New guitar piece

[Raph]

Posted here for the benefit of Sky & other players.

http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/04/15/guitar-piece-spring-break/

Open G tuning, lots of slap-to-hammer-on sorts of things, harmonics, and it's played on a lovely-sounding 1962 Gibson acoustic.

[Trippy]

Nice! Reminds me a bit of Will Ackerman.

[Sky]

That was very nice! I still bow to your acoustic chops, man. I think I'm trying to focus on a few too many things thus I don't make much progress in any particular area Open G is the tuning I've been using lately as I learn some slide stuff, mostly single melody stuff, but I've been trying to work in bass lines. It's tough because my mind sucks at multitasking (the main reason I'll never be a good drummer, my hihat hand is tied to my bass foot). Some songs I'm working on in that tuning/style: Muddy's "I Can't Be Satisfied" (that's the Chess version, I'm actually working off the Library of Congress "I Be's Troubled" version, which I feel is superior and is probably my favorite blues song), Zep's "In My Time of Dying", also some Son House song who's name escapes me just now.

Had a nice latin feel to it, another thing I've flirted with. There is this incredible guy, Conrado Garcia (Charry...the first time I saw them I was like "Did they just call him Cherry Garcia??") that plays our local renfaire that I hope to make better contact with this year. He plays in a band called Cantiga, he's from the Chile. Amazing strum that I'm trying to incorporate in my playing, it's almost metal with it's speed and precision. He also plays on a multitude of instruments.

I love the hammer/pulling, along with bending it's so integral to my style I rarely know I'm doing it. Got into it doing legato runs in the shred days.

Also, I like the title of the tune. Must be nice :P Have fun living the Life of Riley, my man.

[Signe]

I liked it!  You have clever fingers!

[Raph]

Latin feel? Yikes, where did that come from? I don't hear it at all...

There's a mini-debate (OK, two posts) in the comment thread on the blog as to whether the hammer-on sections with the runs should be in the song at all. :)

[Sky]

I guess I was just thinking of the rhythm and the dynamics. Maybe I should've said Mediterranean?

That Morgan guy sounds like a dick.  :)

[Pococurante]

A tendency to rush as you waterfall to a new sequence.  Don't mention to be jerky but it did get in the way of my enjoying a very pleasant piece.  Kaki King called and she needs a stand-in backup... ;)

[Sky]

See, that stuff doesn't bug me. Only playing in an orchestra requires clockwork, I like the nuances different people bring to pieces. Like Jimmy Page being sloppy as hell in a lot of his stuff. Some people call is sloppy, I call it character. Passion and feeling trump technicality and whatnot, probably why I've moved from shred of my youth to blues.

Got me in the mood, though. Grabbed a stack of the library's cds, Segovia, Pepe Romero, Chris Parkening.

This is my major roadblock, I lack focus :) I'm trying to work on my fretboard theory and a bunch of Allman Brothers Band stuff (my girl loves them), and get in some slide work, but now I feel like playing classic/flamenco acoustic! Luckily (in a way) I don't have a nylon stringer yet...

[Soukyan]

Nice work, Raph. I found it to be very relaxing. I just closed my eyes and enjoyed the imagery.