ants marching

So you're amazed as to how Dave's rhythm guitar slaps and strums so "perfectly"...but you can't. Ask all things about Dave and his guitars here.

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ecs787s
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ants marching

Unread post by ecs787s » Mon May 05, 2003 6:45 pm

so ive been a slave to ants for the past month and its now just finally starting to click a little and sound like something. It seems like it would be so easy, but with the muting of strings and all other essential elements, its not that way. So people say its the easiest song to play, but i don't believe so. Maybe once GET IT, it will be. Just wondering if it took all of you guy a while to GET IT?

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Re: ants marching

Unread post by billywestom » Mon May 05, 2003 6:54 pm

ecs787s wrote:so ive been a slave to ants for the past month and its now just finally starting to click a little and sound like something. It seems like it would be so easy, but with the muting of strings and all other essential elements, its not that way. So people say its the easiest song to play, but i don't believe so. Maybe once GET IT, it will be. Just wondering if it took all of you guy a while to GET IT?
hmmm, this was the very first dave song i learned :lol:
I can't believe that we would lie in our graves wondering if we had spent our living days well, and I can't believe that we would lie in our graves dreaming of things that we might have been...

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Unread post by The Man of The Hour » Mon May 05, 2003 6:54 pm

I couldn't agree more. Once you get it, you get it. Man, as soon as you get the "dave mute" down....as in ants, you can play any dave mattews song.

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Unread post by jsgksu » Mon May 05, 2003 7:15 pm

The Man of The Hour wrote:I couldn't agree more. Once you get it, you get it. Man, as soon as you get the "dave mute" down....as in ants, you can play any dave mattews song.
I dont know about ANY Dave song but it sure helps to learn his style.
-Jayme

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Unread post by mbgreen » Mon May 05, 2003 7:16 pm

Ants is a little more difficult than most people think. A lot of people think they can play the song, and they can play the notes, but they wont throw in the mutes/slaps. But thats how it is with a lot of dave songs. None of daves songs are difficult in terms of left hand stuff. Its the right hand stuff that really counts.
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Unread post by The Man of The Hour » Mon May 05, 2003 7:34 pm

jsgksu wrote:
The Man of The Hour wrote:I couldn't agree more. Once you get it, you get it. Man, as soon as you get the "dave mute" down....as in ants, you can play any dave mattews song.
I dont know about ANY Dave song but it sure helps to learn his style.
I suppose not all, you are correct. The Stone has nothing to do with the right hand mute, along with some others I can't say off of the top of my head. But - I haven't found a song since then that has taken me over an hour or two to get down.

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Unread post by ryopan » Mon May 05, 2003 9:57 pm

But - I haven't found a song since then that has taken me over an hour or two to get down.
*sigh* maybe in the distant future i still cant say that. but in the double distant future, maybe..... 8)
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Unread post by Corona5k1635 » Mon May 05, 2003 10:16 pm

WHOA

man of the hour

please please please clarify how there is no muting in the stone with the right hand...??? i'm trying to master this song and i thought he sat the bottom of his hand on the low E.??


dave
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Unread post by The Man of The Hour » Mon May 05, 2003 11:41 pm

Corona5k1635 wrote:
please please please clarify how there is no muting in the stone with the right hand...???

dave
When I said no muting, I meant muting and strumming, as I pointed out in the Ants intro/verse. I'll refer to it as the "Dave Mute". It is a quick down-up stroke when muting the strings with your left hand, and produces those nice clicks that all of us love so very much. You are right, the stone does involve muting with the right hand, but not the "dave mute". I don't want to say "palm mute", but it is the only term that comes to mind. I don't know where I am going with this, and if this doesn't make sense, I will think it over again and give it another shot.

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Unread post by Corona5k1635 » Tue May 06, 2003 1:11 am

oh i get it . you mean like the muting in the verse of One Sweet World ..when you're just "raking". and you get the shicka-shika. ok yeah. none of that in the stone.

dave
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Unread post by snoopdoug1 » Tue May 06, 2003 5:47 am

ryopan wrote:
But - I haven't found a song since then that has taken me over an hour or two to get down.
*sigh* maybe in the distant future i still cant say that. but in the double distant future, maybe..... 8)
I right there with ya buddy :(

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Unread post by TOMAMI » Tue May 06, 2003 12:00 pm

Snoopdoug Love the Photo. For the record I think stones an easier song to learn than ants. I know I know by looking at the tab you would think different. But alot of us are discovering that dave doesn't pick a single note in this song. Yes thats right, alot of you are coming to realization that you may have to learn Ants all over again. Watch his live video performances
study it hard and practice one muted part at a time.

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Unread post by mbgreen » Tue May 06, 2003 12:24 pm

TOMAMI wrote:Snoopdoug Love the Photo. For the record I think stones an easier song to learn than ants. I know I know by looking at the tab you would think different. But alot of us are discovering that dave doesn't pick a single note in this song. Yes thats right, alot of you are coming to realization that you may have to learn Ants all over again. Watch his live video performances
study it hard and practice one muted part at a time.
There ya go. This man gets it. I was talking with dmbfanjason the other day, and we called it "the realization." Heh. You'll get to a certain point, where you can play quite a few dave songs, and you think youre doing well. Then you'll watch a video or two, and see how freaking different dave does things than you. Then, your ear picks up. You'll start to really hear all the little slaps and mutes that dave throws into every song, and you'll suddenly realize that you're not playing anything right, or even sort of right. Your style is all off. Over the past few months I have been relearning every dave song I initially learned...I couldnt play anything right. I guarantee that half the people who think they can play ants arent strumming it, and arent getting the mutes in. And if you think there's no difference in the sound, your ear hasnt picked up yet.
- Michael

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Unread post by billywestom » Tue May 06, 2003 12:39 pm

mbgreen wrote:
TOMAMI wrote:Snoopdoug Love the Photo. For the record I think stones an easier song to learn than ants. I know I know by looking at the tab you would think different. But alot of us are discovering that dave doesn't pick a single note in this song. Yes thats right, alot of you are coming to realization that you may have to learn Ants all over again. Watch his live video performances
study it hard and practice one muted part at a time.
There ya go. This man gets it. I was talking with dmbfanjason the other day, and we called it "the realization." Heh. You'll get to a certain point, where you can play quite a few dave songs, and you think youre doing well. Then you'll watch a video or two, and see how freaking different dave does things than you. Then, your ear picks up. You'll start to really hear all the little slaps and mutes that dave throws into every song, and you'll suddenly realize that you're not playing anything right, or even sort of right. Your style is all off. Over the past few months I have been relearning every dave song I initially learned...I couldnt play anything right. I guarantee that half the people who think they can play ants arent strumming it, and arent getting the mutes in. And if you think there's no difference in the sound, your ear hasnt picked up yet.
i think the biggest "realization" for me was when I was learning Billies. on storytellers, during the intro riff (not the nature intro) it sounded like all he was doing was hitting each chord once. but i couldnt figure out why his hand was waving around so much. its all about muting
I can't believe that we would lie in our graves wondering if we had spent our living days well, and I can't believe that we would lie in our graves dreaming of things that we might have been...

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Unread post by TOMAMI » Tue May 06, 2003 12:59 pm

I like it the REALIZATION this should be a topic in it's self. All these guitar/Dave fans need to start learning the right way and not waste time picking, thinking they have it. The right way is hard but it is a technique that when learned on one song can be used on alot of others. Dave is a guitar genius but not impossible to learn.

P.S. Study his live performances with an eagle eye.

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