Putting Stuff Together // March
- Abhay Liginlal
- Mar 29, 2018
- 5 min read
Terror has Arrived
I'm sure all of you are wondering what's up with my title. Before you all
start asking no I wasn't attacked by some demon and I didn't have a guitar-career ending arm injury. You see for the last month I have been plagued by a different type of monster and pain. One Indian and Asian families have used to scare their children into obedience since the beginning of time. No this isn't the bogeyman...
It's exam season.
Given the premise, I didn't really expect myself to pull off anything too spectacular this month. But, I tried to do what I always do with this blog in times of overwhelming work: try something new that will benefit me in the long run! I decided to revisit the finger picking that I performed last month but try something new and try to implement some things that I didn't practice earlier: using hammers, pull-offs and slides, combining strumming with finger picking, and applying both of these methods to play a terrific song. (the office gif) (pokemon gif)
Quick side-note: I changed the design of my blog title again! Hope ya'll like it!
Fusion Dancing
Okay lemme explain...
For those of you who aren't all caught up on their anime and manga, a fusion dance is something from a show called Dragon Ball Z, where two characters combine to make an epic , powerful singular being. In essence, what we're doing here is a guitar-version of a fusion dance. I'll be combining finger-picking and strumming in a simple G - D - Em - C progression. (gif)
The finger-picking pattern I use here is exactly the same as the one I used last month in Elvis Presley's Falling In Love With You but instead of the high-e string, I used a strum instead. It seems relatively simple, but when using a pick like I did, it's really difficult to keep track of your finger movements right after the strum.
BTW, since I'm absolutely shameless and I will promote my friends at the slightest opportunity, if you are caught up on anime culture and interested in all things Japanese, consider checking out my boy Sebastian Samaroo, who's learning Japanese while reviewing anime along the way! Here's a link to his blog :). (gif)
Hammers, Slides and Pull-Offs
Finger picking in guitar goes far beyond just plucking a string. There are different ways you can pluck a string. Now isn't that interesting. Hammers, Slides and Pull-offs are essential to making your song sound cool and hip, so let's get into this.
First of all, what is a hammer, a slide or a pull off?
A hammer and a slide are just two ways to change the tune of your guitar halfway into playing a string or chord. I demonstrate a slide in the very first 2 chords of the song while a hammer is seen later on as I interrupt a 1st fret G string with a 2nd fret G-String.
A pull off is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of pulling the string from
where your right hand is, you pluck it with your left hand as it is on the fret. I show that here at the 5 second mark as I pull off from the 2nd fret Low-E string. It's useful for increasing the pace of your song and adding some flair to the predictable traditional string-plucking. (photo)
The song, or rather the riff, I'm playing here is by Rich Maloof, who is an indie acoustic/electric guitar artist who performs at gigs in the US. His website is here. This quick riff is perfect for learning all three of these tecniques.
With two extremely important types of guitar-playing learned, it's time to put my skills to the test by using them in an actual song!
Note before I begin my song of the month: I know a lot of the songs I play on here are K-Pop, and to many of you that's probably not that interesting. It's either boring, repetitive or really cringe-y coming from an Indian man-child. While I agree wholeheartedly agree with the cringe-y part, I use K-Pop so much in this blog because of two primary reasons. (gif)
First of all I listen to acoustic Korean songs a lot and when I'm learning something new, I would like to be introduced to it in a familiar way. Secondly, I just really like the music. Sue me. Even though I don't understand most if not any of the words in a Korean song, I appreciate the instrumental far more than I do the singing. I know K-Pop is a huge a industry now but also laughed at by a lot of people. With that being said, it's a music style I enjoy a lot so bear with me!
Song of the Month!
'STAY' - BLAƆKPIИK
For the last couple songs of the month, I've been pretty restricted in what I play. It's usually really simple chord transitions and there's really no change in rhythm, tempo or playing style whether it's the intro, chorus or pre-chorus. While BLACKPINK's STAY definitely strays from what I traditionally play throughout the song of the month, it still remains relatively uncomplicated. Additionally, this song applies both of the things I learned this month as it uses both finger picking and strumming, as well as a slides and hammers. (album cover)
This song uses five chords: Am, C, Fm, F and G
I've divided the parts I played into 4 sections: the opening, the verse, the pre-chorus and the chorus. Note that this isn't the full song but rather the pattern used twice over in the full song (I thought it would be repetitive to simply play it again).
The opening: Here I demonstrate my usage of hammers and slides, along with strumming. I open by hammering the 2nd -> 3rd fret on the A - String, and then strum the Am and F. I slide the B string 2nd -> 3rd fret and then finish with a C chord
The chorus: This is mainly finger picking as the Am, F and C chord are played in a pattern. The tabs for the pattern are listed below.
Pre-chorus: Here I strum Am, Fm and C 3 times, but the second time I replace C with a G chord
Chorus: The chorus is a very simple DDUUDU pattern I've been using for months in other songs switching between Am, F and C.
This song helped me apply all the skills I learnt this month while also feeding my korea-boo side by letting me imitate the Korean bands I love so much. But for me, this song was a bit too simple. It wasn't enough of a challenge. Not only is there better artists out there, there's also trickier songs. That got me thinking, what if I upped the anti a little bit...
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More coming soon...
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