Landslide

Yella told me last week that her singing partner wanted to do the song "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks with Lindsey Buckingham on guitar.

I said "no way!" Buckingham is of the best finger picking guitar players ever and I in no way wanted to play such a beloved rock ballad, done to perfection by the original artists.

So I forgot about it and went on my unconscious way.

Last night, Yella says she is going to set up a rehearsal time and was I going to learn "Landslide." Didn't she hear me the first time? Damn it.

For what ever reason, I said "let me look at it."

I pulled out the incredible tools now available to musicians, YouTube and Google. I got a chart and tab of the song. (A tab is a chart that describes where to play the notes on the guitar neck. This is important because any note can be played in several places on various strings on the neck and it makes a difference. And YouTube lets you see how the artist actually plays it.)

I gave it a stab and much to my surprise, it sounded good.

A little aside on guitar playing...if you are bored by this, skip down a little.

There are figure pickers and flat pickers on guitar. I am a flat picker and my finger picking skills are weak.

A flat picker strikes the strings with a small triangle of thin plastic...only one strike per stroke.

A finger picker uses the thumb and 2 or 3 fingers to strike the strings.

Two very different sounds and techniques.

I tried playing the song with a flat pick, because that is how I like to play, and was shocked when it sounded good.

All of this took less than 15 minutes.

Wow! That felt good!

Anytime a song can be worked up in a few minutes is amazing. I have to admit it was much easier to play than I thought.

Now, Buckingham plays alot more in the song that I play for sure. It will take me a long time to come close to playing what he plays.

But, I play enough so it sounds good.

Fortifyied by that experience, I launch into learning an old John Denver song, "Rocky Mountain High".

The thing about John Denver is that you never want to admit you like him, because he was so sappy but, in the end, the man wrote some fantastic music, and played it well too.

I have noticed that as time goes on, I am more prone to admit I like him.

Back to YouTube and Google and I get a good, thorough chart and tab of the song...with all the fancy tuning and chord/phrasing. I have wanted to learn how to play this song properly for over 30 years.

Now I get to do it.

It's going to sound great!