Recreational Blogging, Take Two

More YouTube to amuse myself with. Just tracking the latest, greatest efforts on my behalf to work toward a fraction of the guitar "talent" that I once had. Here's a comparison.

This is the first song to which I learned to play from start to finish:

(I'd throw in a cool live clip, but it seems all those versions either show the band wasted or Richie Blackmore improvising the solo into something unrecognizable from the recorded version)

The solo material here was a nice mix of simple classical riffs and easy bluesy chops. Even the fast stuff is ridiculously easy to play (a whole lotta open-E string work is all it is). I might be tempted to learn it again, but there's surprisingly little market for showing off one's Deep Purple chops anymore. Society's loss, I argue.

And this is what I'm working (ever so gradually) to be able to play these day:

I've always had a tough time with really fast rythym parts, so that's what's got me slowed to a grind on this. Well, that and the whopping 15 minutes a night I get to work in with a really awful guitar. Still, it's a pretty easy song, so maybe I'll be able to show up JerryC one day soon ;-)