Lesson a Week 1: Skullcrusher Mountain

[sheik530]

I am learning this and I am 13

[TheBananaCactus]

@sheik530 You have good taste, unlike most of the other people your age who will only listen to dubstep and techno stuff, completely dismissing all other styles of music.

[sheik530]

@TheBananaCactus I know... My best friends favourite music artist is Jonathan Coulton, and I ntroduced hiim. All my other friends are listening to LMFAO or other dubstep stuff. How old are you?

[drivec]

Thank you so much for making this video! I recently started playing the guitar again and this helped immensely in learning this song. Thanks Dave!

[wowdanalise]

These videos pretty much taught me how to play guitar. I started these off only being able to pick slowly string by string and now I can play every song without error.

Thanks Dave, you really are suuuupaa.

[TheSchoobydoobydoo]

I wonder if it's worth mentioning how you get all those sounds out of the E chord in the intro and verses. I'm assuming it's muting the top two strings, but some clarification on that would be pretty cool

P.S: I was too lazy to go through all the comments to see if this had already been brought up, sorry if I am a repeat offender

[DashCat9]

Thanks much for the lessons...you've personally taught me how to play all sorts of Jonathan Coulton and I really appreciate it. Fantastic videos.

[killking72]

so you strum down on a, d, and g. then strum up on the be and high e?

[xwf2]

omg its dave,,,,,,,,,,,waa up mun

[primospartan]

seriously where the hell do i put my fingers man!!! You tell me to play E and A and whatever but Idk where to put my fingers so how can I play a note that I don't know!?

[hyrulianshinobi333]

@primospartan the chord fingering is in the video info thingy

[Artaimus]

I just can't seem to get the strumming pattern down. Just never sounds right, even when I follow what you're doing.

[MightyEagle0]

@Artaimus

Me neither mate...

[DashCat9]

@Artaimus In my opinion, the strum pattern is the most difficult part of this song to get down. (The intro/verse is particularly weird). I practiced it a whole bunch and eventually got it down. Once I got the chords down, I actually just watched some live JoCo videos to help get it the way he plays it while singing.

[primospartan]

can u tell me where to put my fingers on the cords? I've only had guitar lessons for a year so i'm a newb, and my teacher was a complete retard so i use the internet as my guide so i need ur help, this is like my favorite song.

[Leotraiu]

I'm sorry to sound like a complete utter newb here, But what do you mean by "Heres my A"

Is the tuning just standard?

[suuuupaadave]

I play my A string so you can check to make sure you're in tune with my guitar when I filmed it.

[SirThrage]

I'm a pretty mediocre guitarist, but thanks to this video I'm well on my way to learning this song. One of my biggest problems has been chords; I taught myself, so I don't know many. Curse you, B7!

[batmanthecool]

gah! need... strumming... pattern..

[cdmac2]

Just posted a video response... let me know if it helps.

[Qband6mna2]

oh man thanks for the awesome video. i learned the whole song in just a short 30 minutes. thanks a lot for sharing.

[LlamasOnCrack]

show off... Just kidding, You're awesome!

[Scottishfilms]

Please help me with he strumming pattern. You hit the top string and then play the full E chord but then do you go play going up again or do you just go back and play it going down again? Any help would be appreciated.

[cdmac2]

I Just posted a video response...

[cdmac2]

Wow... I just got into JoCo a few months ago, and have spent a good amount of time figuring out some of his tunes on my own. Little did I know that you've already done most of the work for me.. thanks a bunch, I'll be checking out a lot of these lessons!

[Scottishfilms]

?? its an ok tutorial but you dont make the strumming technique at the start clear enough. Please help do you go down up down up for the E or just for the Esus4?? cause i can do it I just dont know how manyt times you play E and Esus4 and if you go down up on both or just Esus4. Please help.

[thesuperjill]

Hi! I'm learning this on my ukulele, thanks to your great video. I've got all the chords down, but I'm confused on the strum patterns. I'm a beginner and can't hear them. Do you happen to have them written out anywhere to see?

[suuuupaadave]

Hey, sorry it took so long to respond. One of my weaknesses is transcribing rhythm as I play by ear frequently. Strums can be transcribed but I feel like certain things just need to be heard to understand them. Sorry I can't be more help and thanks for watching.

[hyrulianshinobi333]

@suuuupaadave i love how you well you do your videos and im watching them more now that im getting better at guitar, but it would be amazing if someone could write the non-chord sections and strum patterns on sheet. once again, all the respect in the world and thank you for doing this

[autnaut]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing this! And thanks to JoCo for making such original and catchy tunes!

[xKronisLegacyx]

Sorry, whats the note at 2:18 right before the A major?

[suuuupaadave]

It's a D. Third fret of the B string, it makes it an E7 chord.

[xKronisLegacyx]

At 2:19, right before the pre-chrous? or chorus?

when you switch from E7 to A major, whats that one note that you play right before A major?

[xKronisLegacyx]

I'm sort of new to guitar, but how do you do the suspension?

And what tuning is this?

[suuuupaadave]

Standard tuning, EADGBe. The chords are all listed in the info box on the right. The Esus4 chord is made by just raising the G# note a half step by playing the A note on the 2nd fret of the G string.

[xKronisLegacyx]

Thanks! I just noticed that the fingerings were at the side :]

[gingerlink]

I've actually found myself playing with a completely different rhythm now. I geuss it kinda comes down to what we prefer sometimes...

[DNABeast]

Okay. I've now learned all the chords and the order they need to go in. Now I've just got to do it at the same speed, and without that awful twanging,.. and I'll have learned to play a song on the guitar.

[suuuupaadave]

Awesome! I'm glad you've gotten it all down. My recommendation to you is to practice with a metronome. Play it at a slower tempo and master it, then build your way up. Try to make sure that each note of each chord rings out clearly and if it doesn't to figure out what the problem area is so you can isolate it and overcome it. You can do it!

[BoyBeamish]

Very clear. Nicely done!

[scrubsmusical]

What's the link to the message board to vote for songs. I can't find a current one.

[rebelcoyote]

Thank you so much for the videos, they're really helpful. I'm a pretty new guitar player and I finally got the hang of bar chords while doing this video.

[tamingoftheshru]

gah, by "this" I mean bluecaboose436.

[saxophobe]

Actually, when you mention that Bm is "the mixolydian in the key of E" you are incorrect; B7, which is dominant not minor, would be the mixolydian in the key of E major. The difference is the flat third in the minor triad. Mixolydian or dominant contains a major third and a flat seventh. The Bm in this context functions as a passing chord to the A with all three chord tones resolving down. The Bm is actually an extension of E7, which would be the dominant of the A which is the subdominant.

[suuuupaadave]

It's been a few years since I've taken a music theory class, but I am glad to be set straight about this stuff. I'm all about the details and I appreciate the refresher in theory :)

[Spacecat2]

I guess saxophobe is right, but I know you meant. Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be something like "It's from E mixolydian".

[Bluecaboose436]

He's actually playing different strings each time. What works for me is sort of dividing the strings into zones. 1-E 2-ADG 3-Be and then strumming 1, 2, 1, 2, going to the Esus4, then 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, and then going back to the E and repeating.

[tamingoftheshru]

Awesome, thanks so much! That made it a whole lot clearer.

[tamingoftheshru]

um, my last comment - the profuse thanks one -was supposed to be in response to this...

[tamingoftheshru]

Hey, this is Shruti from the forums - so I started watching this and I'm afraid I can't even figure out what I'm supposed to be doing right at the beginning, the strum pattern or whatever? I'm probably less experienced at guitar than your target audience - meaning, I know how to play like, five chords total - and I'm probably just being really dense, but I can't figure out what you're doing - help?

[suuuupaadave]

When you switch to the Esus4 chord, there's a rhythm that you play that starts with the upstroke. This is something that you need to listen to the rhythm and get used to the strum. Take it really slow and listen to the way it sounds.

[tamingoftheshru]

I dunno, I guess I just can't pick up on that? Just, what do you *do* the entire time? Like, even before you switch chords, you're clearly not just playing the same thing over again, you know? But I can't figure out what's going on...

[Jsten419]

Dunno, I slightly disagree with your use of B7, I thought the regular B sounded a bit better.

[suuuupaadave]

It what JoCo plays at that part, so that's why I put it there. I base these lessons mostly on his live performances, so it would be easier for anyone to perform these on their own just as JoCo does. As these are just my interpretation, you don't need to do it exactly the way I do it for it to still be good.

[Jsten419]

Indeed, excellent video however, thought. I know most all the chords on here, but some people don't know chords at all, maybe if you flashed chord charts on screen it would help, just a humble suggestion, keep em coming.

[Ph0t0bug]

Love the Vid... Now... what about Big Bad World One?

[suuuupaadave]

If you go to JoCo's website and get involved with the forums. There are polls so you guys can decide what comes next.

[scrubsmusical]

Thanks for making the video. I'm attempting to learn how to play the guitar (I partly blame Coulton for it.) and, well, yeah, videos are really helpful.

However, I've been having something that's been bugging me. Most of the video's I've found are with guitarists strumming with their right hand. I'm left handed, and have been thinking of strumming with my left. Would flipping the video left to right make it easier to follow for a left handed noob?I'm sure the answer's obvious but I'm an idiot

[suuuupaadave]

The chord shapes are the going to be the same regardless of how you hold the guitar. I do realize that it's confusing because everything you're doing will be mirrored. I don't know how much flipping the video will do, but as I said, the chord shapes will be the same.

[lavaonface]

Gratz on 1337 views, keep up this awesome work! Brilliant idea!

[almostascone]

My half monkey half pony makes everything even MORE awesome. (:

Also, you have 1337 views.

[OrangeClover]

Oh, so you're responsible for the half monkey half pony monster? I was like, "duuuude, where'd he get that??" (I have witnesses)

[almostascone]

Yeah! I made it a couple months ago and brought it to Coulton's Chicago show, and keep forgetting to bring it back to school with me, so I figured a cameo in this would be appropriate.

[TheOtherKB]

I think you should start mass-producing these. I would totally buy one!

[ssskinner]

I know where you are in your house. that is all.

[spootspootspoot]

Thankyouthankyouthankyou.

I've been waiting for someone to do that. I couldn't quite follow concert footage well enough to figure out some of the weirder chords.

BTW if you actually want to edit out errors, I suggest virtual dub. It's free and does all you need for simple edits.

[suuuupaadave]

Thanks! I actually have virtual dub on my comp, what better time than now to mess with it.  I'm glad you were able to get something out of this. :)

[BorbaSpinotti]

Great work Dave, and good luck with Lesson a Week - it's a brilliant idea to walk a variation of JoCo's hamster wheel!

[rpgamera]

This is nicely done, Dave. My own guitar skills aren't good enough to do some of these chords flawlessly yet, but I think you've done something awesome by throwing this up on YouTube. Well done, sir. :)