Left Hand Damping at Fast Tempos

rob.cuellari

i just wanted to add when playing at fast tempos it's important to keep good posture! sometimes when i strain i tend to hunch over (anything to not stop during a song), but if you're physically in good enough shape to play at those tempos, your posture should be very upright.

-rob

Lango-Django

You young punks of today don't know nothin' about rhythm guitar.

Got thirty seconds? Watch and listen to the greatest acoustic rhythm guitar player of all time...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ql3eF8cpNV ... l3eF8cpNVs

Will

(Note: careful viewers will notice that the audio and video of the guitarists hands don't quite match, due to technical limitations of early film sound recording the two needed to be recorded separately.)

Lango-Django

...but on this 1932 clip of Lang accompanying Ruth Etting, we can see that the audio and video were recorded simultaneously and perfectly in sync

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0gjVf0GeDz ... re=related

Lango-Django

... And here are Venuti and Lang accompanying 20's cutie Annette Hanshaw's rendition of "It Was Only a Sunshower"... Listen to the end to hear Lang abandoning his "rhythm" role to play some delicious harmony with Annette... sheer genius.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=yuZpniJP ... uZpniJPrZw

anthon_74

I have a great solution to this - 1st - don't do multiple super high speed songs in a row. It numbs the ears of the audience, making everything sound the same, and tires out the players. As Tom Waits always say concerning live performances - fast song, slow song, fast song, slow song...

2nd - Don't play uptempo songs at such breakneck high tempos (280bpms or more) where only other guitar players can fathom what they're hearing.

cheers!

Anthony

Bones

280? I wish.....

Jazzaferri

Anything above 240 is definitely getting on the quick side.

I wonder how many here can actually chord cleanly 4 down to the bar at 280 for 5 minutes?? I will try tomorrow morning witht he metronome and see. Make it really good Swing 42 at 280. Not sure which will give up first, my right shoulder or my left hand.

Passacaglia

Jazzaferri wrote:

Anything above 240 is definitely getting on the quick side.

I wonder how many here can actually chord cleanly 4 down to the bar at 280 for 5 minutes?? I will try tomorrow morning witht he metronome and see. Make it really good Swing 42 at 280. Not sure which will give up first, my right shoulder or my left hand.

The Swing '42 is an excellent challenge, Jay. Of course, with Christiaan's Nous'che course, with Nous'che doing Les Yeux Noirs at 320, Rhythm Changes in Bb at 300, not to mention Them There Eyes at 295 and Swing 48 at 275....well, let's just say I know what I'm going to be doing the next 5 years. :shock:

And for me, it's my right leg that will give out first, in your experiment. Such a "helper."

Jazzaferri

Well...there I have it...almost made it to 3 choruses of swing 42 at 280 before my left hand gave out and Avalon where left hand damps in cut time the way I chord it my right hand starts to slow after about 3 1/2 choruses at 320. :shock: muscle burn sets in about that time too.

I guess I will just have to accept that I will be a slooooow player on guitar at least for now.

For those who dont like to do mental arithmetic 3 x 32 = 96 x4 = 384/280 well thats about 1 and a third minutes. Back to the training board for now

Bones

As a rhythm player I always love it when they kick off the first song of the set with Swing 42 at a fast tempo when I have not even had time to warm up yet. Wasn't a problem when I was younger but these days the fingers get stiff until I warm up.