Thank you Chris ... your kind words and encouragement mean a lot to me. I'll work on what you have pointed out and i will post another video after a bit ... or maybe I'll just wing it and sing it ... and if it sounds good move along to the next one. I've been feeling lately like I may have pushed my playing about as far as I can ... I know the plateu routine and that it takes time but realistically considering where/when I started and where I am ... I'm really happy. I do want to get better ... I'm not discouraged ... and I'm very grateful. Happy Easter ... stay safe ... and i'm really looking forward to getting this pandemic stretch behind us so you can work on a new record and play some shows which I'm hopeful of seeing.
I never know if I did it exactly as you taught or what you expect but it sure is fun to play and I'm very thankful you're here showing us this stuff. These last several years have been so much fun and helpful. Looking forward to whatever you have planned next.
Kip, you never cease to amaze me. This sounds so musical and good. Really proud. A few things to work on:
-You are jumping the beat a handful of times throughout the arrangement: 00:40, 00:47, 01:14 and 1:37. Go back and count the bars out loud along with your video in those spots and see if you can straighten them out. If not, post another vid and I'll get into the details with you on it.
-Your right hand seems quite relaxed, which is great, but it looks like you are getting *most* your movement and motion from your wrist, and it also seems like you are reaching "up" with your wrist quite a bit. The "flow" of the sound of your notes might improve if you can integrate your entire right arm a little bit more into the movement. Try shifting the guitar an inch or two to your left relative to your torso - this might mean moving your leg over a touch - but we want to try shifting the guitar a little bit so that your right forearm arm isn't coming down from *quite* so much of a vertical position. If you can allow it to be just a touch more horizontal - and we're talking subtle degrees here - it would probably allow your forearm to be more integrated into the pick stroke motion and alleviate your wrist from having to do quite so much work.
Thank you Chris ... your kind words and encouragement mean a lot to me. I'll work on what you have pointed out and i will post another video after a bit ... or maybe I'll just wing it and sing it ... and if it sounds good move along to the next one. I've been feeling lately like I may have pushed my playing about as far as I can ... I know the plateu routine and that it takes time but realistically considering where/when I started and where I am ... I'm really happy. I do want to get better ... I'm not discouraged ... and I'm very grateful. Happy Easter ... stay safe ... and i'm really looking forward to getting this pandemic stretch behind us so you can work on a new record and play some shows which I'm hopeful of seeing.
Thanks for showing us that arrangement. It is lovely, so delicate and poignant. After seeing and hearing you do that it's not so hard to imagine what the song may sound like picked on the mandolin. Very cool.
Thanks Chris ... that's a beauty. The ascending line that TR doesn't play ... and you can't help but play is actually one of my favorite parts and reminds me of something in church street blues ... not sure why ... which also reminds me I should revisit that one since I kind of bombed out trying to learn it a couple years ago. I really like this and happy for the second part since I've been playing the heck out of the first part and kind of just throwing stuff together on the last part. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
BTW - as an offical member of the TAB police I would like to point out that the TAB presently displayed is for "The Likes Of Me" and not "The Last Thing On My MInd"... this is what happens when the Steelers play on a Monday night and I have all day Sunday to mess around. By and by I don't mess with TAB.
Hi Kip - thanks for letting us know. My mistake. It should be all fixed now. Also, your totally right - use your ear and eyes whenever you can - you will actually wire your brain in a different (and correct) way.
This is alot like learning a new language. I worked hard on pick direction theory when first starting this style of playing. At first really needing to think about what I was or wasn't doing - down up down up especially when pull off's, slides, and hammer on's were in play but it didn't take very long to get the hang of it without having to think a lot about it. I don't know that will ever be the case with the way Tony Rice plays and you're probably thinking to yourself ... yea no kidding. What is most interesting to me ... from what I've read or heard on the rare occasions TR talks ... he wanted badly to play like Clarence White but in his opinion couldn't so he developed his own style of playing which turns out to be incredibe and fun to try and copy but the most important thing he said is a player needs to develop their own style of playing. What a relief. I'm still working on the pick up notes .. carry on.
Totally. The reason *I* learn this stuff isn't so that I can play exactly like Tony. It's more that I want to add tools to my own toolbox so that I can become a better, more expressive version of myself. There are some powerful lessons to be learned in how he touched the guitar. Somehow, when Tony plays he brings a certain magic to the music and I feel like studying him in a more nuanced manner can help shed light on how the rest of us can find some of that magic too.
if you knew what goes through my mind everytime I watch a lesson for the first time ... it's incredible lol ... so I've been playing this intro and break for about 2 weeks by just watching your first lesson and trying to make stuff fit and sort of sound right ... and today I thought well that doesn't sound so bad ... then this ... ha ha ... I can't even hold my pick right now ... Tony Rice rules.
Perfect timing, phrasing, and execution; Chris has taught you well :-) Seriously, we all miss the lessons, but that was the funniest internet comment I read all year!
LOL! Well played, well played. But the answer is NO! Not going away, and certainly not without a word of farewell.
I've been completely underwater with various things over the last couple of months but I think I'm now caught up on all questions here and we'll be getting a new lesson up by the end of this month. 😎
YES KIP! YOU NAILED THE VIBE! And you're pulling such killer tone too. GREAT, GREAT, GREAT! I would just put some extra effort in on the end where it starts going up high. It looked like you were starting to fight the guitar a bit right there. Keep practicing it and try making friends with that part. It sounds ridiculous, but I'm actually serious! Try intentionally relaxing yourself right before that part and do the thing where you let yourself be sloppy. Try to feel relaxed and try to feel smooth. Spend some time practicing that particular area in that specific head space. Then slowly start putting that together with the rest of the intro that comes before and make them all feel like one piece.
Very sweet ... that would be a great one for the new record with Jules ... there is gonna be a new record right? Me and a whole bunch of people really hope so.
Progress report to anyone who may or may not be trying this .... not too tough to learn and reach the notes on this one but very tough to stay loose and make it resemble the way the TR recording sounds. That is all.
Hey, practice makes perfect! Also, on a more serious note, Tony does play with a good deal of tension. In a way, that’s part of his sound, but the kind of tension that he employs didn’t interrupt him from playing the way he played and making that incredible music.
Tony is such an anomaly. I look to him for the inspiration and deep lessons that his musicality offers, but I actually don’t try to emulate exactly *how* he uses his body because it actually literally hurts me. Causes physical pain. And it wasn’t sustainable for him either. He quit playing at 61 years old because of physical issues with his hands, forearms and elbows. But I think we can take those lessons of musicality, touch, time and tone and try to figure out how to employ them into our own techniques and concepts of music and the guitar.
This video started out to be my take or run through of the first half of the solo from this lesson but then I couldn't help myself so I dipped my toe in the second half as well before it's time but here it is. Thank you!
This site's video uploader is beginning to suck the life out of me.
Way to learn this thing! The first part sounds great! It starts jumping forward and losing the beat/bar structure on some of the syncopated bits (1:37, 1:45 for example). Make sure that you can SING it along with me before you start playing it. Then once you’ve got that down and you know exactly how those rhythms go, THEN try it again on the guitar. I’ve made a rhythm guitar video here that you can practice to. It’ll be easier to tell if you get off if you’re playing along with the chords. Otherwise sounding great!
Working on Mean Mother Blues opening and chords run through video. Been having a problem uploading to sonic junction for some reason and not sure why. Hopefully this works. The next couple of lessons are more than challenging for me (no surprise) but still trying to tackle it at much slower speeds as is this video. I think the song works a little slower than Chris plays it anyway but there you go.
Sounding really great and musical, as always. I like the tempo where you are playing this - it suits the way you play it and the vibe that you’re getting. That’s an important point I think: there can be many different “good“ tempos for a song depending on the vibe of the delivery. This tempo suits your feel and vibe really well. Now, a couple of things to point out:
-On the tag lick that occurs at 0:20 and again at 1:16 you are arriving at the end too early by dropping 3 big beats. The lick starts on the 2nd 16th note of beat 4 and the downbeat of that next measure is actually the note on the (capoed) 4th fret of the 2nd string. *From that downbeat* there’s still a whole measure of music before the start of the verse. Does that make sense? Maybe listen to my tag in that spot a bunch of times in a row using the repeat function and try to feel how the syncopation of the lick relates to the bar structure.
-The other thing, which is minor, is that when you’re playing rhythm guitar sometimes you’re skipping the D chord that comes before the G. This happens at 0:37 and again at 0:56
Yeah Kip, great job on this! You've come so far in terms of keeping your body loose. It's awesome and you really do look relaxed. My one piece of advice based on this video is that it looks like you may be planting or resting the heel of your right hand on the bridge or bridge pins. Is that right? Your wrist looks super loose which is great, but you might try getting your forearm a little more involved in the picking. That might be easier if you try wrapping your right arm around the guitar a bit more. Check out the screen grab of me above and notice the angle that my forearm is making relative to the strings. It's a bit more horizontal than yours. You might try experimenting with that angle. I suspect that if your right arm drops down the slightest bit around the side of the guitar and you flatten your forearm out the slightest bit you might find it easier to integrate your forearm into your pick stroke a bit more. Food for thought.
I wish someone would drop a comment before me every once in awhile but in this case I couldn't help myself (again) because my face almost broke from the smile when I saw this lesson. When that record came out (Avalon) I literally listened to this 10 times a day ha ha. Love it dude ... I'm old but I'm not dead and this rocks and probably means Under the Double Eagle gets a little less work.
Haha! I was about to comment the joy I felt when I saw that Chris had posted "Mean mother blues"! :D I guess I just chickened out before falling asleep with a smile on my face thinking "can't wait untill tomorrow, waking up, make a cup of coffee and watch this lesson!" Next time I'll try to post before you, Kip! ;)
This has been such a great lesson and a lot of fun for the whole family as they watch me still trying to master the Norman Blake "mechanism". The going is slow but it's going better everyday. This one is another whole ball of wax but too cool.
Thank you Chris ... your kind words and encouragement mean a lot to me. I'll work on what you have pointed out and i will post another video after a bit ... or maybe I'll just wing it and sing it ... and if it sounds good move along to the next one. I've been feeling lately like I may have pushed my playing about as far as I can ... I know the plateu routine and that it takes time but realistically considering where/when I started and where I am ... I'm really happy. I do want to get better ... I'm not discouraged ... and I'm very grateful. Happy Easter ... stay safe ... and i'm really looking forward to getting this pandemic stretch behind us so you can work on a new record and play some shows which I'm hopeful of seeing.
Really cool ...
I never know if I did it exactly as you taught or what you expect but it sure is fun to play and I'm very thankful you're here showing us this stuff. These last several years have been so much fun and helpful. Looking forward to whatever you have planned next.
Kip, you never cease to amaze me. This sounds so musical and good. Really proud. A few things to work on:
-You are jumping the beat a handful of times throughout the arrangement: 00:40, 00:47, 01:14 and 1:37. Go back and count the bars out loud along with your video in those spots and see if you can straighten them out. If not, post another vid and I'll get into the details with you on it.
-Your right hand seems quite relaxed, which is great, but it looks like you are getting *most* your movement and motion from your wrist, and it also seems like you are reaching "up" with your wrist quite a bit. The "flow" of the sound of your notes might improve if you can integrate your entire right arm a little bit more into the movement. Try shifting the guitar an inch or two to your left relative to your torso - this might mean moving your leg over a touch - but we want to try shifting the guitar a little bit so that your right forearm arm isn't coming down from *quite* so much of a vertical position. If you can allow it to be just a touch more horizontal - and we're talking subtle degrees here - it would probably allow your forearm to be more integrated into the pick stroke motion and alleviate your wrist from having to do quite so much work.
Well done as always and happy Easter!
Thank you Chris ... your kind words and encouragement mean a lot to me. I'll work on what you have pointed out and i will post another video after a bit ... or maybe I'll just wing it and sing it ... and if it sounds good move along to the next one. I've been feeling lately like I may have pushed my playing about as far as I can ... I know the plateu routine and that it takes time but realistically considering where/when I started and where I am ... I'm really happy. I do want to get better ... I'm not discouraged ... and I'm very grateful. Happy Easter ... stay safe ... and i'm really looking forward to getting this pandemic stretch behind us so you can work on a new record and play some shows which I'm hopeful of seeing.
Thanks for showing us that arrangement. It is lovely, so delicate and poignant. After seeing and hearing you do that it's not so hard to imagine what the song may sound like picked on the mandolin. Very cool.
Really cool Torgeir ...
It might be "Uncle Johnny" in which case a 1954 D-28 or not.
Thanks Chris ... that's a beauty. The ascending line that TR doesn't play ... and you can't help but play is actually one of my favorite parts and reminds me of something in church street blues ... not sure why ... which also reminds me I should revisit that one since I kind of bombed out trying to learn it a couple years ago. I really like this and happy for the second part since I've been playing the heck out of the first part and kind of just throwing stuff together on the last part. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
Haha, thanks Kip! It does just kind of feel to me like that ascending line wants to be there! 🤷♂️
Happy Holidays and New Year!
Chris
BTW - as an offical member of the TAB police I would like to point out that the TAB presently displayed is for "The Likes Of Me" and not "The Last Thing On My MInd"... this is what happens when the Steelers play on a Monday night and I have all day Sunday to mess around. By and by I don't mess with TAB.
Hi Kip - thanks for letting us know. My mistake. It should be all fixed now. Also, your totally right - use your ear and eyes whenever you can - you will actually wire your brain in a different (and correct) way.
This is alot like learning a new language. I worked hard on pick direction theory when first starting this style of playing. At first really needing to think about what I was or wasn't doing - down up down up especially when pull off's, slides, and hammer on's were in play but it didn't take very long to get the hang of it without having to think a lot about it. I don't know that will ever be the case with the way Tony Rice plays and you're probably thinking to yourself ... yea no kidding. What is most interesting to me ... from what I've read or heard on the rare occasions TR talks ... he wanted badly to play like Clarence White but in his opinion couldn't so he developed his own style of playing which turns out to be incredibe and fun to try and copy but the most important thing he said is a player needs to develop their own style of playing. What a relief. I'm still working on the pick up notes .. carry on.
Totally. The reason *I* learn this stuff isn't so that I can play exactly like Tony. It's more that I want to add tools to my own toolbox so that I can become a better, more expressive version of myself. There are some powerful lessons to be learned in how he touched the guitar. Somehow, when Tony plays he brings a certain magic to the music and I feel like studying him in a more nuanced manner can help shed light on how the rest of us can find some of that magic too.
if you knew what goes through my mind everytime I watch a lesson for the first time ... it's incredible lol ... so I've been playing this intro and break for about 2 weeks by just watching your first lesson and trying to make stuff fit and sort of sound right ... and today I thought well that doesn't sound so bad ... then this ... ha ha ... I can't even hold my pick right now ... Tony Rice rules.
Tony is, and will always be, the man we all say "Yes Sir" to!
are you going away with no word of farewell ....
Perfect timing, phrasing, and execution; Chris has taught you well :-) Seriously, we all miss the lessons, but that was the funniest internet comment I read all year!
LOL! Well played, well played. But the answer is NO! Not going away, and certainly not without a word of farewell.
I've been completely underwater with various things over the last couple of months but I think I'm now caught up on all questions here and we'll be getting a new lesson up by the end of this month. 😎
I don't know if I even caught a whim of the vibe or how many notes added or missecd but it sure is fun and addicting to play.
YES KIP! YOU NAILED THE VIBE! And you're pulling such killer tone too. GREAT, GREAT, GREAT! I would just put some extra effort in on the end where it starts going up high. It looked like you were starting to fight the guitar a bit right there. Keep practicing it and try making friends with that part. It sounds ridiculous, but I'm actually serious! Try intentionally relaxing yourself right before that part and do the thing where you let yourself be sloppy. Try to feel relaxed and try to feel smooth. Spend some time practicing that particular area in that specific head space. Then slowly start putting that together with the rest of the intro that comes before and make them all feel like one piece.
Very sweet ... that would be a great one for the new record with Jules ... there is gonna be a new record right? Me and a whole bunch of people really hope so.
Agreed!
Hey Kip, Julian and I have plans to "get the band back together" a bit next year. Really looking forward to that!
Progress report to anyone who may or may not be trying this .... not too tough to learn and reach the notes on this one but very tough to stay loose and make it resemble the way the TR recording sounds. That is all.
Hey, practice makes perfect! Also, on a more serious note, Tony does play with a good deal of tension. In a way, that’s part of his sound, but the kind of tension that he employs didn’t interrupt him from playing the way he played and making that incredible music.
Tony is such an anomaly. I look to him for the inspiration and deep lessons that his musicality offers, but I actually don’t try to emulate exactly *how* he uses his body because it actually literally hurts me. Causes physical pain. And it wasn’t sustainable for him either. He quit playing at 61 years old because of physical issues with his hands, forearms and elbows. But I think we can take those lessons of musicality, touch, time and tone and try to figure out how to employ them into our own techniques and concepts of music and the guitar.
Hmmm ... I know you're a renowned picker and great performer and teacher and what not but in this case I'm gonna call you dude.
Dude ... got any Mary had a little lamb licks I might be able to play ... ha ha ... sorry just kidding. That was great.
This video started out to be my take or run through of the first half of the solo from this lesson but then I couldn't help myself so I dipped my toe in the second half as well before it's time but here it is. Thank you!
This site's video uploader is beginning to suck the life out of me.
Hey Kip,
Way to learn this thing! The first part sounds great! It starts jumping forward and losing the beat/bar structure on some of the syncopated bits (1:37, 1:45 for example). Make sure that you can SING it along with me before you start playing it. Then once you’ve got that down and you know exactly how those rhythms go, THEN try it again on the guitar. I’ve made a rhythm guitar video here that you can practice to. It’ll be easier to tell if you get off if you’re playing along with the chords. Otherwise sounding great!
-Chris
Working on Mean Mother Blues opening and chords run through video. Been having a problem uploading to sonic junction for some reason and not sure why. Hopefully this works. The next couple of lessons are more than challenging for me (no surprise) but still trying to tackle it at much slower speeds as is this video. I think the song works a little slower than Chris plays it anyway but there you go.
Hey Kip,
Sounding really great and musical, as always. I like the tempo where you are playing this - it suits the way you play it and the vibe that you’re getting. That’s an important point I think: there can be many different “good“ tempos for a song depending on the vibe of the delivery. This tempo suits your feel and vibe really well. Now, a couple of things to point out:
-On the tag lick that occurs at 0:20 and again at 1:16 you are arriving at the end too early by dropping 3 big beats. The lick starts on the 2nd 16th note of beat 4 and the downbeat of that next measure is actually the note on the (capoed) 4th fret of the 2nd string. *From that downbeat* there’s still a whole measure of music before the start of the verse. Does that make sense? Maybe listen to my tag in that spot a bunch of times in a row using the repeat function and try to feel how the syncopation of the lick relates to the bar structure.
-The other thing, which is minor, is that when you’re playing rhythm guitar sometimes you’re skipping the D chord that comes before the G. This happens at 0:37 and again at 0:56
Cheers,
Chris
Fun cool tune to learn and play but time to move on to the next one to see what happens.
Yeah Kip, great job on this! You've come so far in terms of keeping your body loose. It's awesome and you really do look relaxed. My one piece of advice based on this video is that it looks like you may be planting or resting the heel of your right hand on the bridge or bridge pins. Is that right? Your wrist looks super loose which is great, but you might try getting your forearm a little more involved in the picking. That might be easier if you try wrapping your right arm around the guitar a bit more. Check out the screen grab of me above and notice the angle that my forearm is making relative to the strings. It's a bit more horizontal than yours. You might try experimenting with that angle. I suspect that if your right arm drops down the slightest bit around the side of the guitar and you flatten your forearm out the slightest bit you might find it easier to integrate your forearm into your pick stroke a bit more. Food for thought.
I wish someone would drop a comment before me every once in awhile but in this case I couldn't help myself (again) because my face almost broke from the smile when I saw this lesson. When that record came out (Avalon) I literally listened to this 10 times a day ha ha. Love it dude ... I'm old but I'm not dead and this rocks and probably means Under the Double Eagle gets a little less work.
Haha! I was about to comment the joy I felt when I saw that Chris had posted "Mean mother blues"! :D
I guess I just chickened out before falling asleep with a smile on my face thinking "can't wait untill tomorrow, waking up, make a cup of coffee and watch this lesson!" Next time I'll try to post before you, Kip! ;)
Have a great day! :)
Haha, you guys are the best!
This has been such a great lesson and a lot of fun for the whole family as they watch me still trying to master the Norman Blake "mechanism". The going is slow but it's going better everyday. This one is another whole ball of wax but too cool.
Yep, slow and steady wins the race!