God Bless you man. “Helpful” is an understatement. Your video instruction is clear and succinct. Your method of teaching is ideal for my intermediate level, and I appreciate the time you put into making very straightforward and professional lessons (no flying graphics, SFX, long winded stories, showing off). For this particular video and song selection, you gave me JOY. My family was dirt poor in the 70s, our living room had a small AM/FM radio that provided news and music. This low tech box was vital. I can still recall when this song first aired and how the melody and lyrics struck a chord in me. I retired a few years back and picked up a guitar and realized that I could transport myself back in time through music. Thank you. May God bless you and your family with good health and good fortune. And now, I think it’s time for me to fly....
So girl, you posted this 2 years ago, we are all, erp, well, at least I'm really hankerin to hear if you learned it and if you ended up playing it for moms, and what her reaction was! Please, do tell? Did she dig it?
if you watch the 1981 video live on youtube of this song, he plays in standard tuning in key of E. then later he switched to key of d...maybe he was older and needed to sing in a lower key. 1981 key of E with standard tuning. recent open D tuning. key of d. play in the key of E, play e chord and move it to fret 9 and 7 for the other chords and let the other strings open.
Great lesson. Thanks for posting. i had seen REO play this song on their Soundstage concert which is a fairly recent recording. I thought the chords looked strange and I was hoping it wasn't open tuning, but now I know if fact that is. It is a beautiful chord progression so I guess its worth the extra work of open tuning.
Here is what I found out about writing this tune... Jeb: Talk about “Time for Me to Fly.” A guy in another band (not Head East…well…okay Head East) told me you wrote this song and some others that appeared later on Hi Infidelity while you were still in High School. I don’t think that is true. Tell me if it is and what you DO remember about writing “Time.” Kevin: "Time For Me To Fly" was one in a long series of what I call "happy accidents". I just happened to have been on hanging on a friend's front porch in Boulder Colorado, and coincidentally his guitar was resting against a chair in open D, a tuning with which I was totally unfamiliar. At that moment I was feeling inspired having never seen the Rocky Mountains, or any other mountains for that matter, and I really wanted to play some guitar. So I started messing around, trying to suss out some fingerings. When all else failed I remembered Richie Havens playing with his thumb at Woodstock, (one of that film's most powerful scenes in my opinion...the guy had no amps, no drums, just him, his beat up acoustic guitar, and a song he was making up as he went along...awesome!) so I wrapped my own thumb around the neck of my friend David Drury's Guild six string and next thing I knew the verses of "Time For Me To Fly" effortlessly materialized. Those verses laid around in my head for about five or six years until one night in Chicago the chorus popped into said head, and I had me a song. www.classicrockrevisited.com/show_interview.php?id=1025
Great, great rocknroll story Brian, thats AWESOME!! Thanks for sharing that, and for typing all that too!! ha ha!!! The best RnR story I've personally ever heard, was how the band Kansas got signed, google it, its amazingly ballsy!!!
This lesson is so good I need to watch it a few more times. Learning one way to play it is good enough, but you offer 3. You really are an exceptional teacher, mate. Thank you very much :)
Many thanks to you Dale for this excellent tutorial. My bedroom busking efforts stay with standard tuning but hey I'm OK with that! IF (big if) LLB cover REO Speedwagon sometime in the future, please don't leave out "Roll With The Changes". I am sure that with all the talents in the band, you would absolutely knock that tune out of the park. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for checking this one out! I feel pretty certain we will do REO and as far as it depends on me TFMTF will def be in the set! Quick story - i was in Nashville this summer @ Carters Vintage Guitars and looked up and saw Dave Ammato - i told the person i was with, that's REO's guitarist! We were in town to see them that night. I got my courage up and said hello Dave, in town to see you tonight could i get a pic with you? he couldn't have been nicer and was a totally guitar nerd like us - just wanted to talk guitars and pedals! stay well, your friend, dale.
wow... next video after gittler topic.......thats the very type of trouble i think would be the only drawback to the gittler........dont think its anything that couldnt be overcome and could probably be done quickly....but not without modification of technique which 2 me is self defeating......................GREAT video tone ,instructional tutorial thats fun ..........these types of songs/videos are TNT for the newbies...............getsem up and making music fast...that gives tremendous playing pleasure......cant think of any ins. that comes close to the guitar for work versus payoff ratio ........the guitar is horribly lopsided in the beginning but pays off big after the work is done............well done videos like this kinda cushion down that inherent ratio quite a bit ... been playing a while and still got alot from it and enjoyed....tones on it again!!!
Absolutely the best tutorial on this tune ever. I LOVE this song. I was missing a part or two that are important to get the right feel and you put that right into my thinking. Another great I play of theirs is Back on the Road Again. Real fun tune. getting the squeal in the signature notes takes some practice....especially if you bend up to the b string note instead of sliding up to it. I've found that sliding up to it gets the right harmonic and I can't seem to get it consistently in the bend. The slide is easier and sounds good but it's not what Richrath did. Guess that's the real difference between being professional and joe! hehe I hit the leads pretty good though. Thanks for another great one dude!
great post and thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights! great tunes from these guys who i'm hoping to see for the FIRST time this summer - why haven't i ever seen them live. I LOVE Gary R and miss him as i'm sure you do too. Well the tracks are laid down and we'll always have them. Thanks my friend for your kind words, dale.
tonedr REO used to play in St Petersburg Florida every year for free at the rib festival. Usually with Styx or Firefall. I've seen them no less than 25 times. Always loved their music. Richrath had a ton of problems but the worst was drinking. What a shame how many lives and families are ruined by alcohol.
Yeah, I saw his final performance with some cover band, and honestly, though he could STILL just shred the shit outta 'Roll with the Changes', it hurt to see what he had allowed himself to become, you could swear there was NO way that Gary was anywhere inside this . . sad 'thing', i just did not recognize the man. I mean, seriously, I've been 'chunky' my entire life, but when my metabolism started slowing down in my early 40's and I went from lifelong 245lbs to about 270, I swear I could FEEL the fat, on my ribs, under my arms, my poor feet would wail whenever I walked more than a couple yards. It literally felt like I had a fat suit on. I had an epiphany then, and that was this: "Okay Dave, this is that threshold bro, this is that decision point where you check your dignity at the door, and either absolve yourself from ANY responsibility or self respect and become one of those unashamedly nasty and gluttonous 'I warsh myself with a cloth on a stick!' kinda humans that sadly chooses a sort of living death, or you fight this weakness with every fiber of dignity you have remaining. One look at Gary and all you saw was a man who had succumbed passionately to all his demons and vices and over indulgence in what Gary wanted, and ONLY GARY. Not his wife, his kids, his parents/family, the fans that put him on easy street. He threw caution to the wind . . . and didn't live to tell about it . . . .
Wow, this tuning sounds great, have been playing along, they must have did several versions over the years? I see him doing it this same one in one of their videos but seems like all the strings might be tuned down half step or more, another version in this same key but using open chords and another version I seen them do was in open D if I remember correctly, many versions they did I guess. But this way sounds great, I like it. Suppose they changed it to match the vocal as he got older too maybe.
thanks for checking this out...greatly appreciated! Saw REO this summer and this was exactly how KC played it - they are still rockin'! your friend, dale.
Bro, you did an awesome job. Cool, smooth, explaining and demonstrating options. Right on with the strum method of "feeling" it. That's what makes it"MUSIC"! How did you ever figure out that tuning? Have you ever used it before?
+Lenny Bianchi hello friend...sure appreciate you checking this out and thanks for the very kind post! I watched him play it and between eyes and ears was able to get the tuning:)
you can get thru the first verse starting at 1:59 I've been around for you Been up and down for you But I just can't get any relief I've swallowed my pride for you I've lived and lied for you But you still make me feel like a thief
Wow, I can now play this song all the way through, and sing it at the same time (which I've never been able to do without having a train wreck on one end or the other) Thanks! Don't suppose you have anything up your sleeve for,Triumph songs? Like "Fight The Good Fight"? ;) There's like no good tutorials for that song anywhere...
Hey Cass, as a fellow HUGE Rik Emmett/Triumph fan, I wanted to share with you another band I discovered while looking for a 'replacement' for Triumph after Rik left (that last album without Rik was an ABORTION IMHO) that features amazingly similar catchy riff driven rock, and more importantly, excellent harmonies/vocals, just like Triumph. Google 'Summerland' or 'Lost in Germany', or 'Prisoner', 'Dream in my Life', god, theres SO many. But as a guitarist, its Ty's playing that will BLOW YOUR MIND. And please, if you've heard of them but avoided their music because you heard they were a 'christian rock' band, thats about as true as the urban myth about the little old lady that puts her wet poodle into a microwave to dry it off, its simply untrue. The rumor got started from the fact that 2 of the guys were in a christian rock band before forming Kings X and the 'positive messages' in the lyrics, the same positive shit in Triumphs music, nothing more, no preaching or confusion of their demographic, heh. Anyway, I think you'll find the band a treasured find, I know I did and still wonder in amazement how a band this good could be so tragically overlooked. Lastly, and on topic, sorry(!), both 'Fight the Good Fight' and (far more so) the song 'Never Surrender' have unintentionally devious, surprisingly challenging strumming patterns. I see you posted this 3 years ago, did you ever figure it out or find a video that helped. Rik himself put up some spectacular super Hi Def, quality instructional videos on how to play 'Magic Power', 'Hold On', and yes, 'Never Surrender', and he even addresses the songs strumming/timing issues and offers tips for playing it properly. I'm not sure, but there might be one for Fight the Good Fight, hope so for you. If you lived in Ventura Ca., I'd just meet you at $tarBuck$ and quickly show you. I'm sorry, don't know how to post videos online. The only helpful advice I ever heard regarding how to play 'Fight the Good Fight' was/is to ALWAYS start the song with an UPstroke, ALWAYS! :) And its SIX strums/strokes, then FIVE, not another six. You know your doing it right when (starting with an upstroke like I said!) you end with a normal downstroke on the first six strums, and end with a DOWNstroke the next 5 strokes (the C chord). Also, the song requires some additional 'creative strumming' on the G chord, and MANY players mistakenly think there are two different chords in that 3rd measure G, when all it is when you first strum it, you play just the bottom bass notes of an Open G on the first stroke and then play a double up stroke on the high 3 strings (the thin ones) of the SAME open G chord, then finish with one more downstroke on, yes, you guessed it, the same G chord, right before the single line played G that wraps it up and brings it all around again (and dosey DOH! and swing yer partner . . !) to repeat its Canadian goodness. It sounds horribly complicated written out, ugh! Anyways, its 3 years long coming, but I hope it might help SOMEBODY . . .
Aw man! I'm sorry Cass, I can't fight this overpowering urge to but a caption under your avatar pic here that reads: 'my impression of a Japanese girl laughing', I can't help it, I'm sorry, so sorry!! :) (do ya get it?)
the guitar.......and have 2 say piano...[ im sure gangs of other instruments ] .... r much like the garden .......u work hard.... u sweat ..... 4 the longest time it seems u get nothing in return and then.........then it begins the trickle of. a small summers yield ....and then like gangbusters comes harvestime and fills everything to the brim.......instructional vids like this are the summers yield ....[ have seen many couldve beens walk away at this critical point ].. the little tantalizing tidbits needed to give some reward ...and keep that drive going strong .....tone gets extra congrats 4 the subject matter chosen......takes out 4 or 5 birds with 1.............stone.............outstanding vid for any axeman at any level
i saw a video of reo at einsfestival, kevin was playing chords that nobody has covered, maybe you can find that vid & let us know what he is playing, thanks, I love your vids too, they are very helpful
This pattern sounds the most authentic, Kevin Cronan even uses it in recent live performances, but I don't see him using it in older live performances, it looks like he's using regular chords and not this thumb baring, what am I seeing or am I being deceived ?
hello John...i think you are totally right - in some vids he uses standard tuning which certainly be done but to my ear the studio recording is done more like what we are doing in this vid - maybe over time he gravitated back to wanting to hear that guitar sound. Maybe he'll chime in and tell us the true story:)
Funny, I was just messing with my daughter, and I figured this would be an easy 1,4,5 to impress her. But looking at the available vids, he's played this about every way you can including the drop over barre. I think anyway but standard tuning has better voicing.
tone.. when u get the time check roll with the changes....but the midnight special version......its way upbeat from other renditions they performed that r [similar to radio version]..2 me this version is considerably better richraths leads are noticeably ...just better...enthusiasm is off the grid in this1........any way ...be surprised if u dont feel the same if... i had 2 single out their very best performance..[this is the1]........... of course opinions vary...........lol.....may have been just 1 of those good nights ya know.....hittin on all 8...............kutgw.............
+Michael Walker hey! thanks for checking this out...i really don't think or teach a 'pattern' maybe that's frustrating and if so i'm truly sorry but i believe it's better to feel it - not so much a direct copy but lock into the tempo and listen to the original track closely and i believe your hands will lead you. best, dale.
+tonedr A lot of songs need that strumming pattern for us newbies otherwise it sounds like garbled nothing, especially this song. I found this one online not sure but give it a shot everyone Verse: DDD, DU Chorus/Quick Changes: D, UD, DD
i would rather you think 'feel' - lock into the beat of the song and strum - thinking in terms of 'patterns' IMO are too mechanical way to think of your right hand. To grow as a player you don't want to accumulate a bunch of 'patterns' but be able to feel the grove of the song.
