Whatcha workin' on?

[Eric]

I thought it might be interesting to find out what songs everybody's working on. I know not everyone plays covers all of the time, but I usually have at least one song that's in project status when it comes to guitar. Care to share what yours is?

Also, inspired by Jimi's technique thread, what's a song you would like to be able to play but cannot play right now, for whatever reason?

So...my answers:
1) For me, I've been working on the first solo from Hard to Handle by the Black Crowes over the last day or two. I have the fingering down now, so it's mostly a matter of speed, though that's not exactly a trivial issue.

2) I always thought it would be cool to be able to play Stash by Phish from front to back. I can play little blurbs of it, but I don't think I could get an entire phrase/verse down without any mistakes. Of course, the solo from Sweet Child O Mine would be pretty cool too...

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I have a bunch of stuff goin' right now.

"Perfectly Lonely" by John Mayer
"Overkill" acoustic version by Colin Hay
revisiting "Hey, Hey, My My" by Neil so I can practice using gobs of fuzzy distortion
"Summertime" is another new song I picked up as part of a jam I hopped into.
Working on rhythm chops and fretboard knowledge. Hopefully using the above to practice the skills.

What I would like to be able to do but cannot yet is to go between rhythm chords and lead lines/embellishments while keeping good tone from the fingers and no breaks in the rhythm. Like this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ91QqkS9MQ

 

[deeaa]

Still honing 'Hallowed be thy Name' rhythm guitars. I've already played it thru three times& practiced the riffs a little now and then when watching the TV, when I get a little better I'll re-record them.

I really should sometime learn some solos...never seem to have any time for it.
The only solos I ever learned were 'Sanitarium' by Metallica and 'Living after Midnight' by Judas Priest.

 

[progrmr]

Guitar:
1. All Right Now (Free - Rock Guitar Play-A-Long) solo - have the verse and chorus rhythms down (easy )

2. All Blues (Miles Davis - Jazz Guitar Play-A-Long) - I'm through the first 1/3 of the song, but a few chord progressions and runs are slowing me down. Need to move forward.

Bass:
1. Todd Johnson Walking Bass Lines Module 1 - Learning the many "modules" to approaching target notes. Pretty good training but basic at this point

Piano:
1. Group Lesson - have to play "Be Still My Soul" hymn for the group on the 22nd.

2. Db arpeggio

3. We Wish You A Merry Christmas

4. Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

5. Timing Exercises

man...writing that out makes realize that's a lot of stuff lol!

 

[Eric]

Guitar:
1. All Right Now (Free - Rock Guitar Play-A-Long) solo - have the verse and chorus rhythms down (easy )

Ha -- I learned that a couple of months ago to play with some friends. I guess I'm still polishing up parts of it, but I think I've got it down to be passable.

 

[Jimi75]

First of all - and this has been a dream for as long as I play guitar - I'd love to play Christmas songs in Jazz versions. Not the simple substitude chords, but the real complicated but excellent sounding stuff with walking bass lines and undergoing RECOGNIZABLE melody. I think it is the highest of guitarplaying arts to entertain a crowd and to sound like an entire band is playing, plus getting the attention of the audience by not playing the typical chordshapes etc. Good examples how I would like my Christmas song renditions to sound like would be the styles of Barney Kessel and Jimmy Bruno.

Second of all - and this I almost played in its entirety but then stopped excersising the last bit :thwap would be Cutting Heads which is the guitar duel between Steve Vai and Raplh Macchio in the Crossroads movie. This piece of music haunts me since my early youth and I ever dreamed of playing it along with the movie sequence. It is associated with Paganinis 5th Caprice.

 

[Commodore 64]

I've got a guitar in pieces, I've done my first fret level, fret crown and nut cut. I need to get it back together and try it out.

As far as practicing...I'm working on memorizing chord progressions for a lot of songs. Just playing rhythm for the most part. I need to figure out a few cool strum patterns to play rhythm parts for Soul Man, Respect, Knock On Wood, Hold on I'm Coming, Midnight Hour.

I've got to sing The Weight, Bad Moon Rising and Turn the Page as well. BMR is very uncomfortable for me. Well, all singing is.

Theorywise, I'm working on recognizing 2-5 chord switches, memorizing little bits like which 7th chord goes with which scale.

 

[Jimi75]

"Perfectly Lonely" by John Mayer

That is a really demanding piece of music. Most poeple underestimate ths one, but it starts with a rather difficult two string intro. Getting the rhythm going so that it keeps at least a little bit of the JM vibe is pretty difficult, too. Love that song, covered it with the blues band!

Good luck learning the number. :thumbsup

 

[jpfeifer]

This is my favorite time of year to be a musician. Every year I try to arrange at least one more Christmas tune for solo guitar so that I can play some holiday music for people. Sometimes, I'll do these songs at our gigs during the Christmas season, as an opener segment when we start a gig.

This year I'm working out a solo arrangement of the Vince Guaraldi song called "Christmas is Coming" which is from the Charlie Brown Christmas special. I'd already worked out a solo arrangement of "Christmas Time is Here" in the past, and I love playing that one too (the chord changes in that song are incredible). There's something about the songs from this show that really move me. Vince Guaraldi wrote some amazing stuff, and I love the way these songs were recorded with a small Jazz trio.

I'm also working on a solo guitar arrangement of "The Pink Panther Theme", in a sort of Chet Atkins type of style. This one is really challanging to arrange for guitar, so I'm still working on the chord voicings, and the key so that I can keep the alternating bass line going, etc, I almost have it.

Other than that, I'm learning some additional surf instrumentals for the band I play with. (that kind of music is fun to play, and it can be a real challange for your picking hand, especially the Dick Dale stuff)

--Jim

 

[Jx2]

By The Sword....off Slash solo album. Ive got most of it down about to start working on the lead as soon as I get the bridge and the changes a little more smooth.

Im probably going to start on Hey Joe soon since there is a video lesson on the song "On Demand" right now.

A few other's Ive been kicking around but not really focused on are.
Pearl Jam-Yellow Ledbetter
Slash-Back to Cali
Jimi-Red House

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Guitar:


2. All Blues (Miles Davis - Jazz Guitar Play-A-Long) - I'm through the first 1/3 of the song, but a few chord progressions and runs are slowing me down. Need to move forward.

I forgot to mention that I had been working on some of the lines from "So What", by Miles, and tried to adapt them to the slow blues we were collabing on a few weeks ago. I decided then that I wanted to either find, or construct, a backer for "So What" and for "All Blues" so I could work on those lines. I need to keep that one on the radar too, and will also probably strum some Christmas tunes soon. Mostly using jazzy arrangements.

Yeah, looking at the list, I should probably prioritize a little so I can work some of these to actual completion.

That is a really demanding piece of music. Most poeple underestimate ths one, but it starts with a rather difficult two string intro. Getting the rhythm going so that it keeps at least a little bit of the JM vibe is pretty difficult, too. Love that song, covered it with the blues band!

Good luck learning the number. :thumbsup

Spud turned me onto a good set of lessons online, and I am aware of those two string lines. Started working on them, and ran through the intro lead once. It will take a while for sure, but has such a nice relaxing swing that it will be fun to pursue. I would love to see or hear a recording of your blues band covering it if you have one.

Jim, as I think you remember, I absolutely love your "Christmastime is Here" recording you shared with us a couple years ago. Can't wait to hear your new Guaraldi piece!

 

[player]

Along with the typical holiday tunes including Robert's version of Silent Night my regular and side project has been getting the intro down from Aerosmith's ' Dream On' down.there's more to it than most think.

 

[R_of_G]

Working on now:

• Combining my solo arrangements of "Over the Rainbow" and "You Are My Sunshine" into a single cohesive piece. While playing the former recently I made an unplanned segue into the latter and liked the results. Now I'm trying to intentionally bridge the way I play both of them.
  
  
• Learning Joe Zawinul's "Mercy Mercy Mercy" for solo guitar. I can play the melody lines well but I am trying to take the time to learn the underlying chords so I can devise a solo version to play.
  
  
• Miles Davis' "So What." I've known the signature riff for years. Now I'm working on some interesting ideas off of which to solo.

Like to play but can't yet:

• The afforementioned "Mercy Mercy Mercy" for piano. I have spent some time lately learning some basic chord shapes for piano and have located a good "play-along" style video on YouTube of a decent arrangement of this song. I'd like to put in the necessary time and effort to learn to play it. I have a piano now and would love for this to be the first piece I learn to play in its entirety.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Working on now:

• Combining my solo arrangements of "Over the Rainbow" and "You Are My Sunshine" into a single cohesive piece. While playing the former recently I made an unplanned segue into the latter and liked the results. Now I'm trying to intentionally bridge the way I play both of them.
  
  
• Learning Joe Zawinul's "Mercy Mercy Mercy" for solo guitar. I can play the melody lines well but I am trying to take the time to learn the underlying chords so I can devise a solo version to play.
  
  
• Miles Davis' "So What." I've known the signature riff for years. Now I'm working on some interesting ideas off of which to solo.

Like to play but can't yet:

• The afforementioned "Mercy Mercy Mercy" for piano. I have spent some time lately learning some basic chord shapes for piano and have located a good "play-along" style video on YouTube of a decent arrangement of this song. I'd like to put in the necessary time and effort to learn to play it. I have a piano now and would love for this to be the first piece I learn to play in its entirety.

I have been playing an arrangement of "Rainbow" for around a year now. A very nice melody. I have had it segue into "Wonderful World" but that is something that has been done. I would be interested in your arrangement.

Also, as you know, I have played around with "So What" too. Do you have a backer or anything you have been working with? If so, care to share? :thumbsup

I worked on "Perfectly Lonely" some more over the last couple days. My picking technique on the two string lines needs work. I tend to dig too deep on the first of the two strings and end up not as clean as I want on the second. Any tips you accomplished players have for hitting the strings on lines like that would be appreciated. Otherwise, it is coming along and will be a really fun song to play in time.

"Overkill" is also coming, and my challenge there is to accomplish the emphasis in the rhythm of the main chord progression without tweaking my right hand out of time. Something I have been working on cleaning up with Mark Wein's lessons. Using the left hand more to create the emphasis is key, and I have to figure out how to do it in this piece.

 

[marnold]

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" duet with my son
"Breakin' the Chains" not my favorite Dokken song, but it is about as simple as Lynch solos get
Slowly (VERY slowly) working on "Mr. Scary"
Gotta get down the intro lick to "Life by the Drop"

 

[R_of_G]

Also, as you know, I have played around with "So What" too. Do you have a backer or anything you have been working with? If so, care to share? :thumbsup

Nope, no backing track. I just play along to the Miles' album or to the third take on the Garcia/Grisman album.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Nope, no backing track. I just play along to the Miles' album or to the third take on the Garcia/Grisman album.

Ok, I'll just do the same until I can construct one.