How is my guitar playing?

[davidstead]

Ok so I recently started recording guitar covers of various songs for youtube and was wondering what you guys think? I know im not terrible but I would like some opinions from people I dont know so I'm trusting you guys to be more honest and critical.

I do know I make mistakes in most of the covers but on camera I get a bit shakey so bear with me on that, I dont make this mistake playing live. Its just a camera thing, also sorry for poor quality, I only have a phone camera to use. Its all low budget but good.

Anyway here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/davidstead#p/u

Feel free to suggest song requests too. :) Thanks

Edit : A couple of the songs do have swearing in them, so this is a warning of bad language.

[Banky71]

Good job...your right hand looks so uncomfortable to me when you play...

[davidstead]

Good job...your right hand looks so uncomfortable to me when you play...

lol thanks :), i always play comfortably, Its just i have long boney fingers, they're quite useful for barre chords :D.

[Mega-Tallica]

Pretty good man. The only thing I see as that you look stiff when playing. Loosen up a bit more and less mistakes will happen. Nice job though.

[davidstead]

Pretty good man. The only thing I see as that you look stiff when playing. Loosen up a bit more and less mistakes will happen. Nice job though.

I get this comment alot especially when im playing the drums, I dont know how to losen up haha, I guess ill watch bands play and see how they move etc. maybe losen my strap a bit :P. But thanks :) appreciating the constructive feedback :D.

[overdriveguitarman]

Did you learn the songs by ear?

I definitely would love watching covers if people learn the songs just by listening to them, and that's what I am going to do!

You did a fine job though, but I will be much more impressed if say you did do it by ear, tons of people can just pull up tabs and play a song.

[Banky71]

Did you learn the songs by ear?

I definitely would love watching covers if people learn the songs just by listening to them, and that's what I am going to do!

You did a fine job though, but I will be much more impressed if say you did do it by ear, tons of people can just pull up tabs and play a song.

I play exclusively by ear but I don't have any videos.

[davidstead]

Did you learn the songs by ear?

I definitely would love watching covers if people learn the songs just by listening to them, and that's what I am going to do!

You did a fine job though, but I will be much more impressed if say you did do it by ear, tons of people can just pull up tabs and play a song.

Unfortunately I dont learn by ear, sometimes I can work out about half of a song by ear but I really couldnt learn whole songs like that, I dont have such great ears, If I really tried and was patient enough I think I could for simpler songs but if a tab i have isnt 100% I will work the wrong bits out and it usually goes well. Thanks though :)

[Kenny-Band]

It sounds good actually.

[overdriveguitarman]

Unfortunately I dont learn by ear, sometimes I can work out about half of a song by ear but I really couldnt learn whole songs like that, I dont have such great ears, If I really tried and was patient enough I think I could for simpler songs but if a tab i have isnt 100% I will work the wrong bits out and it usually goes well. Thanks though :)

Oh yeah, it's tough, I used to freaking suck at it! haha now I have been practicing it though, and it is going great!

Guitar lessons helped a TON though.

[davidstead]

Oh yeah, it's tough, I used to freaking suck at it! haha now I have been practicing it though, and it is going great!

Guitar lessons helped a TON though.

Ahh right Im completely seft taught ;) lol tabs and chords all the way lol haha. Remember people you can request a song for me to cover for you :).

[Sarge51]

Your guitar plays fine. You, however, suck.


I kid, I kid.


Remember people you can request a song for me to cover for you :).

Play this, and I will forever love you. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdakhQ_h7v0)

Or this! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmzMVotKK58) :D

[Joey-Z]

You need to work on matching your tone with the song's, but other than that, great playing!

[davidstead]

You need to work on matching your tone with the song's, but other than that, great playing!

This isnt always my fault, particularly for "The Importance of being idle" cover, when i was playing it it sounded fine but its my phone inability to keep decent quality, either that or the 60s tone with a slight chorus effect i used really didnt work in the end.

Edit : Also i knew from the start my "Nimrods son" cover didnt match tones but I dont have an acoustic lol

[TheClashTheClashTheClash]

Did you learn the songs by ear?

I definitely would love watching covers if people learn the songs just by listening to them, and that's what I am going to do!

You did a fine job though, but I will be much more impressed if say you did do it by ear, tons of people can just pull up tabs and play a song.

pft learning by ear is overrated haha.

i do a mixture of tab and ear learning

check it: youtube.com/user/hockeyrocks5757

and to the OP, don't worry about camera shyness, it goes away fast. i had it a little at first but it went away fast. no 200 something covers later, i dont even notice it at all. i play the same

[Mega-Tallica]

pft learning by ear is overrated haha.

i do a mixture of tab and ear learning

check it: youtube.com/user/hockeyrocks5757

and to the OP, don't worry about camera shyness, it goes away fast. i had it a little at first but it went away fast. no 200 something covers later, i dont even notice it at all. i play the same

I also use a mixture of tabs and ear. Tabs, even though they may not be 100% correct, give you a good basis to start learning the song, it's just a nice starting point when learning.

I also have a camera shyness when recording and due to this shyness, I can't show my true potential in my videos. For example, out of my 70 covers, the hardest one that I did on camera was Iron Maiden's "Aces High" with the solos, but turn off the camera, I can play John Petrucci, some Yngwie Malmsteen, and some Paul Gilbert with virtually no problems.

Now I've played live shows, probably my largest crowd I've played in front of was 500 people and I have no problem doing that, but when I have the potential of thousands of people judging my playing, that's when my nerves come in and I screw up.

[Gowienczyk]

Not bad, though not a fan of your guitar tone.

[davidstead]

Not bad, though not a fan of your guitar tone.

Ahh right haha, well I usually try to find an effect on my guitar processor pedal to suit the song but when its acoustic it can sometimes get challenging like "Nimrods Son" but ahh well.

Also to Theclash, Ill keep that in mind about the shyness and expect some video responses soon XD.

[Gowienczyk]

Also, needs moar Pixies covers.

[TheClashTheClashTheClash]

Also, needs moar Pixies covers.

I got 5 of them i think. i need to redo Gigantic though....

[oogabooha]

Can you do Thoughts of A Dying Atheist--Muse?

[davidstead]

Can you do Thoughts of A Dying Atheist--Muse?

This to me sounds like a pretty hard challenge! I will give this a shot but I have planned covers first like plug in baby.

[Gowienczyk]

How about you give License To Confuse by Sebadoh a shot?