Sorry I had some spelling issue in my previous post. I meant to express that after the slide, you speed up the next notes too much. The notes, including the sliding note, should be played with the same swinging 8th notes. Try verbalizing it too with your mouth as you play it - da da da ... etc - whatever syllable sound you want to use. It will help. 

Because @clayton is going on holiday to Ireland and Scotland in May, I thought I’d get my acoustic guitar down the wall again after three years!!! and try to give Clayton a little anticipation.

Since I heard Paddy Reilly playing in a German pub many, many years ago, I tried to get "The Fields of Athenry" under my fingers.

The song is not so difficult to play, but for me it was a big challenge to play on my beginner acoustic guitar again after so many years. I was already desperate and I hope, Clayton, you’ll overlook my simple playing, I can’t do it better, but it was great fun. I just did one verse and chorus.

The sound for my e-piano comes via Garageband, so I was able to select a flute like sound.

I switched from 12s to 10s to prevent me from getting callus on the finger tips of my left hand. That helped!

Enjoy the anticipation of your vacation,

Birgit

That was too cool!  I mean two instruments, using Garageband for midi flute and an acoustic guitar mic'd, and split screens.  And I do appreciate how hard it is to jump over to acoustic and on a beginner instrument which may not be so forgiving (even with lighter strings).

Birgit, you truly are a force of nature with the spirit of an artist.

Here at home, I have been stuck trying to get my John Lee Hooker boogie blues habits honed.  A lot of repetition, and more repetition.

#CantWaitforIreland 

Hey great job on that! It's so great to see you create music. That's what it's all about and I applaud you! 👏

I want to come back again to Robert’s and Craig’s BB King style solo improvisations because I was deeply impressed by their way of playing 👍.

I‘ve never played the BB King Box before, neither such bendings nor such vibratos but I felt the desire to give it, at least, a try.

So I put together a vibrato and a bending lick including the octave note and gave it a try. Very, very simple, no 16th notes – I’m a complete beginner in this area!

My conclusion:

- Quite exhausting!!!

- All in all, the long vibrato with the tip of the index finger was more strenuous than trying to do a full tone bending.

- The slow pace of 65 bpm is also a big challenge.

And I know that I have to keep at it for years in order to get the real feeling for it.

But I have to say that this way of playing does something to me and even if it’s still imperfect, I enjoy it.

Birgit

That is very awesome to hear you play that way. Well done. How did you come up with those licks?

Thank you, @Robert. I listened to your and Craig’s improvised BB King style solos,  I listened to BB King himself and I listened also to BB King style licks and solos on Youtube.

As I know that in pattern 4 of the major pentatonic scale in C most of the BB King playing happens, I wanted to try it out, only focusing on the major pentatonic.

And what’s important : I took two of your suggestions, Robert, from an earlier post on BB King to heart:

« copy his licks as close as you can » and  «change the vibrato/bends etc to fit into your way of playing ».

So I looked for touching licks, I found them, called them lick 1 and lick 2 and modified them so that I was able to play them as a beginner: lick 1 only with 8th notes and the full bend over half a bar (lick 2) to get the feeling for bending. 

I also wanted to learn playing long vibratos, so I incorporated the long vibratos on the root note C. Since I was also touched by BB‘s octave lick, I also added this lick.

First I played the licks individually and then I looked at how I could build the licks into the 12 bar pattern, with a lot of repetitions, to learn better.

I kept changing the order a bit until I finally came up with the version I played in the recording.

However, I didn’t use your backing track in C. I used another one that got me even more into the flow during playing. And the flow was very important to me as a beginner.

Birgit

Thanks for sharing Birgit. I am excited to see you put in the work to figure things out on your own! Sometimes that's the best way. Have you tried using Guitar Pro to write down ideas? I find that is the best way. Then you can play it back and listen to it to make sure it sounds as intended.

This is a really cool step and direction, Birgit.  I see a lot of good stuff coming out of this practice.

@bluesiline 

Nicely played there bluesline. Dropping nice comments is what I like to do and never put out something that would come across negative to the player. 

I like, not only to listen, but how someone is playing. I believe I mentioned to you a long while back that there is something of balance from the wrist to the palm to the fingertip. I believe it is very true and it comes with TOTAL relaxation of ones playing.

I feel you are discovering that type of playing nowadays. If you watch Roberts playing style on his bends and vibratos, you'll understand the beauty of the balance of those 3 positions. Always enjoy following your post. Although I'm not to active here due to I'm out cycling Japan with much of my time. Guess what... I bought a ukulele to truck along with my camping and touring and learning how to play it. I'm struggling with the balance I mentioned to you, but I think with a LOT more practice and relaxation I hope to nail one day. 

@hillbilly_joe

Thanks, Joe, for your comments. I’m very happy hearing from you again. And please, when you're ready, share some ukulele sounds with us. That would definitely be an enrichment of sounds here on the forum.

Enjoy camping, touring and learning to play ukulele,

Birgit

Since 3.9 million dollars for Eddie Van Halen’s „Hot For Teacher“ guitar was too much for me, I took the chance to allow myself a Fender Player Plus HSS PF SVB.

Although made in Mexico, the guitar is very well made. So great. I’m delighted. It plays very well and is so versatile. I’m just busy trying everything out ……

To « use it as a wall decoration», how Chris talked about Eddie’s guitar, my new guitar isn’t expensive enough 😉, so I will play it.

I still have to get used to it - takes some time - but the first thing I tried was playing Robert’s « Funky Blues with Licks and Rhythm – YL31».

Not quite original - and I still have to find the right sound. Will take some while. 

Birgit

Birgit, congratulations on the new Strat!!!  Looking and sounding great!  Enjoy it a long time.

@bluesiline VERRRY NICE!  You definitely have a different sound and vibe on that Strat!!!  Always exciting when it is New Gear Time.  

I have a Nashville Tele made in Mexico and the quality is top notch.  Crazy, but this guitar came stock with vintage noiseless pickups, locking tuners and a rounded heel at the neck joint just to hit those hi frets.  And it was a damn better bargain than paying for US label with no difference in quality.  

And what’s it gonna matter after you leave a cigarette burning down to the filter on the headstock and the body gets some of that relic look from use?  Heck, I hear people pay for that. 

We’ll values and jokes aside, Congratulations!  That bridge pickup is very nice.

Congrats on the strat! Try using the neck pickup for that style. I think it sounds sweeter but it is of course just a matter of personal taste.

It's great to see you tackle this one and you're off to a good start. I think you could spend some time practicing hammer-ons so that you can get those first 5 notes smooth. The rest is just grooving with the time and that takes some time (no pun intended). It's a rhythmic thing. Can you verbalize the rhythm with your mouth? I like to do that for rhythms, to get them in my brain and body.