A friend of mine recently took up the bass, so we decided to get together and jam. I hate even using the word “jam” since it implies we knew what we were doing. After fiddling around for about a half hour not exactly sure what to play she suggested Sunshine Of Your Love since she knew it and the guitar intro is pretty simple. However, even though the song is simple (the brief bit we played anyway), it took us more than a few tries before we both played it without mistakes.
My guitar teacher gave me a couple finger exercise to get my fingers more limber and dexterous. Since it doesn’t take a lot of thinking you can do it while sitting around watching TV.
The first is to go through the following patterns on the same string (the number refers to the finger you use):
1, 2, 3, 4
1, 2, 4, 3
1, 3, 2, 4
1, 3, 4, 2
1, 4, 2, 3
1, 4, 3, 2
I just discovered a new guitar magazine at the book store (it’s on the premier issue), Guitar Aficionado. Guitar Aficionado isn’t a typical guitar magazine like Guitar World. This magazine is more a lifestyle magazine who’s main hook is guitars and their collectors.In additional to articles on a collectors and their guitars you’ll see articles about high end watches, fashion and automobiles. You won’t find much in the way of music theory or tabs like you’ll see in other guitar magazines, at least in the premier issue. And that is fine with me. I love guitars, so getting a look into the collections of others is welcome… although it does make me envious.
I’ve been working on learning Truth Doesn’t Make A Noise of the De Stijl album by The White Stripes on my own. It’s not a difficult song in terms of the cord progression. It’s pretty straight forward: Am -> G -> C -> D -> Am for the main part. You can find the tabs online of course. There are a couple versions, but this is the one I like best. The opening riff is a bit tricky and you’ll need some quick fingers to get it properly. I haven’t quite gotten the riff down, so I still need to work on it.
I watched a cool documentary last night called “Stars & Their Guitars.” It’s a great look at the history of the guitar and the guitarists who play them. The focus was on Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacker and Gretsch. The documentary wasn’t just about the guitars, there was a lot of great insight into playing buy some impressive players as well. Check it out if you haven’t already.
