New Chords with Jimi and Duane

Jimi Hendrix

Okay, so now I'm gonna go back and pick up some of the stuff I skipped.  There were some interesting lessons in there--chords I not only didn't know, but a few of which I wasn't sure my fingers would perform for me.  As with all the other things I've learned along the way, practice proved to be helpful.  Duh.

These lessons brought me a new chord that looks difficult but one I managed to learn quickly.  Turns out, this was one of Jimi Hendrix's go-to chords.  If you think of "Purple Haze" or "Foxy Lady," you'll know which chord I mean.  It is E7#9 and I thought it would take me forever to be able to get it, but I haven't found it that hard--thank goodness.  However, since I've only learned that lick in "Purple Haze," I can't say I wouldn't find a different chord change to it more formidable in another song.

Duane Allman

When I played it for John the next lesson, he said, "Good.  Now remember just what you did there and apply it in this week's song.  How about "Melissa" by the Allman Brothers?"

Well, who doesn't like that song?  I mean, what a great song, right?  There were several chords in this song that were new to me, but I was up to the challenge.  There were two new E-shaped chords with odd (to me) fingering, two new barre chords, a chord I'd played before but didn't know the name of, and B7, the relative (finger-wise) of E7#9.

So, "Melissa."  John wrote out the whole song and I do alright with it, but the chord changes between the A and the Bm trip me up as does the change between the Cmaj7 and the B7.  I'll keep working on it.  It really is a great song.
The following lesson we changed direction and he showed me a technique I had watched guitarists do and thought, How do they do that?  This is where they use their thumb to press the 6th string (See John?  I do listen.) while playing a chord with the other fingers of the left hand.  Eric Clapton's "Lay Down, Sally" is the one I got for this and if I can keep from overthinking it to get ahead of myself I'm not doing too badly.  And let's face it, it's a fun song to play.

Eric Clapton, early days

P.S   If this posting looks funny and not quite right, you'll have to forgive me.  It looks totally different in "edit mode" than it does in "preview."  Too many pictures, I know, but whaddaya gonna do?  As usual, I totally don't know what I'm doing here.  D'Oh!

"Dirty Movies" and DADGAD

Well, it hasn't been quite two months since my last post, but a lot has been going on and I'm going to skip over some stuff.  Actually, not all that much has been going on.  I often find myself in a heat-induced coma after I walk the dogs.  I wake up to find myself on Facebook playing a mindless game as the hours tick by.

I'm still taking guitar lessons and still having fun with it, though I admit I'm not practicing enough.  When I first started, I made it a point to practice at least an hour a day.  Sometimes I got in more, sometimes a little less.  Mostly, pretty close to an hour on-the-dot.  Now when I practice, I still strive for that hour, but there are some weeks that I only practice five days.  I think I had one week where I only practiced four days.  That's not gonna get me anywhere.  And I might as well quit paying someone to teach me if I'm not willing to put the work in.

But I am still having fun.  Learning new songs.  Learned a bunch of Zeppelin which is way fun--"Whole Lotta Love," "Heartbreaker" and "Livin' Lovin' Maid."  Now we're studying alternate tunings and I got "Kashmir."  It's in DADGAD.  When John showed it to me, he said, "Man, I could play this all day."  And now I see why.  I swear this song is addictive.  It's not all that hard to play, (once you practice it a while) but it is hard to stop. 

And I must move on.  The next week (that would be last week) we went to Drop D tuning which is DADGBE.  The song is a deep cut from Van Halen's Fair Warning album called "Dirty Movies."  I thought I might have the song on the Best of Both Worlds CD, but it's not there.  I knew, however, that I had the vinyl.  So I pulled it out, uncovered the turntable and played it.  It didn't sound anything like what John had played.  Certainly not anything like what I was coming up with from what he'd written in my practice book.  Oy.  "Mean Streets" sounded more like what I was playing and of course, I told him that at my lesson this week.

He was like, "No, this is "Dirty Movies.  Listen to it again."
Van Halen's "Dirty Movies" played by some guy on YouTube. The part I'm learning starts at about 1:10.


So I did.  Over and over, until I finally thought I maybe heard it.  That sounds convincing, doesn't it?  The truth is, I could hear part of the riff, but the main part eluded me.  I couldn't get the rhythm of it and just couldn't hear it through the vocals.  I tried to tape it on my digital recorder, but I sure couldn't hear it any better with its sorry sound.

So I had lunch.  I must've needed the nourishment because as I ate, the thought occurred to me that I might be able to find a video on YouTube and actually see EVH playing the song.  Well, you know, (shrug) I thought that might help.  And there were videos of the song.  (Turns out there aren't any videos of Eddie Van Halen playing the song, but check out the link above.)

But I didn't click on them.

Because--and thank you Google search--there were actual lessons posted on YouTube for this very song!  The one I clicked on was by a guy named Doug Steele who seems way cool, into metal and goes slow enough that even an old broad like me can catch on to what he's doing.

Now, he teaches most of the whole song and I'm only learning the main riff at this time, so I brought my little recorder and "taped" several loops of it in order to be able to listen to it in my practice room.  Man, what a help it's been.  I've been able to get the rhythm better and figure out fingering to get me ahead.

Which brings me back to practice time. 

Have I mentioned that John wants me to perform onstage at the Windjammer in the Autumn Showcase? 

I may not have.  I don't want anyone to get their hopes up.  A funnier comedy show, I cannot imagine. 

I told him "no way" right off the bat, but of course, he blew smoke up my . . . (ahem) butt till I started to consider it.  The song--Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."  I've got the blues part down, no problem, but that first riff--while it's not the hardest thing I've ever tackled--it's sure not the easiest either. 

Huh.  I think I just thought of something that might make it a little easier.  I'll have to try it out later. 

But I digress.

So this week, I've started putting in some extra practice time.  I've had to in order to get this Van Halen song.  And in the meantime I've been working on "Johnny B. Goode" as well.  Guess what?  Yes, I'm getting it a little better too.

I'm not saying I'm definitely going onstage at the showcase, but if I step up my practice time and then decide to, it will only be my nerves screwing up my fingers.