Big Love Help

[BlueGrass]

Hi, I got all the parts to the song down; like the main rhythm, the bass parts and solo etc, but I am having trouble putting the rhythm together with the bass melody.

As you know these are 2 different melodies going @ the same time. I am having a lot of difficulty playing it with the bass parts. I just can't do 2 @ once, lol. Even trying to practice it is hard. When I start I do the bass and once I try and do the main melody I can't keep going with the bass. My fingers just stop, lol. It is a mechanics thing, my fingers are not use to doing 2 different things at the same time.

I hope I didn't scare anyone but does anyone have any advise on how to beat this problem?

[seteca]

Originally posted by BlueGrass
I just can't do 2 @ once, lol. Even trying to practice it is hard................ It is a mechanics thing, my fingers are not use to doing 2 different things at the same time.

Well you basically said it there yourself! Your fingers and thumb are not used to playing like that so it must seem extremely awkward trying to.

Most people seem to prefer to learn the bass line of a Travis-picked song first, and then add in the other parts one by one. But there's no rule or anything. Just do whatever you have to do to make it sound right. The way I learnt to play Big Love was to play the bass notes and the melody notes slowly, and together, like a classical piece, where it all (intentionally) sounds like one guitar. Then as I my confidence with the left hand finger positions grew, I gradually increased the speed. I then started to dissociate the bass line from the melody and rhythm parts by starting to use the fixed-thumb/moving-hand method. That was obviously tricky to get the hang of, and getting that transition from the A to E (and vice-versa) strings to go flawlessly was the hardest part. Once I'd got that sorted out, it was only a matter of increasing confidence and thus speed.

When I first started playing Big Love (~1998/9) I'd been playing guitar for about 11 years, and it still took me years to master it. So don't worry if you're having trouble....it's not meant to be easy! Just keep practicing!

(By the way...it's of course totally up to you to decide what you wanna play, but just bear in mind that Big Love is one of Lindsey's most technically advanced pieces and is a tough song to learn in general, so make sure you can (at least technically) play some of his easier stuff (e.g. Django, Landslide, Go Insane) before you move onto this. JMHO though.)

Good luck!

[BlueGrass]

Thanks a lot. I'm not having trouble switching chords with my left hand, it's all in my right hand. I'll take your advice.

[Sarah]

See, we're total opposites. I can only pick- I can't do normal chords to save my life, I really can't. Blame it on my grandmother & the bluegrass guitar style when I was little.

When I was learning this song, I didn't find it that difficult, but sometimes when I get all experimental on it, I get thrown a little off-track. I know you're talking about it being a mechanical execution problem.. but from my experience with this song, when my head gets confused, my fingers get tripped up. It's like I try to go to fast for my own good, or try to throw in a little something extra that my right hand isn't used to.

When that happens, I start subdividing the melodies in my head, and that makes the bassline fall right into place. In Sarah-nese, I stop thinking about it in terms of thumb, thumb thumb thumb.. forefinger, forefinger, whatever, thumb thumb thumb thumb..
But I start thinking of it in subdivisions of the melody and, at that point, I can totally tell where the bass part goes.

Maybe seteca can put what I'm trying to say into english.. because I have no coherent cognitive thought processes... but I just subdivide the bass & melodies in my head and for some reason, it leads to execution.

[BlueGrass]

Originally posted by Sarah
See, we're total opposites. I can only pick- I can't do normal chords to save my life, I really can't. Blame it on my grandmother & the bluegrass guitar style when I was little.

When I was learning this song, I didn't find it that difficult, but sometimes when I get all experimental on it, I get thrown a little off-track. I know you're talking about it being a mechanical execution problem.. but from my experience with this song, when my head gets confused, my fingers get tripped up. It's like I try to go to fast for my own good, or try to throw in a little something extra that my right hand isn't used to.

When that happens, I start subdividing the melodies in my head, and that makes the bassline fall right into place. In Sarah-nese, I stop thinking about it in terms of thumb, thumb thumb thumb.. forefinger, forefinger, whatever, thumb thumb thumb thumb..
But I start thinking of it in subdivisions of the melody and, at that point, I can totally tell where the bass part goes.

Maybe seteca can put what I'm trying to say into english.. because I have no coherent cognitive thought processes... but I just subdivide the bass & melodies in my head and for some reason, it leads to execution.

I get ya, thanks for the tip.

[LV-Alpha]

I have been playing guitar for around 8 months so take my advice lightly. Only advice I can give is to look at it as one piece to begin with and eventually, at least for me, it splits up into two separate things that you can work with (rhythm/bass line and melody). I first started with it a week and a half ago and I was thinking to myself "Omg, how am I ever going to do this!?" Just keep practicing. As of a couple days ago after work, I was playing the entire song to the AOL Sessions version (minus the first chorus where he messes it up) perfectly. It just takes a whole lot of practice and don't tell yourself you can't do it or you won't be able to. Just keep pressing on, and you will get it!

[seteca]

Originally posted by Sarah
Maybe seteca can put what I'm trying to say into english.. because I have no coherent cognitive thought processes... but I just subdivide the bass & melodies in my head and for some reason, it leads to execution.

lol...I totally get what you mean. It pretty much all comes down to what I said in my previous post..."do whatever you gotta do to make it sound right"...then eventually you will almost definitely find yourself playing it the way it's meant to be played anyway.

[seteca]

Originally posted by LV-Alpha
I have been playing guitar for around 8 months so take my advice lightly. Only advice I can give is to look at it as one piece to begin with and eventually, at least for me, it splits up into two separate things that you can work with (rhythm/bass line and melody). I first started with it a week and a half ago and I was thinking to myself "Omg, how am I ever going to do this!?" Just keep practicing. As of a couple days ago after work, I was playing the entire song to the AOL Sessions version (minus the first chorus where he messes it up) perfectly. It just takes a whole lot of practice and don't tell yourself you can't do it or you won't be able to. Just keep pressing on, and you will get it!

You've been playing guitar for 8 months and you learnt to play "Big Love" perfectly in just over a week???? That's pretty damn impressive!

By the way, where did you get an AOL Sessions version of Big Love from? I wasn't aware he did that during those sessions. All I've got are the two tracks that came with the SYW Limited Edition CD: Peacekeeper and Say You Will.

Do you have an mp3 or a video of it?

[BlueGrass]

Thanks for all the uplifting support. I have been trying what Seteca said, playing ever as one really slow. Right now I am recording my self doing it. I want to keep at this and speed up.

[DownOnRodeo]

There's also an AOL of Landslide ~ is that what you're thinking of, LV-Alpha?

[LV-Alpha]

If you have any access to AOL, you can watch it, Peacekeeper, and Landslide as well as a somewhat odd interview of the band. It is under keyword Sessions@AOL. Check the archives

[BlueGrass]

Hey guys; just wanting to update you on my progress.

After playing the song very slowly with the bass and melody it has gained a lot of speed. I have been concentrating on the 1rst verse over and over, and now I can play it from memory at a pretty good speed. The only thing is it isn't polished up - I can find myself not playing the main melody loud enough or vise versa. Also, when a bass note and melody note are played at the same time I tend to hit the bass note louder than the others.

I still gotta keep practicing, but I am glad I am feeling much more comfortable with playing the bass and melody parts together.

Thanks a lot for the help.

[BlueGrass]

I just got my Acoustisonic 30 today and I am very happy about its sound and features. I can now nail the verse part of Big Love and it sounds great.

I need some advise on how to play the chorus part now.

Thanks for everyone's help!