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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by Zurf
See which scale the chords are in. That scale is the "key" of the song. It's pretty easy unless the song is played in a mode. For instance, a lot of Spanish sounding songs are in a Dorian mode. You'll have to wait for Fearless Leader to explain modes. I kind of know what they are, but not well enough to explain them. Something about being in one key, but using the second or third chord of that key as the base for your song. I probably got that wrong, so don't rely on it.
- Zurf
Thank you DR.ZURF
Doctor Phil was running late on his rounds, so I pitched in to help him out. I'll let you guess as to why I know about this issue.
I SAID I'LL LET YOU GUESS AS TO WHY I KNOW ABOUT THIS ISSUE.
No, I did not say I'll get your best wino the latest tissues.
- Zurf
My Wife says she would like to see Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney together in the Caribbean, as we are fans of both of them and we love the caribbean
Cam
That'd be a good concert, but I bet it would smell funny.
- Zurf
Some inner ear problems are caused by excessive fluid. If you have a high sodium diet, try cutting back on the sodium and increasing the amount of water you drink to keep things nicely flushed out. This assumes that you have properly functioning kidneys.
Other inner ear problems, especially including tinnitus, are caused by abuse of the ears. They have little tiny hairs in them called cillia. These cillia fluctuating around in fluid in the inner ear react to a little bitty hammer on a drumhead (your ear drum). The fluctuating cillia trigger nerves, and that's how you hear. Loud noises, like firing guns or artillery, or blasting tunage with headphones, or what-have-you, can break or damage both cillia and the nerves attached to them. Then you've got tinnitus. Sometimes, like after a loud concert, the effect goes away. Sometimes it doesn't. Not much can be done about this aside from protect your ears from loud noises as much as possible. Turns out, Mom was right.
- Zurf
Me and any of my buddies who enjoy hanging out around riverside campfires.
- Zurf
I don't like my voice either, but I haven't figured out how to sing while using Johnny Cash's voice, so I stick with my own.
Use the songbook. Doesn't hurt to work on memorizing a few songs, but there's no reason for you to memorize 100 songs or whatever. Memorizing a song is good practice, but it isn't the purpose of our playing. The purpose of our playing and singing is to make music. You can make music with a songbook in front of you, usually better and with more confidence, so as far as I'm concerned a songbook is fair game. I use mine all the time, but I don't sing in front of audiences outside of buddies at a campfire. However, when I've been on stage playing in a Dixieland band, in a stage band, in a playhouse orchestra, and in a praise band (all with bass not with guitar), I had music in front of me. Sometimes it was just a couple notes on a transition, or sometimes full blown sheet music, but in every instance I had some kind of prompt to buoy my confidence.
- Zurf
Get a tuner. It's nice that you want to learn to tune without the aid of an electronic device, but are you trying to learn to play a guitar or to tune a guitar? If you want to learn to play the guitar, just get a tuner and get the thing in tune. If you're trying to learn relative pitch to the n-th degree, then keep going but realize that while you're learning to tune a guitar your learning to play a guitar will suffer. Also, your guitar neck could have a warp or bend. I had a guitar once that I could only get five of the strings in tune at any one time.
Barre chords give everyone fits. Keep practicing. I find them easier on a folk style guitar than a classical, but others have a different experience. I've been playing about two years and still have trouble getting to an F that sounds decent. I'm getting Bm and F#m OK, but F is a buggaboo. B is evil and you should avoid it at all costs. (jk)
Sounds to me in my inexpert opinion like you have a fret that's sticking up a little and needs some attention. Get professional help. Don't try to fix it on your own without being taught how to do it.
Look up song chords on Chordie and have at it. Practice slowly at first and carefully finger the chords, then slowly increase speed to improve your chord changes. Don't try to go full speed and hope that your fingering will gain in precision over time. It won't without you specificially working on that skill.
- Zurf
EE - My daughters are the same age: 7 & 3. Best of luck (and prayers) for your daughter with CP.
- Zurf
Well, thanks to the non-US folk and have fun to the US folks. Not that the non-US folks can't have fun blowing up stuff too.
Our town had an enormous firewords show last night. The wind was blowing southward instead of the usual eastward, so the "fog of war" from the explosions was coming directly towards the viewers. Sometimes it was so thick that we couldn't see the pattern of the firework, but just a glow of color in the cloud. Sometimes, we'd see the glow of color and then the glowing embers would burst through in a beautiful pattern. It was not at all what they display company had planned but beautiful nonetheless.
- Zurf
I told a friend about Chordie the other day and he cursed me soundly the next day. Said he was too tired at work the whole day because he couldn't turn away and stayed up far too late.
- Zurf
After practicing hard for more than 3 months I have reached the point where I am able to transit from chord to chord perfectly but the strumming thing is where I falter every time. There are so many songs of which I know the chord changes but I can never strum at the right place. This is getting into me and am becoming frustrated. I cant realize where I might be going wrong. As I see there are so many experts of guitar out here can you suggest me anything that can make me overcome this struggling situation?
The first place that you're going wrong is to think that at three months you would be able to do a first rate job of getting strumming correct. Frankly, I think you're making excellent progress being able to chord change effectively at three months. Well done!
The second place that you're going wrong is to think that there's a "right" place to strum. There are all manner of arrangements. Even songwriters change up the presentation of their own songs from time to time. Relax. Cut yourself some slack. Maybe have a nice cup of herbal tea with honey or if you're so inclined an adult beverage while you play to help you relax and enjoy yourself.
Lastly, what you are doing right with the chord changes is to be paying attention. Do pay attention. I am a bit TOO relaxed in this manner. So, pay attention, practice just the rhythms without chord changes. and then work the chord changes in. You'll get there. You're making terrific progress already.
- Zurf
About A/E, I've been looking at them and thinking in the $500 (American) range as well. There are some good options. Alvarez, Ibanez, Yamaha, and a few other makers all have guitars in that range. Ibanez generally uses Fishman electronics in their A/E instruments, which are great!
I highly recommend you try out a few instruments and see which you like, which suits your body, your hands, your ear, your playing style, etc. Also, I've noticed that it makes a difference in the day as far as which I like. Not that the guitars have changed much day to day, but apparantly my preferences do. So, if you have the opportunity, you may want to go back and try an instrument a time or two before laying down your cash.
- Zurf
Just right! I'm printing that one out RIGHT NOW!
But did you have to go and put an evil B chord in it? You know I'm going to play that as a Bm or a B7.
- Zurf
Happy Birthday, even if belated. Enjoy your day. Shoot, enjoy them all.
- Zurf
My thought is to play however it feels like it should be to you. I've heard about four different versions of "Amazing Love". None of them were identical, and they all sounded good to me.
Otherwise, don't try and get it just right immediately. Just go with down strums on 1 and 3 counts while singing. Slowly add in additional strums, up or down, that "feel" right to you. Develop it over time instead of all at once.
Remember that the Newsboys are an entire band. You are a single guitarist. You will not mimic an entire band with a single guitar no matter how good you are. The best guitarist I've ever heard cannot make his guitar sound like a saxophone. So, just give it a go and do your own version.
- Zurf
That'll do Lena, that'll do.
Directions to St. Somewhere: Go to Key West, FL. Find a middle aged or above captain with a twinkle in his eye, laugh lines, and an old sailboat in good condition. Before talking to him, watch him long enough to make sure the other captains and mates smile when he comes near. Tell him you want to go to St. Somewhere. He'll know the way.
- Zurf
I used to play with my boss. He and I each had specific numbers to buy. If his numbers hit, it was a shared win. Vice versa. We had other numbers we'd play on our own. We never did win, but one time he asked me how he'd know if I won on our numbers. Instead of the obvious answer, I told him to just look for the limousine with a kayak strapped to the roof in front of the building. He could follow the trail of empty Jack Daniels bottles to find me. Then he asked me how he'd know if I won on my own numbers. I told him, "Easy. You'd never see me again and you'd get an express envelop smelling faintly of rum shipped from St. Somewhere with my office key and security pass in it."
- Zurf
He was a newbie and spouted a standard reply.
Loud pipes do save lives to the extent that they let a driver know they are there. Unless of course the driver is driving one of those luxury cars with sound insulation and noise reducing speakers that cancel outside noise, which frankly I think are extremely dangerous. You can't hear traffic, you can't hear sirens, you can't hear loud pipes (or see the bikes terribly well either), etc.
Anyway, while true, that particular guy probably didn't know what he was saying and was just regurgitating a bumper sticker sentiment with affectation of being a real biker.
- Zurf
I've got kind of a good problem to have. I have maxed out my songbook. I didn't know there was a max, but apparantly there is. That's a good problem to have. Anyway, I started a new songbook and figured to do songbooks by genre. So I started a "Country" songbook and figured to move songs from the first songbook into the Country songbook.
1. There doesn't appear to be a way to move songs between songbooks.
So then I figured I'd just "Remove" Country songs from my first songbook and re-add them to the Country songbook.
2. I can't "Remove" songs from my songbook. I get an error message that the file can't be found.
Any suggestions for Songbook management?
- Zurf
Rita Coolidge was a back-up singer for Joe Cocker on one of his early albums. Of course, he had Steve Winwood on keyboards and Jimmy Page on guitar on that album too. No wonder it's such great music. Most of that band went on to fame and fortune.
Neil Young used to work with Nicollete Larson a lot, too. Not sure which songs.
James Taylor backed up James Taylor on D*** That Traffic Jam. Carly Simon backed him up on Mockingbird.
Tom Petty and much of his band worked with Johnny Cash on his Unchained album, and they even did a Tom Petty cover!
CSNY guys had long standing relationships with Joni Mitchell and Judi Collins and they all helped one another out often.
Booker T Jones of Booker T and the MGs played keyboard on Willie Nelson's Stardust album. Ends up they had both moved into the same condo in Malibu about the same time. Booker T saw Willie Nelson jogging on the beach and called down to him. They figured out their proximity of address and got together for a jam. They discovered one another's love for the old classics and had one of their jam sessions recorded. Booker T Jones did the arrangements, Willie Nelson took lead, and Emmylou Harris sang backup. It is an INCREDIBLE album if you like the old standards. Everyone stepping outside the genres that made them famous and jamming to songs that they love rather than trying to be commercial.
- Zurf
Zurf,
Now learn them indifferent neck positions (example B at the 2rd fret position and 7th fret position) this will help you knowing different key positions instead of having to slide up and or down the neck.
Bootlegger.
I'll just revel in this for a while, but that's a good goal for sure. I'm doing this for personal entertainment. My business life is filled with precision, study, and pressure. I approach the guitar as the thing that doesn't have to be precise or pressured in my life.
- Zurf
NELA - I used to play harmonica in traffic - at traffic stops obviously not while driving. Anyway, I listen to country as well, so if I had a C harp handy, I was pretty much covered. It'd draw some attention from nearby cars because my car didn't have air conditioning and I'd have the windows down and sunroof open much of the time. Good practice time if you can figure out a way to do it. One thing I've done to memorize chords is to put the songs I want to learn on a CD and play them while commuting. Then I speak the chord changes to myself as they occur. It helps.
- Zurf
Good luck.
Logic and fate don't go together in the same thought, but good luck anyway.
- Zurf
I honestly don't know what I usually play. I just wing it and try to get something that sounds OK.
- Zurf
Thanks NELA, but that double barre doesn't work for me. I smashed my ring finger but good with a hammer and absolutely obliterated that knuckle. It bends forward, but it just won't bend back enough to do that second barre. I have to do the A shapes with middle, pinky, ring fingers.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by Zurf
