What’s LE playing on the six-string?
Coupla new tunes, now that ya ask …
1. South Side of the Sky by Yes
What an awesome song! If you’ve never heard it, google it, find it, listen to it. Of course, I don’t claim to play this song seriously. It’s meant as a showcase for Steve Howe, and I can’t hold a candle to that flame, especially on an acoustic guitar. Especially trying to duplicate his chromatic scale runs. But it’s fun to play nonetheless. Wish I had an electric for this one. I’m still trying to figure out the little piano interlude. And the lyrics, once I understood what they’re really about, are heartbreaking.
2. Cars by Gary Numan
Yes it’s silly and dated but it is fun to play, especially when no one else is in the house. Simply reproducing single synthesizer notes on an acoustic is fun, especially when played aggressively with the fingernail of my index finger.
3. Black Water by the Doobie Brothers
Was fingerpicking a couple of chords and this suddenly fell into place. I always knew the chorus chords, G to Bb, but just last week I figgered out the verse – Am7 to D, and then the strummed chords after the chorus – A to Em7. Don’t have the exact finger-pick pattern down, and missing a couple of fills here and there, but it’ll come, again, out of the blue one of these days.
4. Lonely Is the Night by Billy Squier
Vividly remember this song from my youth – it was played routinely on radio during my freshman year of high school, and by “routinely” I mean “ad nauseum.” But the song was featured in the Vince Vaughn flick Couples Retreat, prompting the wife to ask, “Can you play that on your guitar?”, to which I had to answer the challenge. So I’ve been playing it every now and then of late.
5. 1-8-7-7-Kars-for-Kids
Coupla new tunes, now that ya ask …
1. South Side of the Sky by Yes
What an awesome song! If you’ve never heard it, google it, find it, listen to it. Of course, I don’t claim to play this song seriously. It’s meant as a showcase for Steve Howe, and I can’t hold a candle to that flame, especially on an acoustic guitar. Especially trying to duplicate his chromatic scale runs. But it’s fun to play nonetheless. Wish I had an electric for this one. I’m still trying to figure out the little piano interlude. And the lyrics, once I understood what they’re really about, are heartbreaking.
2. Cars by Gary Numan
Yes it’s silly and dated but it is fun to play, especially when no one else is in the house. Simply reproducing single synthesizer notes on an acoustic is fun, especially when played aggressively with the fingernail of my index finger.
3. Black Water by the Doobie Brothers
Was fingerpicking a couple of chords and this suddenly fell into place. I always knew the chorus chords, G to Bb, but just last week I figgered out the verse – Am7 to D, and then the strummed chords after the chorus – A to Em7. Don’t have the exact finger-pick pattern down, and missing a couple of fills here and there, but it’ll come, again, out of the blue one of these days.
4. Lonely Is the Night by Billy Squier
Vividly remember this song from my youth – it was played routinely on radio during my freshman year of high school, and by “routinely” I mean “ad nauseum.” But the song was featured in the Vince Vaughn flick Couples Retreat, prompting the wife to ask, “Can you play that on your guitar?”, to which I had to answer the challenge. So I’ve been playing it every now and then of late.
5. 1-8-7-7-Kars-for-Kids
You’ve heard this commercial song on the radio. The first verse is sung by some li’l critter of a kid, the second verse is sung by the Marlboro Man, and the third verse they sing together. It’s almost bizarre if you give it some thought. Heard it a while ago in the car running errands with the Little One, who loves singing it. So I had to learn it on the acoustic! What fascinates me, though, is the Marlboro Man. What’s his backstory, I wonder? I kinda envision the Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George if life had dealt him a real rough hand, say, like a court-ordered 12-Step Program and a three-year stretch in the joint for vehicular manslaughter. Perhaps a speculative post on this man in the near future, if it keeps itself rattling about in the echo chamber I have inside my skull.
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