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Any Tips for intermediate player
Hi All, I’m okay with a lot of chords and barre chords. I can strum basic patterns reasonably we, and understand tabs.
I’m not great a soloing, i can do bends, slides hammer-ons and pull offs (last two not great due to 60 year old hands)
But I can’t seem to “put it altogether”
For example i’d like to download a song from Ultimate guitar and be able to sing along, but my strumming doesn’t seem to line up with the words.
Currently I’m practicing double string strumming, then I’m going on to palm muting.
Any tips for putting it all together within TAC?
I’ve only just joined and have done the 30 day challenge and am doing the 5 day course. I really do wish there was a looper function to be able to concentrate on sections at a time.
Thanks All
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5 Replies
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When you’re learning to sing along it’s best to simplify in the beginning then increase the difficulty once you are comfortable. Just do single down strums instead of the strum pattern and practice singing along that way. Once you have learned to sing along with your chord changes, begin adding in more complexity to the strumming.
Go to the 7:00 min mark of this video and Tony describes the process:
https://tonypolecastro.com/lessons/lovely-place-2/
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Pete makes a good point. I do this all of the time learning a song with vocals.
1st it helps you know where the chord changes are when singing. If you are having timing problems, like I did for years, I finally gave in an started practicing with a metronome. The first few sessions really showed me how weak I was and at times still am, either rushing the timing or being to slow or putting chord changes in the wrong location. It helped my singing to. When to pause, when to stretch out a word, etc.
You can slow down Tony’s video lessons which I always do before actually practicing Thursday and Friday chord reviews. I just put the video on half speed Watch his strumming patterns, put it on pause and Tapping my foot practice what he just did.
Put your ego in your back pocket and actually, slowly practice what your are viewing.
I break my actual practice times, Not the video portion but my actual time I have a guitar in my hand down to 20 minutes or less depending how close I am coming to a good replica of the lesson. I usually do the lesson 3 times a day and improve with each session but the metronome is almost always being used.
You sound like me, have a good idea of all of the pieces needed to pick and grin, just need help in where to do what.
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The other suggestions are right on. One other thing I will do on a very unfamiliar song is just play the bass note on the lower strings until I can the feel of it. Paul McCartney did much of his composing and playing with his bass guitar. I can sometimes play along a video on Ultimate Guitar this way.
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I offer this perspective. I learned most of the songs I know by listening. It took me a long time to figure out that vocal phrasing in the musical rhythm are not always the same and in most cases it is not. Jorgemac mentions the metronome….this single tool bridges the gap between spoken/sung words and music rhythm. I had to learn one two three four…get that under my fingers and then add the words….tough for me as I learned it backwards in the range of importance. The words are part of the rhythm and not the rhythm itself. I have no short cuts for this only time in the saddle.
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Perfect explanation JnJ. Thanks
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