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Johanna, don’t “fret” the transition to the 12th. It’s not noticeable. I’ll be happy if I can do it half as well as you by the end of month.
johanna2509 – Great job! Fingerpicking sounds good, but I’d slow down the strumming section and focus on transitioning to each chord while keeping the timing steady. I don’t think it will take much work to accomplish this, you have it down pretty well already 🙂
So you ask an interesting question: However, I have one question: In Matts playing, the melody note on the a string, even on the higher frets, really pops out, how does he do that?
The answer is, it’s an illusion. It’s not really the A string that he’s accenting, rather it’s the entire chord. If you listen to his performance and watch closely, notice how he accents (hits harder) each beat (chord) where the melody note falls.
So to do this, I’d recommend singing the melody while strumming, and strumming harder on those beats. That will make the melody pop.
Haha thanks Rickey, I had to look up the phrase “do not fret” 🙂
@Andrew Thank you for the fast feedback! I noticed that Matt plays the up strums and ghost notes softer and the down strums harder. So the up strums and ghost notes are more like a filler inbetween the melody. I will try it out!Hi Andrew,
Thank you for the tutorial and the great arrangement by AJ of “I Can’t Help Falling in Love”.
Here’s my submission for the contest.
Best,
Harvey S.
Joanna, Haha. I am glad you found the correct definition. Otherwise, I may have been in trouble. ha.
We also say “Do not sweat it” or “You are fretting (worrying) over nothing”….etc. Now you have a new phrase to try out on your friends.
I only found out that it means “don’t worry”, although I googled very hard to find another definition haha 🙂
Too bad none of my friends are native english speakers, so I guess I will not have the opportunity to use the phrase anytime soon.Nice job Harvey! I love the slides.
Johanna, don’t fret about not having anyone to practice the expression with live. You can use it here.
I’m hoping to record this weekend. I’ve worked hard and I think I have a good thing.
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Here’s an early entry, there’s a few mistakes, but I really want to concentrate on “I can’t help falling..” for the rest of the month.
I should probably slow down to get the chord transistions cleaner and I have tried using a metronome. Just as a side note, I couldn’t work out how I should be setting the metronome speed- quarter notes at 90 beats per minute but want a tick at the start of every triplet, and the timing is given in eighths.
As to using a metronome on the recording, I suppose the only way to do this is to use a headphone- but that seems like an overkill for my playing.
Anyway, I’m really enjoying the challenges and the songs, it’s certainly a great motivation to play regularly.
That was very nicely done. I think when this is all over, I’m going to learn that one myself. Thanks for sharing.
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Here it is and it’s only the 9th. I feel like this had been my easiest song to learn in a long time. I think I might actually have felt some of the progress Andrew had been taking about too. Maybe I’m wrong and it sucks, but this one feels decent to me!!
I’m playing on my new five stringso you hear both Gs. It doesn’t workon every song but I like it on this one.
Feedback welcome!
rickjava – Very nicely done! I like the speed you picked to play it at, and you stayed fairly near the same tempo. I want to challenge you to to try fingerpicking with AJ’s pattern instead of only using the thumb. While it does sound nice, memorizing the fingerpicking would allow you to focus on the left hand, especially during hard sections like the bridge. There’s still a learning curve to mastering fingerpicking like this, but it will help future songs become easier to learn as well. Wonderful job! Thank you for entering the challenge!
andrewvh – You are off to a wonderful start on this! The fingerpicking is great, and the strumming is well on its way! What you are doing is working well, but there’s one thing you are doing that is making the strumming section a bit more complicated: By anchoring your hand and only making such slight motions, you are limiting the range of motion of the strums, and making your thumb work harder. Notice how Matt changes his arm position for strumming and simply picks which finger/thumb is doing the actual strum. This way, the arm motion of the strum is all that’s needed regardless of if the thumb is playing the note or if the fingers are strumming. The way you are playing requires the thumb to have its own motion, and it is occasionally getting caught on the G string, causing the note to sound slightly late. Try experimenting with the arm position as you strum to get a more fluid motion and sound. Thank you for your entry, and you are sounding great!
nosferatu – Way to go! You sound great on this! My only suggestion on this song is to not pause quite as long after each phrase in the bridge. AJ slows down a bit, but the momentum never entirely stops in his arrangement. Try not to think of it as completely stopping, but merely slowing slightly down. That’s really the only suggestion I have, you are playing this one very well! Thank you for joining the challenge!
lisadmh – Your timing on this one is great! Way to go on keeping the notes and rhythm very solid! The vibratos also give it a nice touch! Now that you have the bulk of the song down, this one can use some crescendos and decrescendos to add some texture…especially in the bridge. Try starting softly and delicately at the beginning of the bridge and swell into each phrase, then bring the volume down slightly at the end of each phrase. Also, a slight ritard (gradual slowing down) at the end of each phrase in the bridge adds to the feel as well. Don’t overdo this, but you can hear AJ do this in the performance video for a nice effect. You sound wonderful on this! These little additions will help things breathe and flow a bit. Thank you for entering the challenge!
Than you for the encouragement, Stephen. I actually worked pretty hard to put in those crescendos and decrescendos and thought I got it pretty well, so I’m not sure if I’m not doing it right or my stupid phone isn’t picking them up. The voice equalizer on the recorder is not helping me here. Anyway, I’ll try to exaggerate them more. Thanks!
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