Returning to my electric was like seeing an old friend:
comfortable, easy and with a lot of memories.
My Encore E-2 blaster (cheap but beautiful Telecaster rip-off) is
starting to get a bit worn with some of the sunburst lacquer coming off the
bottom, but for me this just adds to the charm, like a well-loved child’s toy.
It was also much easier to play than the acoustic and I decided to stick with
it for a good while yet.
In that week’s lesson I struggled with the syncopation piece
and most of the lesson was Max showing me to how to play it properly. I was
also given a Rock School grade one piece to play – Gene Smith by Matt Backer. It starts
with a few strums of G, then its D sus 2, D, D sus 4, D. I hadn’t encountered
sus chords before but they are basically slight variations on a chord. D sus 2
is the D major chord shape but playing the open B string instead of playing the
D note (second string, third fret). D sus 4 is the D major chord shape but
playing the G note (first string, third fret) instead of the F#/Gb note (first
string, second fret). Sus chords allow you to strum along, keeping the same chord
shape but changing by moving one or two fingers slightly. I think they are used
in a lot of Oasis songs.
Max again reiterated the importance of keeping in time and I
took this in mind for that week’s practise. As I practised the syncopation
piece I said the beats out load (“one and two and…”) and it helped get me in
time. He also told me to remember that when I’m tapping along to the beat the
down strums/plucks are on the beat (one) and the up strums/plucks are on the between
beats (and). I remembered that too and soon was playing the piece much better
than before. Once you know the tune of course you don’t have to look at the
musical notation and just need to remember where to put your fingers, this
makes it much easier and you can then relax which makes it sound better.
I was now at the stage where I could actually play the
guitar a little bit (I can play something simple and someone can easily
recognise it, which is much further than I ever got on the keyboard) and I
wanted to be able to better hear what I was playing. I had abandoned the iPad
app as it had too many options, and the acoustic guitar as it was hard to play,
but I still wanted to be able to make some proper noise rather than the muted
sound that comes from playing an electric guitar without an amplifier. The
answer was simple – I got my amplifier back from my brother. My altruism of
lending it to him so he could play his electric drum kit without headphones was
replaced by my desire to hear my guitar playing. Playing something plugged in
for the first time was great fun. I played my signature tune of Three Blind
Mice, firstly with gain (distortion) and then clean. It sounded great. I was
happy.
IMAGE: My 10 watt BB Blaster amp. The first time I have plugged into an amplifier since learning.
The next evening I had a bad day and felt really shattered.
It took some motivation to pick up my guitar. I played that week’s practise
piece a few times as well as the syncopation piece. Both were sounding better –
half of it was the improvement in my playing, the other half the amplification.
I then practised the USA national anthem a few times. It’s a great piece to
practise as involves the use of 4 strings and about 8 different frets. There’s
quite a bit of moving but it’s fairly easy to play, and it sounds great,
especially amplified. Of course my rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was
without the intricacies and the tricks of Jimi Hendrix’s famous version, but it
was still a lot of fun to play, sounded great to me and was good for my development.
And that’s all I really want from the guitar.
Lessons learnt: D sus2
chord, D sus4 chord, A sus 2 chord, A minor 7 chord, better timing and rhythm,
I really like my cheap electric guitar.
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