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Topic: New Player Practice Tip |
Mike Beley
From:
Alberta, Canada
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Posted 24 May 2018 9:59 am |
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As a new player (just over a year now), I thought I'd pass along something that has really helped my playing in the last while.
On youtube, search "name of song" and "cover"
ie: "Amarillo By Morning Cover", "Mustang sally Cover" etc.
Chances are there are a ton of people who've recorded themselves with just an acoustic guitar doing whatever song you search. All different keys, good, bad, right, wrong, lots of different interpretations.
I find these are great to play along with to warm up, challenge your improvising, and work on adding whatever you've been practicing lately into other songs.
When I'm doing this I try to lean towards stuff I don't even really like or wouldn't normally play, as you can guarantee someone is always gonna come up on stage and want to do "Mustang Sally" or "Walkin After Midnight" etc (bad example, but I've always really struggled with "girl" songs with 12 different chords in them)
Also, I find the bare bones "acoustic covers" of these songs give you a lot of uncluttered room to practice whatever you need to.
Anyway, I've found this is a great way to practice in a near "real world" environment. It can expose you to doing a song in different tempos, keys, styles...just like you'll be sure to encounter on the bandstand at some point.
The end game here is that you'll be able to better handle some real curve balls on stage.
Anyone else got any handy practice tips? |
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Jason Putnam
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 24 May 2018 10:48 am
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Excellent Idea. I also suggest karaoke versions of songs. They will have steel parts which are usually slightly different from the original cover leading to new ideas.
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1967 Emmons Bolt On, 1995 Mullen PRP 3x5,Nashville 112, JOYO Digital Delay, Goodrich Volume Pedal, Livesteel Strings |
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Dennis Montgomery
From:
Western Washington
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Donald Brigner
From:
Mountain Home, Arkansas, USA
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Posted 24 May 2018 2:18 pm WOW, thanks Mike
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| Mike, you just gave me a great idea. I have been playing along with my favorite CDs many of which have existing steel parts and of course that gets pretty confusing. I am a singer and six string player by experience and just a newb at steel but I have tons of my own recordings that are lacking any steel parts so now I have an entirely new way to practice. Thanks so much for that "smack myself in the forehead" moment. Who would of thunk? LOL |
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Kevin Fix
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 24 May 2018 4:55 pm
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| Many years ago when I started out I played along with LP records. Now a day I fire up my PC and go to "YouTube" . Nice for learning new songs. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 24 May 2018 11:54 pm
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While it's tempting to play along with tracks that have steel on them I find it more instructive to tackle ones that don't. Mike's notion is a good 'un. Donald seems to have a project for life! 
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 25 May 2018 5:00 am Re: WOW, thanks Mike
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| Donald Brigner wrote: |
| ... I have tons of my own recordings that are lacking any steel parts so now I have an entirely new way to practice. |
I'm in a similar position. In fact, I have one I did long ago in which the the lead electric guitar part was inspired by pedal steel, and it's fun to try to reproduce now what I thought then.
I'm using Anytune (which I read about here) on my iPad to set loops, slow down the original, etc. Running everything through a little mixer, I can practice with headphones. It all works really well.
--Al Evans
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2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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Greg Gefell
From:
Upstate NY
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Posted 25 May 2018 8:31 am
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Great stuff in this thread. In addition to playing along with a stripped down version I also try to learn the chord changes out of each of the three major starting positions - open, A+F combo and AB down. If nothing else you can then change it up for each verse /chorus and it makes you sound better than just repeating the same position for the whole song.
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https://www.facebook.com/ggefell/ |
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