Wednesday, May 27, 2009

New Guitar Recording and Other Stuff

Well, I've been working on my blues a little bit - to the point that I actually went as far as trying to record something last night. It's a blues in C, using a backing track from Guitar Techniques magazine. 

Upon relistening to it; I quite like it. It starts a little bit awkwardly but gets better as it goes on. Possibly.

One frustration I have with my playing is that, while I love the fast playing of people like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani (and a host of others) it's just not something that seems to come naturally to my playing. It's not that I can't play fast - in isolation I can pick reasonably quickly - it's just when I come to improvise it seems that my mind tells me to play slowly. I'm not sure whether it's simply I'm not good enough or whether I should accept that playing slowly is my bag. After all, BB King seems to get by without too many blazing runs or sweep picking...

Have a listen to my latest effort HERE

On an entirely different note, I've decided I really need to get back to being in shape. Too much sedentary work, not enough exercise, etc. So this morning I went for a jog in the local park. Managed three laps (which I guess is about 2 miles) and felt pretty good that I'd actually got up at 6am and gone running. Whether I can make it two mornings in a row, we'll have to see...

4 comments:

Donovan Banks said...

Wow, I have the same problem. I get around it a little by playing licks that I learned from guys like Clapton and John Mayer or what I hear in recordings.

Kate said...

'Get back to being in shape'? Is circular not a shape then? ;-)

-X-X-X-

Oliver Davies said...

Donovan - Glad to hear it's not just me! I'm trying to learn a couple of Eric Johnson licks in the hope it will goad me into playing a little quicker...

Oliver Davies said...

Kate - If I had a Christmas Card list, I'd be crossing you off it right now! ;-)