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These two microlessons have been favorites from the first time I heard them. ML020 is a lot like the Magic Sam song “That’s All I Need,” and ML030 is a great variation on a standard. Thanks, Brian, for hours of happy jamming on these.
ML020
ML030
Don D.
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Thank you all for the kind words. I’ve been playing these two a lot, but when I went to record, I kind of froze up—not physically, but mentally, I wasn’t remembering the variations,
The guitar is the same one I play most of the time, an unamplified 2014 Guild Savoy hollow-body electric with light gauge .012 to .052 D’Addario flatwound chrome strings—the package says “warm/mellow tone.” I haven’t changed them in a long while, except the D and G when they broke. One thing that might be making my tone artificially better than it is is that I’m facing a corner with my phone (the recorder) at about the same height as my strumming hand.
There’s a term for playing into the corner, forgot it at the moment. I’ve read it’s how Robert Johnson liked to record. I’ve been doing it this way most of the time.
Don D.
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Thank you to everyone who listened and especially to everyone who had something nice to say.
Paul, yes, thank you, that’s exactly it, corner loading. Sometimes it’s ringing so loud it hurts my ears, and I’m just playing acoustically. Other times, I’ll start hearing strange sounds, it must be the overtones; I don’t think the recorder picks this up much, I don’t hear it on the playbacks. If you can, give it a try.
Don D.
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Thank you for listening, and especially to everyone who left kind comments. It’s inspiring to see you say you like them, makes me want to practice more, because while I hear a improvement since I started studying here, I’m still a long way from where I’d like to be. If some of you spent as much time playing as I do, I’m sure you’d be playing way better than I do.
I can’t help but be appreciative of people who have said they recognize my “style.” I hope this doesn’t sound pompous, just something I’m thinking about because I’ve always liked musicians who have a recognizable style, but I really didn’t understand what it meant for me, how I would develop that style, now I kind of think I do. It’s just an accumulation of everything I play and how I compensate for what I can’t play, I think that’s what sounds like “a style” from the outside. Because I’m aiming at something different from what I’m hearing, so while style is kind of intentional, it’s also due to things beyond my control.
Don D.
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These are both really good, and yes, you do have a style. I liked 30 better. Your timing is improving. On 20, you have a hiccup as you transition into the verse, adding like an extra half beat. And on both of them, there is a bit of uncertain timing in the 5 to 4 progression. It’s more noticeable on 30 since I think you are swallowing about a half beat on two consecutive measures. The timing on the rest is really steady and in a groove. Tone and feel are great.
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Thank you to everyone who listened and especially to everyone who left a thoughtful comment.
Thanks very much, Duffy, for your well-thought-out comment; that’s exactly the kind of analysis that can help me figure out how I’m messing up the time, which is my primary goal at this point (along with trying to sound good).
Don D.
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