[vmorrissette]

Alright, so I have been trying to attempt to learn Clapton's classical gas. I am also starting to think that it was a bad idea since it seems to be the only song that I am practicing. Even if I get the timing for around half of it down, then I will be pretty happy with myself. So I have the intro down (3/4 is pretty easy) but it seems that once I start playing the actual song (with the 4/4) the notes all sort of seem to blur together. If I play it softly, then it actually makes sense, but the louder I try to play it the more I mess up the timing. Basically I am just asking if I should practice more at a slower speed in order to get the fingering synchronized, or if I should practice more at the actual speed in order to get the timing down. Thanks in advance.

[rayvon87]

Yeah, I'd say it's best to start slow, then gradually get faster with this song. Once you get it, it just sort of fits together.

Are you playing with a metronome? That might be a good idea also, just try to stay with the beat.

It's a very rewarding song to play. Keep with it.

[ninjato]

Always start slower. If you play it fast w/ a lot of mistakes and keep doing it, you actually end up programming those mistakes into your playing. It's much better to go slow and play clean and slowly build up to tempo.

There's a method I use which I learned from my classical piano days for learning a new song.

1. No tempo practice: In this stage you don't worry about tempo, but you play slowly and forcefully. Play everything loud and strong. Your tempo should be around 60ish but don't concentrate on tempo. You are just building muscle memory for the song and getting fingerings down.

2. Slow tempo practice: Just start at a tempo that you can play cleanly from beginning to end w/ no mistakes. Must use a metronome.

3. Standard tempo, no metronome practice: This forces you to count without a crutch of a metronome or drummer.

[dogpoo]

always start slow, and learn it right from the get go, because if not, it's going to be really hard to deprogram the wrong way of playing, like fingering and such.

tempo, slow, strong and steady playing. slowly get faster. don't play without worrying about tempo though, always try to play in time, even if its at half speed, because it builds up your sense of rhythm of the piece.

[robert2000]

Clapton didnt write classical gas.

[ninjato]

Clapton didnt write classical gas.

How does this solve his issue w/ playing the song?

[vmorrissette]

Clapton didnt write classical gas.

... but that's the version I am attempting to learn because the mason williams orchestral version makes it hard to seperate the guitar from the other instruments... even if it is the same.

[robert2000]

Clapton didnt write classical gas.

... but that's the version I am attempting to learn because the mason williams orchestral version makes it hard to seperate the guitar from the other instruments... even if it is the same.

Clapton doesnt have a version. He never recorded it. Mason Williams recorded a solo acoustic version that apeared on a sountrack with mostly Clapton songs so everyone assumed he wrote it. (I may be wrong on some of the details but I know for sure Clapton never recorded it)

As for some help. I dont know how you're playing it but one of the things I did when I learnt it way back when was I didnt look at my left hand at all while playing. That way I could follow the tab without pausing to make sure my fingers were in the right place. It may take some time to get the hang of it but it's worth it in the end. I told the guy I'm giving lessons to to try this and it helped. Plus if you do this you'll be able to play the whole thing without looking and you can really impress people. Another thing to remember is there is a lot of open strings played so you should only need one or two fingers pressed down at a time.

[Will_Wood]

He did record it, actually. He recorded it for the movie "The Story of Us". It had Bruce Willis in it. It was a movie about marriage. That tune runs throughout the movie. It almost gets kind of annoying how much they play it.

[dadfad]

...Clapton doesnt have a version. He never recorded it. Mason Williams recorded a solo acoustic version that apeared on a sountrack with mostly Clapton songs so everyone assumed he wrote it. (I may be wrong on some of the details but I know for sure Clapton never recorded it)

He did record it, actually. He recorded it for the movie "The Story of Us". It had Bruce Willis in it. It was a movie about marriage. That tune runs throughout the movie. It almost gets kind of annoying how much they play it.

I have a video of Clapton performing the tune in concert. (I'm not a big Clapton fan but a video of the concert was given to me by a customer of my company who knows I'm into blues guitar.) I don't know whether that video or any other recording of him playing that tune is available for purchase commercially or not. I have the video buried somewhere in one of many (many) crates of "music-o-bilia" that I have in my music-room closet/basement music storage room/ attic music storage room/garage music storage room. When I come across it I'll copy it to SoundClick or something and post it here. I play a semi-decent version of the tune (like in case someone requests "Can you do Classical Gas?"), but it's not a tune I was into that much so I never really tried to seriously work on it.

[ninjato]

This thread has got me interested in learning the song again. I had started to learn it about 5 years ago and never got too far w/ it. It's a little hard for me to learn thru TAB though since I'm not used to it but it's a good tune nevertheless. It's becoming a "standard" tune to play acoustically these days.

[ring_of_fire]

He did record it, actually. He recorded it for the movie "The Story of Us". It had Bruce Willis in it. It was a movie about marriage. That tune runs throughout the movie. It almost gets kind of annoying how much they play it.

According to the official soundtrack listing for that movie, Classical Gas was performed by Mason Williams in that movie. Clapton did perform several songs for that movie (Get Lost (twice) and Wonderful Tonight) but not Classical Gas.

IMDB Soundtrack List showing Mason Williams as performing the tune.
Soundtrack for purchase on Amazon showing Mason Williams as performing the tune.


I did just purchase my first guitar and my goal is to learn some well known tunes (such as Classical Gas) and am curious if anyone from this thread had any luck learning this tune correctly and if they have any tips for a beginner.

This post has been edited by ring_of_fire: 23 July 2007 - 02:52 AM

[dadfad]

He did record it, actually. He recorded it for the movie "The Story of Us". It had Bruce Willis in it. It was a movie about marriage. That tune runs throughout the movie. It almost gets kind of annoying how much they play it.

According to the official soundtrack listing for that movie, Classical Gas was performed by Mason Williams in that movie. Clapton did perform several songs for that movie (Get Lost (twice) and Wonderful Tonight) but not Classical Gas.

IMDB Soundtrack List showing Mason Williams as performing the tune.
Soundtrack for purchase on Amazon showing Mason Williams as performing the tune.


I did just purchase my first guitar and my goal is to learn some well known tunes (such as Classical Gas) and am curious if anyone from this thread had any luck learning this tune correctly and if they have any tips for a beginner.

I don't particularly care for the tune, but I can play it pretty well. Start out slowly with the chords, don't worry if you pick the wrong string/note (as you're playing fingerstyle). The timing and the chord changes are the first part to get down and then go for string/note-accuracy. (And don't worry if you hit a "wrong" note. You're improvising it from a band-arrangement and you might even find a note you like better than the "right" one anyway!) Get it together slowly at first and then pick up the tempo to speed. Here's one arrangement. Anyway, good luck!