Twelve Fret Journal

This is one of a handful of songs I have written. It took only about ten minutes to come up with the lyrics, and the song pretty much wrote itself. Changing the ending from “will I” to “will you” was the only part of the song I really pondered. Other than that it was a total stream of consciousness.

My dad really like the song when I first sang it for him, so he asked me to record it. I don’t have a mic stand, so I used my music stand instead, and I’m not a singer, but I think it turned out okay. So here it is…

Lyrics

I see your face in my dreams now
Your voice it carries me home
And in my dreams I can hold you
And I know that I’m not alone

But how I want to get closer
You don’t know how you make me feel
So won’t you give me an answer
Please tell me, girl, if it’s real

And if I say to you
The things I wanna say
Will I break down inside
And let you slip away

The restless child in your eyes
Tells me that you can’t be mine
Still I wouldn’t want you to change, girl
Cause I’ve seen the way that you shine

And if I say to you
The things I wanna say
Will I break down inside
And let you slip away

I feel an emptiness within my life
If I let down my defenses will it go away
All the feelings that seemed so contrived
Now they come to me so easily

And if I say to you
The things I wanna say
Will you break down inside
And let me slip away

Tonight I put together a video of two guitar parts from Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle. There is no audio sync feature included in my video software, so I just tried to match up the sound waves as best I could. I don’t really have the high part down quite yet, but I was happy to get it played all the way through. I obviously didn’t think about the camera angle. Just wanted to get the two parts together.

My high school guitar teacher wasn’t really a guitar player so much as a music teacher, but I remember how he stressed the proper sitting position and mentioned that the thumb should always be placed behind the neck (classical approach). To those of us who wanted to play rock guitar, this sounded like a stupid idea. How are you supposed to do this with your electric guitar slung low? Was Jimmy Hendrix doing it all wrong? Why did he have the audacity to play notes with his thumb? Well this subject usually gets presented in a way that makes it seem like rock guitarists just don’t know better, but there are very good reasons for the different thumb positions that only seem to get emphasized for classical guitar players. It’s like an etiquette thing, where certain people look at you as ignorant if you don’t set the table properly. What people may forget is that customs vary, and form follows function. Here’s my two cents…

Thumb behind the neck

While learning how to play classical guitar, I’ve noticed that the thumb behind the neck approach really works better for classical pieces. Once you start “grabbing” the neck by wrapping your thumb around it, you lose reach and mobility. I also discovered that I sometimes had difficulty, having played with my thumb over the neck for years, forming simple chords (particularly the C chord) with my thumb behind the neck. I think this is because of muscle memory and the fact that my index finger falls easily into place on the second string C note when I put my thumb over the neck. I cannot disagree that keeping your thumb almost exclusively behind the neck is probably the most efficient way to play while sitting and not bending strings or using your thumb to fret notes.

Thumb over the neck

Rock guitarists tend to put their thumbs over the neck more frequently, and there are some excellent reasons why…

1. They bend the strings, and the thumb is the pivot point for most players. It also provides stability while bending or using vibrato.
2. They fret notes with the thumb ala Jimmy Hendrix. This can actually make some chords like the F barre chord easier to play, and the thumb can even fret a string while muting another, which is harder to do with a barre.
3. They move around while they play, and using the thumb can help keep the guitar neck in place while running around the stage.
4. They usually play while they are standing up, which can make keeping your thumb behind the neck near impossible if you want to look cool by slinging your guitar low.

Takeaways

The thumb behind the neck approach makes the most sense ergonomically if you are playing while sitting with your guitar neck propped up at an angle in the classical position and not bending strings. I would argue that if you try to keep your thumb behind the neck while standing it might actually hurt you more if it involves bending your wrist too much. In cases like this, you should keep your guitar slung high (no Ramones stuff).

There is no “proper” placement of the thumb in general, and placement will vary with style and sitting/standing position. The best mobility is usually achieved with the thumb behind the neck, but this is not always feasible. Try bending steel strings using wide vibrato without the thumb’s help. I suppose there are probably people who can do it just fine, but it feels like torture to me. I’m not trying to say that ergonomics are not important, but we should do away with the myth that it isn’t proper to play with the thumb over the neck. As for me, I’m going to try to play classical music in the classical position, but I will continue to use my thumb to bend and fret notes. I really like the mobility of keeping my thumb behind the neck, so I’ll do that where feasible.

Just DON’T HURT YOURSELF! If it hurts to play, you probably need to make adjustments.

I’m still not very good at reading music, so I’m working through the Mel Bay books again. Tonight I started playing “A Spanish Dance” on page 90 of the paperback Mel Bay’s Complete Method for Modern Guitar. This was recorded with Cakewalk, but I could just as well have used Audacity, since I’m not doing anything special with the recordings. I’m just happy to hear two guitars.

After years of going without a classical guitar, I finally purchased an Ibanez nylon string guitar from Guitar Center in Spokane, WA. The name “Ibanez” always makes me chuckle, because it brings to mind how my Dad mispronounced it when he bought me my first electric guitar. He said, “That’s a nice Eebanez!” That memory is very endearing to me, but I don’t think my Dad would appreciate the reminder.

Anyway, this wasn’t the guitar I wanted initially, but the other model had terrible intonation (notes went way off pitch the further I played up the neck). I thought an acoustic electric would be ideal, since I always had trouble growing fingernails, and this would give me better control over the volume.

The body of the guitar is thin, and, consequently, so is the sound, but it sounds great amplified. At the store, I asked the guy about the intonation, and he kept fiddling around with the top of the guitar. I’m wondering what the hell he’s doing, when I finally realize there’s a tuner on the guitar.

Now I’m working out of Aaron Shearer’s Classic Guitar Technique Volume II. I even started growing my nails, but they’re not anything like the Nosferatu nails most classical guitarists seem to have. The sound is getting better as time goes on and I learn what sounds good and what doesn’t.

Thought I’d mention musescore, a free notation software (in case you hadn’t noticed, I like the free stuff). I recently finished notating my “Song for Becky” with musescore, and I really enjoyed hearing it played back in cello mode. This is a great teaching/learning tool. Some of the features include…

• Your choice of music/instrument type
• Notes + Tablature
• Chord symbols
• MIDI input
• Metronome playback

This software is great for composing without an instrument, since you can hear the notes as you add them. If you like the software, you can contribute to the project or donate from the website.

Well this is awesome. I just found out that Cakewalk by BandLab is free now. I was thinking of ordering a USB adapter for my guitar, but then I remembered that my amplifier has a USB connection, so I’ve been fiddling around with the program for the last several hours.

Check out this test jam I recorded. It turned out sounding Peter Framptonish. The octave harmony part (that sounds Framptonish) is where the vocals would be.

I also tried the intro to Fade to Black by Metallica, not 30 minutes after downloading the Cakewalk software. It’s a bit rough, but it sounds good to a studio rookie like me. My Lynnie thought it sounded terrible, but she doesn’t like Metallica anyway.

I was in Junior High School (seventh grade I think) when I first started playing guitar. When I saw the Flight of Icarus video from Iron Maiden it sealed the deal for me.

These guys were cool. They had this “just another day at the office” look, while they were wailing away. Dave Murray’s rapid fire trills (hammer-on/pull-offs) were unreal to me, and I wanted to own a black Fender Stratocaster.

I took guitar lessons at school, and my parents rented me a Hohner acoustic. One day my father offered to buy me an electric. We picked up an Ibanez Roadstar II Series guitar (black, of course) at Music World with a small Peavey Audition amplifier.

Now, to someone who’s only familiar with acoustic guitars and their light, hollow construction, an electric guitar is kind of like and oak tree or a tank. I would just put the guitar on its stand and look at it in awe, or pick it up to feel the weight of it. Then there was the sound. The bright, sharp, heavy, thin, and beautiful sound of amplified steel. A sound that, if you would indulge me another Iron Maiden reference, was exemplified in Strange World.

Iron Maiden was definitely my biggest influence when I started.