I've been busy working on three new songs!!

While I have not been blogging, I have been busy working on three different songs on the guitar. Two of them are John Fogerty songs, 'Broken Down Cowboy Like Me' and 'Deja Vu (All Over Again)'. I have actually played and sung both of these songs for my wife, and she was quite surprised at the progress I have made playing the guitar in the past couple of months. Of course while my voice will not improve much, I'm sure my playing will improve as I continue to work on these songs.

I guess seeing John Fogerty at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival kind of influenced my decision to learn a couple of his songs, and the fact that they use chords I can actually play helps as well.

All the practice I have been doing on chords has really come in handy for these songs, and I am able to switch between chords pretty good and make the changes needed to sing and play the songs. While I have a long way to go on both songs I am quite pleased with the progress I have made. A couple months ago I would not have been able to play and sing a song, so I guess I am getting somewhere in my quest to play the guitar.

The other song I'm playing is Europa (Earth's Cry, Heaven's Smile), by Carlos Santana. The first time I heard it I knew I had to try and play it. Of course I will never be able to play it like Santana, but the other night I was practicing it and my wife came in the room and was able to tell which song I was playing and asked how long I had been working on the song. There are places in the song where Santana plays notes all over the fret board very quickly, and I just cannot do that very well yet. So for now I will have to play a slightly modified version until I learn to play better.

One thing that I found kind of amusing was that there is a part of "Europa' where you need to have a different sound than the rest of the song, so I have actually gotten to a point where I kind of need the 4-Button Footswitch for my G-Dec 30 amplifier. I never thought I would have the need for that.

Fender ULT-4 4-Button Footswitch for G-Dec 30 and B-Dec 30 Standard 4-button footswitch:. Mode select. Start/stop of backing tracks and phrase samples. Program select. Tuner select with 1/4" jack.

I actually made a recording of me playing and singing 'Broken Down Cowboy' just so I could see the difference between how I play it now, and how I will do playing it a few months from now (no I will not torture any of you by posting a link to me singing and playing). That should be interesting.

In the meantime, be sure to check out Gary's Guitar and Musicians Outlet Store for your music needs!!