SBS Solo 6 (attempt)

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Well, this is a hot mess, but I'm going to throw it out here as a benchmark effort anyway.
If Griff heard this recording, he'd probably ask me to send my course materials back and refund my money so as to disassociate with me :)
I can play most of this nearly at speed, but I slowed it down for this recording in order to at least come close to being able to play those "fire hose" measures near the end. Even this tempo stretches my ability to play them - it's a bit messy in spots. Definitely a work in process - I'll probably being working on this one for years to come in order to even come close to getting it right.
Definitely a challenge that requires a lot of technique that I have not perfected yet.
My nose is bleeding from falling on my face - but what fun though!
Tom

https://db.tt/oSpX0Apt
 

bluesmadd

Funk the Blues
OG - very impressed, you are more than too humble above. This is probably the toughest solo in the course catalog and your playing was amazing. Given that you wrote in my solo3 post that you 'haven't played these solos', (assuming 3,4,5) and you jumped right to solo 6, even more courageous. How long have you worked on this one? Did you have it memorized when you recorded this?

Also, at this point in my playing, I approach the measures with 24 to 30+ note flurries not worrying about getting every note as long as I feel the timng is close and it sounds reasonable. This takes a lot of pressure off. There will be plenty of time in the future when the chops are much improved to really nail every note and slur. How do you approach these tough measures?

Again, well done. You've inspired me! I believe you are the first one to post this solo in this forum (from my searches, although I could be wrong).

wb
 
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ToneSeeker

indecisive player ... I suppose..
Well, this is a hot mess, but I'm going to throw it out here as a benchmark effort anyway.
If Griff heard this recording, he'd probably ask me to send my course materials back and refund my money so as to disassociate with me :)
I can play most of this nearly at speed, but I slowed it down for this recording in order to at least come close to being able to play those "fire hose" measures near the end. Even this tempo stretches my ability to play them - it's a bit messy in spots. Definitely a work in process - I'll probably being working on this one for years to come in order to even come close to getting it right.
Definitely a challenge that requires a lot of technique that I have not perfected yet.
My nose is bleeding from falling on my face - but what fun though!
Tom

https://db.tt/oSpX0Apt
hahaha... I'm sure your not going to have to send back your material...
Hey that sounded very respectable! I have to know though what your playing for the recording.
Good Stuff!!
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Guys - thanks for the kind comments. Every time I listen to this I identify more details to work on, but that's the whole point of doing the recording - it's so valuable to progressing and improving one's playing. I also find that embarrassing myself publicly give me more incentive to keep working on something :)
Bluesmadd - I had many reasons for skipping to this solo - too many to list, but basically, as I was slogging through SBS, when I came to understand the concept of working from roots and the left and right facing major minor patterns, I looked ahead and saw the concept of every chord as one. This instantly resonated with me, so I started to focus on that. I didn't actually start out with the idea of learning the solo as a "performance" piece, because it was clearly way beyond my ability. I'd listen to Griff play it and shake my head in awe. Then I watched the video of him playing it, and it made me sick how effortlessly he plays it!!! That is the true sign of amazing skills and mastery of the instrument.
I started just analyzing each lick to understand its origin. As I played some of the easier parts, and then moved on to some of the harder ones, I became enamored with the idea of actually learning the whole thing. I can't tell you exactly how long it took (quite a few months for sure), but I am able to play the whole thing from memory without any problem (except for all the mistakes).
I also quickly realized that this solo example contains the virtual encyclopedia of blues techniques and skills - so I figured, why not work on everything on a single piece of music? Also, there is a cornucopia of licks in this piece that one can apply Murnahan's "Torn Down" approach to, in order to build a huge additional vocabulary of licks.
This solo definitely challenged, and continues to challenge, virtually every aspect of my playing. What could be better? Now I need to clean up each lick, and continue to work on speed. Seriously, it could take years - if I live that long.
My approach to learning the difficult and long licks is different than yours. I prefer to play them as painfully slowly, as many times as I need to, in order to get every note, and then gradually speed them up. Once I have the note sequence solidly in my brain, the speed comes much more quickly. Then I work on the timing.
For me, it is impossible to actually count many of the measures in this solo - they are too complicated and approach "free form" playing. I think the most important thing is to play every note as cleanly as possible, and END at the right time. With MANY slides and pull offs, often in the same lick, that is difficult. There is also tricky timing throughout this piece, for both short and long licks. My solution is to make sure I hit the last note of the lick at the right time, count the duration of that last note, and count the rest until the next lick starts. This works for me - most of the time - until I hit the record button, and then it's all out the window. Why is that?
As far as my gear setup goes, I played this on my James Tyler Variax JTV-69 (Strat style) using the '59 Les Paul emulation - so this is a modeled guitar sound. The guitar goes into a cheap Joyo compressor set for just a slight clean boost, and then to my 11 Rack using the Deluxe amp model - then the 11R into a small cheap mixer and it to the recorder. I just go through the mixer in order to have a handy volume control.
The Variax is pretty new to me, but I am really impressed with it - the more I play it the more I like it.
Sorry for the long "blog".
Now back to practicing!
Tom
 

bluesmadd

Funk the Blues
OG, thanks for the detailed response, very helpful in this never ending quest. I had a similar experience when presented in this course with the left and right facing patterns and working from the root. It opened up the whole fretboard for me for sure, to the point where I have the composite scale memorized around any root note, which helps me in transitioning between major and minor sounds on the fly. I'm going to plod on with 4 and 5, but can't wait to sink my teeth into solo 6 no matter how long it takes.
wb
 

mark perry

Midnight Blue
Well jumping in I loved your solo OG and left me very inspired if this is what this whole corsecan help to acheive Thankyou for the share ..
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Mark - thanks for your kind words. It prompted me to listen to this recording again, and now it seemed painfully slow, although I don't think I can play it at Griff speed yet - I haven't really been practicing this solo, other than using some of the licks in other stuff. I might need to brush it up a little and make another recording to see what I can do with bit faster tempo. If I could get this to 95% Griff speed and play it even reasonably clean, I'd be really happy.
Tom
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Hi OG how long have you been playing ? did you learn anything new from the lessons here ..
Mark, It's kind of hard to say how long I have been playing because I started as a teenager back in the '60's when things were much simpler. I'm going on 67 now. I played in a couple small town bands playing Beatles, Stones, and similar stuff back when I was a beginner. Totally self taught, and very poorly taught - there was no such thing as guitar teachers out in farm country where I lived, and no youtube or internet for easy access to learning materials like we have today. We had the Mel Bay Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 books. There wasn't much in the way of TAB available then either. But for 3 chord songs and simple leads back then, it didn't matter much. Then life happened and I didn't play for a LONG time excepts in very brief spurts now and then - just didn't have the time for it. Got a little more serious one time, but suffered a bad right hand injury that plagues me still, so quit again. I retired a few years ago and decided to try playing again, found Griff, and have been more dedicated now than ever before. So....I really started playing with serious intent a few years ago but had a pretty good musical background coming into it (I played alto sax, baritone horn, and a little keys earlier in life too). Upon starting Griff's courses, I had poor technique and little blues knowledge.
So...yes, I have learned a lot from Griff's materials. As far as SBS in particular is concerned, I learned a lot, but I think it is a course for someone that already has a pretty firm grasp on the basic blues, and pretty good technique, which is something I will be working on endlessly and forever to improve. It's not a course for a beginner or someone looking for a quick magic bullet - it takes quite a bit of discipline to get through it. I'm not "done" with it yet - probably never will be.
I have no feel for where you are in your musical journey so it's hard for me to say if it's right for you or anyone else. I have found in many courses, that at the time I start them, I am just really not ready for them yet, but maybe a year later I pick it up again, and now it makes more sense and the material "clicks". Even with fairly simple materials, going back over them again after a 6 or 12 month pause can yield greater insights and understanding - at least for me. My biggest issue is achieving consistency. There is so much to learn! :)
Good luck with your journey.
Tom
 

mark perry

Midnight Blue
Thank you so much for the insight :) Im on a beigining of a journey and apart from liking the blues or loving .... I have a deep feeling and a passion for needing to learn .. as said I am at the start of this journey .. but I dont care how long it takes...and how hard it can be .. I have the corse and \i have joined what seems a great forum where Iam sure help can be but a click away .... Thank you Tom ....
 

Gunrunner

Blues and Bird Dogs
Tom, that was really impressive playing, well done! I have dabbled with this solo and all the others in SBS for over a year, but always found solo 6 to be rather daunting, especially in a couple of areas. Your recording has encouraged me to go back to this one and really dedicate a chunk of time to it.

BTW, in reading through the replies and your responses to them I couldn't help but notice how we think alike about SBS, and of our similar history. I just posted a reply in The Lounge forum in the thread that asked how many retirees we have here; compare that to yours here and they could almost be coming from the same person... With one noticeable difference: when it comes to playing, I can't carry your sneakers into the gym:).

Thanks for your post here, and the subsequent inspiration:Beer:.
Mike
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Mike,
Thanks for your kind words - for me to hear that anything I ever played was an inspiration to anyone else seems like a complete fantasy!!! :)
When I started trying to play this solo 6 after listening to Griff play it, I thought that just being able to get through it at a reduced speed would possibly be my biggest accomplishment on guitar. It very likely is, and I still just marvel at how effortlessly Griff makes it seem. I really need to work on other aspects of my playing, but I keep feeling an almost compulsive attraction to continuing to improve my ability to play this. There is just so much technique involved and required in laying it well, that it seems to be really good practice for many aspects of playing - so I guess it's not a waste of time. I don't expect I will ever be able to come close to playing it like Griff, but keep telling myself that I'm probably in good company.
One of these days I will try a new recording of it to see if it has actually improved at all. I'm pretty sure that I can increase the speed 5 or 10% now.
One thing that is encouraging for me, is that when I am working on improvising, which is my big weakness at this point, often times, some licks from this solo just pop out spontaneously and usually brighten up an otherwise really boring improv solo. BTW, some of those fast licks in this solo also work at much much slower tempos and still sound great. There are some really nice melodic phrases in there. I believe that this is a by product of the every chord is I approach - it just lends itself to creating more interesting melodies, which I like.
I read your post in the other thread - it seems we have a lot in common in both our backgrounds and interests. If I could only find some like minded individual locally to get together with and play - I just can't seem to find anyone and that's a real frustration.
Thanks for popping in here! Keep in touch.
Tom
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I guess I missed this when you first posted it Tom.
All I can say is WOW! Great job!
 

johnc

systematic
Yes I missed it also and agree with all comments, a great job Tom you should be proud of. I have been thinking it just to scary to even start SBS at all as BGU is hard enough, but you have definitely inspired me to try, thankyou.
I too wish I could find like minded people to bounce off but there seems to be nobody so far to be found around my parts. At least we have this forum.

Just working on a song at the moment and trying to play the lead parts which amount to 36 bars and I have put some longish sessions into it while on light duties at home.
I was wondering how long you would work on such a thing as SBS solo 6 at any one time. Like just 15 mins here and there or longer sessions of hours at a time?
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
johnc - my practice "habits" aren't really habits at all - maybe it's because I'm retired and mostly just play for the fun of it by myself, so I don't have any pressure on what I'm doing or how fast (or slowly) I do it. I'm kind of all over the place from working on blues, jazzy chord solos, figuring out 4 or 5 different chord voicings for comping old jazz standards, to Steely Dan, to - well, you get the idea.
Sometimes a practice session, if you can call it that, will be 2 minutes, but it could just as likely be 2 hours. It's not all practice of course - a lot of it is noodling about, making guitar faces, playing with amp settings, etc., etc. It's kind of like trying to put my grandson to bed - he wants to fiddle fart around forever to prolong it, and that's kind of what my practices are like. :)
I can't remember how long it took to get solo 6 to the point of attempting a recording of it. I learned the melody fairly quickly I guess, and some parts of it are really pretty straightforward, and others are more like "are you kidding me?" at first. I'm a BIG believer in playing stuff very slowly at first, and many of the licks required LOTS of repetition before I could even think of speeding it up. So, parts of the solo can easily be played at full speed fairly quickly, but other parts I'm not sure if I will ever get up to the full speed of the backing track. I find that as time goes by, I do make some very incremental improvements - for example, a particular lick just becomes ever so slightly more fluid, or the pull offs and hammer ons are more consistently in time, etc. Someone else probably wouldn't even notice it, but I do.
Lets just say it took a long time and a pretty fair amount of commitment to be able to play it end to end. I've still got a LONG way to go to make it as good as I would like to be able to play it, so I really appreciate the favorable comments from everyone.
Tom
 

johnc

systematic
Thanks for your detailed answer Tom, much appreciated. It seems we are possibly a bit similar with our guitar regime, as I feel I am all over the place at times. Once I decide to start something though I do try and finish it or at least to 80%. which can involve some long sessions of hours at a time.

Just looking at the start of SBS and it looks like I will be practicing left facing, right facing major and minor patterns for quite some time!!
 
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