More of a Challenge: I Miss You

One more song for today: I Miss You by Blink-182. The chords follow a similar pattern, where your last two fingers stay planted for the entire song (on the 3rd fret, incidentally).

This song is more difficult, simply because of the strumming pattern. The chord changes are also more frequent during the chorus portion, but the chords themselves are about the same level of difficulty. Below is a video of me playing (and singing), so you can discern the strumming pattern.

Tab used:
  G                        Dsus4 (xx0233)
Hello there, the angel from my nightmare
        Em7                                                   Dsus4/F# (2x0233)
The shadow in the background of the morgue
                                 G                Dsus4
The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley
               Em7                                          Dsus4/F#
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want
                                           G
Where you can always find me
                   Dsus4
We'll have Halloween on Christmas
       Em7                                                  Dsus4/F#
And in the night we'll wish this never ends
                                    G [this is also the starting chorus chord]
We'll wish this never ends

Chorus (G Em7 Dsus4 Cadd9)
G       A7Sus4 (x02033)     Em7*    Dsus4    
Cadd9   Dsus4/F#    Cadd9
                            (I miss you,miss you)

You'll notice that this one is particularly difficult for me to sing. I miss my cue, and the strumming pattern makes it hard to sing while I'm playing. It's like trying to rub your head and pat your stomach at the same time, for lack of a better analogy.

You also might notice as you begin to play, that first working out the chords can be a chore. Your brain will know where it wants your fingers to move, but it takes quite a bit of effort and mental power to get your fingers to cooperate. Ever tried that little trick where you link your fingers together and flip your hands, so that your left hand is to your right and visa versa? A friend points to a finger you have to lift up, and more often than not, you'll lift the wrong one. It feels sort of like that.

Anyway, this song also made me think back to my first college concert: Blink-182. I was so proud that I had score tickets-- I was so excited when I saw them on sale that I didn't even think of how I would get there. Turns out the closes bus drops you about a 20 minute walk away, which really isn't that bad if you think about it. I walk everywhere in my hometown. What I didn't bargain for was walking along our lovely local pseudo-highway. Traffic lights, sure, but three lanes of traffic traveling about 50 mph.

What we talked about in class today reminded me of this moment. We had been talking about that "coming of age" moment, that moment when you realize that you are truly, utterly alone, with no one to rely on but yourself. The point of the conversation was that this is changing, now that everyone has a cell phone, and we can be alone without really being "alone". And yes, when I made this venture, I did have my phone, albeit my dinosaur flip phone from 8th grade that was too thick to fit comfortably on my pocket.

But even with my phone, the police at my fingertips if it came down to it, I felt at that moment utterly alone. And it's terrifying. I had done all the research I could beforehand, printed out a map of the area, planned my route; but the bus dropped me off in a different location than what I was expecting. So I stood there for a few seconds, then tried to discern which direction was the right one. Eventually, I stopped and knocked on a random door, asking which way the concert hall was. The man was nice enough, pointed me in the right direction, and wished me luck as if I were setting out on some medieval quest. I kind of felt like it, backpack slung over my shoulders, walking down a stretch of road with no highway, with a prepaid phone that had about 10 minutes worth left on it. I finally got to the pseudo-highway, but it only gets better from here. Those ditches by the side of the road? Well, it was my honorable option to walk either on the road side, and be whipped past by speeding cars, or tread safely through the brambles and burrs on the other side. I chose the latter. I won't go into details about how unpleasant it was, how scared I was, or how stupid I felt (mostly stupid by this point, since I could see the road with the concert hall). I came out in the parking lot covered in those burrs with the hooks on them. They were stuck to me, my bag, my towel.

But once I got there, I was fine. I was alone, and I was wary of my stuff and of everyone around me. But the concert was good, minus the constant weed smoking. I thought I'd be bright and leave a little early, since everyone would be calling taxis to pick them up. My second "coming of age" experience came the same night. I left at maybe 10:30 or 11pm, called a taxi and waited out front. I called back multiple times, but every time a taxi pulled up, it was for more than one person. And then they stopped coming. I found out later (much later) that by that point, they weren't allowing cars right by the hall, that you had to wait at the corner of the drive and this pseudo-highway. When I called back about the 5th time, the woman told me to wait at the end of the drive. So I did. It was almost midnight. And then it was 12:30. And that's when the last cop car at the end of the drive pulled away. It's always brightest right before it goes pitch black, right? And it was pitch black. I ended up calling my roommate for a ride. Turns out she had been at the same concert.

Well, point being that yes, while still being tethered with a (granted, crappy) phone, I still felt that gripping fear of being alone, way after dark, in an unfamiliar town. If I'd had to get back to campus by myself, that would've been a completely different story-- I probably wouldn't have gone to the concert in the first place. But that was my real coming of age moment (and twice in one night!). At least now though, I know that I won't flinch in the face of being alone at night with no one else to rely on.

-Kal

Beginner Song: Say It's Possible

So, if you're looking for a song that has some easy chords for you to practice, I'd suggest something like Say It's Possible by Terra Naomi. The chords used are:

Em7 (022033)                                          Cadd9 (032033)




G (320033)                                                  G/f# (200033)

   

This song is great because the chords are merely variations of each other; that is, two of your fingers stay in the same place for the entire song. This is good for two reasons: one, you can work on transitioning between chords (if you've never done this before, it takes quite a bit of coordination), and second, it helps to build strength in your hands. You might not realize it, but holding down your fingers in the same position for the entire song is actually quite difficult. Even now, my hands get tired playing this song all the way through.

I want to point out something quickly about the tab: you'll notice that the capo is on the second fret. All chords, when listed, are still relative to the capo. You can imagine how confusing it would be if I listed the finger notation with no regard for the capo. I've seen chords listed as, for example, Em7 (044055), and I think to myself, "that's not an Em7 chord". Then when I get my hand around the guitar, I realize that the notation isn't relative to the capo.

The video is posted below so that you can hear the strumming pattern. These are the only four chords used, and they are repeated in the same pattern for the entire song.

I just want to say, thanks so much to Rose for recording this with me-- it's a completely different feeling, recording with a friend versus singing and playing by myself. Aside from the fact that I can barely hit these notes, and she has a gorgeous voice, this was just a lot of fun. It did require some patience (this is our third take), and we couldn't even upload the high quality version because of some technical issues.

There were a few more things I wanted to mention, relating to the reading we talked about in my English class today. I actually started this post before class, and I just left the building about five minutes ago. Before class though, I had been thinking about a very minor point at the end of the chapter, about "living them [conflicts about self presentation] out in public, sharing every mistake and false step" (Turkle). While life mistakes lived on Facebook and such might be embarrassing, I also find the concept liberating in a sense. I mean, that's part of what this blog is about. I'm not perfect, I'm not a perfect guitarist-- if you listen to the video, you'll hear the metallic vibration of loose strings against the fretboard, because my hands were getting tired. We went through a few takes, editing, re-editing, knowing we weren't going to be perfect. But that's ok with me. I'm not trying to be perfect; I'm putting myself out there, with the level of experience I have, and nothing more.

And now, this brings me to the point of identity. I've been grappling with this idea of trying to go against what Turkle says about only presenting "the best" or "a fragment" of ourselves. I'm trying to write as myself, about my life, my experience, and my mistakes. But in a way I suppose, that's also presenting a "form" of myself. I'm trying not to appear perfect, trying to prove that I make mistakes. And in a sense, that itself is only a sliver of who I am. In reality, I've been known to be insecure about my short-comings, afraid of performing and presenting. So in reality, maybe this is blog is just a reflection of the part of me that wants to be fearless and confident. Maybe that was some of the reasoning behind why I started this blog.

It seems like a bit of a contradiction, an oxymoron, when you think about it. I'm trying to be myself, but in doing so, I'm presenting a self that I want to be, that I strive towards. To me though, that's ok-- it's not a self that's perfect, that's skinny, smiling, and a perfect guitar player. It's a self that makes mistakes and is ok with that. It's a self that's trying to share her experience, and a well-rounded and complex self that I want to live for. If technology is making me present a sliver of myself, then I'll turn that on its head, and make it a way to improve my life instead of a force that diminishes it.

-Kal

Balance

Have you ever seen The Social Network? I just watched it for the second time, and I suppose it got me thinking again. I really hated it the first time to be honest, because I couldn't relate with any of the characters, and they all had their moments of, excuse my Japanese, baka-ness. I found the arguments to be incredibly petty, some of the characters to be ridiculously dense, and you could roll your eyes at every decision made. Needless to say, not a movie I enjoyed.

But watching it again, a line that came up twice (obviously, for effect), jumped out at me: "You don't want to ruin it with ads because ads aren't cool. It's like you're throwing the greatest party on campus and someone saying it's gotta be over by eleven. You don't even know what the thing is yet. How big it can get, how far it can go."

Now I really hope that no one takes this as an insult, but I'm going out on a limb here to speak my mind-- I sat here for about twenty minutes, typing up my thoughts on a reading about social capital, and how referring to social interactions as "capital" was completely devaluing human nature. And then I stopped and thought, how does this even relate to what I'm doing? Anyone who's reading this for my thoughts in the guitar isn't going to care.

Of course, the above quote popped into my head. It's hard sometimes, connecting everything together-- making this, not just an academic blog, but a blog for myself, and a blog for everyone I'm trying to reach. How do I even begin to relate social media to guitar playing?

So of course, I deleted everything I had written, and began writing this. Then I grabbed my notebook, searching my marginal notes for ideas, when I came across another quote, about "taking the entire experience [of college] and put[ting] it online".

And that's what this is about, isn't it? The college part relates, sure, because of where I am and what I'm doing; but putting it online. Taking my experience with the guitar, and putting it out there for anyone to find. And in contrast to Putnam's take on social "capital", I'm trying to reach out and connect, without expecting anything in return. I thought back to when I started playing, and how it would have been wonderful if I'd had some direction or guide through the process. But then of course, I wouldn't be doing what I am now. So that's what this is about, isn't it? It's about using my music-loving noggin to make this interesting, and about putting my experiences up online.

And even in a watered-down Justin Hall manner, I suppose I am trying to keep a fairly lose censor. I want to post everything I know about guitar, everything I find or experience, and everything I'm unsure about. Every mistake I make and every trouble I'm having. It's a way for me to organize my thoughts, like my first essay prompt this year alluded to, but it's supposed to be encouraging for anyone reading this. We've discussed building an online identity for yourself-- sometimes an extension of yourself, sometimes an avatar. And I want this image of myself to be as true as possible. Related of course to my playing, but true. I don't try to embellish things; the point is, I'm not perfect, and I don't make myself out to be. I want to be as relate-able as possible. As such, the goal will be to continue posting with a limited censor, but without losing sight of what I'm really writing about.

-Kal

The Hazards of Not Practicing

Call me crazy for posting twice within an hour, but it's taken that long for this lesson to come to fruit. After just a week of not playing, my fingers are already starting to throb from my first practice session. I can feel my calluses thickening, the skin feeling like it's stretching across my finger tips.

When you start practicing a lot, or when you haven't played in a while, you'll find that your fingers are going to be massively sore. You'll start getting these thick calluses, and you'll have to keep your nails short. The next thing that might happen (though I haven't heard of this happening to anyone else I know)-- you might find that your fingers are anomalously sensitive to heat. I remember the first time I happened take something out of the microwave after playing, and I nearly dropped it, it felt like my fingertips were on fire. The same thing happened to me in a hot shower.

And speaking of showers: don't pick up your guitar after you've taken one. Showering after you play isn't as big a deal; it might soften your calluses, but it won't wreck your fingers. Playing immediately after showering will. I of course learned this the hard way, when my friend warned me about an hour into my guitar-playing. I had been feeling great, my fingers weren't hurting at all since I had showered. When I was through, I realized the string had ripped a couple of layers into the shower-soften skin on my finger tips. Needless to say that hasn't happened since. Save yourself the pain. Please don't try it.

-Kal

The Guitarist's Many Titles

So, today I finally got back to playing. I texted my viola friend, Miguel, and said we should play together if he wasn't doing anything. We found a bunch of new songs to play. I found out he also plays the piano, so he helped me tab out one of my favorite songs-- from the piano app on his iPad. He's even been helping me with tuning by ear. I had to tune my guitar half a step down for a few songs, so we used his virtual piano for that, too.

Then in the middle of one of the songs, I was trying to show him why I couldn't play a certain chord. He was laughing at me, so of course I did the sensible thing and told him to try. Below is the chord we were trying to play:



If it's hard to see, the position for this is (320013). This one's difficult for me, since my fingers really aren't all that long. The chord also gets harder as you move down the fret board, as the neck of the guitar itself gets wider.

So, from his attempt at this chord, my friend declared that, "you must be a finger-contortionist to do this!"

And, I figure that's probably pretty appropriate. Below are a few more chords:

 



The first one is an F, which is a bar chord (133211). So far, it's the only bar chord I can comfortably hold, other than its cousins (F#, 244322 and F#m, 244222).

The second position is a G chord (320033), which is the first chord that really gave me any trouble. It's the first chord I tried that required all four fingers, and it proved to me that I really needed to work on the strength and flexibility in my hand. A quick testament to this: aside from the fact that holding the guitar with my hands reversed (literally flipping the guitar so your chord hand is now strumming), my left hand has absolutely no strength in it. I can barely hold an Em (022000) with that hand. So for any beginner guitarists who are struggling with holding the chords, keep at it. One day you will become a successful Finger Contortionist!

-Kal

The Hazards of Being Sick

So, I haven't posted in a few days since I have multiple exams and papers this week. On top of that, I've been sick since this weekend. I don't feel too horrible, just generally drained after a full day of classes and homework. On top of that though, my voice is completely shot.

As such, I haven't played for about a week-- and once you find something that you really love, not doing that thing for a week is a big deal. One of the things I started to notice, which I thought I'd share, is that even my calluses have started to go away in that amount of time. I literally haven't picked up my guitar, let alone laid a hand on the strings. With calluses thinning, my fingers are going to be incredibly sore after my next jam session. Just something to keep in mind: maintaining the calluses on your fingers will actually help in the long run, since they'll start to hurt less every time you play. On an only minor tangent, it also pays to keep your finger nails short. This will make holding down the strings easier, and will help keep your fret board in good shape.

On a happier note, I got the chance to play with one of my friends before I got sick. I had my guitar out, and finally convinced him to get his viola. He has an amazing ear for tone and pitch-- I put on some music in the background, and started playing along (I chose a song I knew, My Immortal), and then out of nowhere I hear him playing along. After one line of the verse, he had the notes down. For someone like me, who's nearly tone deaf, that was pretty amazing. Rose and I are hoping he'll play the next Open Mic Night with us. Tentative songs are My Immortal (Evanescence) and Kiss Me (Sixpence None The Richer). The first has a strings solo, and the latter uses harmonica and electric guitar. Without too much trouble though, we should be able to transpose them for the viola.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be back on track soon. If this is what we've decided on, we have a lot of practicing to do. Here's to good health and doing what you love!

-Kal

Tuning...and Its Hazards

How to tune your guitar!!! I don't have a transcript for the video (which is why I make a few mistakes when I'm speaking), but I can sum up tuning for you if you don't have time to watch the video.

I use either a standard tuner (the one I have is what I used to use for my violin), or the one built into my guitar. In the most basic sense, when you're holding the guitar: the top three pegs are turned away from you to make the note sharper (higher pitched), and toward you to make it flat (lower). It's the exact opposite for the bottom three pegs-- which is how I snapped my G-string. If you're using the tuner built into the guitar, you'll get a green light when the pitch is correct. If you're using something like my violin tuner, the needle will be centered on the screen. Just as a side note, I'm always at 440Hz with my violin tuner (it has to do with frequency, but don't worry about that too much).

The last thing I'll mention is different ways of tuning the guitar.

Standard tuning is EADGBe (excuse me for mixing up the A and D strings in the video).

Half a step down means Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, and eb. This took me a while to figure out, but the lower case "b" is used to mean "flat" in online tabs. So, E flat, A flat, etc. This means the top three pegs are turned towards you, to make the notes lower.

Drop D tuning means DADGBe.

Drop C is CGCFAD. This one tripped me up for a while, and I had to ask my friend for help. Basically, the first string drops two full notes (or "steps"), and each subsequent string drops one step. E goes down to D and then down to C. A drops to G, etc.

(For anyone who's not familiar with music at all, the notes are listed from A to G. Flats and sharps come in between the whole notes. If I have a C# (sharp), that's the same note as a Db (flat), because a sharp is half a step above a note, and a flat is half a step below a note.)-- If this is confusing, feel free to comment, and I'll ask my roommate (who's into music theory) to try and explain more clearly.

**Update** A quick note on "the hazards", which I suppose I haven't really gotten into yet: one of them of course (as mentioned above), is snapping a string while tuning.

Yet another, which has not been mentioned yet: not ten minutes after recording this video, have I lost my grip on the guitar pick, and dropped it inside my guitar. This is one of the most painful experiences you will ever go through while playing. Physical pain aside (unless your arm is really skinny, you can't reach in there and grab it), this is one of the most frustrating experiences I have ever had. Words of wisdom? It usually takes a lot of turning the guitar upside down and shaking it. It's especially difficult with mine, because of the numerous wires inside. The last time I did this, I was able to lift the pick out with a pair of tweezers. Just be careful not to drop those inside too.

**Update** My favorite guitar pick (.58 mm thickness), which has been stuck in my guitar since this post, has just been dislodged! I had been carrying the guitar back and forth today (2/22), since I was playing with my viola friend, and when I finally sat back down at my desk, I heard something that didn't sound like wires rattling around. Lo and behold, there lies my pick, obvious as ever within view of the sound hole. Took some maneuvering and tweezers again, but it has successfully been retrieved.

-Kal

The "To Learn" List

Alright, the promised intro on playing the guitar will come in the next week, but this week has been incredibly busy with exams and papers. I myself have barely found time to practice; mostly, guitar has been some minor stress relief this week, and I haven't found a whole lot of time for learning new techniques or organizing my thoughts in the best way to teach the basics.

So, here begin the guitarist's frustrations: first, in finding the time to play, and to play what you really want to learn. And second, as I'm looping my playlist of favourite songs, in finding songs that I can actually play and sing. This requires a little more explanation.

Let me start by saying that it's one of the worst feelings, to think "I'd really love to play that song"-- only to find that there are no [readable] tabs on the internet. As musically inclined as I am, I am for the life of me, completely tone deaf. I've mentioned before that I can't simply write my own music: one of the frustrations is having to rely on someone else for that.

The second frustration is that, even if I can read a tab, I can't necessarily play the song. Especially if it involves bar chords or finger picking. I really lament this, because I play for the emotional and mental aspect of it. You sing a song, and you feel like you're singing for someone. But it doesn't feel complete without the guitar. Conversely, playing a song but not being able to sing is just as frustrating. And let me tell you, overcoming that first hurdle in figuring out how to sing while strumming is quite an ordeal.

Below, I'm going to list off the songs that have been the sources of my frustrations in the past month or so. Maybe that'll motivate me to power through learning them once this crazy school work is past.

1. Desperately Wanting- Better Than Ezra (finger-picking, and very evidently an electric song. I'm currently trying to find an acoustic cover).

2. Closer to Fine- Indigo Girls (simply, a very fast-paced song, and a little too advanced for me at the moment).

3. Who Will Save Your Soul- Jewel (entirely finger-picking, and not a song that I've found can be pulled off with simple chords).

4. Even If It Kills Me- Motion City Soundtrack (electric and finger-picking).

5. Face Down- Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (even the acoustic version is throwing me off with the strumming pattern during the chorus).

6. The Islander- Nightwish (the one acoustic Nightwish song, and it's finger-picking).

7. Story of a Girl- Nine Days (this one is a possibility, if I can replace the bar chords with something comparable).

8. Winter Song- Sara Bareilles with Ingrid Michaelson (a beautiful song, but played entirely on the piano).

9. World Spins Madly On- Weepies (pretty fast strumming, and difficult chord transitions).

10. Goodbye Days- Yui (numerous bar chords, and I'm still trying to figure out the chord transitions).

On the other hand, we've found some pretty simple songs that might go on our set list for the next Open Mic Night. Among those are: You and Me (Lifehouse), Kiss Me (Sixpence None The Richer), With Me (Sum 41), and a number of Death Cab for Cutie songs.

For My Friends

Before I continue posting on how to play, I wanted to say thanks to some of the people who've helped me out along the way. There's Senpai, who gave me Carmine (my guitar), and actually made all of this possible in the first place. He's taught me a bunch about chords and even a little about electrics, so I'd probably be pretty lost right now if not for him. He was also the first one to change my strings, and will probably have to do that again this summer (something I'm still incompetent at).

Will has been here every step of the way, giving me suggestions for music and pushing me to keep trying something new, keep raising the bar for myself. Maybe one day he'll actually let me teach him how to play!

Since I've gotten to college, I've met Béa and Rose. Béa designed the avatar for my site, and has been really encouraging since she found out I play. Actually, she was in a way the one who sparked me to write this post: I was sitting here in front of my computer (unable to record myself, since my roommate's here), when I saw a note from her tacked on my cork board. A note that had been slipped under the study room door when I was practicing: "Your singing/ guitar sounds beautiful! Didn't want to interrupt, just wanted to let you know that you sounded great."

And of course I have to thank Rose for being an awesome vocalist, and for convincing me to perform in the first place. I'm pretty sure she was the first one to hear me practicing, and convinced me to come play in the lounge. If I recall correctly, the first time I had every played and sung with people was crammed into the study room with Béa and Rose, late at night, just chilling and listening to some of our favorite songs. That was a huge confidence booster. Thanks guys!

With love, appreciation, and perseverance,

-Kal

For Beginners*

So, since I've already posted about some of the anatomy of the guitar, I thought I'd start to get to the interesting stuff. I'm not going to get into any of the actual guitar playing today (next time will be about playing chords), but this is a nice starting point for someone who's never picked up a guitar before.

The first thing to know about guitars is the strings: on a typical guitar, there are six strings, with the lowest pitched one at the top, and the highest pitched one at the bottom (a little counter-intuitive, but it makes sense once you start playing). The order of the strings by note is EADGBe, in ascending order (the last one is always listed as lower case to distinguish it from the first string. It's generally referred to as "high e"). I'll talk about tuning in a later post, but for now, let's get into how to read music. I've said before that guitarists don't have to learn to read sheet music. If you can, that's great, and it probably gives you access to more songs, but it's not necessary. I started off as a violinist myself, but I was never good at sight-reading.

Guitar music is laid out in "tabs", which are great because they tell you exactly where your fingers need to go, and on which strings. There are two types of tabs: finger-picking tabs, and chord tabs. Finger-picking is for playing individual notes, and chords are synonymous to strumming. A typical finger-picking tab will look something like this:

(Intro tab for The Freshmen by The Verve Pipe)
e|------------0-----------|--------------3-|------------------------|----------------|
B|------3-------------3--|------0---------|-----------3-----------|-----------0---|
G|----2---2-------2-----|---0-----0-----|------4-------4---4---|------0--------|
D|--0--------------------|-----------------|----4---4-------4-----|----0---0-----|
A|------------------------|-----------------|--2--------------------|----------------|
E|------------------------|-3--------------|------------------------|--3------------|
The first "measure" is plucked like this: open D string, second fret on G, third fret on B, second fret on G, etc. Sometimes the spacing is nice enough to tell you something about the tempo, but more often than not its a lot of listening to the song, and trial and error.

The second way songs are played is as chords. These can be laid out in a similar manner to tabs:

(Chords for Swing Life Away by Rise Against)
G:  e|3     Cadd9: e|3     Em7: e|3     D5: e|3     A5: e|3
     B|3                 B|3              B|3           B|3           B|3
     G|0                G|0              G|0          G|2           G|0
     D|0                D|2              D|2          D|0            D|2
     A|2                A|3               A|2          A|x            A|0
     E|3                 E|x               E|0           E|x           E|x

These appear at the beginnings of tabs, and will tell you every chord used in the song. When notes are listed one under another in a tab, that means those strings are strummed at the same time. If an "x" appears, like in the Cadd9 chord, that string isn't played (not a crucial distinction for most chords). As you can see though, alignment is crucial for this method-- if the font changes, everything has to be readjusted. Hence, I tend to prefer this method:

(Chords for Breathe 2am by Anna Nalick, as shown in the last post)
Aadd9 - (xx7650)
G - (355433) or (320033)
D - (xx0232)
A - (x02220)
Bm - (x24432)

These tell you the placement of your fingers, same as above, with the strings in order from lowest pitch to highest pitch (example: the first chord, Aadd9, is played with the high e string open).

Regardless of how chords are presented, the rest of the song will appear as such:

Aadd9 (xx7650)                                                      G
Yeah, we walk through the door so accusing their eyes
                                                     D
Like they have any right at all to criticize
                                                                    Aadd9
Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason

...with the chord name appearing where it is strummed during the lyrics. Whenever I post a video of myself playing (like my last post), I will always include a (mostly) correct tab, so you can try to follow along where the chords change. Again, alignment can be an issue here, and sometimes I myself am too lazy to adjust the tabs if I can remember where to change chords. This is why videos are so great-- you can very easily see where chords change.

When I started playing, I tended to prefer tabs to chord charts, in a manner like this:

(Intro tab for Tomorrow by Avril Lavigne)
      G          Em7                         Cadd9
e|--3-3---3-3-3-3--3-3-3---3-3--3-3--x-x--3-3--3-3--
B|--3-3---3-3-3-3--3-3-3---3-3--3-3--x-x--3-3--3-3--
G|--0-0---0-0-0-0--0-0-0---0-0--0-0--x-x--0-0--0-0--
D|--0-0---2-2-2-2--2-2-2---2-2--2-2--x-x--2-2--2-2--
A|--2-2---2-2-2-2--2-2-2---3-3--3-3--x-x--3-3--3-3--
E|--3-3---0-0-0-0--0-0-0---x-x--x-x--x-x--x-x--x-x--

This tells you exactly where to place your fingers, and how many times to strum. Sometimes notation like this (^) and (v) will also be used to tell you which ones are upstrokes and which ones are downstrokes. I found this easier to read at first, because I wasn't familiar with any of the chords. When you become more familiar with the common chords (the ones I tend to use most are G, D, C, A, and E), you may begin to prefer the lyrics with chords.

I think that's about all I have to say on reading music for now. Hopefully this will make my future tips easier to understand. Next, I'll get to physically playing the guitar, so you can start to build up strength in your hands, and work on some of your favourite songs.

-Kal

Practice 1: Breathe 2am

So, here it is: my first video post. I'm really not used to recording myself (I've only got one other video on YouTube). My video posts will probably be infrequent, as it's quite unusual for me to have the room to myself, but I'll definitely do some instructional ones (how to use a capo, a guitar pick, etc.) I also find that watching a video of someone practice can help you get the strumming pattern correct for virtually any song.

Anyway, here's Breathe 2am, which is the first song my vocalist and I performed live. Listening to me sing, you'll notice that I have a somewhat harsh, and very alto voice (especially for a girl). One thing you'll notice about the tab (which I'll post below), is that when compared with the video, I changed some of the chords. The Bm in the chorus is a bar chord (x24432-- I'll go over this notation in a later post), which I find incredibly difficult. The one I'm using here is a G (320033). Not perfect, but totally legitimate (much preferable to the guitar strings twanging terribly).

Here's the tab:

Chords used:
Aadd9 - xx7650
G - 355433 or 320033 (during chorus)
D - xx0232
A - x02220
Bm - x24432

Verse
2am and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake
Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?
I don't love him, Winter just wasn't my season
Aadd9 (xx7650)                                                      G
Yeah, we walk through the door so accusing their eyes
                                                     D
Like they have any right at all to criticize
                                                                    Aadd9
Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason

Chorus (and bridge)
Bm (x24432)
'Cause you can't jump the track
                       D
We're like cars on a cable and
A                                    E
Life's like an hourglass glued to the table
Bm                            D
No one can find the rewind button, girl
A                                           E
So cradle your head in your hands
   G    D            Aadd9                G      D       Aadd9
And breathe, just breathe, whoa breathe, just breathe

Verse
Aadd9                                                G
May he turned 21 on the base of Fort Bliss
                                                                D
Just today he sat down to the flask in his fist
                                                               Aadd9
Ain't been sober since maybe October of last year
Aadd9                                                               G
Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while
                                                                D
But my god it's so beautiful when the boy smiles
                                                      Aadd9
Wanna hold him maybe I'll just sing about it

Chorus
Bm
'Cause you can't jump the track
                       D
We're like cars on a cable and
A                                    E
Life's like an hourglass glued to the table
Bm                            D
No one can find the rewind button, boys
A                                           E
So cradle your head in your hands
   G    D            Aadd9                G      D       Aadd9
And breathe, just breathe, whoa breathe, just breathe

Bridge (same as chorus)
There's a light at each end of this tunnel you shout
Cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out
These mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again
If you'll only try turnin' around

Verse
2am and I'm still awake writing a song
If I get it all down on paper it's no longer
Inside of me, threatnin' the life it belongs to
Aadd9                                     G
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
                                             D
Cause these words are my diary screamin' out loud
                                             Aadd9
And I know that you'll use them, however you want to

Chorus
Bm (x24432)
'Cause you can't jump the track
                       D
We're like cars on a cable and
A                                    E
Life's like an hourglass glued to the table
Bm                            D
No one can find the rewind button now
A                      E
Sing it if you understand
   G    D            Aadd9                G      D       Aadd9
And breathe, just breathe, whoa breathe, just breathe
 

What does guitar have to do with an internet revolution?

"This is an A chord. This is an E chord. NOW FORM A BAND." -Sideburns, 1977

In context, the idea is associated with the ease of putting up your own website, in Rosenberg's Putting Everything Out There. The chapter focuses mostly on Justin Hall as a case study in blogging. The passage got me thinking about my own seemingly innocent blog, but also about blogging in general. On a quick note, I'd like to mention a detail about playing the guitar, before I jump in. While I want to make it clear that playing the guitar often takes a lot more effort than people assume (as you'll see with the coming posts), once you have a few chords down, you can basically fly through the rest. Axis of Awesome reflects the idea pretty well in their Four Chord Song.

But now on blogging: if you have a chance to read through Rosenberg's chapter on Justin Hall, I'd definitely suggest it. It's a very interesting case study, especially for someone of my generation, who feels they've "grown up with" the internet, but wasn't truly there for its creation. Hall, who grew up trying incessantly to get online when the internet was a purely academic affair, fought an amazing battle with the net, mainly between privacy and truth. It's something that we face as bloggers, or really as a single person online: how much do we reveal, and what details do we leave out? Especially in blogging, there has to be a personal enough connection; on the other hand, there are certain boundaries that shouldn't be crossed.

Aside from this internal struggle with the online world, there is of course the general fascination with blogging and with the internet: I mean, why do people post? For Justin Hall, he did it because he could. Some people reflect upon their own lives. Some people like me, want to share their interests and to get people involved with something they love. A lot of sharing takes place in the blogosphere. I think that a lot of us do it to feel connected (and herein of course, lies Justin's battle with intimacy). But maybe there's something else to blogging.

Hall is quoted in the Wichita Eagle, "Every high school's got a poet... They got somebody who's into writing, who's getting people to tell their stories. You give 'em access to this technology, and all of the sudden they're telling stories in Israel, they're telling stories in Japan... And that-- that's a revolution."

Maybe in part, we're all trying to start our own little revolutions. Sometimes they're on the global or political scale; but more often, they're revolutions of character. People are putting their ideas out there, sharing information and feelings about an interest, and all these communities are cropping up around central topics. It's like there's this whole new culture forming online, like little virtual towns populating our new public sphere.

Maybe the reasoning is selfish-- maybe we want to be part of something important, to feel connected; maybe we just want people to pay attention. You ever get that feeling after you post, when you see a spike in your stats? When the audience claps after your performance, when someone laughs at your joke or even smiles in conversation? We want approval. But most of all, we want to be part of this human race. And that's what we're doing, isn't it. We're sharing ideas and connecting with people we would never have been able to otherwise.

How does this relate to me? To you? To the guitarist?

It means that I can share my tips about guitar: as Hall points out, I can post them, and other people can choose to read or not read them. But the possibility is there. I can network with other people to gain advice, to learn just as I'm trying to teach. It means that I can post videos, I can share the things I'm working on, and I can get feedback.

What does it mean for you? The same things it means for me. You can learn. You can teach. You can keep the conversation going. You can start your own revolution. All you need to do is make it about something you love.

-Kal

What Comes Next

If you had told me when I first picked up the guitar that in a year and a half, I'd have found a singer and performed my first set, I'd probably have been somewhere between excited and scoffing. But, now it's happened. This is what I was looking forward to, part of why I started playing. So what comes next?

Well, we're starting to work on our next set list. But in putting it like that, it almost makes it seem like things have stagnated. In reality, I've gotta keep pushing forward. There are still a lot of things I need to practice, a lot of things I can't play.

We were looking through songs this morning, and it turns out we both have about the same taste in music. Makes it a lot easier to pick songs. But it's not just sound that we have to consider. We made up a list of songs to look into, and of course the next step is for me to listen to them and search for sheet music. And herein lies the frustrations of guitar playing.

So many things need to culminate when it comes to learning a new song: for one, there has to be music tabbed out-- not only that, it has to be in a readable format. If you already play guitar, bear with me for a moment while I explain: guitarists often use "tabs" instead of sheet music. In essence, these either list chords, or tell you where to place your fingers on the strings. A lot of us don't read sheet music with half notes and quarter notes, the way a violinist would. And tabs aren't usually something released by a band. When you search for a tab, you're relying on someone else's hearing and knowledge of chords. If you've got an ear for it, that's great; if you're like me, you're barely a step above tone-deaf.

The second thing that makes new songs difficult is the instrument(s) used for the background music. If you're listening to an acoustic song, this is wonderful, because it's very easy to figure out the strumming pattern. If the song is mainly finger-picking, you try to make up your own rhythm that fits the lyrics. If you're attempting a piano song, and have never played piano, that's a whole different ball game.

Lastly, a lot of songs use some techniques that are either very difficult, or are difficult to employ on an acoustic guitar. Bar chords for example, require you to hold all six strings down with your index finger. This is where the lack of strength in my hands has come back to haunt me: there are very few bar chords I can play before my hand gets very tired.

There are other techniques such as "hammer on", which means that as you place your finger on a higher fret after plucking the string; the opposite, "pull off", is exactly what it sounds like. You pull a finger off the string, after plucking. The difference these make to the sound is only marginal on an acoustic, unless you're plugged in; but sometimes, they can make a world of difference in how the song sounds.

Lastly, there's bending, which means sliding your fingers horizontally along the fret board to warp the sound of a chord. This depends on the flexibility of your strings, and I don't think I'd suggest it for beginners. It's very easy to snap a string like this.

So, now with some basic knowledge of the guitarist's frustrations, you can understand how difficult it is to translate a beautiful piano song like The Minnow And The Trout onto the guitar; or how annoying it can be to listen to a perfectly clear acoustic song, like King of Carrot Flowers, and be unable to play because of the bar chords. Sometimes, even if a song seems perfectly viable, like the acoustic version of My Immortal, the bridge can be impossible to make out, which completely rules it out as a live option.

Such are the problems a self-taught guitarist and talented vocalist can encounter in creating new set lists. As much as I've come to love the stage, it's probably a good thing the next Open Mic Night isn't for another month.

-Kal

The Equipment

Now when I first started playing, I knew nothing technical about the guitar. And in the beginning, you don't need to know much terminology to play. However, I would like to share my own experience as a word of warning: when for example, your G-string breaks and you walk into your local guitar shop for help, you want to sound at least mildly intelligent. When I was first looking for a case, I simply said that I was looking for a soft case for an acoustic. I thought I sounded very calm and confident, until the man working asked me "what kind of guitar" it was, and I'm thinking to myself, "I did say it was an acoustic, right?". He must've seen the blank look on my face, because he proceeded to ask me if it was, "a full dreadnought, or what?". Now at this point, I had no idea what a dreadnought was, so I proceeded to look behind me at the wall of guitars, pick one that was the approximate size and shape of mine, and said very intelligently, "It looks like that".

On that note, I present you with some basic knowledge that has almost nothing to do with playing the guitar.

Aside from the acoustic guitar itself, the guitarist has many other friends. As you begin to progress, some of these pieces of equipment may become more familiar to you than others; it all depends on what kind of music you're into. Today, I'm going to discuss the guitar itself, as well as its most common accessories: the guitar pick and the capo.


The anatomy of a guitar

 

For more on tuning, click here (link to be posted).
For more on the frets and how to play, click here (link to be posted).
For more on changing the strings, click here (link to be posted).


The accessories: The guitar pick

I'm sure that everyone's at least seen a guitar pick before, though not a lot of people know how diverse they can be. First though, I want to talk about why we use picks. It's perfectly acceptable to strum with your bare fingers. Some people do this by running their nails along the strings, some people use the side of their thumb, and some people pinch their thumb and forefinger together to strum up and down. I personally like the pick because it gives a crisper sound, and feels more exact that using my fingers to strum.

For more on strumming technique, click here (link to be posted).



The group of 5 on the left, as well as the 2 on top and 2 to the right are pretty standard. the only difference between them is the thickness. Under the logo, they read .73, .75, .71, .58mm, etc. This refers to the thickness. Again, when I began playing I had no idea what the differences between them actually meant, so I discovered my preference through trial and error. When I first started strumming, I used very thin picks (about .45mm), like the ones on the right. They were a lot easier to handle, and less likely to slip out of your hand when strumming. The two on the top are medium sized (about .60), and that's what I've gravitated towards now. They give a more distinct sound, but still bend easily when strumming. The group of five on the left are the thickest I've tried (about .75), though I've seen picks up to 1.25 mm. They tend to require a tighter grip, but the individual strings sound clearer. Again, it's all about personal preference. You'll come to your own decision the more you play.

The middle two sets of picks are ones that my friend (same friend from the previous post) uses. He's come to like the middle two especially, for finger picking. Since they're smaller and pointier, they can be more exact for plucking single strings.

The last pick I've used is the clear one in the corner, called a thumb pick. It slides onto your thumb, and is used for finger-picking. It makes the notes sound a lot clearer than just hitting the strings with your fingers. For someone who does a lot of finger-picking, there are picks that can slide onto each finger.

For more in finger-picking, click here (link to be posted).

The accessories: The capo

   


So, I know that this is a lot of information for today, and we haven't even gotten to playing yet. Hopefully though, this page can act as a reference if you ever need some quick, basic info. You know, in case you need help fixing your G-string, shopping for accessories, or buying a case, and you don't want to sound like the blithering fool I made myself out to be the first time I set foot into a guitar shop.

-Kal

So far...

Since I just came from my first live performance, I thought tonight would be a great time for my first post, as a way to introduce myself and a little of my background.

Tonight we played two covers: Breathe 2am by Anna Nalick, and Say It's Possible by Terra Naomi. I play the acoustic guitar, and I'm also the backup singer. But it wasn't always like that. When I started playing, I could barely hold down the strings of my hand-me-down Washburn. It was on a whim that I started playing, and a stroke of luck that I even found the guitar: a friend of mine mentioned in passing that he was going to chuck his old acoustic, so I said jokingly that I'd take it off his hands if he'd teach me how to play. He gave me a chord book and a guitar pick; the only thing I was lacking was the strength in my hands and the resolve to learn. It was a very difficult first few weeks. I started off trying to learn just a few chords; I even marked the finger positions with colored tape, like one would on a violin. It seemed like every time I picked up the guitar, I could barely strum out a few notes before my hand tired out and my fingers started to sting. I would get frustrated, put it away, then pick it up again later in the day, thinking to myself, "I'm just being a drama queen, how hard can it be?"

The thing that held me back the most was my lack of direction. I knew that I wanted to play: I saw music as this amazing thing that brings people together, and I wanted to be a part of that. But for a month, I was stuck teaching myself chords, and it was honestly the most incredibly boring thing in the world. My next step was trying to learn some easy songs, but I was not nearly musically trained enough to learn to play by ear. And then at last, my friend introduced me to the greatest discovery of my guitar-playing career: ultimate-guitar.com. There I found the music for every song I've ever wanted to play. Now that I finally had a direction, I set my mind to learning how to play my favorite songs.

Along the way, I learned new chords. I learned how to listen from strumming patterns and chord changes, and recently I've learned how to sing while I'm playing. It's been a year and a half now since I've started playing, and I've never had a formal lesson. There are a lot of things I've learned as a self-taught guitarist, things you'd never learn in even private lessons. Things that can only come from experience-- like snapping a G-string.

As I continue to post, I hope to guide the beginner guitarist through some basic knowledge and techniques that I've picked up along the way, so your beginning is hopefully not as long an painful as mine was. I can't wait to share some of my favorite music, and some tricks for making electric songs sound great unplugged. But mostly, I hope this is an inspiration for anyone who's always wanted to be great at something. What I've learned so far on this continuing journey is that once you set your mind to learning what you want to, it'll come to you. If you approach it with love and with resolve, it's possible, whatever that it is for you.

-Kal