More Practice... and Starting A Song!!!

Today I finally sat down and found something!!!

It's in the early stages i.e. 1 verse, opener & chorus, but it's good!

No spoiler, I don't like to show my work 'till I'm done, but I can say the focus chord is Dm.

I'm using Dm, Am, G, C, and A.

Dunno if there will be another in the bridge (not there yet) but it's good. i like it.
It's not all strumming, there's a bit of picking to it i may continue to modify and mess with.

I'm getting better with practice at guitar cardio. In case you haven't yet received my recommendation, it's a MUST for those that want to get good at guitar.

I have a link to the left.

I still need to name the song. That's in the works, too.

Learning to Play Something Fun

I haven't had much to keep me going lately, at least as far as guitar is concerned.
I have looked for new things to do, but I keep spacing off and doing other things.

The latest obsession is writing those stupid Kanji. How pathetic.

I've looked at some like Cliffs of Dover, but some are multi-instument, and some are just too hard. I need to find something to further my guitar-playing abilites.

I have been toying with new chord groups, and I might write a song if I find some I like.
I have a chord progression encyclopedia I got at a music store years ago... I'm thinking of pulling it out to use again. It's come in handy before.

Well, maybe I'll have a cooler discovery next time.
Sayoonara.

Harder to Breathe

This is my new song.

Yes. Finally, the new song I promised myself.

I'm so glad to have written it - I didn't get this post in right away simply because I stayed up late with the song instead of coming here and posting about it.

I'll end with a preview of the lyrics - they're in the works still.

It really did take me into the early hours of the morning to finish it...
I seem to only be good at songwriting at that time of day... I've never understood why.

That's why I haven't written a song in so long - my other few ones were written in the early hours as well.

That's odd, isn't it? It doesn't make any sense. Why is my ability to write music only good early in the morning?


It's two in the morning
I'm still awake mourning
I'm finding some words for a song

She'd never believe me
but i can't help but feeling
i've known a deep truth all along.

Traffic In The Sky

and it doesn't seem to be getting much better...

I found a new song already - it was one of those stuck-in-my-head, learn-to-forget ones.
I have started learning it because I don't know the lyrics, which embeds it in my head until I learn them.

It happened to cover material I needed - more individual-string finger-picking.
I am trying to learn things that will teach me something. This covers stuff I needed.

Switching to and from the movable broken x1312x chord.
The two it uses are the second and fourth of this verse:

D - 557775
... - x 9 11 9 10 x
C - 335553
... - x 7 9 7 8 x

It's a good song - not incredibly difficult.
I just need to work on holding down those mysterious chords better.

I Will... Into the Dark II

I have the chords/lyrics to DCfC's I Will Follow You Into The Dark. I'm learning it today, like I said I was planning on doing.

It's not easy, but it isn't as difficult to understand as I thought it would be.
It uses:
Dm - x00231
F - 133211
Bb - 113331
Bbm - 113321
A -002220
C - 032010
C(bar) - 335553

It's just there's no "pattern", so there's a lot more to remember.
The intro is this:

Dm F Bb F C
Dm F C(Bar)
Dm F A Dm-C Bbx2 Bbmx2

Fall for You (Round Two)

I've been working on this (by Secondhand Serenade) today. With my messed up laptop charger, I've not much else to do.
Oh well. More time with my guitar...

It only uses four chords, really, but I get the order of them scrambled up.
They're C,Am,F, and G. Very straightforward - but very confusing...
Also, I only seem to know about half of the words. That doesn't help. I need to fix that.
By the time this is actually posted, I hope to have it perfect. That will be one more down.

I hoped to write something about Christmas / New Year's celebrations as far as songwriting goes, but it never happened... how typical of me... I have this terrible lyric-writing that's been haunting me for months...

How am I supposed to tackle it?

From Guitar Hero?

I've been watching my brothers play Guitar Hero III (sometimes with my real guitar in hand) and I've been thinking of learning something from it.

I'm not sure what, though - all I know is I do have an amp now, and it makes sense that I should learn a song meant for an electric guitar.

I still find Guitar Hero a bit cheesy and fake, as impressive as some of them have been on occasion. Still, there are classics on it, or at least some that may become classic, and I would be foolish not to take advantage of what's available.

I do have stuff I need to catch up on, like I'll Be that Lee suggested.
I figured out the chords to Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar) just by listening.
That's a start.
It's E, A x2, C# x2, B x2
E - 779997
A - 577655
C#-9 11 11 10 9 9
B - 799877

Fall for You

I've been looking for a new song, and I think I found it!!!
It's Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade.

It's a beautiful song, and I only know about it because several girls have shown it to me. hmm...

It's kinda iffy in that, there are simple easy-to-follow chord and vocal patterns, but in different parts of the song, the vocals have varying levels of energy. And that's just one prob... the other is the number of times to strum a chord.
At the beginning, for example, it's only once per measure!
And then it moves to the chorus, doing it once per count (4 per measure).
Then in some of the more energetic parts it's twice per count. bleh.

I'm going to have to sit down and work out the details on paper, so I can memorize.
It's kinda hard to memorize without patterns!!! But sequences work, too, if you identify them.

All of this is extremely doable, though and the chords are just
Am(x02210), C(021010), F(133211), and a slightly ambiguous G.
G is both (320003) and (355433). I think it uses both, but at different times...

It looks like it'll be a cool song to learn... I'm excited!

Stresses and Strings

Tomorrow is Friday!!! I have homework, so I doubt I'll have an extremely happy one... however...
Most of my stress is gone... at least it's gone down...

I have found, in my experience, that playing my guitar seems to lower stress.
Perhaps that's one of the things I use it for- a stress reliever - I can release emotion through it.

I need to work more on my guitar practice.
I've been playing a lot of Jack Johnson lately, but I need to branch out...

I got water blister on my thumb- I've been playing with my finger, something I haven't done much before...

I did find the end riff to Times Like These, though...
e---------------|
b---------------|
G----------9---|
D----------9---|
A-----7-9-11--|
E--/9------0---|

The chord played before it is F#m.
The only ones the song uses are:
001120 -E
222442 -F#m
556775 -A
778997 -B


what a pain... I've been trying to remember it forever...
I finally just gave up and looked it up.

Somehow I know it'll never be the same.

Learning Another Song!!!

Today I started learning Sitting, Waiting, Wishing by Jack Johnson.

And maybe you been through this before
But its my first time
So please ignore
The next few lines cause they're directed at you.

I already can play all of it!!! Not together, but I'm working on that.
For those of you that play guitar (LEE!)
the tabs can be found by clicking here.

The same pattern is followed on all but the 1st measure, namely:
(B=A+1)
(C=A+2)
*counting
A C C A x x (x2) *1,+
A C C B x x (x2) *2,3
x x x x x x *4
A C A B x x (x4) *1+2, 3
x x x x x x *4
(move to new a,b,c)

The first measure is rest(x2), ACCAxx(x2), ACAAxx(x4) instead.
You'll have to take a look-see at the verse.

The bridge is C(335553),E(022100),F(033200),G(055400).
Each chord is played 2 measures. the whole thing is played twice.

The three things you'd need to learn it would be:
Tabs
Lyrics
to Hear it

I wish I would have kept it secret; I could have surprised Marianne with it or something.
Hey Alyssa! Look at the lyrics. See any...irony... in me learning this?
Hint:

Learning loving somebody don't make them love you.

Remembering the Tune

I forgot the tune to Lee's What It Does to Us, and I've been trying to remember it for ages. I have the chords listed somewhere, but I couldn't remember how to strum it. It''s been killing me.
It's my favorite song, and not knowing how to play it has been frustrating. Now I know it, though, and I'm going to start learning it.

It's "do-da-de-da. very simple. It hits different strings on the up versus the down. It gives the sound color, and is "fun" to listen to. I just hope that I don't have trouble learning to match the chords and vocals.

the down is lower. The counts are down+up+rest+up , repeated quickly.

I can't wait to take a look at it. I haven't had time to do hardly anything, because I've been so busy. I'm excited, though. It's one of the best songs I've heard in a long time, and being able to play it (well) would make me happy.

WIthout Rain

I've got a song I wrote long ago, that I just found. I've been trying to relearn the lyrics.

It uses C, Em, Emin7 and FMaj7.
Fmaj7 : 0123xx
Emin7 : 000020

V1
Why did it get so quiet my friend?
Night never ends when it's this quiet.
Out on the beach I'm lying again
Staring away
Into the zenith.
C
I looked straight up for a map of my life,
but the stars were so dim, and they fail to connect
to the point where I am
in the sand, by the waves, in the rain.

V2
I'd never known a girl 'till then
as sister and friend, even an angel.
I'm having trouble leaving again
the tides coming in,
and I'm still dreaming.
C
Then I looked up and saw some stars connect
to the place where I was, though the light was still dim
I was stuck, beneath the moon,
in the sand, by the waves, in the rain.

b/V3
Now I no longer look to the end
waiting to begin something so different
It is so easy leaving the sand
the rainwater thins
and now I'm happy.
C
I looked straight up for a map of my life,
but the stars were so dim, and they fail to connect
to the point where I am
in the sand, by the waves, in the rain.
C
Now I look up at this map of my life
and the stars are so bright and now they all connect
down to me and my toes
in the sand, by the waves, without rain.

without rain.

It was written in a time of great struggle as I began to find clarity. I didn't know how it would end when I started it.

New Chords!

I'm shying away, it's my signature move...

Today I learned how to play a song my roommate wrote.
It's a beautiful piece, and uses chords I haven't used long enough to have memorized.
they're:

Bmin7 - 232x2x
A7 - 02020x

Used in combination with Em (000220), D (2320xx), and a form of G (xx0023) it's a great piece.
The verse is D-Em-Bm7-Em.

He's taught me much already, not only how to write good lyrics through example, but now I know how to use min7 chords wherever I want.
They replace the IV in a I-IV-V, and the key of the min7 is a note in the I chord.
I-IV-V is G-D-C, and G is made of G+B+D, so I replace G-D-C chords with G-Bmin7-C.
In D-G-A, I can use D-G-Amin7, too for example.

First Day Up - Guitar

My roommate plays my guitar more than I do.
I suppose it makes sense, since he doesn't have classes right now and I do.
He writes beautiful lyrics, and I hope to learn some of what he's written.
Don't tell me this is love. Just look at what it does to us...

If you're a guy, and you don't play guitar, you should. Girls love it. And it's a powerful form of expression.

I keep my guitar in standard tuning, so I'll refer to chords in eADGBE form. for example,
E minor would be 000220, and D (major) would be 2120xx.

I know how to play a number of things, like:
"Hey There, Delilah" (Plain White T's)
"Be Like That" (3 Doors Down)
"Fall Line" and "Times Like These" (Jack Johnson)
"Minority" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (Green Day)
"Prettiest Friend" (Jason Mraz)
and a few I've written,
"Without Rain" and "Touching Fire", to name some.

My favorite chord is Em (000220).
The ones I use most as a group are:
D 2120xx
A 022200
G 300023

I'll probably keep a list of useful ones to know eventually.

The best websites for guitar:
JGuitar.com is an excellent chord dictionary.
ultimate-guitar.com has tabs for virtually every song out there.