The Letter- The Box Tops

Tom-

Hi! Great lesson, just have a few questions on the tutorial, spent a few days on this one. I did this one on my acoustic since I just bought my first one in 27 years and trying to get the feel of it for about a half year before studying once again on my electric strat.

1. The rhythmic stops (muting) I don't see you doing this on the full performance video but see you muting the strings with your fretting hand, please clarify if this is an option.

2. The one measure intro at 138 bpm is challenging me for the very quick tempo eighth notes.

3. The F chord is giving me a little bit of a hard time for a clean sound while playing the F note on the high e string. No problem with the other open chords including the barre chords on the outro.

In any case, I feel challenged playing this one with the driving rhythm and some quick chord changes on the acoustic. Just feels like more work on the acoustic to get crisp and clean tones but that's the challenge.

Any feedback be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tony

Hi Tony, congrats on the new acoustic! Acoustics are great and yes, sometimes, usually, a bit harder to play because of the heavier strings. In answer to your questions:

1) For muting, I am primarily using my right hand to "slap or pat" the strings on the second upstroke. The left hand can relax a bit on this beat, but it's not necessary.

2) Practice the intro as slow as you need to to get it clean, then gradually speed it up while maintaining the clarity! Also, make sure that you are using alternate picking.

3) Yeah, they don't call it the "F" chord for nothing ;) You can try turning your left index finger a little bit so that you are using more of the boney part. You can also try moving you left index finger a bit higher or lower on the neck to see if that helps. Sometimes the string falls into the joint and gets muted.

Good luck, I hope this helps! :)

Cheers, Tom

Tom-

Hi Tom! Much appreciated that you got back to me, will be following your tips. Though not at your level of skill, the song is coming along fine with just a few quirks. Having fun with this one.

Have a great week!

Tony

Tom-

By the way, I like the way you break down each section piece by piece and play slowly multiple times before moving on.

It's a shame you're not around the Philadelphia area to teach. Excellent teaching, great job!!

Tony

Tom-

Hi! Regarding the rhythmic stops in your tutorials, is this something done in the original version by The Box Tops? I assume you attempted to teach the original song writing as well? I watched one of their videos and could not pick up on the rhythm stops you were teaching.

Thanks!

Tony