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.
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SONG 205 • Million Years Ago by Adele
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
GEAR 410 • Earthquaker Devices Hoof Fuzz
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.
EQD page for the Hoof: http://earthquakerdevices.com/shop/Hoof/cat/13096
You may also want to check out my demo of the Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail analog delay, where I also pair it with the Hoof.
GEAR 409 • Analog vs Digital Delay Pedals, Carbon Copy vs Flashback
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.
MXR page for the Carbon Copy: http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/m169-carbon-copy-analog-delay
TC Electronic page for the Flashback: http://www.tcelectronic.com/flashback-delay/
You may also want to check out my demo of the Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail analog delay.
LIVE 009 • Magic Sands
Here is a song I wrote a while back called “Magic Sands.” Hope you enjoy.
Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.
All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the arrangement in public.
TIPS 108 • Find and Use Good Cables
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.
TWANG 102 • Variations on a Lick in D
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.
TWANG 101 • Open String Run in G
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.
SONG 204 • Look at Miss Ohio by Gillian Welch
This is a relatively simple song, but it has some time-tested elements to look at. There are cool ‘folky’ chord grips, a bass walk-down, and a soft yet driving strum. The song structure doesn’t have a lot of moving parts, but it still works. Miss Ohio is from an album called Soul Journey, and has become a staple in the Gillian canon. (If you’re new to Gillian Welch, however, I would recommend checking out the Revelator album first.) Hope you enjoy this lesson.
Another bonus folky grip that didn’t make the video: if you want, you can leave the 5th string out of any/all G chords in this song, and it sounds fine. Use the fleshy part of your 3rd finger (which is holding down the 6th string) to mute the 5th string so it doesn’t ring out.
Also note: in some video performances, you can see that they’re playing this song with a capo on the second fret (i.e. in D instead of C). Of course, if you’re trying to sing & play the song you might want to try different keys using the capo. You could also use the capo to play along with their performances, which is good practice.
Road Map:
00:04 – Play-through & introduction
00:59 – Chords & progression (Verse, Chorus)
05:30 – Progression play-through & count
07:10 – Song structure (to Bridge)
08:17 – Bridge chords & progression
10:04 – Song structure (from Bridge to End)
11:20 – Strumming pattern – Verse & Chorus
13:19 – Strumming pattern – Bridge
14:11 – Parting thoughts
Live performance of the song:
There are a ton of people who have covered this song, including Miranda Lambert, Counting Crowes, Sarah Jarosz, and Nick Mulvey. Here is an under the-radar version from a pre-Houndmouth Katie Toupin & Matt Meyers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v31hh6vU7co
SONG 203 • Barcelona by George Ezra
Continuing his series of great songs about European cities that start with the letter “B,” George Ezra gives us a moody song about Barcelona. This is a fun song on guitar, and very manageable if you know a little fingerpicking and don’t mind using an open tuning. If you have some experience on guitar and want to learn some fingerpicking and play in an open tuning for the first time, this would be a good song to try out. I teach the song in Open D, though the recorded version is in the key of F – it looks like George is tuning to open E and putting a capo on the 1st fret. I prefer to tune down to Open D, and you could put the capo on the 3rd fret to get to the key of F. (People who want to sing & play the song can experiment with different keys by moving the capo around.) This is such a fun tune that I’m really looking forward to future songs from George Ezra about Berlin, Bologna, Bordeaux, Brno, Bratislava, Brussels, Bergen… Anyway, hope you have fun with this song.
Part I – Picking patterns, chords, melody, playing through the song
Part II – the solo / instrumental section
Lesson road map:
Part I
00:04 – Play-through
01:12 – Introduction, difficulty level
01:51 – Tuning: Open D, tuning & capo considerations
03:42 – Picking pattern: bass pattern, finger-string assignment
06:50 – Picking pattern: basic picking pattern, rhythm count
08:42 – Verse: chord progression
09:42 – Verse: 1st string melody line
13:21 – Verse: combining 1st string melody w/ picking pattern
16:20 – Verse: play-through with rhythm count
18:09 – Chorus: chord progression
20:19 – Chorus: picking pattern, rhythm count
22:45 – Chorus: play through
23:50 – 2nd Verse is structured differently, play-through
25:00 – Song structure from 2nd chorus through outro
26:42 – Parting thoughts
Part II
00:04 – Play-through & introduction
00:59 – Structure & chord progression
01:37 – Melody notes
05:35 – Play-through of melody over the I chord
06:09 – Combining melody & picking pattern
09:30 – Rhythm & counting through the solo section
11:07 – Play-through with rhythm count
11:59 – Play-through at slower tempo (guitar only)
12:40 – Parting thoughts
Artist website: http://www.georgeezra.com