More Than A Feeling

Hi Mike,

I just had to drop you a note to say how much I appreciate your lessons for More Than A Feeling. I've been playing guitar, very badly, for about 25 years with no real purpose. I was a member of Guitar Tricks a couple of years ago and learned a few bits and bobs (again, very badly), before quitting GT for a while. When I saw Boston songs were up on the site I decided to try again and, amazingly, I've learned my first full song thanks to your clear, patient and painstaking tutorials.

There are many fabulous teachers on the site, but you're my new number 1! :)

Incidentally, how are song difficulties determined and by whom? I can't believe MTAF is 5 guitars of hardness, while something like Bach's Joy Of Man's Desiring is only 2 guitars. I find Bach much more difficult.

Great news! Thank you for the kind words!

The difficulty levels are assigned relative to the other material in the same genre or curriculum. So, comparing a rock song by Boston to a solo classical Bach piece is like comparing apples & oranges. All the rocks songs are in one category. Then, any new rock song or rock course, or technique tutorial is assigned a level relative to all the currently existing rock material. Same for the classical material. A new classical tutorial is assigned a difficulty level compared to the other classical material.

Hope this helps!

Keep rockin'
Mike

Thanks for the explanation, Mike, and I most definitely plan to keep on rockin'.

Just my own feeling, there's not enough 1 star songs in all catagories. How I've managed to pull off playing a 5 guitar song is beyond me, and I won't be adding to it any time soon. It'd be nice to see some simple, but still fun to play, songs out there.

I've learned to not pay the difficulty ratings too much mind. I've had a harder time learning some "3 guitar" difficulty songs and pretty much breezed through some "4 guitar" songs.

However, I do have to say though that seeing the "5 guitar" rating on the Boston songs kind of put me off - there aren't many "5 guitar" songs on the site, but those that I've looked at were beasts!

So I think I'll give this a try... :-).

Duly noted my friend! I agree there is room for a whole lot more easy and fun songs in all genres. I know that all of us here at GT are making an effort to add that to the site, so hopefully you'll be seeing more and more over the coming months.

In the meantime, it also doesn't hurt to head over to the Song Request forum and leave your comments there!

Mike

Hey Maggior, could you tell me what these "breezy" 4 guitar songs are?

I'd definitely give More Than A Feeling a shot. I reckon it's very doable.

Mike, I'd love to offer some song requests, but I honestly couldn't pick out what I'd consider an easy song from the stuff I listen to. I've put forward Coheed & Cambria's "Always & Never" already, but while it sounds relatively simple, it still seems pretty tough for me. However, I'll keep my ears peeled (if that's possible). :)

4 guitar songs I've had little or no trouble with:
Let it Be
Oye Como Va
Blackbird
Day Tripper
White Wedding
Life in the Fast Lane

3 guitar songs that give me trouble:
La Grange
Hard to Handle

4 guitar songs that will be a big challenge for me:
Crossfire
Voodoo Child
You Really Got Me
Any Lynrd Skynrd song


I'm not saying that these 4 guitar songs were a breeze, it's just I was able to get through them with little trouble. Looking at them, it's probably because they don't have extended solos or don't require much in the way of speed in the solos.

Why you may ask? In the case of La Grange, it's because it uses a technique (hybrid picking) that I haven't learned/mastered. Hard to Handle has some speed and combo of notes that just had my fingers tripping over eachother.

It was for this reason that I had made a suggestion that songs be indexed to included required skills to play them. It would take some of the subjectivity out of the difficulty rating.

Thanks for taking the time to look those out for me. I had made a mental note to learn Blackbird. Watching the performance it seems like something I could play. I also started White Wedding a couple of years ago, but quit. I might/should really go back to it.

I also approve your required skills index. Good idea. Believe it or not, I'm just learning to play with a pick for the first time in my life. I've always gripped my index finger between my thumb and middle finger and used it like a pick, but it has proved much more difficult using a pick instead. Hybrid picking? Tried that once for 5 minutes - too much. I need time to get normal picking done properly before I move on.

I've started "Long Time". I'm finding it much more of a challenge. After about 7 or 8 days I've got the intro solo, pre-chorus and chorus (nearly) down. My fingertips and forearm hurt!