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Hard work DOES pay off!

Posted in Practicing - Written by Denis Chang on February 3, 2012

Hello folks, here’s my first real blog post. I just wanted to share this little story with you; I think it’s inspiring. It shows that hard work really pays off.

A fellow by the name of Angelo from California emailed me back in December 2011 for advice on playing traditional Gypsy Jazz rhythm. The correspondences happened over a period of just under 2 months (December 11th until Feb 3rd). He would send me videos of himself playing rhythm and ask for critique. For those who are not to familiar with Gypsy Jazz, the rhythm guitar aspect is extremely difficult to learn, and I’m just amazed by Angelo’s progress in such a short period of time. Here is our correspondence (used with permission), with minimal editing (spelling mistakes, etc… included):

Angelo

Hey Denis, excellent work on the Hono lessons…I’m learning a lot!!!

I want to ask a favor, if I was to send you a video clip of my rhythm progress using the Hono lessons could you critique them with a 2-5 sentence analysis of what i’m doing wrong?

The reason is this, while taking lessons with Gonzalo he showed me his way of playing rhythm and though his rhythm is unique and valid I would like to learn the traditional way of playing rhythm.

http://youtu.be/nhOAnZKQWYo

Denis

angelo, that’s really quite good! the best thing for me is to hear u in the context of a performance, do u have vol 3 of hono’s lessons? the mp3 playalongs have hono’s tracks muted so u can play along to them, and i wuold be able to better analyze what you are doing from a msucial point of view…

the only criticism i can make right now, is that your right hand seems stiff, it needs to be a very smooth and continous motion, it seems as if you were forcing each motion and stopping (even for a split second) between attacks which is a nono, it needs to be like water and not as abrupt as you are making it

but really otherwise, it’s quite good!

Angelo

Wow thank….I really didn’t expect that
That’s funny you say that, when Gonzalo teaches rhythm he told me to just hit the top 4 strings on the first beat. I guess that’s why I have that stiffness.

I guess the 400 plus hours i put in to perfect Gonzalo’s rhythm helped me here sort of!!!!

Denis

Besides that little issue, you’re definitely on the right track; you need to apply those concepts in an actual musicial performance now and learn to deal with variations and whatnot, that’s where the real action is at

Angelo

Here’s a video with me playing along with All Of Me.
I slowed down the track a little bit, I hope the backing track is
not to loud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUvUDB373rk

Denis

OK, you need to lock more with the bass player; these tracks weren’t recorded with a click track (very few gypsies do), so it moves a bit (sometimes more) ; but it’s always relatively consistent and grooving in the way the tempo shifts… whereas when you play, the inconsistencies are fairly noticeable, especially when you do breaks, speaking of which, you ‘re not doing it exactly right, i’d have to make some sort of video to show u how the break is done, but u need to make sure that it’s placed perfectly in time as yours cause you to lose momentum…. other to keep working on is the natural flow of the right hand, it still looks like you’re forcing too much, it needs to bounce up and down smoothly like a pendulum not abruptly…. again that’s just me super nitpicking, otherwise, it’s not bad!

Angelo

I’ll admit I have a hard time hearing the bass player, maybe that’s cause I’m new to this style and I need to train my ears to focus. I’ll work on what you said and don’t worry about the nitpicking, I need that to push myself.

I have youe Art of Accompaniemnt DVD, should I use that to work on my breaks?

Denis

i think i do cover the breaks in the art of accompaniment dvd, i’m pretty sure i do; look it over again, to get right technique down, as you’re doing something a bit different than what is usual done… (not that what you do is never done either, but it’s less common, and you’re not doing it in time!)

Angelo

haha thanks so much for all the help. I’ll keep working on it!!!!

So here’s my next attempt. After I sent the last video I bought a mirror to practice in front of. I’ve been literally visualizing a pendulum every time I practice in hopes to loosen my wrist. It dawned on me a few days ago that maybe I’m having some problems cause Gonzalo usually teaches all down-strokes so this upstroke stuff is new to me.

Please don’t sugar coat your critique, I need to be pushed and need to know what are my weak points!!!!

http://youtu.be/Zi798YfhfCA

Denis

I really can’t hear anything, and my volume is turned way up; so i can’t comment on the sound, but it’s starting to look a whole lot smoother!! it’s very close! btw , even if u do only downstrokes it should still look like a pendulum, Herve Gaguenetti or Billy Weiss are two guitarists who play that way, look them up on youtube , billy is the guy on the right:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HswB_WlVUAI

Angelo

Yay I’m making progress, I’ll keep practicing with the same mentality ….sorry about the volume being so low!!!
Thanks again

Angelo

Here’s my next attempt, I’m playing over Minor Swing with Hono’s voicings. These voicings are new to me so I stilll need some more work with them. I think I play better towards the end of the clip cause I’m not so nervous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCNEdFq_SEA

Denis

wow you’ve totally fixed the right hand! crazy what practice can do… congrats!!! anyway my initial thoughts:

it’s very hard to tell, but i kinda get the feeling that you’re playing behind the beat…. if you weren’t playing along to a recording, i have a feeling tht the band would be influenced by your timing, and the song would slow down… good news is 90% of people playing rhythm guitar are like that and on top of that , they use shitty chords with a shitty tone; which is not the case for you…

as far as sound goes, i personally feel the duration from the left hand can be juuuust a tad shorter… you want the rhythm sound to have a staccatoish explosive effect on swing tunes…

break at 0:28 is still not right, and slightly rushed…

the break at 0:28 should’ve been done with the motion from 0:38 , but the one at 0:38, don’t accent the last stroke (the downstroke, it’s the syncopated upstroke that should be accented)… all breaks should be done in the way i described4

maybe u can watch this vid and observe how i do the breaks (it’s way u were doing it at 0:38 but with no accent on the last down), also listen to the duration of the chords in my left hand, enough to hear the chords, but not logn enough to lose the percussive effect:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciuyXE73Tag&feature=related

Angelo

Wow now that’s some major feedback, I get what you say about the timing and I’ll work on it. And I’ll try to be aware of the sound more as before I was focusing on my right hand.

Now concerning the breaks with the 2 strums, Gonzalo showed me the same thing but I just can’t get my head around not accenting the 2nd strum cause it’s suck a quick rhythm. Do I accomplish this by practicing the break super super slow? I’ve tried that a few times but just gave up, I think i’ll give it another go and be consistent when practicing this technique.

Denis

u know that’s one of those things thsat i find people have trouble with; it’s very difficult to explain with words, when i teach it in person, it’s more like a coaching thing where i try to get the student to do different things until he gets the feeling of it…

so.. maybe u can think of it this way: that upstroke is a very sharp flick of the wrist .. actually tehre are 4 strokes involved

1) very light upstroke that brush that strings
2) very light downstroke
3) sharp upstroke
4) follow through

Angelo

Hi Denis, I’m more curious how my rhythm sounds so I’m not playing with a backing track. I’ve also included progress with my rhythm breaks. Does it sounds okay, is it stacattoish enough. Also am I doing the rhythm break correctly?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U77DMUW9azE

Denis

wow that is really quite an improvement right there! you;ve really improved every aspect i’ve told you to work on; there really isn’t much to say. I’d suggest to keep working towards getting the most natural flow out of the right hand as much as possible; it’s already a vast improvement, but there’s still room for more. the breaks are perfect; nothing to say there… as you get better, you’ll probably discover a few variations beyond the one that you are doing…. good for you… at this point, i would have to jam with u to give you pointers if any… amazing! hard work goes a long way buddy

Angelo [please note Angelo may or may not have actually written the following]

Denis, you are super awesome; I think Scarlett Johansson should marry you.

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