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The piece Czardas on violin has a section with ALL artifical harmonics. It's hell to learn for me. It's so hard to get a harmonic right on any type of instrument and that blew my mind!
Yes indeed, cascading harmonics or rather harp harmonics. Basically just moving the nut around on the fretboard, essentially making the '12th fret harmonic' any fret you please. What I've noticed is most tab books even describe what they are in the notation legend.
I got 6 chords down in about a month and a half. I stopped there for now and am teaching myself to move from one to the other. I watch Tommy play and think, I don't live far from the ocean. I could just go overhand it into the sea. But, eh, I'll give it another 4 hours and see what happens. :-P
Those harmonics are just insane. Many people do them (Eric Johnson throws some in once in a while) but this guy has an amazing technique. I didn't hear one missed chime. Practice.... he just plays and plays and plays. He already paid his dues and now he's reaping the rewards. The guy is a great player.
I've seen Tommy in probably 12 live shows and have seen probably every video on the internet of him playing lol and I've seen him hit ONE bum note. JUST ONE! And he stopped and started over. I was like, holy $hit! He's human after all! lol
The strength he's talking about and the clarity on the 'rainbow' part...that's no joke. Even great guitarists generally can't do that. You can do for a few seconds but not sustained with the clarity. That's phenomenal skill. Inspiring to future generations! What a great guy, too!
Playing the guitar is a craft. You have to work hard to perfect this craft. The more you put into it the better you will be at this craft. Natural talent plays a role in advancing this craft. The combination of talent and hard work will take you to higher levels in your craft. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE This is the key to success at your craft. You must enjoy the process of learning the art of PLAYING the guitar. Tommy Emanuel is an incredible talent. He continues to perfect his craft daily. He enjoys the process of getting to the next level even if we say man how can he get better than he already is? He know he hasn't arrived and never will cause there is always room to grow at your craft. That's the beauty of practicing your craft. Pick up your guitar put a big smile on your face and keep playing. Sky's the limit! Tommy knows this as well as anyone!
Just a thought. There is no such thing as natural talent. I think it diminishes the effort of people who work hours and hours a day on their craft and produce incredible artwork. I think Tommy is an innovator and seems to have a healthy obsession with the guitar. I think his thought process is "how can I make this sound different" or "what else can I do with this song." he seems like a musician that keeps pushing himself (even as he gets older).. As BoB W says, put the time in, then I believe you will see your natural ability shine through.
Tom Cahill i believe there is some sort of natural talent. of course no one is just gonna pick up a guitar and play like tommy, but some people have better tone making skills and they can find notes just by ear, where as others can be completely tone deaf
He is an innovator as Tom Cahill says. He is constantly evolving as a musician pushing the boundaries of his craft. The natural talent as Ben states is with his ear for music. You can train to learn and improve your ear for pitch and tone recognition but there are many that will not get it. Then there are those who play by ear opposed to those who need a sheet of music in front of them. Rather hear by ear though site reading is a great skill especially for session work. Rythmn and strumming patterns can be taugh but again some people have while others cannot get the groove. Ability applies hear also. My roomate in college played the guitar. He had been playing for 6 years. Practiced hard and learned all the chords but had no rythmn and could get the strumming patterns down so he couldn't play songs all the way through. Tommy is an amazing player. Love to watch him play. He is on another level!
Ben R Tone deafness as most people think of it doesn't exist. The only thing close to it is a brain disorder which has many more serious symptoms besides tone deafness. What most people call "tone deafness" is really just a lack of ear training. Your ears actually have to learn to be able to tell pitches apart. Some people catch on quickly, some have to work on it, but usually the only thing keeping people from overcoming "tone deafness" is their own laziness. I too believe in talent, but I think of talent as being more like a natural inclination to doing something, rather than having more abilities. If you have healthy hands, healthy ears, and a healthy mind, there is no reason why you can't play music at a high level.
Total love for the instrument. No matter what level you are at playing, I personally can’t walk past a guitar without playing it. I have been like this for over twenty years and I’m now fortunate to make a living doing it, even though it’s only playing covers in pubs. Guitar has changed my life 👍🏻
Tommy's dedication to guitar perfection is unmatched. Endless hours, days, weeks and years honing his craft. And is just as passionate today as he was when he was a teen. An amazing and humble talent he is.
This guy made his guitar sound the way falling rain sounds in my dreams. I am moved by the shear beauty of it. I will surely remember his name. Thank you TG for posting this video.
The best practice hint I was ever given was to start at the end of a piece of music and work backwards a few measures at a time. And every time you play, play to completion. By the time you make it to the beginning of a piece, you'll have played the rest of it hundreds if not thousands of times. Importantly, once you "perform" the entire piece, you will feel more confident as you approach the middle and end ... because you've seen it and practiced it more. I've just spent the last 2 months on Michael de Chapdelaine's transcription of "Somebody that I used to know" with this technique.
N W why would that be the worst advice? It sounds interesting to me, because it provides an alternative way to practice a complete song, it automatically enables you to end the song each time, and you practice each measure from the start instead of always rolling into it from measure 1
Part of learning a song is muscle memory - your brain and your fingers memorize the music in one linear direction this chord, this passage, this fingering leads to this chord and this passage, and this fingering and when you lose your place performing, your fingers take over, or ten years later the music flows like driving a car to your home ... if you have practiced all your life learning from the last measure and going backwards it might help, but if someone has real talent they probably don't need to play the song the number of times there are measures in the piece of music. I'm not very good, in graduate school I had a few friends who are now world class classical musicians, they could play through a piece of music once or twice and they had it memorized.
I love how he goes to give an example of his playing and gets so taken with it that he keeps going for a significant period of time. It's like he gets lost in a sweet reverie each time he starts playing guitar, and then he comes back and returns to the point he was making.
"Some days I'll just play Cannonball rag for an hour to build motor skills" my fingers ached after watching just 10 seconds of that, the speed and accuracy. Tommy is the Greatest of All time F*ck Rolling stone.
There is no 'ultimate' guitar player, there is no best in music-it is not sport, but many people who are not musicians and some who are persist with the competing and ego-driven popularity contests. Music is expression, and we all express our emotions & thoughts uniquely. This is why there is room for all players to present their work. Tommy is a phenomenon, superb, he has dedicated his life to his craft. Play on, give us excess of it!
There is no person who gets to decide what there is or is not in any art. Remember that the beauty is in the eye of the beholder...I behold that Tommy is the best acoustic guitar player EVER...up to this time. You can think whatever you want. I don't care if you agree with me.
WOOF. Absolutely RIDICULOUS skills! Astounding...jaw-dropping seemingly effortless riffing... He said the whole thing, it's an entire lesson : "I'm totally dedicated to THIS."
Who can tell at the speed he's playing? I can't even HEAR as fast as he plays. He is AMAZING!!! I LOVE the dedication he has for his instrument and art. I find it inspirational that he is STILL trying to learn and get better than he already is!
When you see that video on the Blues Cruise with Joe Bonamassa, and you realize he’s just having a great time PLAYING. He watched exactly what the other guys were doing, and added what he thought would fit. He’s admiring and enjoying what they’re doing, and doesn’t seem to notice them shaking their heads in disbelief when they catch what HE is doing. I think that’s the key right there. It’s always just FUN...
He is truly an amazingly gifted musician and a down to earth ambassador of music worldwide. What he does in this clip ..playing harplike on the guitar is like none I;ve ever heard. Tommy thx,,,
I play guitar, and sometimes when I see virtuosos I want to "burn my guitar." But then I see people like this guy, who I discovered in THIS youtube session, and I just get really happy that there are members of my world that can do this.
The King of Music! Nothing short of Angelic Beauty, innovative brilliance! So blessed to have met him in person! Genuinely kind& highly respectable gentleman! Cannot ever say enough nice about Tommy Emmanuel!😃😀😄😊thee best!
You would think that a guy like Tommy Emmanuel would know everything there is to know about what's going on on the fretboard. Nope, even he is discovering new things while practicing.
I went to a Tuck Andres workshop a few years ago, and like you, I was shocked to find that he was constantly working out new sounds and discovering facets of the guitar. I had the impression before the workshop that every single possible harmonic relationship and dynamic possible of the guitar was at his beck and call.
Thanks for the video. Tommy is one of the most accommodating guys ever and is THE BEST GUITARIST I have ever seen and I have seen a bunch. I have seen him play solo and I have seen him play jazz with great players. He can play any kind of music on the guitar. What an entertainer he is!
They asked him if he uses any hand strengthening devices. No professional guitarist, pianist, violinist, etc uses any of this stuff. Why? Because it wears your hands/ forearms down. You need them ready to practice playing your instrument because that’s going to wear them down too. Its like trying to be a marathon runner and a power lifter at the same time. One works against the other. Tommy talks about strength. But really its more about fine motor movements specific to his instrument and muscle endurance. The way to develop the fine motor movements and endurance he needs is by playing his instrument -especially with certain exercises in mind.
Not really ,he had to put in hard and continuous work at it and understand it ,talent is just a penchant for certain things - I mean look some people's brains are there at 5 and it is still not working at 40 😉
Total dedication to the instrument,simply love his attitude,what he says is: Guys go ahead get distracted in this materialistic world once I don't have to take part in it,because I've created my own Universe where I'm the boss, hat's off to this gentleman.
I don’t believe that he is from this planet. How anyone can be so exceptional on the instrument and be so articulate and such a nice guy ......... can’t be human. Or maybe, he is the epitome of a human being.
Well when you see Tommy Emmanuel play at least you know where the bar is set. I might not be even in the same galaxy of skills but i always get inspired when i see him play. Such a wonderful musician! Now off the rehearse!
+iLoveGuitar Nobody farted at 2:24. It was Tommy's right thumb pick scratching across his bass string as his left hand held down all the strings on the fret board. I'm not a guitarist, but I am a concert pianist with an educated ear. Developing listening skills is equally as important as developing playing skills.
hahaha, yes you're right, hahah. Anyway, I was only kidding, perhaps concert pianists should learn a bit of sense of humour. It's obvious that I was ironic, I never expected anybody to reply to my comment, I was only joking. Anyway chears from Italy
Then why can you see Tommy move his nose a bit afterwards in a way that something smells bad? It was a loud fart too! You can see the awkwardness on his face!
Talks about hand strength. Proceeds to show you something you've never seen before that can only be achieved by having ridiculous hand strength. Way to prove your point, Tommy. Jesus. Nobody thumb wrestle that guy on a bet.
"All I'm interested in is this, (motions to guitar,) Alright, I'm totally dedicated to this." I'm surprised the man has children, to be honest. To be that great, he must practice 23 1/2 hrs a day.
When he was a kid growing into his teens he would practise 8-10hrs/day almost every day, and sometimes as much as 16hrs later on....THAT's dedication, and look where he's been for most of his amazing musical life!
Brilliant bloke, superb picker. Chet knew who deserved the coveted but rare award of G.G.P. Those harmonics played over chords, quite incredible. I play but the clarity he produces on an acoustic, simply unfathomable.
