Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Ear Training #4 - Moving from Jerry Garcia to Glenn Campbell

#1

Probably one of the most underrated pickers of all time. Glenn could tear it up and his lines are absolutely fabulous. I want a hint of Glenn in my picking.

Lead break starts at 1:20 and I am about 6 hours into working on it. I hope to have his break down well enough to play it within 20 hours of practice and all by ear. To note I get to cheat on this vid since you can watch him laying the break. When you can see what position someone is before playing a single note you’ve already sped up the learning curve. 20 hours!

Anyone want to join me? This is such a great break…anyone know where Glenn learned to sound like this with his lines? I think this guitar break is one of the better guitar breaks I’ve ever heard. It’s truly a piece of art.

Hoping by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to be able to play it up to speed.

Nothing like seeing Roy Clark looking over at Glenn and taking it all in and Willie giving a grin. Those folks all knew to listen to Glenn when he had something to say.

For those interested or for those that have not spent time working on your ear…

Treat a break like a difficult jigsaw puzzle you work on over time. You have to spend time looking for the right note just like you would spend searching for a piece in the jigsaw puzzle. It’s how you eat an elephant - one single bite at a time.

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#2

Just to show where I am at at exactly 11 hrs of effort towards this song.

I’d say 45 mins of that was spent working on getting what rhythm I wanted on the guitar.

Glenn and I start in the same place and end in the same place but I stumble and fall an awfully lot trying to piece this thing together at speed. All I know is I always tell myself not to stop (when things start going sideways) and to just keep on playing something until you get back on it.

Structure is there. Now another 10-12 hours towards cleaning it up and I might have it.

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#3

In “our” world I think that’s true but in the music world, there are many, many artists who regard him highly as a huge mentor on guitar, even in other genres, one being classic rock! You’re right though, most folks who just listen to music do not realize how great of a guitar player he was! When you can write such stand out songs and sing like that, the guitar playing naturally gets overlooked.

I think learning by ear is the best way to become a better player of any instrument… Keep at it, I think it’s great! You picked an incredibly hard one to not just learn but to get right!

That’s one of the best songs of all time IMO!

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#4

Thanks for the encouragement.

I post these vids hoping to show the real life struggle (ha ha) behind trying to play an instrument proficiently. I’ve come to accept the fact that if you truly want to improve enough to enter the “artist” stage of music that you have to be content busting rocks in the Wannabe Players Prison…so I just keep on fighting through these stages in my effort to advance.

I’m actually enjoying this ear thing…is so much more enjoyable than the past 2-3 years of working on scales, CAGE system, etc.

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#5

@Oldhat2 that’s good stuff. What a feeling when the ear and the guitar meet.

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