Please help

[brj311]

I am trying to learn a couple of Jack Johnson songs (I know, I know easy barre chords.) Anyway, I am having trouble since I am a relative newbie with strumming. VH1.com has some videos of Jack playing, just himself in a studio with great camera close ups, but they are streaming videos.

Since everyone here seems a lot more up on technology than me I was just (I haven't been as net friendly since I graduated a couple of years ago) wondering if there is a way to save these videos to my hard drive.

I have a dial up connection at home and that is where I would be playing along to the video, not here at work.

Any help/ideas are appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

[mccar172]

I don't know anything about that, but http://www.stanford.edu/~reedg/guitartab.html
is where I get my Jack Johnson tabs from, if you cared.

[Pipsqueak]

pretty much any video you download on dial-up will take you FOREVER.

my suggestion would be (if you have a faster connection at work) to download them there (right click and choose 'save target as') to your desktop (select 'desktop' from the top pull-down in the 'save-as' window), and then burn a CD from work.....

then take them home and put them on your pooter.

that's probably best...if possible.

while I'm at it....

a REALLY good way to practice strumming is to put 'ole JJ's CD in your CD player (portable works best) and play the CD with guitar in-hand....
Instead of trying to play along with the song, just don't worry about the chords. Use your left hand to mute ALL of the strings so they don't make any noise. Then put your full concentration on trying to hear JJ's strumming pattern and attempt to mimick it by strumming your guitar (still with muted strings).
Concentrate on where Jack puts emphasis and try to get a handle on the timing. Concentrate on trying to differentiate between upstrokes and downstrokes.
Sometimes it also helps to clap it out.......
clap...........clap clap.............clap..........clap clap (might turn into)
down.........down up..............down..........down up
They could be 1/8th beats, or 1/16th beats....etc. Count it out.

If you don't know: 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a (say--> one eee and uh two eee and uh.....etc.)
you should.
It is VERY easy to learn.
I just tried to type out an explanation and it sent my head into a spin....so I erased it. I think I have a good website that explains it. I'll try to find it.

hope that helps...
I'll try to add more later.

[Pipsqueak]

hmmm...
can't find the EXACT website I wanted..(I'll keep looking)

but to get you started....read through this

http://guitar.about.com/library/weekly/aa072299.htm

there are several pages of good info just in the beginning strumming lesson....
you can move on to intermediate, advanced...etc..

instead of 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a, they use 1&2&3&4& (one and two and three and...etc.)
same concept.

one additional thing....
a metronome will enhance your timing and help you with your strumming efforts....I highly suggest spending a little amount of money on a tool that will take you a long way.

finally...
there are MANY websites out there with FREE guitar lessons and exercises....many of them are very very similar.
These will only take you so far (probably) learning them on your own, but are a useful tool. They are an even better tool (I have come to find out) when you are taking lessons from an instructor.

good luck.

[unccrombie]

pippy, do you save all this advice you write? it's great, yet simple stuff :thumbsup

[Haiku Jimi]

....


You can't save a streaming video by just clicking "save as"...or did I just completely miss something?

You need a program like streambox vcr or something that lets you record stream files.

[Pipsqueak]

pippy, do you save all this advice you write? it's great, yet simple stuff :thumbsup

no I don't save it....
It's just all up in my head, I guess. It helps me to review it myself by typing it out. And, yes, it is very simple things. Many of these things intimidate a lot of people. There is no need to be intimidated. You can break it down to very simple practice routines that will work for years. All of these little things I have learned from my guitar instructors just over the last year or so.
They have worked well for me, so I always like to "share the wealth."

You can't save a streaming video by just clicking "save as"...or did I just completely miss something?
You need a program like streambox vcr or something that lets you record stream files.

If there is a link to the streaming video, you can do a "save target as" to download the video. You are correct, in a way. If you are streaming a video, you can't save it as you go, unless you have a third-party software or add-on. You are essentially downloading it when you stream, so I usually just save it first then play it.

That's been my experience.....I could be off-base.

[Pipsqueak]

alrighty....

I found that mystery website I was looking for last night.

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~desmith/guitar/acoustic/info/strumming.htm

this is a really good website for practicing strumming....
check out the main page and look at some of the other exercises and lessons that are on there....
good stuff!

good luck and keep practicing....
let us know how it works out for ya.

[brj311]

Thanks so much for all of the advice/help! It is greatly appreciated.


Cheers,
Brian