Thursday, May 15, 2008

For everyone who has ever wanted to lose again

OK, so here's my first attempt at the video tutorial that I mentioned in my previous post. The first request was for "I Lose Again," so I did that one first. Due to the fact that it's played in an alternate tuning, this tutorial had to be a little longer than, I think, future ones will be. So I had to make it two parts.

The first video is basically me teaching how to play in DADGAD tuning, and showing the basic chording of the song. The second video is more of the actual run-thru of the song, plus some hilarious antics.

Also, I wanted to do this thing as high quality as possible, so these are kind of big. They may take a while to load. Sorry. I probably won't do that in the future.

For those of you who actually use this tutorial to learn the song, I'd love your feedback. I put more work into this than I intended to, and I probably won't put that much work into this kind of thing in the future. I mean, the point was that I hate making chord charts, but I ended up basically doing all the work of a chord chart, plus a lot more. I'm an idiot.

So I would love to hear if this is even helpful.

Finally, if you already know how to play the song, or if you have no interest in playing the song, but you think I'm entertaining (and who doesn't), watch the last minute or so of the last video to see me putting on a laugh-riot comedy act.

So here goes.

Part 1:




Part 2:

15 comments:

Todd Wright said...

Great idea, man!

1. Video quality looks good and it loads absolutely fine. Keep it up.

2. Smart idea to talk through DADGAD.

3. I think you might have done yourself in with the closing "antics" at the end of video 2. It was very funny, but now we're going to except that same level of comic genius. Hope you have lots of voices.

Nathan T said...

Absolutely amazing. I love the editing, the set-up, the follow-along graphics... I was half expecting a bouncing ball with lyrics at the bottom.

Also, have you thought about sponsors? I mean, I have an uncontrolable urge to go buy a Takamine now.

LP said...

I thought it'd be over my head (and guitar playing abilities) to even try to follow, but really, the graphics make it entirely possible for me to take a hack at it. Thanks.

Also, you sort of morphed into a Will Ferrell/Ricky Bobby/Talladega Nights character towards the end. I got scared & logged off.

martyr said...

The vid looked great and was easy to follow. I second the idea of getting sponsors or at least having frame spliced subliminal messages (Buy my album, Ross Rocks, ect...) Lastly if the Worship Leader, Producer, Songwriter gig ever dries up you should try comedy.

Thanks for all the work it was splendid!

Dave Wyble said...

This video is great - thanks. I don't know if this suggestion will be more work or less, but here goes. When showing a chord, rather than spend time talking about where your fingers are, could you flash some text like "022000" for "Em" or "X04432" "Bm with an A root."

For standard tuning, experienced guitarists might not need this. For other alternative tunings (and the cut capo songs) it would be helpful, and maybe save you a little time explaining the finger positioning.

rk said...

Thanks for the feedback everybody.

For the record, I'd love sponsorship/endorsements of any kind. Nobody is offering.

Dave--
I have no idea what any of those letters and numbers mean, so I can't help you. Seriously, this is why I chose the video route over formal chord/tab. I ONLY know where to put my fingers. The other stuff eludes me.

Nick L. said...

hey ross, i just wanted to say a word of thanks for posting up that great video. what more can i say -- extremely helpful, great quality, and hilarious to boot!

i've repeatedly returned to this song over the past few years, as it accurately captures the essence of "downward mobility" that the Gospel calls us towards.

thanks for the shout out, too. i'm not your mom, but we've exchanged e-mails in the past. maybe we'll connect at some point this summer if you're playing in houston!

Nick L. said...

the name's nick, by the way. i don't mean to hide behind some mysterious alias!

N.W. Clerk said...

That was a great video. It was clear and anyone could easily follow how to play the song. I'm looking forward to all the other videos as well.

I was just curious. Though I doubt any guitar chords are involved, but any way we can vote for you showing us your mad rappin' skills and possibly do a repeat performance from middle school?

Todd Wright said...

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww....snap! Sounds like challenge there, Ross.

Hey everybody, what would Ross' rap name be?

Alex Burdine said...

And the Oscar for "Documentary Short Film" goes to Ross King with "I Lose Again."

This is the story of a funny guitar playing Caucasian who teaches guitar online from an Iraqi Prison.

(seriously though, good job on the tutorial. It was easy to follow, I just thought it was a head scarf and an AK-47 away from looking like a hostage video...but I guess that's youtube)

Dave Wyble said...

If you only know where you put your fingers, then you already know everything you need. In this notation, you read the numbers as which fret you hit on which strings, read from the top down, EADGBE. Here "022000" means open E, second fret on A,D, and open GBE strings. X means don't play the string, so the usual D chord is X00232 or maybe XX0232.

Sorry if I came across as baffling you with jargon. (Remember - scientist: lover of equations, math, numbers of all kinds ;-) I do think it makes a very useful record of what you are playing, but the price is more work on your part. Whatever you do, thanks again for the cool videos.

court garrison said...

Oh Ross...you are such a funny funny guy! HA! (no sarcasm there at all - I swear). Your wit takes me back to the random drawing game that we played...that I STILL have no idea how to play or what the point was. Anyway, very funny Mr. King. The graphics were genius...Brian and I laughed out loud...

Shane said...

i have not watched the videos yet and i am sure i will love them, but i am REALLY interested in the junior high rapping Ross video which I hope comes out soon.

hattox said...

when i started to play this, my dog began to whine and tried to crawl into my lap. he's not a lap-sized dog.
i think it was his way of saying, "i wish i had opposable thumbs so i could take advantage of this excellent educational video!"
miss y'all.