[petelanger]

If you really want access there is a way to get to it.

[petelanger]

Hotel California will be coming up the week after next, so starting in 13 days.
Is there a reason why you need this now?

[petelanger]

I’m fairly new here so others may chime in who have been at this 20 times as long as I have but in my opinion there’s not really any reason you couldn’t play along with Tony on an electric. I do a lot of the challenges (exercises) on both an acoustic and an electric guitar. Sure there might be certain songs we do where the sound is suited for the acoustic guitar but it’s fine to use an electric for this course.

[petelanger]

It looks like you can call anything up by the name. I went through my notes and randomly chose 2 titles.

start with the first part of the URL: https://tonypolecastro.com/

and add on your title (see examples below)

If you have a listing of the challenges then you can pull them up by replacing “buttered-popcorn” with your desired title:

August 26 – Aug 28 Lets Go To the Movies

https://tonypolecastro.com/exercise/buttered-popcorn/

main-feature

starring-role

Sept 2- Sept 4 Mississippi John Hurt

https://tonypolecastro.com/exercise/mississippi-timing/

railroad-tracks

spike driver

catch-and-release/

Sept 9- Sept 13 Ain’t No Sunshine

cloudy-day

gone-too-long

i-know-i-know-i-know

whither-away

every-time-she-goes-away

These are all I can find for the moment. I should have some notes from August but I’m not finding them right now. In July I was doing the 30 Days to Play and then after that the 5 Day Routine.

Peter

[petelanger]

Nice! I remember this song so well because my sister played it frequently in the late ’60’s. She was about 14 when she started playing and this was prominently in her repertoire along with As Tears Go By, House of the Rising Son and Yellow Bird.

The song was written in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, and Ira Gershwin.

It was famously recorded by Billy Holiday in 1936 and reached #12 on the pop charts.

Hundreds of artists have covered it besides the legendary Billy there’s Ella Fitzgerald w. Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke, The Zombies, Billy Stewart, Janis Joplin, Willie Nelson, Al Green are some of most beloved covers.

[petelanger]

Love that song, I assume you are referring to the unplugged version and not the Derek and the Dominoes original?

[petelanger]

Thanks for that completely un-disco rendition of “Can’t Find My Way Home”, @DiscostewLA

Very nicely done, the chord transitions, the strumming pattern, the vocals…everything!

[petelanger]

All the best for your journey in this your forth year that started in May!

Is your son’s name Luke?

May the forth be with you!

[petelanger]

Nice! And good to know that the right guitar makes it easier to play.

[petelanger]

Nice to hear from a veteran TACer! Please do try to drop in more often and tell us about what you’re doing!

Peter

[petelanger]

I’ve been looking through the forums and I don’t think Layla makes an appearance. It’s been an amazing journey though, I am finding some great performances on the way.

[petelanger]

I think I have my hands in dishwater too often, softening those calluses. I need to probably play more but I am playing every day typically for at least 30 minutes.

[petelanger]

Thanks Loraine!

I feel like the chords are coming along as far as knowing the shape and executing that. Now it’s all about quickness, got to be able to change chords in a flash if you want to play actual music.

[petelanger]

“There are professional musicians that don’t play them and avoid them to the nth degree.”

Yeah, Andy Summers claims he never played a barre chord in his life! I posted an article about this in another thread,

https://tonypolecastro.com/family-forums/topic/learning-left-handed-or-fretting-without-a-pinky/

which didn’t seem to hold him back….

[petelanger]

I started angling the finger to mimic Tony, lol!
When I was muting almost all the strings I started looking more closely at Coach. The straight finger wasn’t working. Now that I am able to play it that way, I can’t when the finger is straightened. I pretty much have it coming over the top the fret with a bit of curvature allowing me to reach the 3rd fret nicely with my ring and pinky fingers.

Angling the neck forward (which is actually pulling back with the right elbow with the guitar body pivoting on my right leg) definitely makes things easier.

I’m not able to play it on demand yet, but I can form the chord and then tweak away until everything is clean in about 5 – 10 seconds. Then I can hold it long enough to play through the E shape exam. I’m trying to this about 4 or 5 times daily.

The B chord (A shape) is a piece of cake, I can get this in a couple of seconds and hold it indefinitely.