i tried to play the first bar of melody (7 notes), as shown in the above link (at 2:22), alongside the chords of the MIDDLE of the guitar that i had learnt from the first video. both the melody and the chords im playing in the middle of the guitar around 5th-7th fret.
however i found that when i want to hit the 7th note (3rd string down, 7th fret) , my fingers are set up wrongly to hit the A minor 7 chord.
this left me wondering if i have just been learning the "backing track", and if i should be using that 2nd video tutorial (and the chords at the top of the guitar rather than the middle) to learn the song.
now i have just experimented a bit and see that i CAN still play the A minor 7 chord at the same time as my finger being on the 3rd-string, 7th fret note.
HOWEVER this means i have to leave out the top string (low G i think) when i strum, because if i bar the whole fret the 2nd string down will play, and its supposed to be muffled.
now i have no clue about fingerpicking type strumming, but POTENTIALLY i could bar the whole 5th fret, with one finger on the 7th fret as needed by the melody, and then strum the top 1st string with my thumb and simultaneously the 3rd-6th strings with my other fingers, leaving the 2nd string untouched this way.
so am i thinking about this the right way? and i just have to learn how to strum in a classical way (ie with fingers between the strings) and thats solved it?
Anyway, if you're going to try playing both the rhythm and the lead for this simultaneously, you are probably going to want to try finger picking. Another option is modifying the rhythm part so that you strum the chords a couple of times between each lead lick (like in the second video), but then I think the song would lose its flavor.
First of all it would probably be easier to combine playing the melody with open chords instead of the chords that guy is using in the turtorial. second of all if you add the a on the 4th string 7th fret (or 3rd string from the top as you call it) to that am7 chords in 5th position you basically turn it into a regular Am chord. (G is the 7th note in the a minor scale and in that chord is the note on the 4th string 5th fret and you replace by the a) you could give the 7th quality back to the chord by adding a g note higher up on the scale (2nd string 8th fret if you're paying a bar chord which is what I'll get to next.) Thirdly, the Am7 chord the guy in the tutorial is playing is basically like a barred chord but with the 1st and 5th string muted. If you don't mute the 5th string (what you call 2nd string from the top) you can just add an E-note which is at the 7th fret, which is part of the Am chord. But like I said, it's probably easier to just play the melody in open position and use open chords.
Not the best structured reply from me but I hope it helps. If I can give you any advice it would be: try to learn basic music theory, how chords work, I think this will help you learn a lot faster than just trying to copy some guy note for note. Try to understand what they're doing and how the chord is constructed.
You'll have to compromise either way in these cases. I'd try just holding a normal Am chord, when reaching that 7th note on the 4th fret (using pinky on 4th string 7th fret and incorporating the E-note as Boogie suggested) and just play a down strum on those 3 strings as the start of the chord and end of the melodic intro. After which you lift pinky and ring finger and transition into the Am7 with 5th string muted.
Of course it's 3am here and I didn't bring out my guitar to try, so try for yourself and do whatever doesn't sound like shit. But an adaptation has to have some compromises and simplifications. In this case I don't see a perfect solution. If you can't get it to sound decent at the 5th fret, go for the open chords instead.
Hey bud, I used to play some mean blues guitar but have fallen away from it.
I will tell you that 15 minutes for practice isn't nearly enough, I felt that I'd be losing skills if I wasn't playing fourty five minutes or more in a day (or 20 if I literally just practiced scales/technique and not trying songs or picking around).
I will also tell you that barre chords are one of the first barrier points you find in taking guitar lessons. Once you get past that, you're like plat-dia league in NA for sc2 ladder. Better than most get but still a guppy to anyone who is a league or more above you. You hit several technical gaps like that that "ascend your league".
Anyway, I'd suggest that you learn some of the more simplistic rhythms of the red hot chili peppers (IE the later years with john frusciante or his solo work). They sound nice, and are almost all barred chords to be played well and easily. You stick to it enough, it just works!
ok i can barre the bottommost 4 strings with my first finger, have my 3rd finger (one next to pinky) pressing the 4th string up for the last note in the melody, dont play the topmost string, and DO play that open A string coz it makes the same sound / root note
and then simply release the melody finger and the chord is back to normal again
well that keeps my hand in the centre of the guitar BUT it is still a totally different position to the original position, and keeping the original position was i thought the whole point of being there in the first place
i think you're right, and EVERY youtube video demonstrates that it is better to use the open chords if you're going to include melody with chords. marty's Jam video doesn't play any chords , and his tutorial video doesnt play any melody, so i guess that is where i got mixed up and is proof of the pudding.
oh well practice is practice :D
thankyou
edit: will read your other posts above
lalalush, you seem to concur with what i said, ie there will have to be a bit of compromise either way
TG Manny , i dont know many songs at all , i just browsed some youtube until i found that one i really like and have been just donig that since i found it. it is SLOW but STEADY progress, and my fingers have let me go on MUCH longer tonight than they were letting me in past days, so ya i can up the time. i will probably stick with this song for another week, so i am decent at those 3-4 chords, then randomly find something else i really like. i dont really care for random red hot chilli pepper etc songs, but i guess you are saying that i should learn basic barre chords before worrying about mindfucking myself with fingerpicking and stuff
ya i should learn red hot chilli pepper barre chords before i try to learn this ^
btw since people are reading this,
if anyone knows some sad , lonely desert / wild west barren land type GUITAR music (probably classical guitar) i would appreciate it. i made a blog requesting this kinda music here . ignore the comments, i got drunk half way thru
Haha right as I'm sitting down to practice. I literally JUST nailed my first few barre chords before I opened this. Been looking into playing a more jazzy/blues style since I don't really like playing rock ((Like listening to it, just not playing it for some reason)
You sound like a beginner, so I would play the open chords Am, Em, G -> Dm, F, G (you can move the open F chord up 2 frets to play a nice G on the top 4 strings)
Then once you can play that and hopefully sing it at the same time with good rhythm and confidence you just need to play some individual notes inbetween the chords to get the feel of the melody. You can learn these by experimentation.
Definitely forget about playing jazz chords right now.
EPT
