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.