[gmhendersonme-com]

Keith Urban does a fantastic live version of the BeeGees “To Love Somebody ” at the CMT awards maybe 10 years ago. First half stripped down to just triads before backing vocals and accompanying band kicks in. Interesting take on the song. Lots of great takes on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, but Jeff Buckley’s or kd lang’s really stand out to me.

[gmhendersonme-com]

“Ain’t No Sunshine ” looks like it comes up again next week, so you should be good to go !

[gmhendersonme-com]

When I first got my guitar in the mid 80’s, I used a tuning fork and then tuned to the 5th fret. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do that any more !

[gmhendersonme-com]

Keep practicing the mini F and it will come eventually. The full barre chord F will take a bit longer. If you really want to play songs with an F chord in it, you could switch out to an F maj7, which is just the mini F, but instead of barring the first fret of the B and E string, just finger the first fret of the B and leave the E open. Very similar sound. ( Sorry….didn’t see Pete’s reply !!! Same advice !)

• This reply was modified 4 weeks ago by  gmhendersonme-com. Reason: Repeating previous advice !

[gmhendersonme-com]

Sometimes we’re just not built for certain activities. Aside from technique to minimize discomfort, there are people whose wrists and elbows ( either through genetics or trauma ) just would bend certain ways without a lot of stretching or twisting of certain tendons and ligaments. If this is the case, it may be useful to hold the guitar in a more classical fashion, with the neck angled upwards. This may also require a repositioning of the body of the guitar, but it certainly puts the neck at a more favourable angle to minimize the left arm and wrist bending.

[gmhendersonme-com]

Your action may be a bit too low if you are getting buzzing….go one string and one fret at a time up the fretboard to see if you still get buzzing anywhere. You may have to adjust your truss rod to lift the strings a bit higher off the fretboard. Taking it to a professional for proper setup may be the easiest way to do this if you aren’t comfortable.

[gmhendersonme-com]

My wife blasts that in the house most days… and she doesn’t really like heavy rock music that much.

[gmhendersonme-com]

One of my best friends ( who unfortunately moved to the other side of the country ) was a professional musician …. has a guitar room full of stuff. I need a 2nd guitar to keep up at my cottage for the next 5 months so I can keep up my guitar playing. I asked him what his favourite guitars are. He said he owns an expensive Taylor that sounds really nice, but he also has a cheap Washburn that is a close 2nd ! Perhaps it’s less about the ax and more about the lumberjack ! LOL

[gmhendersonme-com]

Not confusing at all !! Right now I have a lot of tools and techniques, but I’m really not putting any of it to use. It’s like I’ve practiced making dovetails, but I still join 2 pieces of wood together with nails !! I need to go back and get some of the songs I USED to play, and add the embellishments in there to spice them up a bit. Hopefully as I progress, these small techniques will become a bit more 2nd nature to me.

[gmhendersonme-com]

Thanks !! I will.

[gmhendersonme-com]

I still love the challenges, since I’m a process guy. But I’m going to get organized and get some songs down. Thanks for the input !

[gmhendersonme-com]

Thanks Pete. I should really come up with a list of songs I want to play. Right now, I may come across one on YouTube and think, ” Yeah, I can play that !” Then I quickly forget about it or don’t copy it out to tab. Another problem I can foresee is the Canadian weather. We have inside and out side seasons ( about 6 months of each ). We’re coming to outside weather season, so I’ll be a lot busier with other activities soon. Time to get organized !

[gmhendersonme-com]

Thanks ! I think songs are probably the key for me. I know I’m having trouble inserting some of the licks into my actual playing, so I’ll have to concentrate on that to make my playing more interesting. I have no real problems with chords or transitions, so playing songs is actually pretty easy for me, and my singing is REALLY bad ! I think I need to try playing songs and really focus on adding the embellishments.

[gmhendersonme-com]

Thanks. I’m kind of a process guy, but I think finding some songs may be helpful. I just wish I could sing !!

[gmhendersonme-com]

Love watching a lot of Rick’s stuff, but when he gets to theory, I feel like a kindergarten student listening to a PhD at university. I know what all the words are, but I just can’t follow what he’s saying !!