higher strings.

chix2 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2015, 09:23:26 pm »

good work Mc

the tone is much brighter on both, improved on already good California dreaming. i don't know hey soul sister track thought but good playing there too. that good progress if you can almost play along with the actual track then all seems to be coming along very nicely well done

chix

m_c · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2015, 10:55:24 pm »

Thanks chix.

I think I'm going to file away California Dreaming now, as I feel I've reached the point where I've polished it as well as I can for the moment, and my time would be better spend pushing my limits on something new.

I know my practise routine has been rubbish lately, so I'm going to concentrate on the IM and get back into a good practise routine again.

I'm a lot happier with the tone. I usually practise without plugging in, so this was the first time I'd experimented with the strumming while plugged in, and I was surprised just how much difference strumming technique makes once plugged in.

ravenclaw4 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 07, 2015, 02:21:09 pm »

Hey

California dreamin' sounded very nice! It flowed very well, and had the soulful,heart felt kind of vibe about it that made it very beautiful.

Hurt was also very nice. As said before the transition needs a bit of work, but the actual playing was lovely. Nice job!

Fly away was also good, the quality itself was great. Like Chix said, thats probably the one that needs the most work. If you could manage to get it flowing nicely, without the stops, i think it would sound awesome! But the actual playing is very good

Altogether, good job xx

m_c · « **Reply #7 on:** April 20, 2015, 10:24:18 pm »

I'm fully aware I've been noodling far too much lately, but the noodling has mostly involved songs I already know, and working on the little bits I struggle with. I also have this habit of going to only noodle for 5 minutes to get warmed up, which quickly extends to nearer 30

Anyway, dug out the audio interface tonight, and first up is Hurt. I'm quite happy with this, as this attempt involved keeping time with a beat, and I feel the transitions are better than the previous version.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20150420-hurt

That was followed by a few attempts at Summer of 69, which I think is tolerable. It's certainly not perfect as I was getting tired by that point.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20150420-summer69

Cataract · « **Reply #8 on:** April 20, 2015, 11:12:11 pm »

Good job! I really liked Hurt (Summer of 69 little less, but I'm not a huge fan of muted chords

). Keep rocking!

Boobook · « **Reply #9 on:** April 21, 2015, 10:58:59 am »

Both recordings are pretty good! I also think Hurt was the better of the two, you captured the feel of the song and the changes and rhythm were pretty well spot on. Great work

.

Rossco01 · « **Reply #10 on:** April 21, 2015, 12:33:10 pm »

Both very good MC with Hurt being the much better of the too. I've never given Hurt ago but looking at the chords it doesn't look too bad. I like summer of 69 but as you'll have seen from my few initial recordings struggled with it a bit and have put it down for a while....the challenge of getting it better will get me back to it at some point. I'm not sure I'm a great fan of palm muting but I think you got the opening chords sounding okay on 69 its the chorus rhythm that doesn't sound quite so right and needs a bit of work. Really good progress though.

m_c · « **Reply #11 on:** April 21, 2015, 11:04:13 pm »

Cheers guys.
Hurt is one of the songs I've put a fair bit of time into, as I enjoy listening to and playing it.
I can also manage to play it along with the track, which is also a nice bonus, however I cut the verses short for recording, as it does get monotonous playing the same two bars for 12 and 10 times.

So69, I've never really concentrated on, but quite like it as a finish to any practise time just to get a bit power chord/palm muting action going (also gives me an excuse to get some distortion dialled in!). I'm probably going to spend a bit time on it over the next couple weeks, as I'd quite like it in my playable collection.

Rossco, the hardest part of Hurt, is the transition from chorus to verse. I've spent the past few weeks just going from a couple bars of the verse to chorus and back again, just to nail the pumping 8s to A string pick. However you can cheat, either by missing the final strum, or delaying the Am pick/pick/strum sequence as you've got a couple rest beats after the Am sequence and then get back on the correct beat for the C/D sequence.

m_c · « **Reply #12 on:** October 25, 2015, 09:40:54 pm »

Hmmm..so 6 months since the last update :-/
It's been a very much a roller coaster summer for me. Managed to get pneumonia in May, which floored me for several months due to exhaustion, and it's only over the past couple months that I've been getting back to pre-May fitness levels. Don't think I've ever slept so much in my life than I did during May and June.
Guitar time has been very minimal, with just the occasional play around.

I've been wanting to get back into some kind of proper practice routine, but been lacking the motivation, however after hearing Reality by Lost Frequencies and discovering how easy the chords are, it's given me some motivation to finally put some effort in to percussive beats.

Got the 2i2 uncovered tonight, so first up was a quick bit fingerstyle in the form of Fast Car. Certainly no where near perfect, as the tempo was just a bit fast for my comfort zone and I need to work on avoiding extra string noise -

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151025-fastcarfingeronly

Then onto some Reality-

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151025-reality
Was a bit tired by that point, so it's not that long and stops at the point I fluffed a chord change!

Hopefully it won't be as long before the next update..

Boobook · « **Reply #13 on:** October 26, 2015, 11:27:59 am »

Hi m_c, good to see you back, I had wondered where you had got to. Pneumonia can't have been much fun! Glad to hear you're on the mend now though.

Both tracks sounded pretty good. Fast car was a little rusty around the edges as you said but nothing a bit of practice can't fix. I liked your percussive rhythm on Reality, that flowed nicely. I dont know the original, I'll have to go look it up now

.

Welcome back, and hopefully we'll be hearing some more of you soon

.

m_c · « **Reply #14 on:** October 27, 2015, 12:46:38 am »

Hey Boo,
it's good to be back!
I'd almost forgotten how relaxing it is to sit down with the guitar and ignore everything else for a while, although hitting that red button does seem to quite quickly remove the relaxation part..

Just realised I never mentioned Reality is by Lost Frequencies.
I'd like to master the intro, however it may be a step too far for now.

m_c · « **Reply #15 on:** October 31, 2015, 09:33:48 pm »

Here's tonight's attempt 60-something at Wonderful Tonight. Despite numerous breaks, I just couldn't get all the way through it, and gave up after this attempt.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151031-wonderfulmilliontakes

After which I had a go at the riff

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151031-wonderful-tonight-riff

Tonight has taught me one thing. I need to practice more with some form of backing beat, instead of just picking up the guitar and noodling without one.

de_conne · « **Reply #16 on:** October 31, 2015, 11:41:57 pm »

Allright,

figured it out, you're morayguitar

I thought the rythm part sounded pretty solid. Is that fingerpicking or picked with pick? It's pretty good!

The lead part is okay, but I don't think you're playing the right notes.
=> Lol, after checking out some youtube video's actually, I'm not playing the right notes

=> But, it does sound good

regards,
de_conne

m_c · « **Reply #17 on:** November 01, 2015, 12:07:18 am »

I'm really original with naming accounts :-)
My default username choice is mc, however that's normally taken on anything music related, so my proper name is the next option as that's rarely taken.

That was fingerpicked, for the sole reason I find it a bit more relaxing than normal picking. If I manage to get a full recording using fingers, I might attempt a picked version as well.

Ha, I'll admit I had to relearn the solo using the correct string/frets. The TAB I grabbed from ultimate guitar a while ago was for everything being a string lower/higher up the fretboard around the 12/14th frets instead of around the 8th/10th frets. It was only when I happened to watch a tutorial on youtube that I realised.
Both versions work, it's just a case of how close to the original you want to be.

m_c · « **Reply #18 on:** November 01, 2015, 10:11:20 pm »

Hot of the press. Think this was take 6 tonight, but I made it all the way through, although I think I maybe repeated a few chords where I shouldn't off.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151101-wonderfultonight

de_conne · « **Reply #19 on:** November 02, 2015, 03:18:23 pm »

Pretty good, to play it all the way for that long.

Maybe it's me, but the guitar sounded pretty out of tune?

regards,
de_conne

m_c · « **Reply #20 on:** November 02, 2015, 09:51:43 pm »

I'm going to blame the old strings...
New strings on tonight, along with a little intonation adjustment, however I'm not convinced. Everything bang on according to the tuner, sounds perfect strumming chords, but certain notes in fingerstyle do sound a bit off. I may have to treat the guitar to a proper setup.

Here's a short bit of WonderfulTonight to see what others think-

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151102-wonderfultonightshort

And tonights complete song, is Hey Soul Sister. Not the tidiest attempt, but I was pushing the tempo, at which point my strumming gets a bit harsh.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151102-heysoulsister

m_c · « **Reply #21 on:** November 17, 2015, 09:12:48 pm »

I'm hating loving my looper pedal.

It means I get some very quick feedback on my playing, which at times I even impress myself, but more often on how much more things need polished!

Anyway, the first time through the BC, I never really bothered with the impro bits, as I was too lazy to play a track on the computer and then play along. But with the looper, I can lay down a 12bar blues ranging from reasonable to horrendous in quality and number of bars, hit the pedal, and impro away.

Here's my first recorded attempt-

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/first-recorded-blues-impro

I know I'm needing to work on my 12bar, as I always seem to pick the bass string more loudly. There are times I can sit down and play both strings pretty good, but others it just all goes wrong. But I'm pretty happy with my attempts at impro so far.

Rossco01 · « **Reply #22 on:** November 18, 2015, 12:02:52 pm »

Good to see you having a go at this. I think it needs a bit of work. Might be an idea to use a standard backing track rather than lay down your own to start practicing impro (not sure if your looper support this or not....my jamman does). To be honest I'd simply point you towards the IM and look at Justins vids on improvising around the major scale they helped me an awful lot in this area whether you're using the major or minor pent scales. Keep at it though because it's pretty rewarding. I've really not done enough in this area myself yet but I've done a couple which are on my soundcloud.

m_c · « **Reply #23 on:** November 18, 2015, 10:59:17 pm »

Thanks for the comments.

Yeah, the RC-3 lets me download tracks, it's just I've been too lazy.
Generally when I pick up the guitar, I want the least amount of technology/faff possible, and unplugging the pedal and plugging it into the computer isn't high on my list, as I'd much rather be practising something. I'll need to make a point of downloading a backing track when I get a chance, or just get another USB cable so I can leave it plugged it!

I had reached the first stage of the IM, however given my 6 month gap, I'm going back over the BC consolidation and concentrating on the bits I wasn't as good at, as well as touching up the bits I've forgotten. I'm hoping to get back into the IM next month.

m_c · « **Reply #24 on:** November 29, 2015, 09:44:13 pm »

This weeks focus of practise has been Have A Nice Day.

https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151129-haveaniceday
I tried changing the rhythm for the chorus/solo, but I couldn't find anything I liked so stuck to the same rhythm throughout for this recording. I do struggle with changing rhythm patterns mid song, so it's something I'll add to the list of things to work on.

I also done another recording of California Dreamin' through my Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator pedal.
https://soundcloud.com/morayguitar/20151129-californiadreaminac3