Hello,
I'm sure we all have all seen the video Rylynn by Andy McKee on YouTube, and maybe even the cover by Sungha Jung, but putting aside covers, I was wondering if there were any tutorials. I can play pretty much all of it, but I have to skip some parts of it that I couldn't figure out.

Thanks a lot,
rylynn

there aren't any tutorials out there, really.

what I find best to do is to first have an accurate tab, preferably the official one. (that's what I used)

When I was learning it, I broke up the song into 4 parts -

The intro
Part 1
Part 2
Outro

The intro is pretty simple. Nothing special or challenging in it, just make sure you get the timing right. Watch Andy's video and read the tab. Play it until you can play it right along with Andy's video or the song from the album.

Part 1 is right after the intro.. with all the thumb slapping in it. I broke this up into a lot of pieces. I would play a line at a time basically until I could play it with Andy. I watched his videos and listened to make sure I got everything right, I even had to add in some stuff to the tab. What I found best helped, which does with every song, is I play the album version in Windows Media Player. Theres a function where you can slow the song down to half speed so it is MUCH slower. You can listen to the notes and make sure everything is correct. Work on this until you can play it up to speed with Andy, then try combining the two.

Part 2 is the slapping part. I'm still working on this part a little, but I have it down. Basically, I watched Andy's video and a lot of cover videos to try to figure out the technique and stuff that was used. Use the tab loosely for the beginning of this section, because it's kind of hard to read. Once you have the beginning down and can play it with Andy, you move on to the next section of Part 2. This is the more melody section I guess I would say. There isn't any tapping in it really. What I found best was the Windows Media Player strategy. I slowed this down and took it piece by piece, even by measure, and played along until I had it in slow motion. After that, I sped it up and worked until I could play it at Andy's speed. Once you can play this section really well, then try to connect the three.

Outro is the harmonics part. Honestly, I can't really give any tips on this part - I am still learning it right now. First you need to learn how to do that harmonics correctly. I mean that you can do them with one hand. (If you need any help with this just let me know) After you learn how to do them, work until you can play JUST the harmonics up to speed with Andy. See if you can get the tapping and stuff in as well. (when he taps the fingerboard) Then work on the left hand part. Work on it until you get it loud enough to hear and can play it with Andy. Then, the hard part comes. Keep practicing until you can play both at the same time. (Which I can't do yet)

Let me know if this helped at all.

Riley

Thank you so much, Riley. That half speed tool on Media Player really helped with Part 1 and 2. Thanks again!

No problem. It is a lot easier with the half speed. Let me know how the song goes.

For learning the outro, I've learned a few tricks from piano that help you put the two hands together.

1. Riley's right. You need to practice each hand separately. When practicing with each hand, you should focus on consistency and *not* look at the guitar. The metering is different in the first and second measure, make sure to take it as slowly and as strictly (timewise) as possible. With your right hand, you should feel comfortable making the harmonics speak loudly and clearly, and playing the notes in sequence without muting the previous ones. With your left hand, focus on hammering on/pulling off in time, and consistency, consistency, consistency!

2. Once you get the general gist of each hand separately, put them together. Take it very slow. I did about 1 second/sixteenth note when I was starting out. When you put things together like this, you are trying to figure out where each part fits in with the other hand, and to engrain the parts in your muscle memory.
One last thing: make sure not to mute the g-string harmonic (from your right hand) with your left hand when you're playing the melody. You want each note to be able to ring out clearly.

Remember: practice makes permanent. You're not going to get anywhere by practicing incorrectly, as you'll perform incorrectly. Take it slow and accurately, and edge up the tempo bit by bit, possibly using the WMP trick.

This post was last modified: 12-26-2008 09:44 AM by amuliaw.

the outro is very difficult.. i mean, is not difficult tapping the strings, but it is difficult to make the harmonics clearly. Anyway, thanks for the advices Riley.

i'm glad that you're explaining the steps to getting that right, but i'm not sure how to do the harmonics with one hand.

like everyoen said stake it really slow =)

no thats not what i meant. Literally, i have no idea how to do one hand harmonics.

ha ha put your index finger on the 7th fret with capo (classically 12th fret). And use your thumb to pluck the harmonic.


I didn't watch this whole video but this might be able to shed some light on the subject.

Let me know if its still unclear.