Hardest Song?

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 4:54 pm

ive only been playing for about 4 months. ive been having a lot of trouble learning because of a few reasons: im teaching myself, im playing a 34 year old hofner 12 string (which is a great guitar, but its somewhat hard to play when just starting out), and the hardest part - first thing ive been learning to play is dave stuff. for me its all thats worth playing. ive been able to get some stuff (ie crash, tripping billies intro/chorus, all along the watchtower intro, maybe one or 2 more. cant really remember). so pretty much anything besides that is hard for me. its too bad the verse for tripping billies isnt as easy as the intro

gravedigger · Post by **gravedigger** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 5:18 pm

damn, I can't imagine playing some of those songs on a 12 string

why not pick up a little sixer somewhere - like maybe a seagull or an Ibanez. They're good guitars for the price. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a 12 string but for learning on, you should have a six string, in my opinion.

peace,
Ken

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 6:38 pm

theres only one song that gives me trouble on the 12 string that doesnt on a 6 - crash. im only 14 so my hands hopefully arent as big as they will be. it took me a while to get the stretch, but even now its hard to make it sound good on a 12 string. the other stuff is pretty easy - for dave stuff. i can imagine how hard the other stuff will be on 12

gcom007 · Post by **gcom007** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 7:50 pm

not that I can sing them well, but I don't have a problem singing and playing any of his songs

gcom007 · Post by **gcom007** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 7:52 pm

shane wrote:ive only been playing for about 4 months. ive been having a lot of trouble learning because of a few reasons: im teaching myself, im playing a 34 year old hofner 12 string (which is a great guitar, but its somewhat hard to play when just starting out), and the hardest part - first thing ive been learning to play is dave stuff. for me its all thats worth playing. ive been able to get some stuff (ie crash, tripping billies intro/chorus, all along the watchtower intro, maybe one or 2 more. cant really remember). so pretty much anything besides that is hard for me. its too bad the verse for tripping billies isnt as easy as the intro

you'll thank yourself later, when you transfer to six it'll seem so easy and your fingers will have developed a lot more strengh then they would've playing the six, however, branch out past dave...dave is great stuff to learn on, it really is, but there's a whole world out there of music worth exploring

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 8:50 pm

theres some other stuff i might be interested in playing later (stuff like metallica), but i really need to get basics down first... like bar chords... i dont understand why but i cant often make a sound when i play them. i think my fingers are too weak, or maybe theyre messed up from me cracking them so much. any ideas on what i could do for those

gcom007 · Post by **gcom007** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:36 pm

shane wrote:theres some other stuff i might be interested in playing later (stuff like metallica), but i really need to get basics down first... like bar chords... i dont understand why but i cant often make a sound when i play them. i think my fingers are too weak, or maybe theyre messed up from me cracking them so much. any ideas on what i could do for those

do yourself a favor and skip barre chords, basically they suck and they're frowned upon by the educated musical world in general. learn 4-note voicings and such instead. Go get yourself a chord book that has a lot of jazz stuff in it and go from there. here's an example though tabwise

3 X
3 3
4 4
5 5
5 X
3 3

the first is a laborious barre chord that makes your hand tired, doesn't sound very good, and it also puts your hand in a bad position to play other chords, whereas the second chord is the same however voiced in a 4-note voicing. 4-note voicings are found more in jazz, however they are not strictly for jazz in that they can be used anywhere and you can do a lot more with a chord like the second one than the first.

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:45 pm

alright. anyway, im trying to find a new dave song to learn to play.. unless someone wants to tell me some really easy way to play a cool song (like so much to say - probably really hard on a 12 string). preferably some of the old stuff.. the stuff on everyday wasnt my favorite.. busted stuff/lillywhite sessions werent bad though

gcom007 · Post by **gcom007** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:51 pm

shane wrote:alright. anyway, im trying to find a new dave song to learn to play.. unless someone wants to tell me some really easy way to play a cool song (like so much to say - probably really hard on a 12 string). preferably some of the old stuff.. the stuff on everyday wasnt my favorite.. busted stuff/lillywhite sessions werent bad though

song that jane likes

gcom007 · Post by **gcom007** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:53 pm

song that jane likes

gravedigger · Post by **gravedigger** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 12:08 am

gcom,

would you use your thumb for the bass note on the 4 note voicing. John Mayer does eh? I don't use bar chords either anymore. I used to in the beginning 'cause I thought I had to, and I guess it was good to strengthen up my hand.

peace,
Ken

gcom007 · Post by **gcom007** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 12:10 am

gravedigger wrote:gcom,

would you use your thumb for the bass note on the 4 note voicing. John Mayer does eh?

peace,
Ken

you're not supposed to, but I do occasionally, it depends on the progression I'm playing

cmcdmb · Post by **cmcdmb** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 8:20 am

well as some posters have touched on, its one thing to be able to play a song on guitar, its another to be able to sing while playing it. For instance, i can play WWYS pretty easily...but if i try to sing with it, no luck. The music and lyrics are so syncopated that it makes it hard. But songs where there is a constant rhythm are easier to song and play, like warehouse (the" i love to stay here" part gets hard cause its and offbeat rhythm) OSW, Satellite...stuff like that...are easy, or should i say, not as challenging

So strictly for playing:
Hardest songs in my opinion are:
Captain (or for a harder challenge: Crazy)
Best of whats around

Hardest to sing and play:
WWYS (verses)

MattyTrane · Post by **MattyTrane** » Sun Nov 24, 2002 1:16 am

The chorus for BOWA always throws me up but I dont really practice it much which is probably to blame

cope00015 · Post by **cope00015** » Mon Nov 25, 2002 4:34 pm

The hardest song is Dreams of our Fathers---I can't imagine ANYBODY being able to write words to go with that guitar part, except...well...Dave. the Stone would be second--its tricky but just takes a lot of practice with the rythym, as do so many of his songs.