EP404 – Compromised again

[Guo, Tao]

Hi AM friends,

There’s a Chinese saying that goes: some things you can only do 0 times or countless times. I’ve been stuck on EP404 for a long time and have never been able to play the fast notes at full speed. So instead of playing a slow version, I decided to replace those fast notes. I hope it still sounds okay.

Friend of Ray (The Corgi)
Vive la music!
--- Tao

[Ralph P.]

Sounds very musical Guo. Feel is more important than speed.

Ralph P.

[charjo]

I remember it well, Gao. Some really difficult parts in that one that I drilled over and over again with every picking combination I could think of. Nicely done.
John

[James B]

Sounds great, Tao. Such a nice melody. Nice job on those bends.

James

[San Luis Rey]

Sounds great Tao! Way to stick with it.

Mike

[Dieter]

Great version – sounds really good.

Dieter

[Garry]

A classic lesson this one Tao and a favourite for sure. You play with much expression which is fantastic. Re: Speed: I reckon it’s fine to slow the pieces down and also change the notes to suit. Making music is the most important thing! All the best! 😎🎸😎

[Geoff]

It’s like that with a lot of Brian’s lessons 🙄.

I have always figured that speed is a “nice to have” but not essential. More important to play with your heart as you have done very nicely with this one 😄

[Geoff]

Oh, I was going to say one other thing.

Brian’s lessons are great for learning the blues , how to improv and all that but there is zero focus on technique. As a classical guitar player that is pretty alien to me..

If you want to improv speed and technique, there are tons of books on the topic. Most of it involves doing repetitive exercises that are not fun but 10 minutes a day on that is beneficial over time. At least, that’s what I am starting to do now.

[Guo, Tao]

You are right Geoff. I did a lot of repetitive practice specifically for this solo. 90% speed is the best I can do for now. However it doesn’t sound pretty when I play slow. I guess some music is meant to be fast.

Friend of Ray (The Corgi)
Vive la music!
--- Tao

[Geoff]

Being able to play fast is nice and sometimes necessary but I don’t think I agree Tao. Playing slower with precision generally sounds better than playing fast and sloppy. Expression is the most important thing in my opinion and you do that well.

[Guo, Tao]

That’s comforting Geoff 😅😅😅😅

Friend of Ray (The Corgi)
Vive la music!
--- Tao

[AndréM]

Your rendition is excellent.
There is nothing wrong slowing it down.
When I did this EP I couldn’t max Brian’s speed so I just slowed down the backing track a bit.

AndréM

AndréM

[Guido]

Excellent rendition, TAO, and your replacements worked very well! I showcased this one more than 3 years ago in the slow version, and I can remember how tricky were those fast runs even in the (very) slow version! Great job.

Guido

[John H]

Your Strat sounds gorgeous. Please keep this in your repertoire. You got this.

John

[Helen Lazaridou]

Your performance is flawless indeed!!!!I know exactly what you mean about some difficult fast runs but I am always in favor of expressiveness rather than speed!You’ve got this💗❤️💗💓

[Author]

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