Thursday August 28, 2008

As always, haven't been logging, but have been practicing almost every day:



Songs:

• Me and Bobby McGee
• Sunday Morning Coming Down
• It Ain't Me Babe
• Long Black Veil
• Society
• Pancho and Lefty
• Life By The Drop

Fingerpicking riffs:

• Hunger Strike
• Seasons (Chris Cornell, bizarre tuning of FFCCCC)
• Simple Man
• messed around with the Pink Floyd's Brain Damage a bit

Acoustic Lead:

• "How to Play Acoustic Rock Guitar" DVD. Basic Soloing Fig. 4 Solo 1, but also a few of the other lessons

Electric fun:

• Riff Interactive: Stevie Ray Vaughan lessons. Still working on Lesson 1, part 1.
• Riff Interactive: Angus Young lessons. Lesson 1 (all).
• Riff Interactive: Blues Solo Riffs, Lesson 1, solo in A

Today:

Electric:

• Riff Interactive: Angus Young lessons. Lesson 1, rhythm riff.

Acoustic:

• Major scale in E (standard tuning, down half a step for better vocal range - I can pretty much do the two octaves of E, which, according to wikipedia, is pretty much the range for baritone), positions 1,2,

Update: List of Songs I (try to) Sing

Kris Kristofferson:

• To Beat The Devil - If I thought Little Boxes explained my outlook of our society fairly well, this one by Kris Kristofferson couldn't be more me if I wrote it myself (if only I had a fraction of Kristofferson's talents...). This page seems to have the same chords as the original.
• 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.
• 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) .
• In The News - lyrics and music by 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.

Johnny Cash:

• 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!
• 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.
• Ring of Fire - Gotta post the website.

Hoyt Axton

• Della and the Dealer - Great song by Hoyt Axton. Lyrics and chords here.
• Jealous Man - Another song by Hoyt Axton (both of these songs were on that episode of WKRP). Here are the lyrics and chords, although I play in the key of G (I think, anyhow. Chords - G - C - D instead of C - F - G)

The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem

• The Moonshiner -
• The Real Old Mountain Dew - http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-songs-with-chords/Real%20Old%20Mountain%20Dew.htm
• Brennen On The Moor - http://www.itroubador.com/subPage/tunes/BrennanOnMoor2.htm
• Jug Of Punch - http://unitedireland.tripod.com/id57.html

Others:

• Pancho and Lefty - Townes Van Zandt. Lyrics and chords here. Note that I've transcribed it with the actual chord pitches, but if you detune all strings half a step, the chords go from C#-A♭-F#-B♭m to the simple chords D-A-G-Bm
• Life By The Drop - Written by Barbara Logan and Doyle Bramhall, but of course I'm doing Stevie Ray Vaughan's version. Acoustic Guitar magazine, July 2008. I'll try to write out the lyrics and chords at some point.
• Society - A song from Eddie Vedder's soundtrack from 'Into The Wild'. Lyrics, music, guitar and backing vocals: Jerry Hannon. Lead Vocals: Eddie Vedder.
• Little Boxes - Lyrics and chords by Malvina Reynolds. Great song that tells it like it is, at least in my opinion. I'll be back to link to a Youtube video.
• Bye Bye Love - Lyrics and chords. Not in the same key as the original by the Everly Brothers. haven't bothered to figure it out yet.
• 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.
• 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.

This site has tons of songs to check out.

Wednesday August 13, 2008: Update to practice log

I've been practicing regularly (almost every day, at least 15 min, sometimes more than an hour), but haven't been logging. I have primarily been continuing to work on:

• "How to Play Acoustic Rock Guitar" DVD. Basic Soloing Fig. 4 Solo 1, but also a few of the other lessons
• Riff Interactive Stevie Ray Vaughan Lesson 1, Part 1 - Rhythm Guitar

And mostly the following songs:

• Me and Bobby McGee
• Sunday Morning Coming Down
• Pancho and Lefty
• Long Black Veil
• It Ain't Me Babe
• Life By The Drop (from Acoustic Guitar magazine, July 2008)
• Just started working on Society (chords) from Eddie Vedder's soundtrack for 'Into The Wild':