This video shows you how to tune your guitar to Open D tuning (D-A-D-F#-A-D). Open D is the same relative tuning as Open E, just a whole step lower. In general, I recommend using Open D rather than Open E as it usually results in better action and fewer broken strings. (If you need to play in the key of E, you can use a capo on the 2nd fret.) Open D tuning is popular among slide guitar and fingerstyle players – great for country / blues riffs, new age fingerstlyle, slack key, just about anything really. I hope you have fun exploring the possibilities of this tuning.
If you want to explore more of this tuning, you can check out my lesson on Barcelona, by George Ezra, which is a fingerstyle song in Open D.
I’m lucky in that I have great fingernails and don’t need fake / acrylic nails. A lot – probably most – great fingerstyle players use fake nails however, so if your nails aren’t naturally strong enough and you want to use fake nails you’ll be in good company. For me though, I find my regular nails work fine and I really enjoy not having to fool with fake nails. In fact, I don’t even use nail files for shaping my nails anymore. In this video I’ll talk about the fingernail approach that has worked for me, and the only nail tool I use (hint: clipper). Again, this isn’t going to work for everyone, but I do recommend that you try your natural nails FIRST before you get into using acrylic / fake nails as it will save you time / money if you can use your natural fingernails.
Million Years Ago by Adele is a song that may introduce you to some jazzy new chords as well as letting us explore different ways of playing the rhythm – namely jazzy comping and the fingerstyle pattern heard on the album. This song is firmly in intermediate territory. The chords aren’t particularly hard, but the changes are fairly quick and as mentioned some of the chords may be new. No problem though – just start out at a slower tempo and gradually work your way up to speed. I will encourage you to use your right hand fingers to play through the song even before we do the picking pattern. Million Years Ago has almost all 4-note chord voicings; using your fingers will help you to play the right strings for each chord and it also helps the jazzy comping sound better. This is a fun song to learn; please enjoy.
Part I – How to play the song, including jazzy comping
Part II – How to play the finger picking pattern
Lesson Road Map:
Part I
00:04 – Play through
00:56 – Overview
01:58 – Using your fingers / right hand finger positions
04:22 – Intro progression
09:13 – Intro play through / rhythm count
09:47 – Verse progression, with endings
17:57 – Verse play through
19:15 – Rhythm, one strum per bar
21:15 – Rhythm, jazzy comping: ‘bass / chord’
24:41 – Chorus progression, song structure
26:47 – Final thoughts
Part II
00:04 – overview
00:55 – intro progression (same right hand as in part 1)
01:49 – main picking pattern for verse / chorus
04:52 – verse play through up to 1st ending
05:54 – 1st ending to verse (also same as 1st/2nd ending for chorus)
07:50 – another way to play 1st ending
09:57 – one more way to play 1st ending (used on album)
12:37 – 2nd ending verse
16:02 – another fingering for 2nd verse ending
19:01 – verse play through
19:57 – chorus pattern (similar to verse)
20:24 – chorus play through
21:27 – another voicing of C#m7 to end the chorus
Here is my demo & review of the Hoof Fuzz from Earthquaker Devices. Touted by Earthquaker as their flagship pedal, this fuzz is based on the ‘green Russian Big Muff’ used by such players as Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. (His guitar tech started Earthquaker.) Featuring a pair of shaggy hooves on the front of the pedal, this thick and wooly fuzz is appropriately named. It has interactive tone controls that allow you to scoop/boost the mids, a super bright LED, and a really loud level knob. As with many pedals from EQD, you can get this high quality boutique pedal at an affordable price – even less used. It’s a fun pedal – a good first fuzz or a good all purpose fuzz.
This demo was recorded with a Fender MIM Strat (w/ Texas Special pickups) and a Fender Champ II (Rivera, with Eminence Ragin’ Cajun speaker) amp miked with a Sennheiser e906 dynamic microphone.
This is a two part video about the differences between analog and digital delay. Part one discusses the general differences between analog and digital delay effects. Part two compares popular analog & digital delay pedals: the MXR Carbon Copy vs the TC Electronic Flashback.
In terms of sound, analog delays tend to sound warm and round. The repeats loose some definition and clarity, however there is generally more body and texture to the repeats. In general, analog delay works well when there is more space in the mix and you’re not running a bunch of other effects. It’s perfect for anything from classic slapback sounds to spacey classic rock. Analog delay can round out a brighter sounding guitar and amp.
Digital repeats do not have the high-end roll-off of analog and generally sound crisper and clearer. (You also tend to get longer delay times and more features with a digital pedal.) Digital delay works well with other pedals and is also the delay of choice for acoustic guitar. The clean, clear repeats sit well in the mix because they don’t have as much body / girth as the repeats on an analog delay.
It should also be noted that there is some overlap between these sounds, with some analog units more on the clear/crisp side (like Seymour Duncan’s Vapor Trail) and some digital delays more on the warm/round side. Some digital delays can produce a convincing analog sound and let you do some things you couldn’t normally do with an analog pedal, however the simplest way to get an analog sound is with an analog delay pedal. Really I recommend owning one of each if you have the means (provided you like delay; also note, they are readily available used). In addition to being useful in different contexts, it can also be fun to run the two delay pedals together. (Maybe I’ll do that in another video one day.)
For the sound demo in part two, I compare the MXR Carbon Copy with the TC Electronic Flashback. Really, this is not meant to show you everything the pedals can do, but to give you a taste of the different sounds that are commonly used – namely a short-to-medium delay to add body. (I do play around with some weird sounds for a bit though.) The Flashback especially is a fairly versatile pedal, however I will focus on the Analog / Tape / LoFi settings, which still sound ‘digital’ in comparison with the Carbon Copy.
The playlist embedded below has both parts of the demo.
This demo was recorded with a Fender MIM Strat (w/ Texas Special pickups) and a Fender Champ II (Rivera, with Eminence Ragin’ Cajun speaker) amp miked with a Sennheiser e906 dynamic microphone.
Today’s tip involves finding good cables – both guitar / instrument and microphone cables. I talk about what you might look for in a cable, including length, what it’s covered in (i.e. rubber, braided / mesh, etc.), and connectors. In general, I look for cables made in the US, and there are several affordable US-made brands carried by a lot of music stores – these include CBI, RapcoHorizon, and Pro Co. I will include some links on my webpage to where you can find these if your local music store doesn’t carry them.
I will have some links to cables on the Accessories page.
This lick could work over a D or D7, or resolving from an A or A7 to a D. Part of the fun is exploring several different ways we can end the lick – a good way to expand your thinking and vocabulary. As always, feel free to experiment to make the lick your own.
This run could work over a G or G7 chord in a country, Bluegrass, or folk context. The open strings that ring out as you descend create a nice atmosphere and give the run presence. As always, feel free to experiment to make the run your own.