Rid of Me

February, first week:

Rid of Me

Guitar: Tele (Polly)

E taught me basic power chord shapes and I started my practice session going over the root note on both the E and A strings, singing the note as I played it: E-F-G (move over to A string) A-B-C (then back to E sting, going back and forth until that movement felt natural, then from the E string again, A-B-C (move over to E string) D-E-F. Then I started to play A-B-C on the E string, then E-F-G on the A string. When this felt comfortable, I incorporate the full power chord shape, but not practicing these too much because my wrist still gets sore after a few minutes. So break, stretch and strengthen, then I started on the song.

Based on the three videos that I found of PJ playing this song solo, it's all power chords, and mostly just the bass note. The trick is to get the rhythm right, with the palm mute and stopping the sound with my left hand as well, that is until the bridge when she lets it fly. Thanks to my practice on root notes, I could hear the change even when the video cut away to her face.

Here are my favorite videos:

PJ Harvey on the Jay Leno show, 1993. She uses a Fender Telecaster. I saw it referred to as a Jaguar, but I only see two pickups, and it doesn't look like it has the cut of a Jaguar. I could be wrong, and I don't mind being educated if you want to leave a comment about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBtM0g-yZRU

You have to watch the entire clip. She's young, plays without a band, just her and her Tele. She wears a gold lamé dress, wedge heels, rushes the song just a little but her confidence is otherwise spot on. When she's done, she sets aside her guitar and sits with Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer from Seinfield) and Kathleen Madigan. Watch Richards tighten his crossed knees when she talks about castrating lambs.

Here she is with a Getsch Broadkaster hollow body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzwG3r9_L9o

The song, in my (never humble) opinion shows what you can do with just one power chord shape in three positions. If I remember correctly, this was her breakout song on her breakout album.

Ecstasy

3rd week, January:

Guitar: Tele (Polly)

E and I went over this song in my lesson, and it seemed most accessible to me because it's on a slide guitar, open tuning (E), very little strumming--most of the sound comes from the slide.  There seems to be three positions, and the bridge where she makes the slide guitar sound almost like a cello. When she sings, Harvey slams down on the beat with her voice that contrasts nicely with the slide. It's hard for me to listen to just the guitar, so I tried to listen to it on my iPhone without headphones. That way the song is tinny, with less bass and drums, and her vocals are more distant. The pitch of the guitar remains true and listening in this manner helped me to find the right pitch.

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The notes I took as I worked on the song:

Strum, long scratchy vibrato, pluck E string (1st) and slide off, clean strum (slide on fret, not to), back to scratchy vibrato fret

Is there a 2nd guitar?

Cello or violin?

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I couldn't find any decent videos, and I put this song aside for now. I sometimes have less than half an hour to practice, and I don't want to spend time changing the tuning on my guitar. So… There was a Kay acoustic at Dusty Strings that had been rescued from the dumpster, refurbished, new bridge and re-trussed. It looked a little beat up, but had a pretty design around the edge of the guitar, some inlay, and a sunburst pattern like my Tele. I arrived in time to talk the person already considering it into buying it. I turned to Ebay for consolation. When the winter storm in Nebraska settles down, someone with a 100% customer approval is going to send me a 1950s/60s Kay guitar with the original pickup. Like the acoustic, it looks like it has higher action than my Fender, and should make a good slide guitar that won't break the bank. Otherwise, it'll hang on my wall. I've seen art that cost more and didn't look as pretty.

Here's a video I don't particularly like, but as the poster mentioned there aren't many of her playing this song at this time. The sound quality is poor, and I can't see much of her hands, though there is enough that I can get an idea and put together the rest by listening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqttHByLtII

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Listening "Big Exit" from Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. When I'm confident to combine picking and strumming, maybe I'll try to learn this song.

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Reading Independent People by Halldór Laxness.