Finalising 'Not Alright by Me'

The time has finally come where I can confidently say that I have finished fully learning my first piece, 'Not Alright by Me'. I have reflected on my recorded performance, and seen what needs to be improved. I have overcome the majority of my problems with the piece by focusing solely on them all weekend. It probably wasn't wise to spend the entire weekend on one piece, but I feel it has paid off. I am confident with the piece, and I feel I can show that whilst performing through a variety of playing techniques. My playing techniques show a passion for the song, the way the notes are played delicately, the swift change from finger-picking to plectrum picking and the dynamics used express the passion.

The piece wasn't easy to learn at first, and I considered changing it out for another piece (Even though I had swapped out 'It's so Easy' for it.) I found that, like the majority of guitar pieces, perseverance is the key to success. I sat down for hours each day, more than I had planned on my timetable, and worked relentlessly on the piece until I could play it without looking at the music or my hands. If I am constantly staring at my hands during the performance, it will show that I am not so confident. I don't look at my hands because I lack confidence, I look at them almost as a security measure, so I know I won't mess the piece up. It is like a safety blanket, I don't need to look at my hands yet for some reason I always do.

The guitar solo was probably one of the most challenging parts of the piece to learn, mostly because there are more notes being played than it sounds like on the album version of the song. This makes it challenging to play because I sometimes can't keep up with the timing. I am working my way around this by slowing the solo down and playing over it numerous times until I can play it full speed. This helps me, because if I play it over and over enough times, I will most likely remember the notes the next time I come to play it. I am currently working on perfecting the solo.

Evaluation of First Performance

In our last BTEC Music lesson, we performed a rough version of one of our solo pieces to the class. I performed my first piece: 'Not Alright by Me' by Vintage Trouble. Below is a video of the performance.

The performance was OK, it was nice to hear from my fellow students that the piece relaxed them - it is the most relaxing piece of music I know, so that's always a good thing. However, I did make quite a few mistakes. I felt that a few times I would accidentally mute a string with my hand, or play a string too loudly - once or twice I played the wrong part completely. This wasn't apparent to the class though, as the only critical feedback I received was to watch a finger picking part of the song where I had made a small error.

One of the biggest positivities about the performance was my swift change from finger-picking to picking with a plectrum during the Solo, my passion for the piece was noted and apparent due to the tremolo effect created using my fingers, and the way I delicately played the notes.

I will keep practising the piece of course, in time for the actual performance. I will make sure that I can play the finger-picking parts with my eyes closed, just to make sure that I won't make a mistake on the day. I will go over the piece numerous times until I can play it perfectly.
An idea I've had is to record a cover and upload it YouTube, so I can get feedback from people all around the world.

I haven't yet performed my second piece 'Baby Blue', but I am making progress with it. Having only started learning it last week, I am proud to say that I can play the majority of the song confidently. I will upload a video of me playing it to YouTube, so I can embed it here along with the video of my first performance. Currently, my weakness with 'Baby Blue' is one of the guitar lines near the end of the piece, I've seen the same notes Tabbed out on multiple websites, so it must be correct - however, I just can't seem to play it with the piece.

To work on this issue, I am going to open the TAB on a new software I have downloaded, which plays through the song highlighting each note being played on screen. This will help me to learn the bit I am struggling with as i can speed it up and slow it down as much as I like until I have finally nailed all the notes. It is my preferred method of tackling a difficult piece as I can keep going over it at my own leisure until I've learned the piece. It works well for me.

Below is a video of 'Baby Blue' being performed, which I have referenced many times whilst learning the piece.

Warm Ups and Other Routines

Warm ups are one of the most essential things when it comes to playing guitar. I cannot start a practice without warming up, or I won't be able to play fluently and well. When I first started playing guitar, I tried to warmup using scales - like a lot of guitarists do. Unfortunately this didn't work for me, so I tend to warmup playing some of the trickiest songs I know. I usually warm up with AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck', as it is a fast paced song with a  LOT of hammer ons and pull offs, these warm up the fingers and get them ready to play. I also like to warm up with Buddy Holly's 'That'll Be The Day' and Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode'. These pieces contrast in technicality and make the warm up well rounded and beneficial. By this, I mean that I have played all types of music - 'Thunderstruck' is a fast, repetitive riff, 'Johnny B. Goode' is also quite fast, but requires me to play up and down the fretboard, whereas 'Thunderstruck' is just on one string. 'That'll Be The Day' has a complex lick at the start, and is mostly chords - so I can be ready to play chords during my rehearsals.

Once I have warmed up, I tend to get straight on with the piece that I'm practicing. For example, last night I warmed up for a good 10 minutes, tuning up and making sure that I was ready to rehearse before jumping into 'Sultans of Swing' for an hour and a half. It is essential for me to warm up so that my fingers don't hurt after practicing. If they are sore, I can't play well for two or three days, and that isn't an option at this stage.

After playing, I tend to warm down with some basic chords, I will usually just improvise a blues solo in B, I always end with a little blues riff that ends the solo nicely.
I always clean my strings after playing using Lemon Oil, it makes the strings smooth and ready for the next rehearsal.

Below are some examples of the songs I warmup with:
Thunderstruck:

Guitar 1
e|------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
B|--0h4p0h7p0h4p0h7p0h4p0h7p0h4p0h7p0h|4p0h7p0h4p0h7p0h4p0h7p0h4p0h7p0h|
G|------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
D|------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
A|------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
E|------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
 
e|----------------------------------|--------------------------------|
B|--5p0h8p0h5p0h8p0h5p0h8p0h5p0h8p0h|5p0h8p0h5p0h8p0h5p0h8p0h5p0h8p0h|
G|----------------------------------|--------------------------------|       x2
D|----------------------------------|--------------------------------|
A|----------------------------------|--------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------|--------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
B|--12p0h10p0h9p0h10p0h9p0h7p0h9p0h5p0h|7p0h4p0h5p0h4p0h5p0h4p0h5p0h4p0h|
G|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------|  x10 
D|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------|

Johnny B. Goode:

    N.C.                                            Bb

e|----------5/6-6-6-5/6-6-6-6-6-6------------------------------------|
B|-------6--5/6-6-6-5/6-6-6-6-6-6-9-8-6-6----------------------------|
G|---6h7--------------------------------6h7--------------------------|
D|-8----------------------------------------8-6--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-----|
A|-----------------------------------------------8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-----|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

                     Eb
e|--------------------------------6----------------------------------|
B|-6-----6----------------6-------6-------6-------6-------6----------|
G|-6-7-8-6h7----8b9--8b10---8b10----8b10----8b10-----8b10------------|
D|------------8------------------------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

   Bb                                        F             Eb
e|-------------------------------------------6---9-8-6------------------------|
B|------6-------6------6------6------6---------6-------9-8-6-6---8---6--------|
G|-8b10---8b10----8b10---8b10---8b10---8b10------------------6h7-8---6h7-7----|
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------8-----8----|
A|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

   Bb               F
e|------------------------------------|
B|---6---8-6--------------------------|
G|---6h7-8-6h7-7/---------------------|
D|-8-----------8/---10-10-10-10-10----|
A|------------------8--8--8--8--8-----|
E|------------------------------------|

That'll Be The Day:
  E E E E E E E E E E E   E E E E +H         E E E E E E E E   E E E E E E E E
e|-------0-----0-----0---|-----2-2-(2)----||------------------|-----------------|
B|---------0-----0-----0-|-----0-0-(0)----||o-----------------|-----------------|
G|---3S4-----3-----2-----|-1-0-2-2-(2)----||------------------|-----------------|
D|-----------------------|-2-0-1-1-(1)----||--2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|
A|-----------------------|-----2-2-(2)----||o-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
E|-----------------------|----------------||------------------|-----------------|


   A (E)                               D (A)
   E E E E E E E E   E E E E E E E E   E E E E E E E E   E E E E E E E E
e|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
B|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
G|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D|-----------------|-----------------|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|
A|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-2-2-4-4-2-2-4-4-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-----------------|-----------------|

Open Evening Performance

It is a little late to be writing this post, but I felt that it is necessary. At Open evening, the BTEC Music class performed two songs as parents and students were settling into their seats - at the time we played, the majority of people coming were settled. Six of us began by performing Creedence Clearwater Revival's very popular song: 'Fortunate Son'. This piece was played amazingly by all, and I believe it was enjoyed by the audience. There were a few errors in the song, of course. I made an error during the guitar solo, which was one I wrote for the piece as the original Instrumental in the piece wasn't as exciting. Also - Emily, who was singing, forgot the lyrics to one verse but quickly fixed it by singing the first verse again confidently and putting on a smile, no one could have known!

The piece concluded with a loud drum and guitar clash before Lewis swiftly started playing the Intro to 'Chelsea Dagger' by The Fratellis. The piece went well, I couldn't hear any mistakes, although I believe the two keyboards played the same chord throughout the entire piece...

The two performances went well, better than expected. Fortunate Son went surprisingly well considering we had started learning it the day before the open evening, it felt successful. If we did it again in future, I wouldn't change a thing, it worked perfectly the way we did it - maybe something could be done about the Keyboards.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son

The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger

Solo Performance Issues

I have started to run into issues regarding my Solo Performances. The issue is that there aren't many backing tracks which are widely available for the two pieces that I'm playing. Vintage Trouble's 'Not Alright by Me' has no backing tracks online as they are quite a small band, however I'm friends with all of the members on Facebook and have asked them if they would be able to help with this. 'Sultans of Swing' is easier to find, but not for guitar and vocals - I thought it would be fun to sing on the track as it isn't too difficult and would sound better. There are currently no backing tracks for guitar and vocals, only for guitar OR vocals.

I have been practicing both pieces using the original tracks, so I could do that for the actual performance, however the guitar is one of the most dominant sounds on both tracks, and would not be easy to remove using Audacity. One idea that I've had is to download a guitar backing track with vocals on, and use Audacity to remove the vocals. This may work, but will not for 'Not Alright by Me'.

For the performance, I will probably have to play along to the original track. An alternative option is that I could play along to a live track and try to separate the guitar from the rest of the band. Whatever happens, I think that the performance will go well - I've been practicing 'Not Alright by Me' a lot since I started learning it, I've made a lot of progress with the piece and can now confidently play up to and including the solo - which is fantastic. The only issue I have is that I need to work on my finger strength. After the main riff, the piece progresses into a fingerpicked G, A, D sequence, the problem with this is that I have to use my thumb to pluck the three strings for the A Chord - however, my thumb isn't strong enough to make sufficient sound so I will have to work on that section, going over it numerous times until I can play it loud enough.

Sultans of Swing is also going well, however, I am still struggling a bit with remembering the chord timings. I know how to play the introduction (Dm, C, Bb, A, A7), however, the rhythm changes as the verses begin and I end up playing the chords too many times. This is an issue that I will have to counter by listening to the piece over and over, probably without vocals - just so I can hear exactly when the chord changes are. I'm also struggling with when the play the first fill, the rest of them are quite straight forward as they usually come after the full chord sequence, however the first is played after the Bb.

I will have to remember a lot for this piece, there are a lot of different fills, chord sequences and rhythm changes; but I am confident that I will be able to learn it in time, and perfect it for the performance in December.

Further Song Reconsideration

It seems that I'm changing songs like there's no tomorrow. After days of practice, I've decided that it's best for me to change 'Sultans of Swing' to a song called 'Baby Blue' by Badfinger. The problem with 'Sultans of Swing' is that the instrumentals are too tricky. I've had a look at all the available TABs, and YouTube tutorials, but none of them are able to fully explain how to play the instrumentals, so I won't be able to play it fully. We have to perform an extract of the piece we are playing in class tomorrow, and I won't be able to do so considering the stage I'm at with 'Sultans of Swing'. I still can't play the fills in the right places, it's a bit of a hopeless piece for me. I've explained the issue to some people who are close to me, and they made a good point that this performance shouldn't be about playing the most technical piece I know, it should be about playing a good, meaningful piece of music that I won't mess up. 

It is for this reason that I have chosen 'Baby Blue'. It is a fantastic song, and has a great guitar line. One of my favourite things about this piece is that it requires the use of a capo, which changes the pitch and for me is more fun to play - I love using capos. I found out about the piece from the final scene of Breaking Bad , where the song was used to create an emotional atmosphere. It always does this for me now, and means a lot to me as I have a lot of good memories linked with it. The piece isn't too difficult to play, it is a chord heavy song, but doesn't use regular chords thankfully. Whilst the majority of the chords are traditional open chords such as D, C and G there are some different minor and major chords in there too. On top of these chords are fills which, unlike the fills in 'Sultans of Swing', are relatively easy to play and sound beautiful. An example of one of the fills can be seen below:

e|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------0-------0--1--0--1--0----------0------------------------------|
G|--------0-------0--0--0--0--0----------0------------------------------|
D|-----0----------0--0--0--0--0-------0----------------0----------------|
A|-----------------------------------------------0--2-----3--2--0-------|
E|--3----------3-------------------3----------3--------------------3----|
verse
e|---2--2--2-----2--2--2-----0--0--0----------------------------------|
B|---3--3--3-----3--3--3-----1--1--1----------------------------------|
G|---2--2--2-----2--2--2-----0--0--0-----------0-----------0----------|
D|---0--0--0-----0--0--0-----2--2--2--------2-----2-----0-----0-------|
A|---------------------------3--3--3-----3-----------2----------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------------------------|

e|---1--1--1-----0--0--0----------------------------------------------|
B|---2--2--2-----1--1--1-----------0----------------------------------|
G|---3--3--3-----0--0--0-----------0----------------------------------|
D|---3--3--3-----2--2--2--------0-----------------0-------------------|
A|---------------3--3--3--------------------0--2-----3--2--0----------|
E|---------------------------3-----------3--------------------3-------|

The piece also includes a guitar solo, which isn't too difficult, but requires a lot of relatively fast hand movements. These aren't an issue, and will be fun to take on, it will be a good         challenge. Changing Sultans of Swing was something suggested to me by my dad, despite 

loving the song, there's no point in struggling to learn something and possibly failing to play  it well just because I like the song. 'Baby Blue' won't be as challenging, and it will most         likely be easier to find a backing track for it in comparison to 'Sultans of Swing'.

I am yet to decide whether or not I should try and sing on the piece. The rhythm isn't too complex so  theoretically I shouldn't have any problems with singing at the same time as playing - something I've always found to be difficult. To overcome this potential problem, I will try and play and sing at the    same time, if this it seems difficult at first - I can slow the tempo down as I play it, to make it a bit easier until I can actually put the guitar and vocals together. 

'Sultans of Swing' Progress

I have started work on the ‘Sultans of Swing’ Instrumentals. They are both challenging, the guitar solo being more challenging due to the extremely fast finger picking. I am making progress with the instrumental, although I am currently finding it hard to follow the TAB. I have listened to the original piece numerous times, finding out where I’m going wrong and I have tried to correct it quite a few times. I feel that because it is only a few notes, I am having difficulty remembering it. It is much harder to memorise a few notes in comparison to a verse sequence, especially as I have learnt the instrumental with the wrong notes.

To counter this error, I have started to focus only on those few notes – isolating them from the rest of the instrumental notes. This is beneficial for me as I can play and play and play these notes until they are burned into my memory and I begin to stop making the mistakes. I have only covered the guitar solo briefly; I am not as familiar with it in comparison to the Instrumental as I haven’t had a need to reach the end of the song during my practices. I am pleased with how far the piece has come along, only just a week ago I was having difficulties with timing and now I’m nearing the end of the piece.
Below is an example of the 'Sultans of Swing' guitar solo, showing the end part of the solo that requires a new picking technique that I've been learning, it is a challenging solo.

The bottom 2 lines showcase the difficult, fast ending to the solo.

I have made a lot of progress with ‘Not Alright by Me’, I can now play the piece all the way through, and with only a few slip ups when it comes to the final sections before the end of the piece. The piece is fantastic to play, it is one of the nicest pieces I have had the pleasure to play, along with Michael Kamen’s ‘Band of Brothers Theme’, which I worked out by ear – it was a piece I considered for my solo performance but decided not to play it as I wouldn’t have a backing track and it is quite short. This piece is also a finger-style piece, except it is played on an acoustic guitar rather than my native Electric guitar. It is one of the pieces I am considering if ‘Not Alright by Me’ or ‘Sultans of Swing’ fall through.

Of course, once I have finished learning the piece that won’t be the end of practice. It will only be a rough draft of the piece, and in December I will hopefully have perfected the pieces.

Changing Solo Performance Piece

I have decided to change my second solo piece. After thinking long and hard about it, I have decided to change 'It's so Easy' to Vintage Trouble's 'Not Alright by Me'. The reason for this is that 'It's so Easy' is quite a simple piece, which doesn't challenge my ability. I find that the song is much more enjoyable, and fun to play. 'Not Alright by Me' uses finger picking, with the exception of regular picking during the solo. This means that I will have to learn how to play in that style, which is very different to my normal style.  The piece means a lot to me, the message behind the song and memories connected with it make it a perfect song to choose. The piece isn't as stressful as 'Sultans of Swing', it is much more relaxed and fun to play.
I have already started learning the song, using the TAB seen below:

I am making much more progress than I have with 'Sultans of Swing', possibly because I have more of a passion for the song. I am making progress more progress than before with my piece now too. This is because I have been practising each phrase of the song one step at a time, learning each fill fully before moving on. As a result of this, I can confidently play along with the original track.
One weakness I have spotted with the track is my inability to play in time with the rhythm. I have been working on this, but need to look at the music each time I play which isn't ideal as I'd like to have the piece memorised. The difficult thing with 'Sultans of Swing' is that there is so much to remember - there are so many unique fills and two very different instrumentals.

Good progress is being made with 'Not Alright by Me', I have learned how to play the main portion of the song, which is a new style of playing for me as it requires two strings to be played at the same time. I had never played a finger-style piece before learning this piece, but it is a good challenge and I'm excited to see the outcome. The solo in the song is fairly simple, there are a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs, but I am very used to these, as I tend to warmup with AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck'. There are a few complexities in the solo, but they aren't anything to be afraid of. I am confident with the piece so far, and hope to learn the piece roughly in a few days - leaving a good amount of time to perfect the piece in time for December.

Solo Performances

Solo Performances are soon approaching. I have chosen two contrasting pieces to perform, the first being 'It's so Easy' by Buddy Holly and the second being 'Sultans of Swing' by Dire Straits. I chose these pieces as they show great contrast in technicality. 'It's so Easy' is mainly chord based with a fairly simple Fill and Solo. 'Sultans of Swing' is filled with technical fills and instrumentals from the first line. Here is an example of the Fill from 'It's so Easy':
Fill |-pm-|

|----5-8p7p5-0-000----------5--8--5----------------|
|-5-7----------555-777-9--7-5--8--5-76789-7-5-2222-|
|------------------777-9--7---------76789-7-5-2222-|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|

It isn't an incredibly difficult fill, it is different to one I learned a few months ago - which        means I'll   have to work hard to learn this part, due to muscle memory. In comparison to   'Sultans of Swing', it is a fairly easy piece to play. Here is an extract from 'Sultans of Swing',   showing its difficulty:

     Dm                               
e|-------------------------------------5-8-5----------------|
B|-------3--3-3------------------6----6-----6-5h6p5---------|
G|---2-2-2--2-2--5-5-5-7-----7----7--7-------------7--5-7---|
D|-0-0-0-0--0-0--5-5-5-7--5h7---7------------------------7--|
A|-0--------------x-5---------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------------------------|

The piece will be challenging, and will take a longer period of time to learn than 'It's so Easy' due to the complexity of the instrumentals. Buddy Holly's pieces are usually easy to play  due to the fact that they are based around chords, whereas other artists, like Dire Straits,    tend to show off their ability on a guitar. Here is Buddy Holly's 'It's so Easy': 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jeH0ms2_AQ

You can hear the difference in complexity when compared to 'Sultans of Swing': 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0ffIJ7ZO4U .

I chose these two pieces as they are personal favourites of mine. Originally, I wanted to play Buddy  Holly's ballad 'True Love Ways', as it was my grandfather's favourite song. The song was difficult to sing though, and so I chose 'It's so Easy' as it has a nice guitar line and is  easier to sing. 'Sultans of   Swing' has always been a favourite song of mine, I used to play it on Guitar Hero - My dad also loves the piece, and being able to play it for him would be amazing.

I believe I have nailed the intro and Fill to 'It's so Easy', however I need to work on the Solo, it has a  lot of notes and is the most complex part of the piece. An example of this is seen   here:

    D                                           
|/10-----------------------------12-----------|
|---10--12-10--10--12b-12b-12b-10--10-12b-12b-|
|-----11-----11--11---------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------|
  A
|----------14-12--------14b-14b-14b-14-12--------|
|-10-10-/14-----14-12-14-----------------14-12-10|
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|

The last part of the solo is possibly the most challenging. Despite it being a repeat of the beginning, it requires a rather complex picking style, mixed with a number of quite fast pull-offs.

  D                                      B
|/10--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---10--12b--12-10--10-12-10-12b-12-10---------10-----------------------|
|-----11----------11------------------11---8-11--11-9-------------------|
|----------------------------------------9------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------7p0-5p0-4p0-2p0--|
|-----------------------------------------------------0---0---0---0-----|

To work on this, I am going to practice every other day on the solo, following the timetable I made. I already practice the piece for an hour and a half every other evening. Once I have learned the solo  and can play it from memory numerous times over, I can move onto improving my weaknesses. For  example, I need to work on my vocal confidence. To do this, I will first try recording my voice and   listening over it a few times, then will proceed to perform it in front of some people and get feedback.

I have only started working on the intro to 'Sultans of Swing', it isn't an incredibly difficult intro but  requires quite complex picking and strumming patterns. For this piece I don't think I'll sing and play  guitar, as the piece requires all concentration on the fills. I can play the chords to the piece, they are  pretty simple - and sound good, the chord progression is great. I will dedicate an hour and a half to the piece every other night, as I will with the Buddy Holly piece. A good thing about the piece is that quite a few of the riffs are just repeated, as seen in the verses: 

F                               C
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
e|------------------------|
B|--5---5-6-5-6-5--3------|
G|--5---5-5-5-5-5--3------|
D|---x-x--7--------3------|
A|------------------------|
E|------------------------|

F                           C

Competition in other places
e|-----------------------------------|
B|-5-5--6-6-5-3----------------------|
G|-5-5--5-5-5-3----------------------|
D|-5-5--7-7-5-3----------------------|
A|-----------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------|

           Bb   C 

Way on down south
e|-----------------------------------|
B|----x-3-6--3/5---------------------|
G|--5-x-3-3--3/5---------------------|
D|-5--x-3----3/5---------------------|
A|-----------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------|

The above clip is of someone on YouTube covering the solo to 'Sultans of Swing', making it look quite easy.  

This repetition is great for me, as it is easier to remember than it would be if there were a   number of complex licks. To overcome any challenges I may face with the piece, for example, the complex instrumentals or some of the fills, I will first listen to the piece and try to play the instrumental/fill note by note, to get an understanding of what it should sound like. Once I have pieced everything together, I can begin to play it faster and faster until I can accurately play along to the track.

The same goes for 'It's So Easy', to learn the solo, I will break it down into sections (For example, A, B, C  sections). This will help me learn as I can dedicate half an evening to learning, and perfecting the first section,  and then going onto the next section. In these sections, I will use a software on my computer to slow down and loop the section, hearing each note and working out where it is on the TAB.