3/4/15 9:46 PM

So when I asked a coworker about what electric I should buy he said he has an old acoustic just sitting around that I can borrow! So that's what I'm using now to get started. Learning the basics and really like the guitar jams / Marty songs website and app. Using it now, but I have a question for you. how in the heck do you fit 3 fingers on the same fret when doing the A major chord? (2nd fret and D,G,B strings) That seems to be impossible for someone with fat fingers like mine.

3/4/15 9:57 PM

Look at Redd Volkaert on this video. He has the fattest meat hooks I have seen playing a skinny vintage tiny fretted Tele.

I stopped saying I needed this or that when it comes to fret scale and neck profile... and fret size etc after seeing this.

Look at the video and let me know if you see what I mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY8AFtlAykA

You think an open fret base A major bar is a challenge. Move it up two frets to a B using only two fingers after you figure out which two to use. ;) Then step it up in major progression all sliding the same chord. A, B, C, D, up to E where you can add back in the open base open low E an octave below where you progressed to. ;) That last E chord is the base for quite a few Jimmy Page Zepplin songs. ;)

3/5/15 4:39 AM

I have Bass Player Hands. Late in life (so far) I figured out a way to do A the way you're "supposed to," but I lacked the skill and patience when I was 17 or 18 and so I learned to use the first pad of one finger (usually my middle finger) to accomplish the A. I can do the "supposed to" way much more easily on a wide-necked guitar like a classical (nylon-strung) model.

Sparky, for the barre chord you mention, my approach is to use the first pad on my little finger, barring with the first.

(I would argue that there really *isn't* a right way to play the guitar as far as fingerings go, but others may disagree. My method makes me better at some things, and makes some songs harder to learn So it goes. If I were a classical player, I would definitely want to play "correctly" because I'd be trying to play written music--but as a folky, never mind.)

Sorry we got off onto hardware at first--enjoy the playing and keep us up-to-date!

3/5/15 5:48 AM

For the Am I stagger my fingers much like you do for a D.

I did not know Marty Songz had an app, I may have to dig that one up. I like his presentation, it makes things easy to understand.

3/5/15 12:05 PM

Open A I just use index finger distal and intermediate phalanges. If I move t up the neck, distal index base note with distal and intermediate phalanges 4th/ring finger barred. The middle finger point up ala giving the bird. ;)

As a barred B/C/D/E up the neck, if I switch it up to a minor chord the pinky takes the octave above base note the 4th/ring tilts up to tip for the 5th note. And the middle finger takes the minor flated third octave above the base note.

Using the middle finger on the minor flated third B minor chord for example makes for a good finger position to go to a major or minor D using less finger calisthenics.

Point being how you finger certain chords can and probably will be [where on the neck you are playing VS] the likely chords to be used with, and best transitional finger positions.

Use that pinky, the dexterity comes slow. But when you play other than 1/4/5 major progression rock, you need to have that pinky be in the mix IMO, or you are giving up too much not using it. yeah I know a lot of the greats are three finger players. My bet is they would have been greater player as 4 finger pickers.

3/5/15 12:23 PM

I used to see a woman who performed around the U of M West Bank back in the day. She'd hold up her right hand and (starting with the thumb) explain that the thumb played bass, the first finger lead, middle finger second lead, and the others were rhythm players. Then she had them all take a bow.

Yeah, on the left hand, learn to use everything you've got. Just because Django could get away with three fingers doesn't mean anyone else can,

3/5/15 1:06 PM

After 6 months I am finally able to do some barred chords. One thing is for sure, until you can play them you can be very restricted to the music you can play.

Of course a capo sure helps with some songs.

3/5/15 2:17 PM

And tuning down the guitar a semitone or full step down makes for lower sting tension and can aid lack of dexterity for the beginner. [Maybe 1-1/2 steps]

Make your low E a D or even C or C# and tune the rest the normal 4th above. [2 string flatted 4th]. If you go C/C# you may get some buzzing going on. Yes, get a capo so you can capo instead of changing tuning to an existing recording you are trying to play along with to learn.

If you want real fun, I have one Acoustic tuned to what is referred to as Nashville High strung. Like having octave harmonics of a 12 string on 6 strings. With out the extra muscle of pressing 12 strings. ;)

Try these A bar chords up the neck on a 12 string sometime. ;)

3/8/15 11:53 PM

bikerj; how goes the diddling?

3/9/15 10:00 PM

Right now I'm in the middle of FIRST Robotics season. I teach and that is an after school activity that I mentor for. We had our first competition two weekends ago and we did very poorly. So the students decided to rebuild our entire robot and now we are working furiously on it. (In class, after school, I'm kicking students out at 8:00)

So, needless to say it doesn't leave much time.

3/9/15 10:23 PM

Well, you got the rest of you life really. ;)

3/10/15 4:13 AM

I was playing the Lumineers tune, "Flowers in Your Hair" last night and Jeannie informed me that if anyone asked her if I could play the guitar she would answer "Why yes he can, pretty well too."

I guess I am making progress. I can kinda sing it too. Horribly though.

I have a real affinity for finger style music.

3/10/15 9:23 AM

That's a pleasant tune. See what a difference lifting one finger from standard "C" can make?

3/10/15 10:26 AM

Here's one I want to do someday...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HApy-Xoix-g

3/10/15 11:15 AM

My last undertaking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOgZ7zQwH1g

3/10/15 11:22 AM

And I *like* the D45...

3/10/15 11:36 AM

my trouble is my right handing keeping the meter/tempo on that one...

3/10/15 5:56 PM

Andy, it is really a lift from the G9 and a very different looking Cadd9 with an alternating pick on the b string (third fret, I have no idea the proper terms)

The song does not use the high e at all.

I like the little hammer that it makes as you alternate the picks and strums in the intro and first verse, the chorus and second verse are strummed.

The original is played with a thumb pick. I just use my thumb, my calloused hands give pretty much the same tones.

Andy, your song choice is way to 60s folk for me.

Sparky, Zeppelin has so much little known work. Most people think of pot smok'en head music, not that piece which is WAY above me right now.

I have always been an alternative and just a touch of country type of guy.

3/10/15 6:54 PM

Erik, Have you tackled Black Bird yet. It is actually easier in the scheme of things pickin...

Easy to sing with as well as the vocals are all on the beat.

Youtube acoustic version of Stone Temple Pilots - Plush

And this is a fav acoustic song of mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQJb3e3yDbw

or without the droped D and capo.

Also easy small range vocal to sing along to.

Another nice melodic acoustic version is easy. Is Band Perry If I die Young.

Lesson link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MRJ379PZy0

Last edited by Sparky on 3/10/15 7:07 PM; edited 2 times in total

3/10/15 7:01 PM

Ah, but watch Thompson's *hands!* I don't think you'll ever see an artist more at home with his instrument.

I saw him a few months ago, and he stood up with just that one guitar for a few hours and just blew everyone away. That song's a fingerpicking classic.

3/11/15 3:52 AM

I'm trying to hang this off OneDrive...

Here's a (bad) version of Leonard Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan" that I recorded about eight years ago. My nephew had set up some recording equipment and wanted something to play around with.

He had a junk purple dreadnaught lying around that I tuned "to itself" (so I have no idea what it was actually tuned to) and we recorded two tracks--one with rhythm and vocals (for which please excuse) and one with the guitar processed to sound a little more electric. He tried to add a very light drum track afterward , but it's not quite on. He also did a little cutting and pasting. He didn't have a pick, so this is all done with full-hand finger brushing (for rhythm) and modified finger-picking (for "lead").

So--one guitar, one mic, one idiot. Presented for your ability to laugh at everything I say about music from here on out.

http://1drv.ms/1EaXD0O

3/11/15 10:00 AM

Nice dubbing job..

3/11/15 5:42 PM

I sound MUCH worse.

3/11/15 7:27 PM

Seriously, the vocals remind me of Leo Kottke's assessment of his own singing.

3/14/15 10:37 AM

Learning to play at this age is humbling to be sure, but it's something I finally decided to do after a couple decades of wanting to. Not learning guitar, though. Had to pick something a little more "travel friendly" given my work schedule. Only been at it a couple weeks so still working on basic mechanics...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HKwVOkVUKA