590 posts 4/18/2015 9:05 pm
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The Who
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./[fontface=comic sans ms]
I don't mind other guys dancing with my girl
That's fine, I know them all pretty well
But I know sometimes I must get out in the light
Better leave her behind with the , they're alright
The are alright
Sometimes, I feel I gotta get away
Bells chime, I know I gotta get away
And I know if I don't, I'll go out of my mind
Better leave her behind with the , they're alright
The are alright
I know if I go, things would be a lot better for her
I had things planned but her folks wouldn't let her
I don't mind other guys dancing with my girl
That's fine, I know them all pretty well
But I know sometimes I must get out in the light
Better leave her behind with the , they're alright
The are alright
Sometimes, I feel I gotta get away
Bells chime, I know I gotta get away
And I know if I don't, I'll go out of my mind
Better leave her behind with the , they're alright
The are alright, the are alright, the are alright
I had an interesting day today, playing Who songs on my guitar! I would like to share it, because I think have some valuable insights that may help other people who are interested in playing but are reluctant because the task of actually mastering the<b> guitar </font></b>seems very intimidating because it's so complex. I was thinking of doing a series of posts and calling them the<b> guitar </font></b>chronicles. These would be posts about my experiences with learning and mastering the<b> guitar </font></b>and giving advice to anyone who has questions about it. I am a master and have dealt with every possibility related to playing the<b> guitar. </font></b>So, there is very little I don't know about the subject of music, to playing and performing, writing and recording. So if there is something you want to know, just ask me!
First of all, I have to begin with discussing Pete Townshend again. He is a very odd fellow and unusual musician to be the lead guitarist of one of the biggest bands in the world. You can actually view his development as a musician and a guitarist by listening to the songs of the Who from the early days on through. Nothing I will be relating here about him or his playing is anything new. He himself was his biggest critic. He said " he played so simply, he was surprised anyone considered him a guitarist at all ". That part was true in the early days, but by the seventies he had evolved into a decent<b> guitar </font></b>player and could hold his own with the rest of the band. How it worked is that the other members were stronger as musicians, and he would kind of try to keep up and fit in with them as best he could. He did, but barely. Where his strength was, in the song writing department. If he hadn't been a composer, and wrote all their songs, he might have been replaced with a better guitarist. I have to state this aspect of him and his ability so you will understand what I discovered while playing along with the who songs.
Okay, I've been rehearsing songs for videos, I have a bunch I might do, I haven't decided how I want to present them yet. So, I was going through my files and I found an old Who song book. I bought this book when I still wasn't very good as a<b> guitar </font></b>player or I may not even have started seriously playing yet. It's one of those books that has the music written old school and the chords and that's it. No tab! Of course, I don't need, tab, the music or the chords to play a song these days. But, I wanted to do something interesting. So, I hadn't played any of these songs in a long long freaking time. To make it more challenging, I even got out my Tesco Del Ray, the first piece of shit<b> guitar </font></b>I owned that I re-acquired a few years ago. I wanted to go back to the time, when I first bought this song book and this was the only instrument I had to play them with. But, at the time, I couldn't play the guitar, and I could barely figure out the music or chords in this archaic book. Today, of course, I'm just the opposite. I'm a<b> guitar </font></b>ace! that can play anything. So, I set up the<b> guitar </font></b>with my little practice amp, and I opened the song book and found a song I wanted to do. I picked " The Are All Right ". I had not played this song before, I cued up the song from you tube and opened the book to the page for the song. I did not look at the music prior, I figured I should be able to play it instantly as soon as the song started. I did, it's not a hard song or even anything special. There's no solo on it, just chords. But, as I'm playing it, problems started arising. First the<b> guitar </font></b>itself, it's a right handed guitar, modified for left handed. Just like the original one I owned. Even though I had it worked on professionally and it's now better then when it was new. While I'm strumming, my hand kept hitting the volume knob and turning the sound down on the<b> guitar. </font></b>Then I noticed the chords for the song, although simple, do not follow a standard pattern for song structure. What I mean is, most songs, this simple, are usually easy to play and not very complicated. This song, was simple, but because of Pete's quirky writing or playing style, it has some weird chord progressions to it. So, after I played the first song, I stopped to reflect on a few things I remembered from when I first attempted to play this shit, with the song and the same<b> guitar. </font></b>Then when I realized a few things, it made me kind of angry. I started studying music late, largely because of the obstacles I encountered originally when I first attempted to play this stuff with this type of<b> guitar </font></b>and music. I thought I was having trouble, because I sucked on the<b> guitar </font></b>and didn't know anything about music. Which was true, but not everything was entirely my fault I realize now. First of all, the<b> guitar. </font></b>I'm left handed so I need a left handed<b> guitar. </font></b>But back in the late seventies and early eighties. Trying to find an actual left handed<b> guitar </font></b>for a left handed player, was like trying to find hens teeth. It didn't exist! Oh, I'm sure there was probably a few somewhere in the world. But this was before the internet. Of course I could go to a music store and have one specially made and ordered from some custom shop, but it would have been so expensive, I wouldn't have been able to afford it any way. Even ten years later, when I was actually playing, the situation hadn't changed that much. All the left handed guitars you see from my collection I purchase at that time, cost twice to three times as much as a right handed model. Now of course, they are more prvelant and reasonably priced. But that's because of the internet and opening up availability to more left handed players like me. So, even if I had bought a better<b> guitar </font></b>then the piece of junk I had at the time. I still would have had similar issues with the knobs and other stuff. Plus, you feel like it's up side down, and it's difficult to play up on the neck at the higher notes. I can do it now, of course, but that's only because I became fantastically proficient from playing with a real left handed<b> guitar </font></b>first. Secondly, it was the songs and the music itself that was difficult to master. I'm a professional now, and when I look at Pete's songs now, I think, " what the fuck was he thinking when he wrote this "? And I know the answer to that as well. If you look at a Who song book, the first thing you'll notice is, a lot of simple chords, and then they'll be some weird ass chord you've never heard of before, thrown into the mix, and then a bunch of regular common chords again. That used to perplex me, until I realized how people like him wrote songs. First of all, he's not trained or has any formal musical study. He's one of those self taught guys. I think he played other instruments first before he picked up the<b> guitar. </font></b>I believe he played horns or something first? Then when they formed the Who, he became the guitarist, because that's what was popular with the bands at the time. If horn playing bands were popular at the time, he probably would have stuck with that instrument instead. He basically was a chordy or just a chord player, and he wouldn't evolve much past that until the Who released their magnum opus Who's Next in the seventies, But here is the key to his style. Because he didn't know what he was doing, he would play things the way they sounded, or the way he heard them sound from the tune in his head. Because of that, and the fact that he was limited as a musician. He would just move his fingers around with the notes, until he found a sound he liked or matched what he was singing. That may be good for the song, but it wreaks havoc for players trying to reproduce it. Because I now know and understand chords and their construction, I recognize this trait in all of his songs. So, in this case, it wasn't the fact that I had trouble mastering the music or playing it, it was the unconventional way the songs were written in the first place that made them difficult to play. But, at the time, I didn't know any of this. I just thought, " oh, this is too fucking hard, I give up "! But, had I attempted other songs, from some other artist, I might not have had this problem. But I didn't know that, I thought they were all like this, they're not. I found the one band, that had the most difficult songs to master, and I based my decision on whether to pursue playing the<b> guitar </font></b>on this fucking assholes lack of proper song structure. Well, for me the result was, it delayed my eventual study of the<b> guitar </font></b>and music a few more years. So, I played a few more songs, and in every one of them, I noticed this same weird chord and song structure. And in case you're wondering why it worked or doesn't sound so bad when you hear them, The rest of the band, did a lot of work to cover for Pete's deficiencies on the<b> guitar. </font></b>This isn't a secret, the other members talked about this fact in interviews. I saw one song, I always thought there was more going on with the<b> guitar </font></b>part that there actually was. I was playing it, and I was certain the<b> guitar </font></b>was doing a walk during this part. But, on the music, it's just one chord. So when I listened to it, I realized it was actually the bass that was doing the walk, and Pete was just strumming the same chord over and over. That's a prime example of how John was covering for Pete being a suck ass on the guitar! Well, the Who, are probably the worlds most dysfunctional band. It's amazing they stayed together and persevered the way they did. They actually did break up a few times. John and Keith were originally going form a band and call themselves Led Zeppelin. But, we now know another band chose that name and got another rhythm section to fill it. But, as I said, Pete's redeeming quality, was his song writing ability. That is what made them the icons and huge rock stars they eventually evolved into. Although, not only the song structure but subject matter of a lot of the songs was equally strange. I realized that again while I was playing these songs today. As I 'm sitting there playing this stuff, I'm reading the song lyrics too.  I stopped a few times and looked at the lyrics and thought to myself, " What the fuck did you just say, mother fucker "?! It's that strange. Well, Pete was molested as a by a man. And apparently that scared him and influenced him through out his life. That's where a lot of the anger in his songs and personality came from. I don't know, but if I was sexually molested as a , I'd probably be angry about it too. But, I would have went after the Mother fucker who did it to me, and probably killed him. But that's just me. Pete chose to act it out in his art.
Well after only a couple of songs, I put that piece of shit Tesco Del Ray down and used one of my regular axes. I could now play the songs relatively easier, now I had to deal with the weird song structure and subject matter. The Who, were a very strange band. 
UPDATE
Okay, let's try this again. I wrote this last night, but when I clicked the update button, it erased everything I had written! I won't make that mistake today, because I'll copy and paste it to a word doc before I press the update button. I also suspect, it was deleted on purpose by this shit hole website, because I made some disparaging remarks about Pete Townshend. I watched a documentary of his life, and I realized that I may have been to hasty in my judgement of him and his character. So, I'll just ignore the aspects of his personal life and focus on the music! Well, this has been interesting for me. Like I said, I got this song book a long time ago, and attempted to play the songs before I knew anything about music or playing the guitar, or had a decent<b> guitar </font></b>to play the stuff with to begin with. Even if I could have gotten that piece of shit Tesco Del Ray I originally owned back then, up to speed. I still would have had the insurmountable problem of trying to play the songs themselves. Because Pete writes in an unusual style it's difficult to play most of the songs unless you have a certain level of proficiency on the<b> guitar </font></b>and an equal level of knowledge of music, or at least a very good ear. I was playing another one of the songs today, and I encountered another problem for players learning this stuff. He uses different timing signatures in parts of some of the songs. Most songs are written in four four time, but he threw in a six four time at one point. But for me, this is really a lot of fun, because as I'm playing some of these songs. I remembered what it was like the first time I attempted to play them, and what a struggle and chore it was. I don't think I ever managed to play even one of the songs from this book. But today, it's just the opposite, I know everything about playing the<b> guitar </font></b>and music. I now can also read music and I have an even greater appreciation for the songs and how they're written and constructed. And if I ever get stuck, all I have to do it just read the music, and I can sort it out very easily! But for me, it's like going back to elementary school, after you've attained a masters degree in college. All the problems that were once so hard, are now fairly simple. But, it's still interesting to note, about these songs, is that they are very cleverly constructed and he uses a lot of very unusual chord progressions and other techniques I've never seen played anywhere else. First of all about this music book itself. I thought it was crap and didn't really show you how to play the songs completely. That's partly true. It doesn't show you how to play the solos, but everything else is written out in the music. It has all the chords listed for the songs, and the other parts are written in musical notes. You just have to be able to read music to interpret it. So, I'm playing a song, I run into an issue of not knowing what part to play, and I just read the music on the page and then I say to myself, " Oh, so that's it, well, good, I guess this book wasn't as bad as I thought it was "?  What makes some of Pete's song so difficult, is that he'll change keys and time signatures right in the middle of the freaking song, and then switch back again. You see that in jazz a lot. I think he started out playing in a jazz band, so I recognize the influence. But, it's a pain in the ass, for some novice or beginner attempting to learn these songs. None of his contemporaries, or the other big rock icons of his time wrote their songs like that. They were more or less straight forward in their approach to writing music and stuck with basically the blues scale using fifths, sevenths, nineth and thirteenth chords. Pete uses a lot of major chords, that's an indicator for a jazz influence in writing music. Not only that, but when he does use simple chords, he uses them in a way that's unusual and it gives the music an eerie ambiance to it. As I'm playing some of the songs, I actually stop an examine some of the chord progressions and wonder about it? If you're interested in knowing what I was mucking around with, here are a list of most of the who and Pete Townshend compositions I was working on. "I can't explain, Substitute, Pictures of Lily, The are all right, Tattoo, Who are you, Bargain, Goin Mobile, Love ain't for keeping, Pure and Easy, Naked eye, The overture from Tommy, I'm free, The sea refuses no river, I am an animal, And I moved, Slit Skirts, Slip ". You don't have to own a music book to learn these songs, they are all on line in the tab form. Which might make it easier to learn them, but like I said, you will still run into tricky parts with these things, so if you find you're having trouble with certain parts it may not be totally your fault. Even more experienced and seasoned players would have trouble with some of these songs. Roger once said that not many other bands cover Who songs. And that is definitely true! But not because people don't like them, it's that they're freaking hard to learn and play! Well, anyway, I'm also working on some other songs as well. Because of that, I know first hand that the Who songs are weird and unusual. I can tell from the contrast when I play something else. I'm not bombarded with all these idiosyncratic chords and other stuff you find in the Who catalog. So, for some reason, I felt like playing that Bon Jovi song " Wanted dead or alive ". I hadn't played that in a long time and I remember I used to have trouble with that intro bit and the solo. Well, lo and behold, after plodding through the tough as shit Who catalog, playing that song or anything else was fairly easy!  Then I remembered, that was a trick I used to do, when I was still learning and practicing this stuff. I would try to play a song that was much harder then the one I was currently working on learning to play. After you struggle with that one for a while, when you back to the first song, it suddenly seems much easier! That's how it felt, playing just about anything after playing Who songs. Even the Van Halen stuff isn't as difficult compared to Pete's shit! Well, I now have a whole boat load of songs I can do for videos! I have to do a couple of Who songs of course. And the original songs I was working on. If I do decide to play some Who stuff, I'll pick the most difficult ones to show you can see what I'm talking about. They don't sound that complicated, until you try to play them yourself. Then you find out real quick!  Horton hears a Who, my ass, Horton hears a lot for complex jazz progressions, that's what he hears, I'll tell you what.
UPDATE
Here is more information on my progress. I was playing Tattoo again today, and it's looking like that is definitely one of the songs I'll be uploading soon. Anyway, I shouldn't tell you this because it makes me look kind of stupid, but, I know this may be a problem for other people so I'll relate it. Another trick or method musicians should always use when learning or just playing in general is to learn from other musicians. Everything you play, can be played a different way then the way you've learned it. Sometimes or most times they found a way that's easier then the way you're performing it. That's why you tube is a tremendous resource for guitarist and other musicians. In the old days, you had to get together with your friends or play in jam sessions. But even there, you're limited by the level of the musicians around you. With you tube, you can access players on every level instantly and see what they know that you still haven't found out. For me, I rarely run into someone who's doing something I'm not familiar with, but I still find easier ways to play difficult pieces. And with Pete Townshends stuff, you need all the help you can get. If you're wondering why I don't just watch him play the stuff? Here's why. He's a limited player and he relies on the musicians around him to pick up the slack. He's good at playing the chords, but even on his own songs, he doesn't always play the parts right or completely. He'll play a chord and part of a fill and then let the other musicians of the band fill in the rest. I've seen him do that so many times in the the live performances he's been shown on you tube. Another thing he does, is he'll just stop playing and let the band take over and he'll just sing and nobody ever notices unless you're watching him like I am. So, he writes these songs with these difficult fucked up chords and arrangements and when it comes time to perform them, he doesn't even play his own difficult material. How do you like that? Anyway, so I'm working on these songs, and I found someone who uploaded a bunch of videos with these exact songs. I wanted to see how he handled it, and not shy away from his own material like Pete does. I found it very enlightening and informative. I gained greater insight to a lot of these songs and some great ideas as well. I'll give you an example. For Goin Mobile, I played that with the regular chords. This guy plays it with the capo on the seventh fret. It sounds the same but it's just played a little differently. I looked at that and thought " hmmmmm, that's interesting, I guess I could try it that way too ". So then while he's playing Tattoo, I noticed he gave a different timing value to some chords in the chorus, then I had been doing. I thought it was two beats for F and two beats for C. He gave each chord four beats. Well, here's what happened. Like I said, I was reading the song book, I thought it sounded wrong from the way it was written. But, it was written in the song book, so I figured it must be right. But after I saw how this other guy played it, I looked at the book again. It turns out, the page was curved, and I didn't see the line, dividing two separate measures because of the curve of the page. It actually was four beats for each chord. I felt so stupid, for not realizing that! So in this case, the song was written right, I was just reading it wrong. Luckily I caught it before I uploaded a video. And I have all the other songs I've been practicing. So, I may upload like ten songs at once or in a very short period of time? But, if you're a musician or practicing the guitar, don't hesitate to watch how other players are performing something you are working on. Because you'll probably find an easier way to do it. Another thing I noticed. Like I said, Pete uses a lot of weird ass chords and progressions. I can do them, but it's really difficult to plod through them in the song. So, I was interested in seeing how other players reconcile this problem. Well, this guy did something I thought was kind of interesting, and probably what Pete did as well. Instead of playing the entire difficult obscure chord, he would only play part of it, or just the main sounding notes. That way, he could continue on through the song without jumping around trying to do finger gymnastics the way i was suffering with them. The rest of the chord, is sounded out by the other instruments playing along, like the bass and mainly the keyboard. So, in other words, he just skims over all the difficult chord configurations, and just touches on a few notes here and there. Once again, I was impressed by the way this guy handled a very difficult piece of music. So, naturally I'll be playing them that way to, because I don't want to work any harder then I have to with this stuff. But, even with that short cut, these songs are still murder to play. You'll see what I'm talking about when I play them in the videos. I can handle difficult chords, because I studied jazz for thirteen years. So, I'm familiar with this kind of stuff. But it's still a pain in the ass!
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