serious help on ants please

[unccrombie]

i flat out can't play this song right at all. i just sound so bad, and i don't know what i'm doing wrong. i know my rhythm isn't all there, and i can't play the mute, but something still sounds...obviously wrong.

http://www.itypical.com/john/ants.mp3

[chrislb]

focus on getting the rhythm first, then go back and tweak the muting. do you play along w/ a cd at all?

[mbgreen]

Slow it down a bit, first of all. Songs you arent 100% with shouldnt be played full speed (and this is even a little faster than I'm used to hearing it.) Are you new to the guitar? If you are, you need to work on transitioning to/from the D and G. In the verse, there's too long of a pause after the slides. Make sure you keep your strumming hand constantly moving at the same beat. (Even if you're not striking the strings, keep it moving.) That will help too.

Practice up, and try to play along with a recording, as was suggested.

Edit: www.dmbtabs.com/boards

The people there are incredibly helpful and nice when it comes to learning/crtiquing dmb songs.

[ITakeTwoSteps]

im going to do an ants into liog a bit later, so the beginning of that might help you. ill post it later tonight.

[unccrombie]

Originally posted by mbgreen
Slow it down a bit, first of all. Songs you arent 100% with shouldnt be played full speed (and this is even a little faster than I'm used to hearing it.) Are you new to the guitar? If you are, you need to work on transitioning to/from the D and G. In the verse, there's too long of a pause after the slides. Make sure you keep your strumming hand constantly moving at the same beat. (Even if you're not striking the strings, keep it moving.) That will help too.

Practice up, and try to play along with a recording, as was suggested.

Edit: www.dmbtabs.com/boards

The people there are incredibly helpful and nice when it comes to learning/crtiquing dmb songs.

the thing is this is the only song that i can never get. and i can't make the D and G switch any quicker, that's as fast as my hands will move. when i play along with L@LC i hit everything but the mute, yet it sounds weird

[kgoedman]

Way to fast. Slow it down and put some more 'feeling' into it, especially when you do the sliding/muting part.

[unccrombie]

i'm not good enough to put feeling in it yet :lol

[gregory311]

slow slow slow slow!!!

You can get there, just slow down. Also, is your fingering conducive to getting to the D? That will help.

J.

[nonewdirections]

wow, this is ants played to the rhythm of the water to wine jam x2 speed. ;) no, but seriously, i think you need to just follow what dave does. watch a vid of him playing it. if you need one, i'll send it to you.

it goes D (pause) slide slide then G (pause) slide slide then D, etc. do not pause after the slides, pause after the major chords.

[nguos1]

the d g shift should be so practiced, it is an afterthought.

I learned the song with the cd this way:

1just play the d/g's that's it-- use the live version with tim, it goes slower and you can hear it more clearly.

2. add the sections in between d and g ( in the riff). the tough transition is to the D after the 5-7 slide. If you want take out the 5-7 slide for a while.

3. add the strikes -- 1 after the d
2 after the g. you can also do #1 with strikes to get a feel for it. Also use the acoustic version so you can hear it.

hope it helps.

[unccrombie]

thanks for all the help, but the main thing is, i cant place the chords quick enough, espcially the G, the D I think I have down now, any tips for fingering that real quick?

[PilotC150]

practice. It will come in time. I had big problems with Ants in the beginning, then it just comes. How long have you been playing?

[unccrombie]

almost a year (on christmas day)

[ITakeTwoSteps]

hey i got my ants -> liog done if you want to hear it.

[unccrombie]

ill check it out now

edit: not on your site

[ITakeTwoSteps]

yeah, im just uploading now. :)

[greppson]

9.29.02 dave solo, a slower version, check that one out, it should help. especially the vid.

[unccrombie]

ok sounds good. and jason, do you have the video hosted? i dont see it on kazaa

[greppson]

patrick - your ants is good, but the bm - d - g - bm - a the time is a little off.... just a tip:)

[greppson]

Originally posted by unccrombie
ok sounds good. and jason, do you have the video hosted? i dont see it on kazaa

no, grab the dvd yo. i'm sure someone would do a b&p for you. that will help you SOO much.

[ITakeTwoSteps]

Originally posted by greppson
patrick - your ants is good, but the bm - d - g - bm - a the time is a little off.... just a tip:)

yea, i know. :rolleyes: oh well. i hadnt played it in a long time, and actually, it wouldn't sound bad if someone has never heard the song. when i was recording the second trackm i realized it was off, but i was just like "eh, what the hell" and just went with it. :)

[gregory311]

E-2--x-x-x-----------------3--x-x-x--------------------
B-3--x-x-x-----------------0--x-x-x--------------------
G-2--x-x-x-----------------0--x-x-x--------------------
D-0--x-x-x------4-----4-0--0--x-x-x------5-----5\7--
A-----------4\5---4\5------2---------4\5---4\5--------
E--------------------------3-------------------------------

Use your middle and ring finger to play the 4/5 tones, make the G chord a bar G chord and the same again with the 4/5 to 5/7 with a bar D chord. It’s the same thing and much easier to play. You should practice both ways, but this one will give you a little more help when trying to nail down some rhythm.

J.

[MochaKiss]

Originally posted by gregory311
E-2--x-x-x-----------------3--x-x-x--------------------
B-3--x-x-x-----------------0--x-x-x--------------------
G-2--x-x-x-----------------0--x-x-x--------------------
D-0--x-x-x------4-----4-0--0--x-x-x------5-----5\7--
A-----------4\5---4\5------2---------4\5---4\5--------
E--------------------------3-------------------------------

Use your middle and ring finger to play the 4/5 tones, make the G chord a bar G chord and the same again with the 4/5 to 5/7 with a bar D chord. It’s the same thing and much easier to play. You should practice both ways, but this one will give you a little more help when trying to nail down some rhythm.

J.

Hey YOU !!

I PM'd you about 3 days ago......????

[gregory311]

Originally posted by MochaKiss
Hey YOU !!

I PM'd you about 3 days ago......????

And I pm'd you right back...

J.