Today practicing both the second walking bass riff from Moondance, and trying to hit some pointers from my guitar teacher in the improvisation laid over. All very slow as I try to get my fingers to work for that bass line.
Some blues improv over the rhythm from Green Onions by Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Green Onions is a fun rhythm part to play, though the original that part is shared between organ and guitar rather than being a single instrument.
Playing on the opening bass riff from Moondance by Van Morrison. I’m not actually a fan of this song, but my guitar teacher got me to try this as a good gateway to learning walking bass style.
As I slowly bring online older archives, this piece by Led Zeppelin will become something I obviously gravitate towards. I was fairly late to discover Led Zeppelin, despute the fact my Dad was a fan, but I never really appreciated them until I understood more about the context, and now I’m a big fan of most of their work.
I think, just like with Bowie, it’s impossible for me to understand just what Led Zeppelin meant - their sound now is so ubiquitous, but back then it was something that hand’t been heard before and paved the way for heavy rock and heavy metal.
This particular piece was one that got me back into guitar after a long hiatus, seeing Jimmy Page perform it on the film It Might Get Loud:
If you don’t play guitar then then the direct link between what his narration over the top and what he’s playing might not be so obvious, but he’s going from gentle to loud, subtle rhythms to big in your face crunch, with some sitar like melody in the middle, all with just the guitar and the amp, no pedals, not other trickery. The guitar is often seen (and indeed used) as a simple instrument, but if you adjust how you attack the strings, how you play gentle and strong, you can unlock a rich range of sounds without having to use anything else. And just compare the nuance in Page’s playing with my own rendition, how effortlessly he makes it look as he moves his hands around the fretboard, and yet how much effort separates the two of us.
A classic riff from Led Zeppelin’s first album, How many more times?. At times I really wonder if I should have been a bass guitarist, as I love riffs like this.
My guitar teacher has me playing Oasis to practice my strumming patterns - it’s just like when I first picked up a guitar 25 years ago.
As I can’t jam with others I caved and got a looper with built in drum machine to make playing more fun
Trying some classical music for a change.
I’ve been trying to learn the rhythm and melody playing technique a little. My brain really doesn’t like doing both :) This one is from the Improvising Blues Guitar book, in the style of Hubert Sumlin, the guitarist for Howlin’ Wolf - you can kinda hear the structural similarity in the riff to that of Smokestack Lightning.
Still trying to get Lenny to sound fluid. Pleased I got both the harmonics on the 12th fret right this time, rare I manage to get both to ring.
A mix of the Buddy Guy and SRV versions of Mary Had A Little Lamb. It’s taken me two years to get this tune to a presentable level.
More rough slide, though less twiddly. I made this cigar box guitar last year for Liverpool Makefest, and learning slide gives me an excuse to break it out.