Sunday December 23, 2007

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil
• It Aint Me Babe
• Me and Bobby McGee x2
• The Wild Colonial Boy x2
• Brennan on the Moor
• The Real Old Mountain Dew x2
• Little Boxes x2
• The Moonshiner
• Jug of Punch

Thursday December 20, 2007

Guitar and Vocals:

• It Ain't Me Babe
• Little Boxes x3
• The Real Old Mountain Dew x2
• In The News x2
• Ring Of Fire x2
• Brennan On The Moor x2
• The Wild Colonial Boy x2

Wednesday December 19, 2007

Been ages since I logged anything, but I've pretty much played/sang at least a song or two most days since the last entry. Done no lead/electric.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil
• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down
• Me and Bobby McGee
• Jug of Punch

Tuesday December 4, 2007

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil x3

Sunday December 2, 2007

Guitar:

• Pentatonic Scale, all five positions, 3x each.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil x2

Friday November 30, 2007

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil x2
• It Ain't Me Babe x2
• Me and Bobby McGee

Thursday Nov 29, 2007

Guitar and Vocals:

• Simple Man x3 - working on trying to sing with finger-picking rather than strumming. Not working out too well so far.
• It Ain't Me Babe x3
• Long Black Veil x2
• Ring of Fire x2 - trying to use a G harmonica for the horns.
• Jug of Punch x2

Wednesday Nov 28, 2007

Been sick, then had pain in my fretting hand, then did some socializing, so it's been almost a week since I picked up a guitar.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil x2
• It Ain't Me Babe x2

Thursday Nov 22, 2007

Didn't touch a guitar for 2 days, but yesterday I sang a few songs: Long Black Veil, Sunday Mornin' Coming Down, In The News.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil
• It Ain't Me Babe

Guiar:

• T-Bone Walker lesson at Riff Interactive

Sunday November 18, 2007

Sang "Long Black Veil" couple times yesterday but didn't log it.



Guitar:

• T-Bone Walker lesson at Riff Interactive
• Muddy Waters lesson at Riff Interactive

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil
• The Real Old Mountain Dew
  

Friday November 16 2007

Guitar:

• Muddy Waters lesson at Riff Interactive
• T-Bone Walker lesson at Riff Interactive

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil

Thursday Nov 15, 2007

Guitar:

• T-Bone Walker lesson at Riff Interactive off and on all afternoon.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2
• Long Black Veil
• The Real Old Mountain Dew x2
• It Ain't Me Babe

Wednesday Nov 14, 2007

Guitar:

• T-Bone Walker lesson at Riff Interactive for an hour or so.
• Minor Pentatonic scale in G, all 5 positions 3x.
• Hunger Strike finger picking for 10 minutes or so.

Tuesday November 13, 2007

Guitar:

• Working on free T-Bone Walker lesson at Riff Interactive

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil x2
• Me and Bobby McGee x2

Sunday Nov 11, 2007

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil


• Me and Bobby McGee

Friday November 9, 2007

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil with finger picking x1 - hand buster.


• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down

Thursday Nov 8, 2007

Guitar:

• Chuck Berry riffs

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil x2


• It Ain't Me Babe


• Me and Bobby McGee

Wednesday Nov 7, 2007

Guitar and Vocals:

• Long Black Veil x2
• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2

Tuesday November 6, 2007

Guitar:

• Simple Man finger picking

Guitar and vocals:

• Long Black Veil x2 + working on picking pattern rather than simple alternating base and finger strumming.

Monday November 5, 2007

Guitar:

• Major scale in A, all 6.5 positions x2

Friday November 2, 2007

Slide Guitar:

• The Cover-up

Guitar and Vocals:

• Jug of Punch x2
• Long Black Veil x2
• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2

Wednesday October 31, 2007

Guitar:

• Pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 2x each.

Tuesday October 30, 2007

Didn't even touch a guitar yesterday, but if I recall correctly I messed around with slide and sang a couple songs on Sunday.

Slide Guitar:

• "Shuffling in D"
• "The Cover-Up"

Guitar & Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down
• It Ain't Me Babe x2
• The Real Old Mountain Dew x2
• The Moonshiner x2
• Ring Of Fire x2

Saturday October 28, 2007

Note: I have practiced a few times since my last entry; just didn't log it. Some slide, some guitar and vocals.

Slide Guitar:

• "Shuffling In D"

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2
• Long Black Veil x2

Wednesday October 24, 2007

Slide Guitar:

• "Shuffling In D"

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Slide Guitar:

• "Shuffling In D"

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2


• Long Black Veil x2

Saturday October 20, 2007

Took a few days off from playing guitar.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2


• Ring Of Fire x2


• In The News x1


• Me and Bobby McGee x2

Practice Journal, 2007-10-16

Slide Guitar (after 10 pm):

• Cucina Blues x3
• Steady On x4
• Off-beat Blues x4
• From 12 to 7 x4
• Transposin' and Tumblin' x5
• 3 Note Jump x4

Practice Journal, 2007-10-15

Guitar:

• pentatonic scale, all 5 positions x3 (5:00 pm)

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2 (5:45 pm)

Slide Guitar:

• 3 Note Jump x4 (7:00 pm)
• From 12 to 7 x3(7:30 pm)
• Transposin' and Tumblin' (7:40 pm)
• Off-beat Blues x2 (7:50 pm)
• Cucina Blues x2 (8:50 pm)

Practice Journal, 2007-10-14

Guitar:

• Major scale in E, all 6.5 positions x2.
• Simple Man finger picking
• Hunger Strike finger picking
• Slide licks

Guitar and Vocals:

• Me and Bobby McGee x1 (9:25 pm)

Practice Journal, 2007-10-13

Guitar And Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2
• Jug Of Punch x2
• The Real Old Mountain Dew x2
• The Moonshiner x2
• Ring Of Fire x2
• Long Black Veil x2
• Me and Bobby McGee x2
• It Ain't Me Babe x1

Practice Journal, 2007-10-11

Slide Guitar:

• 3 Note Jump and other slide licks - around 30 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-10-09

Been awhile since I did any slide guitar, so:

Guitar:

• 3 Note Jump 5 or 6 times, plus a couple other slide riffs - between 2:00 pm and 3:30 pm.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2 - around 9:30 pm.
• Ring of Fire x2 - around 10:00 pm.
• The Moonshiner x2 - 10:15 pm.
• The Real Old Mountain Dew x2 - 10: 30 pm.

Practice Journal, 2007-10-08

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x1 - 4:00 pm.


• Not feeling it today.

Practice Journal, 2007-10-07

Been awhile since I've recorded my sessions, but that doesn't mean I haven't been playing. I've recently decided put the electric aside for awhile to concentrate on rhythm guitar and vocals. I've expanded my list of songs considerably, as will be evident in my journal. I'll do an updated "List of Songs I Sing" post soon.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Ring of Fire x2 - 5:00 pm or so.
• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2 - 5:30 pm or so.
• Voice is cracking, so going to have some throat tea and inhale some steam - 5:40 pm.
• Sunday Mornin' Coming Down x2 - 6:40 pm.
• Stretch out for 5 minutes or so.
• The Moonshiner x2 - 7:00 pm.
• The Real Old Mountain Dew x2 - 7:30 pm.
• Brennen On The Moor x1 - 9:30 pm.
• Jug Of Punch x1
• In The News x1

Practice Journal, 2007-09-25

Guitar and Vocals:

• In The News: played along with Kris x2, then along x2, both with finger picking. I'm having a bit of trouble keeping the correct timing with some of the chord changes.
• Long Black Veil x2. Still a hand buster for me.
• Me and Bobby McGee x2. Still slow and clunky going from the B to the F# chords. Vocals sound pretty good in standard tuning.
• It Ain't Me Babe x2

'In The News' by Kris Kristofferson

I think I've figured out the finger picking and chords for In The News. This is my interpretation and I'm posting it so I'll have access to it where ever I am, so I hope it isn't a copyright issue. Unfortunately the blog formatting doesn't seem to publish blank spaces, so the chord progressions above the lyrics didn't work out.

.........D................... A.......................G..........
e [----------------1---][---------------0---][--------------3--]
B [-------3-----------][------2------------ ][-----0-----------]
G [------------2------][------------2------][-----------0-----]
D [ --0---------------][--------------------][-----------------]
A [-------------------][-0-----------------][------------------]
E [-------------------][--------------------][--3---------------]

D
Read about the sorry way he done somebody's daughter
A D
Chained her to a heavy thing and threw her in the water
D
And she sank into the darkness with their baby son inside her
A D
A little piece of truth and beauty died


D
Burning up the atmosphere and cutting down the trees
A D
The billion dollar bombing of a nation on it's knees
D
Anyone not marching to their tune they call it treason
A D
Everyone says God is on his side


D G
See the lightning, hear the cries
A D
Of the wounded in a world in holy war
G
Mortal thunder from the skies
A D
Killing everything they say they're fighting for


D G
Broken babies, broken homes
A D
Broken-hearted people dying everyday
G
How'd this happen, what went wrong
A D
Don't blame God, I swear to God I heard him say


Chorus
D G
"Not in my name, not on my ground
A D
I want nothing but the ending of the war
G
No more killing, or it's over
A D
And the mystery won't matter anymore"


D G
Broken dreamers, broken rules
A D
Broken-hearted people just like me and you
G
We are children of the stars
A D
Don't blame God, I swear to God he's crying too

Repeat Chorus

Repeat First Verse

Practice Journal, 2007-09-23

Guitar and Vocals:

• 6:45 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x2
• 7:00 pm: In The News x2
• 7:15 pm: Long Black Veil x3

Practice Journal, 2007-09-20

Guitar and Vocals:

• Afternoon: Me and Bobby McGee x2

Guitar:

• 10:00 pm: major scale in A, all 6.5 positions x2.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-19

Guitar and Vocals:

• 12:00 am: Me and Bobby McGee x2
• It Ain't Me Babe x2
• Long Black Veil x1

Back and arms getting too tingly to continue.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-18

Guitar:

• 8:10 pm: pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 for 20 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-17

Guitar and Vocals:

• Afternoon: Me and Bobby McGee x2
• It Ain't Me Babe x1

Guitar:

• 10:20 pm: major scale in E, all 6.5 positions for 30 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-16

Guitar:

• 6:00 pm: pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 for 35 minutes.
• 6:40 pm: Simple Man finger picking for 15 minutes.

Guitar and Vocals:

• 8:00 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x2

Practice Journal, 2007-09-15

Guitar:

• 9:00 pm: pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 for 45 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-13

Guitar and Vocals:

• Some time in the afternoon: Me and Bobby McGee x2.
• It Ain't Me Babe x2.

Guitar:

• 10:00 pm: Simple Man finger picking for around 10 minutes.
• 10:15 pm: Hunger Strike finger picking for around 10 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-12

Guitar and Vocals:

• 5:00 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x2.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-11

Guitar and Vocals:

• 2:00 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x1, then worked on the B-F# barre chord progressions.

Guitar:

• 3:00 pm: major scale in E, all 6.5 positions for 25 minutes.
• 10:00 pm: Brian Setzer licks for 20 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-10

Guitar and Vocals:

• 7:00 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x1
• 11:00 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x2

Practice Journal, 2007-09-09

Guitar and Vocals:

• 2:00 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x2

Practice Journal, 2007-09-08

Guitar:

• 5:50 pm: pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 for 25 minutes.

Guitar and Vocals:

• 9:00 pm Me and Bobby McGee x2
• It Ain't Me Babe x2
• I Walk The Line x2

Practice Journal, 2007-09-07

Afternoon
Guitar:

• Hunger Strike finger picking for around 10 minutes.

Guitar and Vocals:

• <2:00>Me and Bobby McGee

Practice Journal, 2007-09-06

Theory:

• did a little reading on chord theory, and I'm wondering how it relates to musical keys since both are related to harmony. Not feeling very well, so I'll definitely have to come back to this in the near future.

Guitar:

• did some stumming of chord progressions in the keys of G Major (G-D-C-Em) and E Minor (Em-B-Am-G). The Em chord is the relative minor of the G chord, which in turn is the relative major the Em chord. I think it sounds neat to go from the key of G into the key of Em.

Guitar and Vocals (afternoon):

• It Ain't Me Babe x2
• Me and Bobby McGee x1

Guitar and Vocals: (9:20 pm)

• major scale in E, all 6.5 positions for 30 minutes. Sang solfege (movable Do method) where my vocal range would allow (pretty much from the low E up two octaves to the first E on string 1).

Break

• (10:45) Me and Bobby McGee x2
• Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down x2

Practice Journal, 2007-09-05

Guitar and Vocals:

• 11:00 am: Me and Bobby McGee x2
• 1:00 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x2
• 1:45 pm: Me and Bobby McGee x2

Guitar:

• 7:50 pm: pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 for 15 minutes.
• 8:30 pm: Duane Eddy licks for around 45 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-04

Guitar:

• major scale in E, all 6.5 positions for 15 minutes.

Break (3 hours)

• Simple Man finger picking for 15 minutes.

Break (60 minutes)

Guitar and Vocals:

• Me and Bobby McGee 3x, break for 5 minutes, then 3x.

Practice Journal, 2007-09-03

Guitar:

• pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 for 15 minutes.

Back is still sore dammit.

Guitar and Vocals:

• It Ain't Me Babe x2
• Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down x2

Practice Journal, 2007-09-02

My back/neck is still pretty sore.

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down 5 times.

Practice Journal, 2007-08-31

Guitar:

• Simple Man finger picking for 15 minutes.

Forced break. I'm getting the upper back/neck pain and tingles in the arms again. Guess I may as well get a work-out in; maybe that will work the problems out.

Vocals:

• back still sore, so I fired up my "Songs to Sing" playlist and sang along with each song (most of them twice).

Practice Journal, 2007-08-30

Guitar and Vocals:

• Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down for 15-20 minutes.

Guitar:

• major scale in E, positions 1-5 for 30 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-08-29 (I found Me and Bobby McGee!)

I finally found the chord progression of Me and Bobby McGee that I feel sounds most like Kris Kristofferson's version! I would say "Kristofferson's original", but although he wrote it, the original performing/recording credits are generally given to Roger Miller or Gordon Lightfoot (according to wikipedia) .

Anyhow, I've added it to my list of songs.

Guitar & Vocals:

• Me and Bobby McGee for 15-20 minutes (bit of a hand buster for me).
  

Guitar:

• pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 for 30 minutes.
• Hunger Strike finger picking for 15 minutes.
• Simple Man finger picking for 15 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-08-28

Guitar:

• major scale in E, all 6.5 positions for around 40 minutes. Sang solfege (movable Do method) where my vocal range would allow (pretty much from the low E up two octaves to the first E on string 1).

List of songs I'm working on.

Lately I've been getting much more into rockabilly licks and scale patterns while neglecting my singing. My wife suggested that I should practice each of the songs I know at least once per week, and I agree.

Here's a list of any of the songs for which I have correct chords/tabs/lyrics, in order of my ability to perform:

• It Ain't Me Babe - lyrics by Bob Dylan, but I sing the Johnny Cash cover version. It's a very simple song to sing; 4 chords right in my vocal range. This is the best lyrics/chord website I could find.
• I Walk The Line - lyrics and music by Johnny Cash. The March 2006 issue of Guitar World Acoustic has both the actual chords and tabs, copyright 1956 HOUSE OF cASH, INC. While I certainly know I can't scan the docs in and post them, I don't think I'd be in breach of copyright laws if I said it's in the key of A (I think), and contains 4 chords: A, B7, D and E. You'll have to figure out the progression from that!
• In The News - lyrics and music by Kris Kristofferson. Lyrics can be found here. As you can see, that page claims the chorus is the verse that starts "Not in my name...", and I guess since it is the only verse that repeats completely with no change in lyrics (other than the intro/outro) I can see where they're coming from. However, based on my interpretation of the chord progression, there's nothing that musically distinguishes any of the verses in what could be viewed as a chorus. Of course, since my knowledge of musical composition is very close to zero, who am I to argue? Either way, I'm simply going to call them all verses. I think it's in the key of D, and I think the progression is as follows: Verses 1-2 and 8: D D - A D - D D - A D; verses 3-7: D G - A D - DG - A D.
• Simple Man - lyrics and music by Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd). Again, I have the true tab sheet music from the August 2007 issue of Guitar World. Lately I've been spending all of my time just practicing the finger picking and not singing. I have a bit of difficulty attempting to hit some of the higher notes (in the chorus) in the same octave as Ronnie Van Zant, and that pisses me off! Again, hopefully this isn't a breach of copyright: guitar is standard tuning, but down half a step. Chords include C, G, Am7, A5.
• Long Black Veil - Lyrics and original music by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin, but I'm doing the Johnny Cash (again) style. Here are the lyrics and chords.
• Port of Lonely Hearts - Lyrics and music by Johnny Cash (I think). Here are the lyrics; the chord progression is quite similar to Long Black Veil. I'll post my interpretation soon.
• Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down - words and music by Kris Kristofferson. I don't think the chord progression I have works for me. Looking for another version. UPDATE: This webpage seems to have the appropriate chord progression, although the formatting has bumped some of the chord changes away from the correct positions.
• Over There - This isn't the classic 1917 song, but the theme for the shortlived television show of the same name. I thought it was a good program that showed many sides to the Iraq war, but I fell in love with the song the first time I heard it. Here are the lyrics, here is one interpretation of the tab, here's the Youtube video of the theme song (words, music and sung by Chris Gerolmo), and here's a Youtube video of a fan's interpretation and instruction.
• Me & Bobby McGee - I finally found the chord progression of Me and Bobby McGee that I feel sounds most like Kris Kristofferson's version! I would say "Kristofferson's original", but although he wrote it, the original performing/recording credits are generally given to Roger Miller or Gordon Lightfoot (according to wikipedia) .
  

Practice Journal, 2007-08-27

After speaking with my cousin I've decided to try to practice for at least two hour a day.

3:40 PM
Guitar:

• pentatonic scale, positions 1-5 for 60 minutes

Guitar and Vocals:

• Over There for around 60 minutes (30 minutes just working on chord progressions and finger work, then 30 with singing).
• It Ain't Me Babe five times (10 - 15 minutes).

Practice Journal, 2007-08-26

Guitar:

• Major scale in A for 30 minutes.
• Hunger Strike intro for 10 minutes.
• Duane Eddy licks for 10 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-08-24

Yeah, the timestamp is the 25th, but I started practicing before midnight ;)

Guitar:

• first two bars of Hunger Strike for about 45 min.
• Duane Eddy and Brian Setzer licks for 15 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-08-23

Guitar:

• first two bars of Hunger Strike for about an hour.
• intro to Simple Man for 10 minutes.
• pentatonic scale, positions 1-4 for 20 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-08-22

Guitar:

• Simple Man intro for 10 minutes.
• Major scale in A, positions 1-4 for 30 minutes.
• Duane Eddy Licks for 30 minutes.
• First bar of Hunger Strike intro for 15 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-08-21

Guitar:

• pentatonic scale, positions 1-3 for 30 minutes.
• Simple Man intro for 15 minutes.

Guitar & Vocals:

• Port of Lonely Hearts x3
• It Ain't Me Babe x3

Practice Journal, 2007-08-20

Guitar & Vocals:

• Major scale in E, positions 1-3, while singing Do Re Mi... for 45 minutes.

Guitar:

• Duane Eddy licks for 30 minutes.
• Brian Setzer licks for 20 minutes.

Practice Journal, 2007-08-19

Wow, two days without picking up a guitar! Blame it on the dish-pan hands.

Guitar:

• pentatonic scale, positions 1-3 for 30 minutes.
• Duane Eddy licks for 30 minutes.
• strumming relative major/minor. G major (G, D, C, Em) to Em (Em, B, Am, G) for 15 minutes.

Took a break.

Guitar & Vocals:

• It Ain't Me Babe 2x
• I Walk The Line 3x
• Long Black Veil 1x

Doing the dishes with Neil Young

I have a pile of dishes to wash today, so why not listen to Neil Young to help pass the time?

If you clicked the link to the Wikipedia article, you know I'm not just talking about the dude himself, but his first solo album, released in 1968 on his birthday, November 12. Young was 23; I was 17 months old. Of interest to me, Ry Cooder added his guitar and steel guitar talents to Neil's on this album. Cooder is way up on my list of favourite guitarists.

OK, I just realized that I'm listening to The Last Trip To Tulsa (and loving it), the last track on the album, and I have yet to even fill the sink with soapy water! It's *way* too easy to get distracted on the Internet. And now I'm hungry...

Practice Journal, 2007-08-16

Guitar:

• pentatonic scale, positions 1-3 for 15 minutes (strat).
• Duane Eddy licks, 40 minutes.