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my latest recording O Glory How Happy I Am - Rev. Gary Davis cover

Guest J-Doug

By Guest J-Doug
in Gibson Acoustic

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EuroAussie

EuroAussie

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I think there is a lot of potential here. Right now it doesn't 'swing' as much as it could and hence the groove is not quite there. Technically it seems youre hitting the right notes.

 

I would recommend tapping the foot hard and really try to get 'into' the track so that swing blues feel come through which is so important with this genre, gotta make the foot tapping.

 

I think its just a matter of practice and and really becoming comfortable with the track so you dont have to worry about finger placement and so on and just really focus on the groove of the track, thats when it starts to really shine.

 

Keep it up, hope that helps !

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j45nick

j45nick

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As EA says, you have the basic technical aspect of this down pat. The key now is to get the Reverend's timing and swing down. Although he plays this in a rather staccoto syncopated manner, he still swings a it a bit, and he plays it a bit faster.

 

When trying to replicate another player's style, I find it useful to play with the recording to try to get the feel of the tempo and timing. It's also handy to A/B your own recording with the original, including how long passages take to play.

 

You're doing a good job with the fundamentals here. Now, it's just a matter of refining the presentation so it sounds a bit more fluid.

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Guest J-Doug

Guest J-Doug

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That's some really good feedback guys. It definitely needs to be faster with some more swing for sure. I was practicing it last night and I realized I was playing it much faster and more fluid. I was much more relaxed last night. I was pretty stressed when I recorded this and I was having a hard time getting it to flow. I probably should have packed up the recorder for the night and tried again later. I hate red light fever. :(

 

Thanks guys I'll keep your suggestions in mind and thanks for listening.

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EuroAussie

EuroAussie

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That's some really good feedback guys. It definitely needs to be faster with some more swing for sure. I was practicing it last night and I realized I was playing it much faster and more fluid. I was much more relaxed last night. I was pretty stressed when I recorded this and I was having a hard time getting it to flow. I probably should have packed up the recorder for the night and tried again later. I hate red light fever. :(

 

Thanks guys I'll keep your suggestions in mind and thanks for listening.

 

Thats good to hear .... but its amazing what a difference it makes to ones playing when you are conscious that little mike is infront of you and ready to record your every mistake :-)

 

I had to really learn to teach myself to forget the mike is there and just really focus on relaxing and feeling the song rather than the natural reaction of tensing up and 'hoping' you wont make any screw ups ..... which of course one does when you think too much about it !

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Guest J-Doug

Guest J-Doug

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Thats good to hear .... but its amazing what a difference it makes to ones playing when you are conscious that little mike is infront of you and ready to record your every mistake :-)

 

I had to really learn to teach myself to forget the mike is there and just really focus on relaxing and feeling the song rather than the natural reaction of tensing up and 'hoping' you wont make any screw ups ..... which of course one does when you think too much about it !

 

More useful words. Thank you.

 

Yeah it's amazing. Some times I'm totally relaxed and get it done in 1-2 takes then other times I'm stressed and it's like 50 takes! This song was definitely a 50 taker. I think I killed the vibe because of that. I'm starting to feel embarrassed by my rendition. Serves me right for trying to take on one of RGD's tunes.

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ParlourMan

ParlourMan

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Fear of the 'red light' is very real.... I've been known to hit the giggles the first few times myself.

 

As others have said, you're getting there and technically it's coming on nicely, but it does need the jaunty swing to get it sounding great. Keep going and I look forward to the next rendition. All the best.

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EuroAussie

EuroAussie

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More useful words. Thank you.

 

Yeah it's amazing. Some times I'm totally relaxed and get it done in 1-2 takes then other times I'm stressed and it's like 50 takes! This song was definitely a 50 taker. I think I killed the vibe because of that. I'm starting to feel embarrassed by my rendition. Serves me right for trying to take on one of RGD's tunes.

 

Yeah, my learning here is that if you cant nail it in three takes max then youre not ready yet and best to put it down and come back to it another time .... or youre running the risk of becoming the equivalent of the angriest guitar player ever which was saw last week ....

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Rambler

Rambler

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About getting up to speed. Faster taint necessarily better. Try to swing (syncopate) at your present tempo and build up from there. G'luck.

 

Fwiw, my learning curve involves working up a crude run-thru at tempo then going back and fine tuning it. The upside, you get a feel for the groove. The downside is having to unlearn the parts you dont have right. Works for me but I wouldnt recommend for all.

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j45nick

j45nick

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About getting up to speed. Faster taint necessarily better. Try to swing (syncopate) at your present tempo and build up from there. G'luck.

 

Fwiw, my learning curve involves working up a crude run-thru at tempo then going back and fine tuning it. The upside, you get a feel for the groove. The downside is having to unlearn the parts you dont have right. Works for me but I wouldnt recommend for all.

 

 

I start out playing agonizingly slowly to develop the specific picking patterns, and gradually work up the speed. At some speed, the swing starts to kick in. I try to imprint that tempo and swing pattern, gradually increasing the speed, backing off again when the swing gets lost. Sometimes I find that my own tempo is quite different from the way others play the same piece, even the same arrangement.

 

We sometimes get obsessed with getting in a lot of notes in the minimal amount of time, but that can quickly turn into a "note salad" that doesn't really convey the sense of the music.

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Guest J-Doug

Guest J-Doug

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With comments both here and other forums in mind, I've been listening carefully when I've been playing O Glory over the past few days. The swing is there and my tempo is faster which I think is contributing to a better feel. I think I was just too focused on getting the notes right by slowing down too much and I killed off the feel in the process. I might consider re-recording it during my weekly recording session. Maybe, maybe not. Not sure. I may just let sleeping dogs lie.

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j45nick

j45nick

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funny , i cant do what nick does. i blast through something and if i get a feeling from it then i keep chipping away at the stone .... could never play a song at a quarter tempo .

It's the only way I can get the picking patterns down. I can hear them in my head, and have to figure out how to translate that into the actions of my fingers. It may not be quarter tempo, but it is dramatically slower than the piece is meant to be played/heard. You do this playing keyboard to develop muscle memory, gradually ramping the metronome up to the proper tempo.

 

I sometimes (but not always) practice with a metronome, which is very useful, since it allows you infinite, and controlled, variability in tempo.

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Rambler

Rambler

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Nick,i'd be thinking your MO(building to tempo) is the way to go. It's a personal quirk that I need to have a sense of the whole thing before i can fine tune (might expalin in part why I ouldt finish that thesis back in the day).

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j45nick

j45nick

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Nick,i'd be thinking your MO(building to tempo) is the way to go. It's a personal quirk that I need to have a sense of the whole thing before i can fine tune (might expalin in part why I ouldt finish that thesis back in the day).

 

It's one of the things Steve Krenz teaches you in his "Learn and Master" series. If I don't do it this way, I end up playing parts of pieces fairly well, but other parts are garbled because I haven't quite figured out what note/string to pick with which finger(s) at whihc point in time.

 

When you are learning keyboard, you practice everything with a metronome, and you don't allow yourself to speed up to the performance tempo until you have mastered it at the slower tempo. I don't have a great natural sense of rhythm, and doing it this way helps me a lot.

 

Of course, a lot of the time I just sit around and pick.

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blindboygrunt

blindboygrunt

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dont get me wrong , i'm well aware that you have the correct method nick..... i suppose i could slow it down , takes some will power though .

i'm just an impatient fool :)

takes me ages to learn anything , i was messing with bert jansch's anji a while ago , just ended up with me saying ' ah feck it'

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