Learning Stevie Ray Vaughan - Scuttle Buttin'
Day 6: 1x5mins. Wasn't planning on any practice, but had a few minutes to kill before heading out. Got up to 120bpm. But 130bpm was rather messy. At 120+ I'm gonna have to warm up a bit better, going in cold at that tempo is asking to hurt something!
NorioDS Instead of learning one track, I'm thinking we shoot Metallica riffs at each until one of us taps out. 5-7 rounds, each 1-3 days long depending on how tricky the riff is?
If we both don't know the riff, then the closest to album tempo wins
If one of us know the riff, then he has to get it to album tempo, while the other has to play it recognizably.
Fun, because I think anyone who feels like joining in, can!
Day 7 : 1x20m. Warmed up for 5mins, then got stuck in at 120bpm. First attempt at 130bpm was awful, it felt waaayy too fast. Cranked up bpm to 145, then 160 - just playing the chords, which was do-able.
Then dropped it back to 130 and played the entire riff. Felt a bit more manageable. Still not comfy though. Dunno how this is gonna get cranked up to 160.... ?
Day 5 I managed some unplugged practice in the morning (while wifey slept) before buying some awesome merch at Geek Fest.
The unplugged practice was different but something @AlanRatcliffe recommended a while ago. More for hearing a guitar's naked tone before buying it but it turned out to be a useful tool for practising. No distortion or other effects to distract you. But you end up picking way harder, so not great for extended periods of practice, I'd say.
Day 6 I didn't practice at all. Mostly to do with one of our cats having gone missing. Still missing sadly ?
Day 7 turned out pretty good. Managed a bunch of full-speed practice but then noticed that the feel was off. Noticed some notes were being played that aren't on the record and other notes were missing. So I slowed everything down to the slowest Rocksmith will allow (1 out of 100, sadly no "proper" bpm feature in RS2014.)
Having the lick (mostly) under your fingers, and then slowing the record down to "painfully slow" really helps you pick out some notes you might have missed. There are a few nuances in each "chord" that give the song some of its flavour and feel.
So hopefully the next 7 days will be enough time to get ALL the correct notes ringing and at the right times. My timing feels a bit rushed at times, so I gotta practice my starts of each lick.
Managed to get a really nice tone on my JS-100 with the pickup selector on the middle (both pickups together) but in single-coil mode. Really sounds tasty. Dunno if I'll be able to get that tone from my BR-600 or Micro Orange Terror so that's another thing to practice this week — dialing in that tone.
@V8 are we recording the final tracks on our phones? ie: Using the built-in video recorder? Or are we doing something fancier?
Good question, I think phone video w/audio? Not really gonna give us a great idea of tone though. I can plug in sound card and DI out my pedal(s) - will be a minor improvement in tone but not a great deal. I'm lazy to setup a mic or mess around with plug-in's and sims - though if you really want to we can.
V8 I'm just as lazy ?
Best I'd be able to do is DI into BR-600 / Rocksmith. How about we do both? Set phone to record, then DI into something that is also recording, and post both here. The DI will highlight our awful playing ability, which the phone video might hide. But the phone video levels the playing ground slightly by not being too fancy. And doing 'em both at the same time means it's not much work for us, really.
- Edited
Day 8 : Not much practice, maybe 10mins. Figured I'm struggling with the moving across the strings at 16th note pace as the bpm goes above 120. Meh, gave up and went to go watch Deadpool II.
V8 Haha nice! We're going to watch Deadpool later today. Can't wait!
As for practice... ok wait is today day 8 or was that yesterday? (Monday?)
I woke up exhausted. Picked up my axe and barely got anything in. I don't really think I'll get every single not in at full speed come next week Monday morning. Seems really unlikely but I'ma keep trying.
As for the next challenge, I was listening to this and thought (as a completely dumb and crazy idea, just for jokes) that maybe we do the rhythm section of this song ?
(So the first 35 seconds or so ?)
NorioDS We're going to watch Deadpool later today. Can't wait!
I havn't laughed that much since the last Deadpool movie - throughly enjoyed it! There's a great 'bonus' scene about 1/2 way through the credits, I was in tears, too funny. .
NorioDS As for the next challenge, I was listening to this and thought (as a completely dumb and crazy idea, just for jokes) that maybe we do the rhythm section of this song
Errr, there's a rhythm section to this? I can't hear it at all ? . Nah, I'm keener on some old skool riffage ala Metallica/Megadeth/Slayer. It's properly pointy guitar music.
Old man! ?
Day 9 : Rest day - thinking a day 'off' will somehow help - we'll see!
Nice idea! I had a day off by accident on the weekend.
Today I just practised at full speed then "90" on RS then 95 then 100.
I always practise without the backing track as well so I can hear my stuff ups. There are LOTS of those. This is a great way to get even more respect for your guitar idols!
- Edited
Day 10 : 2x10m, the day off seemed to help. Now 120bpm feels a bit slow, 130 comfy and 140 a rush. Not looking forward to pressing the record button, coz the wheels generally fall off around then ?
@V8 Yeah I'm so with you. Can play it very comfortably at slower speeds but Monday is coming 'round fast and I'm not at album tempo at all.
Couldn't practise at all last night. So just had a meaningless "quickie" practice session in the morning. Maybe that's good coz my calluses (and blister, yes blister—it's been that long) might heal a bit better which could help me pick up some speed.
So apart from the deadline whooshing towards us, there's the other issue of when to record this thing. Do we do it Sunday evening after some practise or Monday morning, in the rush before work? One will work, the other won't. Maybe recording on Monday morning gives us that extra bit of time to practise. Maybe recording on Sunday afternoon means we can be relaxed and unrushed and without the pressure of work looming over us.
Anyway, that's what's on my mind today.
NorioDS How about doing a monday 23h59m deadline? It did cross my mind that 2 weeks would make it due on Sunday (14 daze from Monday start), but I think that's neither here nor there...though don't ask me where it should be!
For this one, I'm going to TRY not to be overly tight arse about recording it perfect. As long as it has some feel and the majority can hear it's scuttle buttin, albeit slower - I'll be satisfied.
Yeah I'm with you. I'll try my best at full speed but if it's not working, then buggerit. It'll be done slower ?
And if I ever reach full speed (without swallowing notes by playing all sloppy-like) then I'll post that just for kicks.
I dig the 23:59 deadline. Gives us the choice of submitting Sunday afternoon or Monday after work. At least that's less of a rush.
Take all the time you need to perfect it, but, really, will I hear the difference if you leave out some notes? No. I thought music was all about interpretation. Which means, I might make it sound familiar, but it's my own bad design. OK, for this type of challenge, we require a video of notes played, and a cross-reference track to the original. But, maybe, the "interpretation" by two players on different equipment might make good listening too?
As for the next challenge, I read somewhere one of you has a JS100. OK, so, guitar in hand, do a Satriani song? After this here effort, something slow, like "Always with me, Always with you" (of which I cannot even get the intro...) After that, you can get into speed and noise again?
