Been ramping up the playing along with songs ...

[DanTheBluesMan]

and checking out youtube videos on how to play songs. As the music room lurches towards completion, my eagerness to play has also been rising. I've been seeding playlists on Apple Music then just playing along with whatever comes along. Using Bluetooth to connect to my hearing aids, and an unplugged electric. I can change the balance of the external mic and streaming music so I hear both equally well, and almost nobody outside the room is any the wiser. I just have to remember not to start singing out loud.

I'll pick out the key (try anyway), then I'll google "(song title, artist) key bpm" About 50% of the time I'm right, another 40% I'll be on the harmonic minor, or just plain can't figure it out. I'm not too worried about the variances of pitch that were my bane in the early days. If the song is something that I think might be a worthwhile addition to the jamming lexicon my buddy and I employ, I'll look for how-to-play videos.

Thus my new nemesis surfaces, lousy videos. Yes, glass houses, throwing stones, yadda yadda yadda "let's see you do better" blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong, there are excellent videos out there. There's a gent from the UK, Andy Crowley, who did an outstanding lesson on how to play "Wild Horses", one of my favorite Stones tunes and the very first song I ever played with another person other than my guitar teacher

"Running On Empty" is another tune we play. For many years, the walk downs were a stumbling point so I'd lay back and let my buddy handle them before picking it back up afterwards. Found another video that really is helping me to nail those spots down.

But then, there's stuff like "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" by Warren Zevon. I'd say the ratio is 3 Linda Ronstadt versions to the Warren version online. C#major vs G major. I've yet to find a good WZ version video. One guy was just wailing away 4x4 on a horribly out of tune guitar and singing in some pitch unrelated to the guitar or the song. Cringey. Another was a stoned guy droning on for about 4 minutes before a note was played, it may have been more but I closed the browser. I may have to try the Linda versions and transpose them to G major for jamming.

[Offshore Angler]

Dan, try this, rather than memorizing chords and keys train your ear to hear the intervals. Like OK, that's a ii to a Vb7, etc., then chart the song using Nashville numbers. This will serve you wel for simple songs.

Ear training is everything if you want to be a performer. When you mentioned the walkdown issues - that led me to push you to ear training. Those are nothing more than transitions. The problem with chord listings is that they

1) are usually wrong.
2) Even if technically correct, they are only showing the passing tones slashed.

Great example - Rosanna by Toto (one of my all-time fav bands) on the chorus "Meet you all the way, Rosanna" if you chart that as chords only it would be alphabet soup making absolutely no rhyme or reason. The first chord is the iv (Cm) which then goes to the bVI (Eb) to bIII (Bb) to the II (F) - but that's way, way , way overcomplicating how Luke plays it. Why? Let's take a look.

First, there's a modulation on the chorus so the chords make no sense whatsoever in the "original" key.
Second, let's look at that progression - that's a full diaper of changes to play while you're singing.

OK Cm, and Eb are basically the same triad. So that's saying you can basically stay on a D chord shape at the 3rd fret for both those changes, then lift your finger of the E flat to D and play the Bb triad and then go to the F chord. Easy peasy! But if people try to do that looking at chord charts they's give up after 2 minutes.

If I can teach anything, it's don't rely on scales or Chord Charts to learn songs Use your friggen ears!

SCALES ARE TECHNICAL, BUT THEY ARE NOT MUSICAL. Etch that into your practice space. The Beatles broke every "scale" rule there is.

And now here's the one thing that makes guitar players lose their minds - learn to read music. It will totally change the way you interpret changes and chords because it's all laid bare right in front of you on the chart. The example I just gave is a pretty simple one but it's still complicated sounding but if you look at it in notation it's butt-ass simple and before you end a phrase you can see what's going on and anticipate it.


You don't need to be able to sight read a piece at a conservatory level either. Just get to where you can look at the chart, determine the key and understand what notes are chord tones and which notes are passing and connecting tones which I can teach someone in about an hour.

Ear training is a skill that needs to be learned. There are a lot of courses and methods out there for it, but it's definitely a skill a musician needs.

Oh and I'd be remiss not to add - the number one mistake beginners make is they think they need to play every string on every chord. It's one of the easiest ways to spot a an inexperienced player. Pros seldom use all the strings at once. It may 2,3, or 4 strings but almost never all of them. I can explain why if you want, but this is already long-winded enough.

Chuck

[Tele-Bob]

But then, there's stuff like "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" by Warren Zevon. I'd say the ratio is 3 Linda Ronstadt versions to the Warren version online. C#major vs G major. I've yet to find a good WZ version video. I may have to try the Linda versions and transpose them to G major for jamming.

A capo is a wonderful device!

[OldStrummer]

A capo is a wonderful device!

I used to hate capos. But lately, I've found them to be a terrific way to get my voice in tune with a song. I'm having a lot of fun with Fred Neil's Everybody's Talkin' At Me. Because I'm not a fingerstylist, I can play the song with a capo on the second fret or on the fourth fret -- and still play the song in the same key! (I think that's how it was played on the original, too).

Last year at an open mic I played the old Peter and Gordon song, Lady Godiva, and used a capo on the 8th fret. At first, I thought it was nuts. But it sounded better than anywhere else!