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| One of my farming buddies, with his hoe... |
I am like the farmer who has toiled all spring and summer and has harvested his crop in the fall; and now all he has to do is get it to the market in good condition and collect his pay for the entire year.
The Fruit The fruit is my music;
The Labor
The tilling of the soil was me borrowing a book from the library, which is a Mel Bay publication called "Mastering The Guitar" and is level "1B."
Now, Level 1 B begins right on its first page to introduce 16th notes; and then jumps right into the first song in a series of songs that feature a lot of 16th notes.
Thus, I place the difficulty level of grade 1 B at about somewhere in the middle of Book 4 of the famous "Modern Guitar Method" series (where 16th notes are introduced).
And that is where I left off, 30 years ago, and that is where I am picking up.
I really struggled with the first song in the book, entitled "Sea Breeze" and which is designated as being both a "fingerpicking" and/or a "flatpicking" song.
This usually means that the flat picker is going to be required to play a melody which skips around to different strings in a manner which is technically a lot easier if you use 3 of your fingers plus your thumb, instead of one pick.
The song didn't disappoint and has taken me 2 days of practicing it for about 2 hours each day, to have started to determine the best way to approach it with a flatpick.
It takes a lot of practice because you really can't miss any note at all in those songs and then claim that you have "learned" them and can "play" them.
They really have to be perfect because they are there to drill certain technical elements into you which you might never grasp if you can't play the song all the way through without missing a note in strict time and can even read the title of the piece and make it sound like the title.
"Sea Breeze" really has to put you in the mind of smelling salt in the air while you listen to it.
And there is usually some spot in the song where you are prone to screw up and make most of your mistakes and that one measure has to played literally 500 times until you find another perspective to look at it from...like this song has a pattern where you have to skip over a string and hit the note on the next string up.
This was the first thing to "master" and I've already put 2 hours into working on it. It sounds like a simple thing but mastering a jump to two strings over gives you a great melodic tool and even sheds light on the techniques of people such as Steve Morse and Al DiMeola and even John Mayer...
"Sea Breeze" To Be Recorded
I will record it; as it is very close to being at the "level" that I am at when it comes to playing pieces from sheet music and is a pretty cool piece of music and might even sound nice over a drum pattern with harmonica added!
The Cart
The cart to carry my fruit to the market and the oxen to pull it is the #10 Scotlandville bus or Sherman's vehicle, if I can perhaps call him for a ride.
I might have to busk again for my bus fare, like I had to do last week. Or tap into Howard's vast resources.
I'm thinking you should see if you can "egg" Sherman into getting you a new guitar. You said yours is worn out, literally coming apart at the seams. Guitar Center has a rather nice Ovation for $300, and I think it's an electric-acoustic.
ReplyDeleteOn my front, I'm really happy with my electric violin. You can see photos of it on my blog ( http://myelectricviolin.blogspot.com ) because I've set a rule for myself: No more just taking pictures off of Google, I have to use only pictures I take myself.
I kinda thought I might be buying someone else's problems with this fiddle, but it's acting OK. It's staying in tune pretty well, and it's playing very nice with every (one of two) amps I've plugged it into. Basically it's a $200 fiddle with another $100 put into a bow and strings. So again that figure of $300 for a basic axe.
If you can learn finger picking/fingerstyle, NOW you'll have, or should have, the public eating out of your hand. Frankly, everyone's seen a million flatpickers. But look up Chet Atkins playing Yakety Axe or Orange Blosson Special and it's magic. Knowing how to do that can save your voice. Voice-saving is a BIG factor in my sticking with violin too - if I'm sick and on the booger train to Snot-town, and can't sing, the fiddle can sure sing for me.
Tanya bow costs 700 bucks, so don't feel bad about the 100 you spent. She uses it to point to the latest CD in their rack when people ask, so I guess it pays for itself over time lol)
DeleteFingerpicking can turn the guitar into a miniature orchestra (as Bach once called it) but the subtleties of Travis picking can get lost in the din of college kids puking up mixed drinks -amplification + fingerpickng = $$
or get a $2,1000 resonator guitar like the guy from Big Joe Puddin uses...
I busked in Snot Town last winter -did a lot of Dylan..
Tanya's likely using one of the best carbon-fiber bows. I can get a carbon fiber bow for $100, the famous and popular "codabow" is about $200-$400, and no doubt hers is the top-of-the-line Codabow or some other excellent CF job. Her violin is a Luis & Clark, and costs $6000, unless it's the 5-string version in which case I think it's a bit more.
ReplyDeleteThere's the "Incredibow", made for playing musical saw originally, and I honestly don't know if it's that good. It's certainly indestructible. Those are $100 or a bit less.
If you do fingerpicking with the actual little picks on your fingers and thumb, you can really wow 'em.