Beating Hard - Upside Down

I beat it!!! I beat the Devil Went Down to Georgia final battle!
I was extremely pleased with myslef... seems like I've been finghting to for weeks.
I'm trying to F.C. (100%) all of easy for fun... if we get five stars on all we'll get a new guitar, supposedly.

Enough Guitar Hero.

Jack Johnson! I'm so cliché.
Lol... no, seriously. tonight Thomas showed me a music video of him doing "Upside Down" for Curious George.

It's kinda cute to me, and I love the song.
This one I actually recommend you check out.

Watch it! It's cool.
I'm SO learning this one. I love JJ. Even more.

If you're interested, Eliza brought me on to this very sad one.
It parallels some stuff she's dealing with so well it just about made me cry.
It's White Horse, by Taylor Swift.


I also want to give a shout out to Andrea... I know it sounds silly, but I wasn't aware videos could be put straight in until I saw her do it... I just was a little slow on making the connection that I could figure out how to do it as well. I may be a veteran of the internet, but I'm new to the creating/coding/blogging side of it.

Well... I've been staying up because Stacy and Darren took Thomas to the hospital over his asthma. I was goung to stay up till they got back, but it's almost 3:30. I've got to sleep eventually. Peace.

Playing Guitar (Hero +/- Hero)/2

It's a math trick for being both guitar and guitar hero, for those of you not in a thinking mood.
I was bored and did that to entertain myself... it's something I used to use in programming.

The whole title thing?
My brother was playing Barracuda on expert and I was sitting there with my real guitar playing along. I learned it as he went... lol... I'm getting better at playing by ear.

I've been playing all the songs I know, and I needed to pick up something new... so I did.

It's called Taylor by... yep. Jack Johnson.

I know it should get rather old to keep learning his songs...
But every time I do, I learn something I needed to, something significant.

This time around it's getting more serious on the hammer-ons and pull-offs. I wouldn't have been capable of doing it until now. I've thought about learning this one for months, though, so it's about time. It's a good thing I didn't, too because I probably wouldn't have been able to and would have given up.

Eliza discovered Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade, and I haven't played that one in ages. It's one that's technically piano, but it's the type that sounds good on guitar too.
Too bad How to Save a Life (by The Fray) doesn't, or I'd have learned it too.
I feel obligated to brush up on it. It's just C,F,G, and Am, but because that's all they use, it's shuffled up so many ways that the memorization is a nightmare.

Do You Remember

Today I started to learn this song... another one
by Jack Johnson, incidentally.

It was kinda tricky, but i figure it's taught me something valuable.
Aside being a little confusing in the middle of the chorus, it's relatively straightforward.

It's less chord and more individual notes. (it does use G 355433, A 577655, and D 557775)
I love the lyrics... it's a sweet song.

I almost have it perfect already!

I've been working on the song I wrote, too. It's not so bad.
I'm actually thinking of writing another one. This time my reason is kind of as an emotional outlet, so I'm not sure how it will go. Such can be rather spontaneous.

Today's my half birthday, if any one cares. I don't.

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.

Another Song and a Birthday

I've been learning a new song I was going to show to Marianne, as soon as I'd straightened it up, along with Alyssa's.

Today's her birthday. Not that she wanted anyone to know... such a mysterious girl...
So... since that ain't happnin'... I'll elaborate.

It's Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson.
It's a fun song, albeit a difficult one.
the sliding around, at the beginning for example, is very hard to do.

The new chords are:

G7 - 353433
Amin7 - 575555
D - 557775
C7 - 335353, and
C7 - x323xx (very uncommon/unique slide variant of x212xx(B7) )

D is only used on the bridge.

Hopefully I'll be able to play it for her at some point...
There was a time I considered getting Daniel to learn it, but it would have taken half a year even if he had wanted to... Hardest song I've learned up to this point.

Can't you see, can't you see... Rain all day and I don't mind.

In Between Dreams

Jack Johnson is the man.

I just got another album of his, and I am pleased.
Jack Johnson is my hero.

There. I said it. (And you, Lee!!!)

This one has Sitting, Waiting, Wishing and Banana Pancakes!!!
It also has Better Together and Remember When, two new faves!!!

!!! :)

I would learn every Jack Johnson song in existence if it were feasible.
(That would be dumb, anyway.)

I am going to learn a few more before moving on, though.

I won't reveal what I'm learning yet, but it'll be something awesome!


The wisdom's in the trees, not the glass windows...

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.

Cookie Jar

...that's the name of the Jack Johnson song I'm thinking of learning.

I need to find something more "romantic", though. I need to work on expanding my "chicks dig it" library, if you know what I mean... I really want to be able to play a wider variety, but I don't know just quite how to go about it. Perhaps I just need to write a new song.

I've been thinking of writing one about Danielle... but for now, that's our little secret. Yup. Don't tell anyone; it's just between me, Robert, and you, the entire world ;)

Well, anywho, anywhere, anywhat, anywhen, anywhy... I tink I'm gonna start writing some lyrics... I probably won't post them- I don't post stuff that I hold personal, not usually...

I need to improve Alyssa's song, so I can show it to her when I'm not half asleep. I might write a song about all four of us (Daniel, Marianne, Alyssa, Robert)... but things might be changing, so I might wait before deciding on the specific topics...

Oh, and Eliza wanted me to make a collection of all I'd written... problem is, I never managed to finish the lyrics to much of what I would include. And I need to find a decent way to record it.

So... yeah. I have my work cut out for me, as far as guitaring goes...

Daniel might be picking up guitar... it would be cool to have someone to play with...

Running Out of Ideas...

Lately I've been short of things to learn on my guitar.
I need to start writing songs, but I need to continue learning, too.

I can't seem to come up with much to do...

I can play Sitting, Waiting, Wishing perfectly now. I need to pick up something to do.

On the back of the to-do list, I've got to try and memorize Minority by Green Day, and I've got to go re-learn the ending of Times Like These (Jack Johnson of course)...

I need to learn a new song...
Sweet Home Alabama is a classic I need to go learn.
Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day) is another.
There might be a few good John Denver songs... I'll have to look.

I'm just tired right now, and short on ideas as a result. I'll probably look through my iTunes, and see if anything gives me ideas.

In the meantime, if anybody out there has ideas as to what I ought to learn, feel free to let me know.

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.

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

must I always be waiting, waiting on you...

Jack Johnson is the best. He's a real guitarist, and I love his songs.
My latest (re)discovery is Sitting, Waiting, Wishing.

My friend Marianne has a very random iTunes collection. That's one of the only Jack Johnson songs she has. It's one of my favorites that I don't have. I think I'm going to learn to play it. I'll put on the to-do list; I've got other things on my plate.

That's one of the best JJ songs out there, though. I can play Fall Line and Times Like These. I've been thinking of adding one to my knowledge, and I think I found the one.

If you haven't seen the YouTube video, you need to. It's excellent. And it's backwards. Really wild, and fun to watch.

I can't always be playing, playing your fool...