If you have read Guitar Musings for the past couple of months, you might have noticed that I’ve been on a huge Tommy Emmanuel kick. When I listen to the “Live One” CD’s, I get inspired/motivated to keep plugging away and keep working hard at guitar and wanted to learn all about him and his playing. However, you can get too much of a good thing. What do I mean by this? I was so focused on T.E. songs, that my playing narrowed to a point where it has been a bit stagnant. I neglected my theory and exercises that helped me take my playing just a level higher. This isn’t the first time this has happened. I have had Bruce Cockburn, Eddie VH and Eric Johnson obsessions as well. What happened in the past, is that I would stop playing for anywhere from week to many months but not anymore. So I’m taking step back and pulling out my chord progression book and scales book and remember to work on those more. I recall reading an interview with studio musicians where they talked about how they didn’t work on learning songs but theory and progressions when practicing. This was …
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I started Guitar Musings because I have a passion for music that I wanted to share to all that are willing to read. I know and appreciate that I can write pretty much anything I want with the knowledge that I will not be hauled away to jail for writing something not approved by the government. Therefore, I want to dedicate this post to fellow Bloggers in China who are risking far more than embarrassment or a reputation in posting their passion. Truly humbling and inspiring! Links: YouTube Video on Chinese Blogger Jailed for blogging criticisms against his government. Acoustic Guitar Blog’s take on “Bloggers Unite” Bloggers Unite web page
Been working on Tommy Emmanuel’s Dixie MacGuire for some time and thought I finally had it performance ready. So much so, I’m attempting to record it and post on YouTube, thinking I would give this Internet performance thing a try. Anyway, two tries and and an hour and a half later, I find out that I don’t know the song as well as I thought. If you read my last post on learning a song, you will see that I’m stuck on step 3. This setback is a bit frustrating but I think these past two recording sessions have also been very productive. With the camera on me, I have to focus a bit more and those little mistakes I ignored earlier can’t escape the camera and I must bite the bullet and work it out. It’s making me a better player but I’m impatient and want to get something worth posting. Hopefully soon so keep an eye out for me YouTube debut! Sidenote: If you are Posting to YouTube, what are you using to record? I’m using the Flip Video portable video recorder. It’s a solid unit for a starter but will want to upgrade sometime because I would …
Was YouTube surfing tonight and and ran across this little gem. It’s Muriel Anderson performing “Day Tripper” by the Beatles. Only knew of Tommy Emmanuel’s version so I was excited to see someone else’s take on this song. In the middle of her performance, she demonstrates a different baseline that is in the original song but Tommy left out. Not saying this is better or worse than Tommy’s version but I love seeing how two different guitarists attack an arrangement for the same song. Enjoy!
There are a ton of guitar lesson sites available for all of us to use. Some are invaluable tools that I frequent often and others are completely worthless. If you don’t have the money to pay for online lessons, your chances of running into a worthless site are even better. I don’t actively look for site to rate but I have stumbled across this and felt it worth a mention. A guitarist by the name of Rob Bourassa is giving a “7 week primer” on YouTube which will “..enable the student to learn to play by ear.” It is a course with a weekly lesson video and 5 minute practice companions to help you stay on task. The first 3 courses covers scales and and fingerpicking (Travis). I’m running through the lessons myself because I’m curious on what the lessons will bring and my daughter is learning the guitar and he has great insight on teaching. Rob has been playing for 40 years and is an incredible guitarist and is a frequent contributor to the Acoustic Guitar Magazine Forum. So if you are just learning or know someone who is, check it out. What Rob has done is incredibly generous. …
