Ensemble 14

Yesterday night we played at prize evening and in todays music lesson we had to write an evaluation of our three performances as a group. Overall I think the three songs we decided to play and perform went very well and all the problems we had were easily resolved within a week or two.

Everyone in the group enjoyed themselves and what they played. My personal highlight whilst learning these songs was getting to play bass as I had only ever played guitar before and it felt good to take a step away from the lead guitar limelight and focus on gelling well with tom on drums to form a good rhythm section.

Ensemble 13

Next week we are playing in prize evening and we are going to perform all three of our songs and try to play them perfectly so we can get a high mark on them. In the lesson yesterday, we played the song properly for the first time without making any mistakes. The dynamics were great and everyone kept in time. Where it didn’t take us that long to learn this song, we all are feeling confident playing this song next week in front of an audience for the first time.

Over the course of this week we will have to practice all three songs and get used to playing all three songs one after another. We will do this by just practicing in our lesson time because we all feel confident enough to not have to practice any of the songs after school. Dom will carry on playing the acoustic guitar intro in his own time to just keep that fresh in his head for the performance next Thursday.

Ensemble 12

Today we played the song as a group for the first time. Over this week I have learned the bass guitar parts and I enjoyed doing this.

Jaina had learned the melody on the song but on piano. She will play this a higher octave than the guitars so it doesn’t sound too mushy. George had learnt the staccato piano part heard throughout the song. It’s the little stabs on guitar that is on the off beats of the song which he has learned on the piano. 

We decoded that when we play the chorus we all come in with the same chords but over two different octaves. This makes it sound more full.

Over this week will we carry on practice the song in our lesson times because there is nothing that we need to go and learn separately for this song. However, Dom has decided that he wants to do the intro of the song on an acoustic 12 string guitar like the original. He will go home and practice this because he already knows it but he keeps going out of time. He will achieve this by using a metronome on his phone to get up to tempo and practice on the fingering of the intro because it is quite complicated. He is doing this because he doesn’t want to go out of time in a live performance so he is going to practice this as much as he can within a week.

Ensemble 11

The new song we have chosen is Hotel California by The Eagles. This was Dom’s choice as the bottle landed on him. I again agreed to play bass an Sam and Dom already knew the whole song on guitar. This meant that me George and Jaina and to learn our parts quickly. Our first problem was again that there was no piano in the original song. However, there are lots of guitar layers in this song so George and Jaina should be able to play these parts on the Piano.

This has seemed to become a regular problem with the songs we chose however this will help them as musicians as it means they are learning to adapt their styles to different genres of music that don't typical involve pianos.

George and Jaina will learn parts for next lesson and I will learn the bass guitar part. I am looking forward to this as the bass part is played on a syncopated off beat so I am looking forward to the challenging of learning this.

Ensemble 10

We came up with a ending for superstition in todays lesson. We decided to follow the lead vocal line and on our instruments play the notes of line tyler was singing, "very superstitious."
This worked very well as it gave the song a twist and made our version sound more unique.
We sat down and worked out the melody and once we had it down we practised it as a band. Tom played crash accents on each notes and this gave the ending a punch to it.

Ensemble 9

Whilst playing in todays lesson after having made the changes the song sounded really good however we had problems with the chorus of th song. This was mainly due to everyone playing slightly different chords. To overcome this Tom sat down and learn the original chords and taught them to George, Jaina, Sam and Dom. These were jazzy chords with awkward finger positions. Once they had learnt these parts we practised just the chorus and it sounded much better with less dissonance.

I didn't have to learn these chords I was just playing the root note of the chords as a single note on the bass guitar.

Ensemble 8

This week we played Superstition together for the first time.

There was only one problem and it was the beginning of the song. The first problem we had was the timing of when George came in in the keys .Tom starts the song on the drums and George has to enter 4 bars in but on the 3rd beat of bar 3. At first he found this complicated because he was so used to entering at the beginning of a bar but with practise this was completed within 10-15 minutes. He found that a ‘clav’ voicing on the piano through logic got the right sound for the song.

George and Jaina had our same problem with the two pianos clashing parts but they managed to find a way to overcome this by writing different parts.  It was my turn to play bass for this song. I had learnt my parts at home so I knew what I was playing so I didn't really have to mess around with my part when we started playing it together. Sam played the original guitar part and when dom played this as well it made the guitars to dominate in the song. To over come this Dom played some jazz guitar chords underneath the main guitar riff.

Ensemble 7

We have now played the song all the way through with all our changes that we made throughout the weeks of playing this song. We all enjoy playing this song and will practise it regularly so it will be ready for whenever anyone wants us to play it.

We chose a new song today and the bottle landed on George and he chose  Superstition By Stevie Wonder. At first we were not to use on the song but it was only fair that we would give it a try. The arrangements will be normal George will play the lead piano parts this time because it was his song choice. We all will go home over the weekend to learn this song and get a feel for it because this song is at a high tempo and the timing has to be right.

Ensemble 6

We started learning the bridge of the song and where we have been practicing dynamics already it wasn’t hard to all go from very loud soft again in the bridge. The bridge is different to the verse and the chorus and seemed quite challenging at first. In the song there are so many different guitar sounds; from clean in the verses to dirty in the chorus and a crunchy sound in the bridge.  This wasn’t a problem for us because we have two guitarists and me and Sam can set our amps to the right settings for the song. On the bridge George used an electric piano sound but he rolled the chords instead of playing block chords. This gave the bridge a cool feel that was different from the original and made it stand out from the rest of the song. Over the next week we will  carry on practicing as normal.

Ensemble 5

This week we went straight into playing the song and realised that we were playing it a little to much like the original and now adding our own style to it. We started adding a twist to it with the pianos coming up with their own parts but we still wanted to change it even more. We also realised that there was little dynamics to the song when we played it so where there are so many of us playing from the beginning we decided to cut some of the instruments out just for the intro. 

To change this we kept the drums original to the recording but with just piano playing softly what the guitar would usually play and these gave the song a wider range of dynamics. We also added a 3 beat break after four rounds of the first verse. 

Dom came in on the bass after two two bards of the drum beat along with Jaina on keys.

Tyler comes in after the second bar of the bass with accompaniment from Jaina playing the chords in a high pitch and softly. After the 3 beat break with the lyrics 'What in the world, does your company take me for,' with a crash on the symbol we all come in. We did this because it helped us improve our dynamics with the song and shows originality. Over the next week we are going to learn all the way up to the bridge. We will spend 3 hours this week in our lesson time, which is enough time to get everything learnt up to the bridge. We will do this by practicing as a group and by ourselves if wee need to practise individual parts.

Ensemble 4

We have now started practising Dani California. It all went well at the start but our next issue was a simple one of not sbeing able to hear each other when playing. We overcame this by doing a quick soundcheck before we started playing the song again. This took about 5-10 minutes each time we set up.  Whilst we were playing George had realised his piano part was boring as he was just playing chords so he wanted to come up with another part for the piano. He listened to the original song and realised that there are some type of synthesizer sounds in the original song. 

I have been practising learning the guitar solo parts. This helps thicken out the song when we play it and adds some extra texture to the song.

Ensemble 3

The first song was chosen by all of us and it was Dani California by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. 

The way we all decided to learn a song was to listen to it as a group and then go home and each of practise our parts. I already knew the main guitar part so I taught Sam the same part and Dom volunteered to play the bass. The first problem we experienced was that there wasn’t no piano in the original recording of the song. George and Jaina both decided that from now on if the song didn't have piano parts originally the would take it in turns to play the chords and then the other does something else to add texture on each song. In this case George played the chords in Dani California on an electric piano voice on the piano and then Jaina went an octave higher and played an arpeggio with the chords but on a piano voicing. This sounded a little weird when we first tried it but with practise and time it started to sound good. Over the next week the guitars me and sawmill focus on our guitar parts so that they sound like the original song. 

Ensemble 2

The first problem as a group was only a little problem but it was  hard to overcome each time. Where we had so many different players with different music tastes within the group we all found it  hard to come up with a final decision on what songs to play. We all came up with lots of song choices but at least one person in the whole group wasn't happy with the suggestions.

The way we all decided to overcome this problem was to spin a bottle each time we needed a new song and whoever it landed on would pick a song, eliminating that person who picked each time. After the song was picked we would each go away and practise our parts whether we liked the song or not as this was the fairest way. 

Ensemble 1

In our music class there is only six of us so it was hard for us to split up into 2 different groups without lacking certain important instruments in the ensemble. Therefore, Tom put us all into one ensemble group. We all realised it was a big group but it would be better than two little groups. In our ensemble group we have: Me, Sam and Dom all play guitar so they will each take it in turns to play the bass also; Tyler is the lead vocals because he is the only singer in our group, Jaina and George on keyboards and finally Tom will play the drums for us because no one else can play them as good as their other instrument. Over the year we will have to practice songs as a group and choose three of them to perform over the year to get marked as an ensemble in.

Comfortably Numb PD4

My next challenge is to learn all of the main guitar solo that finishes the song. The solo mainly uses notes from again the B minor pentatonic but Dave Gilmour adds in some major notes and blue notes such as an F note and a C note. I will break the solo down into different sections and licks as the solo is fairly long. Here are the tabs for the whole solo:

I will start by learning the first part of the solo and learn as much as I can in around an hour. This will give me enough time to get the first parts of the solo down and clean and then I will give my self a break for around 20 mins and begin to carry on learning the solo. The bits that will be the most challenging will be the fast runs that start on the high E string and finish on the Low E string and each string is played with notes from the B minor pentatonic scale in position one based around the notes found around the 7th and 9th frets on the guitar.

I will practise by learning each licks and runs separately as this will help me when putting the whole solo together and I can focus on my articulation when playing these parts. I will listen to the original solo then play parts of it back and play along with it to make sure I am playing it right.

This is the most iconic part of the song and the part everyone remembers the song for so it is important it is played right. the whole solo should take around a whole day to learn in order to play it up to speed and clean.

Comfortably Numb PD3

This week I am setting myself the challenge of the learning the first lead guitar solo.
The solo uses notes from the B minor pentatonic scale with some major notes adding in.
The notes in the B minor pentatonic scale are B,D,E,F# and A.
I am going to the learn the whole of this guitar solo but break it into parts whilst learning it. This solo is only short so I will learn it all in one day.
Here are the tabs for tis solo:

The main I need to work on is the fast bit played on the G string uses hammer ons and pull of on the 7th, 9th and 11th frets of the guitar. I will practise these bits slowly to build up speed.
I will give myself around two hours to learn this solo as it is in the style of playing i am used to playing so it shouldn't take me to long to learn however i want to make sure i am articulating each note right and playing it so it sounds like the original. For this reasons i will also practise along with the original track.
This part is important to learn as it is a very iconic part of the song that everyone remembers and it shows of Dave Gilmour's guitar talent and I want to do justice to this piece.

Comfortably Numb PD2

This week I am going to practise the arpeggios played in the pre chorus of the song. This part happens twice during the whole song. The arpeggios are playing each notes from D,A,C and G chords separately. They are a lead guitar part which is played over the same major chords as to what the arpeggios are playing.
Here is the tabs for these arpeggios:

This is an important part of the song as it is an extra melody that helps build texture in the song and it is a very recognisable part of the song that an audience would expect to hear and to be played fluently.
I will practise this by starting of slowly and breaking each part into different sections such as learning just the first part of the A major arpeggio. This should not take me to long as there are only two positions to learn as finger position and pattern for the A and G arpeggio are the same and the positions for the D and C are the same.
I will give myself around an hour to learn this as it is a fairly simply finger pattern and isn't played overly fast.

Comfortably Numb PD1

The third song I am doing for my solo performance is Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd.
The key of the song is in B minor and the song is famous for its long guitar solo outro.
The first thing I need to work on is the B minor barre chord used throughout the song.
The B minor chord is made up of the notes B, D and F #  and to play this chord on the guitar you have to play in a barre chord finger position. This can be tricky as it is sometimes challenging getting each note of the chord to ring out.
Practising this chord should take me around two hours. I am fairly good at barre chords so I shouldn't have to practise to much but I want to make sure I am letting each note ring out from the chord and that sounds clean and crisp and this is why I am dedicating two hours to practise the chord.
Here is the chord chart for a B minor on a guitar:

Learning this chord properly is important to the song as this chord is played a number of times throughout the song. It  is also the first chord struck so it needs to be played right to make the song performance sound good from the beginning.

Black Dog pd5

The final part I now need to learn for Black Dog is the lead guitar solo that finishes the song and faces out.
The song mainly uses notes from the F# Minor pentatonic scale and the A major pentatonic scale.
This will be the most challenging part of the song as there are parts that are played very fast and you can tell a lot of the parts were improvised when recorded. This will also be challenging as some of the parts use awkward finger positions that I well need to remember.
Here are the tabs for the solo:

e|--------------------5----|--------------------5----|--------------------5--------|
B|-------------------------|-------------------------|----------------------------3|
G|--------2---2-4b(6)------|--------2---2-4b(6)------|--------2---2-4b(6)---5b(7)--|
D|----2-4---4--------------|----2-4---4--------------|----2-4---4------------------|
A|-/4-------------------0-3|-/4-------------------0-3|-/4--------------------------|
E|-------------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------------|

e|--------------------5----|--------------------5----|--------------------5--------|
B|-------------------------|-------------------------|----------------------------3|
G|--------2---2-4b(6)------|--------2---2-4b(6)------|--------2---2-4b(6)---5b(7)--|
D|----2-4---4--------------|----2-4---4--------------|----2-4---4------------------|
A|-/4-------------------0-3|-/4-------------------0-3|-/4--------------------------|
E|-------------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------------|

e|----------------|-5---5-7b(9)-----7-5|-5-5-5--------8-10|-10-10b(12)---12/10-8-10/12-10|
B|---------------5|-5------------------|-5-5-5/10---------|------------------------------|
G|-5-4-2---2h4-2--|--------------------|------------------|------------------------------|
D|-------4--------|--------------------|------------------|------------------------------|
A|----------------|--------------------|------------------|------------------------------|
E|----------------|--------------------|------------------|------------------------------|

e|-8-10---8---10-10---|---8----------10b(12)-10|-8-10---------------------|
B|--------------------|-----------10-----------|----------------15b(17)---|
G|--------------------|------------------------|--------------0-----------|
D|--------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|
A|--------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|
E|--------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|

e|-----------------------------|-------------------------|-----------17-----------------|
B|-15-----r15-13-15b(17)-----15|-13---15b(17)-15---------|----------------------------17|
G|-----------------------------|-------------------------|-19b(21)--------19b(21)-------|
D|-----------------------------|-------------------------|------------------------------|
A|-----------------------------|-------------------------|------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------|-------------------------|------------------------------|

e|-17--------------17-20----------|--------------------------|-17-----------------------|
B|----17-20b(22)-----------20b(22)|-r20-------17-------------|----20-----17-20b(22)-----|
G|--------------------------------|-------x--------19b(21)---|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
A|--------------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
E|--------------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|

e|---17---------------------|------------------20|---------------------------------|
B|------20-17---------------|--------20b(22)-----|---20b(22)r20-17---19b(21)-------|
G|--------------17b(19)---20|--------------------|-------------------------------19|
D|--------------------------|--------------------|---------------------------------|
A|--------------------------|--------------------|---------------------------------|
E|--------------------------|--------------------|---------------------------------|

e|----------------------|---------5-------------5----|---------5-------------5----|
B|-----------------5-5-5|-------5---8p5-------5---8p5|-------5---8p5-------5---8p5|
G|-17----19-17----------|-7b(9)---------7b(9)--------|-7b(9)---------7b(9)--------|
D|----19----------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
A|----------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
E|----------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|

e|---------5-------------5----|-------------------------|------------------|--------------------|
B|-------5---8p5-------5---8p5|-8p5---------------------|------------------|--------------------|
G|-7b(9)---------7b(9)--------|-----7p5-7-5---7-5-------|-----------5------|-5-7b(9)-------7-7-7|
D|----------------------------|-------------7-----------|-7-5-7-----------7|-------------7------|
A|----------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|--------------------|
E|----------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|--------------------|

e|------------------------|------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
B|-----------------8------|------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
G|-7b(9)---7-5---5---7b(9)|-7-5---7----------|-5---------5--------|-7---------5--------|
D|-------------7----------|-----7-------5-6-7|-----5-6-7-----5-6-7|-----5-6-7-----5-6-7|
A|------------------------|------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
E|------------------------|------------------|--------------------|--------------------|

e|----------------------|-----------------|-------------------5-----|-------------------5-----|
B|----------------------|-----------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
G|-7---------5----------|-----------------|-------2---2-4b(6)-------|-------2---2-4b(6)-------|
D|-----5-6-7-------5-6-7|-----------------|---2-4---4---------------|---2-4---4---------------|
A|-----------------5-6-7|-5-3-4---------3/|-4---------------------3/|-4---------------------3/|
E|----------------------|-------3---------|-------------------------|-------------------------|

e|-------------------5-----|-----------------|-----------------5----|----8---9---10b(12)---|
B|-------------------------|-----------------|---------------5---/10|----------------------|
G|-------2---2-4b(6)-------|-----------------|-------2---2/6--------|----------------------|
D|---2-4---4---------------|-----------------|---2-4---4------------|----------------------|
A|-4-----------------------|-5-3-4---------3/|-4--------------------|----------------------|
E|---------------------4-7-|-------3---------|----------------------|----------------------|

e|-10---10b(12)---10---10b(12)-10|-8-10-10b(12)-8----------|----8--------------------|
B|-------------------------------|--------------------10-10|------------10-13b(16)---|
G|-------------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|

e|--------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------|
B|----10-----x-10-13b(16)---|---10-----10-10-15-15b(17)|---15-13----15---13---|
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|---------14---------14|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------|

e|-----------15----------|-------------------15b(17)|----------------------15b(17)|
B|-15---13--------15b(17)|-r15p13----15-13----------|-15p13----15-13----13--------|
G|-----------------------|--------14----------------|-------14-------14-----------|
D|-----------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------|
A|-----------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------|
E|-----------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------|

The parts highlighted in red will be the most challenging as they are the fastest parts. This will probably take me around a week to learn as there are some very past and complicated parts of the song that uses lots of techniques. I will break the solo down into different sections and practise them slowly with a metronome until I can play them at full speed and with the original song.

Black Dog pd4

I have now learned all of the rhythm guitar parts and I need now need to learn the lead guitar parts.
The first part I will work on is the lead guitar harmony played over the main guitar riff. The harmony is a 3rd apart from the main riff and these are the tabs for the riff.
As I already know the main riff this riff should be fairly simple to learn as it uses similar finger positions and is in the same timing. This will probably take around 30 mins to learn if I focus and keep playing along with the original song. This part is impertinent to the song as it makes the main riff sound even bigger than it does when this harmony is played and it is a noticeable part of the song.

Black Dp pd3

Since my last blog post I have learnt the riff I set out for myself to do and that only now leaves me the pre chorus and the guitar solo to learn.

The next riff is again a bluesy rock riff than involves string bending and hammer on and pull offs.

The riff uses notes from F# minor (relative minor from the songs key which is A,)

and a C and G note.

Here are the tabs for the riff:

I will need need to practise the hammer on/pull part with the bending involved the most as this will probably be the most challenging. I will start of slow and slowly build up my finger strength for the hammer on and pull of part which is played on the 4th and 2nd frets of the g string.

This riff is also timed weird which is something I will need to practise so I will play this along with the original.

This will probably take me around 2 hours to learn if I start slowly to help me build up my speed for the riff and I will use a metronome to build up speed and make sure I am playing it in time.

I need to learn this well in order for the song to sound full and this is a memorable part of the song

Black Dog pd2

I have now learned the main guitar riff and I am moving onto the verse guitar parts. My target of learning it in 3 days payed of well as it allowed me enough time to get to play it at the original speed of the recording.

My next target is to learn the verse guitar riff. This riff is based around an A5 chord, a C chord and a G note (similar to previous riff, a minor pentatonic). The riff is in 4/4 and is a quite a bluesy/ typical classic rock riff.

Below is the tab for the riff

e|--|---------------|--------------|-----------------|------------------------|
B|--|---------------|-----5--------|-----------------|------------------------|
G|-2|-----2--------2|-----5---2----|-----2-----2-----|------------------------|
D|-2|-----2--------2|-----5---2----|-----2-----2----5|-----------------4------|
A|-0|-----0--------0|-----3---0----|-----0-----0-----|------------------------|
E|--|-3-------3-----|-4h5----------|-2h3-----3-------|------------------------|

e|----------------|----------------|------------------|-------------|
B|----------------|----------------|------------------|-------------|
G|-----2---------2|-0h2-5---2-----2|-----2------------|------------2|
D|-----2---------2|-0h2-5---2-----2|-----2-----------5|------4-----2|
A|-----0---------0|---------0-----0|-----0------------|------------0|
E|-3-------3------|----------------|-3-------3-5------|-------------|


e|----------------|----------------|------------------|------------------------|
B|----------------|----------------|------------------|------------------------|
G|-----2---------2|-0-2-5---2-----2|-----2------------|-----------------------2|
D|-----2---------2|-0-2-5---2-----2|-----2-----------5|--------------4--------2|
A|-----0---------0|---------0-----0|-----0------------|-----------------------0|
E|-3-------3------|----------------|-3-------3-5------|------------------------|

e|----------------|----------------|------------------|------------------|
B|----------------|----------------|------------------|------------------|
G|-----2---------2|-0-2-5---2-----2|-----2------------|------------------|
D|-----2---------2|-0-2-5---2-----2|-----2-----------5|--------4---------|
A|-----0---------0|---------0-----0|-----0------------|------------------|
E|-3-------3------|----------------|-3-------3-5------|------------------|

I need to mainly focus on the slide going from the C chord back to the A5 chord. This is fairly fast so I will start slowly to increase the speed over time. This shouldn't be to challenging as this is the sort of music I enjoy playing and I am familiar with this style of playing. I will give myself 2 hours to learn this riff as it isn't to challenging but I want to get it sounding tight and like how the original sounds.
This part is important to learning the song as it is a key part and will sound sloppy if not played correctly.

Black Dog pd1

The next I decided to lean for my solo performance was black dog by Led Zeppelin. The first target I set myself was learning the main guitar riff that is played many times throughout the song.
The song uses mainly uses notes from the A minor pentatonic scale including the notes a, c, d, e and g however Jimmy Page is adding the note G# which gives the rif a sense of chromatic feel as part of the riff goes from the note G to G# to A and these three notes are played on the D string on the 5th, 6th and 7th frets of the guitar. 
Here is a tab of the riff:

E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

B|-------------------------------5---------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------------5^~--------7-----5--7hp5--------5^~-------------------------------|
D|-----5--6--7-----------7-------------------7--7--------7----5--7--7-------------2--|
A|--7-----------7------------------------------------------------------5--7\3--5--0--|
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I will be focusing on getting the timing of the riff right as the riff is played in 5/4 over a 4/4 beat which makes the timing of the riff very odd.  I will also need to make sure I get the hammer on/pull of section of the riff right. (5--7hp5  on the G string part,) 
I will practise this riff for around 30 minutes a day as this will give me enough time to learn the riff if i keep playing it over and over again starting of slow. Once i can olay the riff at full speed I will practise it over and over again with the original recording of the song.
This is relevant to the song as this is the main guitar part in the song and if it isn't played right it will be very noticeable and the song will not sound right.
This should probably take me around 3 days to learn if I practise it 30 minutes a day as the riffis challenging but 3 days should be enough if I break the riff down into different sections. on the first day I will practise up to the hammer on part:

E|-----------------------------------------

B|-------------------------------5-------
G|-----------------5^~--------7-----5--7hp5
D|-----5--6--7-----------7----------------
A|--7-----------7-------------------------
E|----------------------------------------

On the second day I will practise the second half of the riff (red:)

E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------5---------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------------5^~--------7-----5--7hp5--------5^~-------------------------------|
D|-----5--6--7-----------7-------------------7--7--------7----5--7--7-------------2--|
A|--7-----------7------------------------------------------------------5--7\3--5--0--|
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


On the 3rd day I will practise playing the song up to full speed and along with theoriginal recording.

Nightrain Post

The task I have set myself is to perfect one of the riffs from nightrain. The riff uses an A 5^th chord and a number of double stop that are again power chords. The riff is a variation of the main intro riff as the first three chords are the same in both riffs. There are a number of slides between the chords to give the riff a smooth almost legato sound. I will learn this part by practising it over and over again and use tabs to work out what to play. Once this part is learned properly it will make the transition from the first to the second verse sound a lot cleaner. This should take me around two days to learn as it is a riff needs to have the righ articulation to sound clean. Two days will be the right amount of time to perfect this riff.

Nightrain Solo Post

Final Part

The final part that I need to learn for the nightrain guitar solo is the very fast bluesy licks that are played as the song fades out. However, live Guns n Roses used to play a slightly different ending that involved finishing the bar that fades out and ending on an A major chord.  The licks all use notes from the A minor pentatonic scale in the 5 position with some major notes added to flare the solo up. The licks also move up the fret board the 1^st position starting on the 17^th fret of the low e string. The licks involve lots of fast bends mainly on the 15^th and 20^th frets of the b string with lots of hammer ons and pull offs to build speed around the licks using the notes from the pentatonic scale. I will use tabs to learn the lyrics and use a metronome to help me increase my playing speed. 

This part is important to the song as it is a very recognizable part of the song due to the speed it is played out.

This should take me around a few days to learn just to build up the speed and be able to play at the original speed.

Nightrain solo post 

This week I am working on the pinch harmonics used within nightrain and my technique when doing so. In the song there are a number of pinch harmonics used and this when you use the edge of your thumb and a guitar plectrum to create a ‘squeal’ sound. I will practise this through a lot of hard work and trial and error to develop my technique and see what works well. They are used in Nightrain mainly to link two different sections of the song together and work like a passing note. The note comes from a harmonic on the 2^nd fret of the g string Therefore, if not played correctly it can give the song a week sound as the note often sounds ‘dead’ if the harmonic note doesn’t ring through.

This should take  around a couple of days to perfect as it is fairly simple however can be a fiddly thing to learn.

Over the past week I managed to learn the part of the solo using bluesy double stop licks. I practised this part for around an hour everyday so that I could play the part up to speed. My next target is to learn the high tempo legato part from the next solo in the song. This part is a three note per string ascending run that is played very fast. It uses the A minor pentatonic scale along with some major notes to add flavour to the run. It starts on the A string and goes up all the way to the high E string. There are lots of hammer on’s and pull offs used to enable a very fast run. The part I am working on most is the part based around the 7^th,9^th,10^th and 12^th frets on the D string and the 12^thfret of the A string. The hammer on’s between each pattern require a lot of accuracy for it to sound clean.

I will try to play this part smoothly by practising it over and over again, starting of slowly and building up speed.

I will learn this part of the song by using a helpful youtube video I found demonstrating this part of the song and it also includes tabs to help you follow the notes. I will practise it slowly first and once up to speed I will play along with the original track. I will again spend a week on this as this gives me enough time to practise the part and learn to play at full speed along with the rest of he solo.

My target is to work on my timing and speed during part of the first solo of the song night train. The part that I need to work on is a very bluesy lick using double stops which ar when you play two notes across two strings with notes from the pentatonic scale in the key of B flat. The lick is very fast but also very syncopated as the double stops fall on the off beat which makes it challenging to play. I will know I have reached my target once I can play the solo at the same speed as the original and be able to play along with the original track. I am going to achieve this by practising the lick over and over again with a metronome until I can play the song at the original speed. Once I have learned this it will make the rest of the solo sound more complete as there will not be any flaws in he first solo. I’m going to spend a week doing this as that will give me enough time to learn this part to a high standard and be able to play the solo from start to beginning.