Hello everyone!
Some of you know that I have thousands of fans in Indonesia that love to hear my thoughts on Alip Ba Ta. This video is a comparison between Alip Ba Ta and Dream Theater. My son, Levi, is a big Dream Theater fan so he helped me with this video.

We started recording a couple of weeks ago but it has given me a bit of trouble. It was blocked in some countries but YouTube would not give me a list of them. 
So...
I've cut out the Dream Theater parts of the video and kept the Alip Ba Ta parts for YouTube. The idea was to compare the different parts of the original song with the original recording.

I'll post another link later to the full video on another platform.
If you want to see the longer video right away click on the link in the description below the video.

https://youtu.be/iyFJvvLJSyE

This next video is a comparison between Alip Ba Ta and the Eagles' performance of Hotel California. 

https://youtu.be/-dJtcyYkkFk

I have some trepidation about releasing this one because I put in clips of the 1994 Eagles live concert, and Don Henley and the Eagles have been blockers in the past. We'll see how long it survives as is.

Hal

Open G Tuning, Blues, and CT43
Last year I did a few reactions to Alip Ba Ta classic rock videos and people from Indonesia started to come on board in droves so every once in a while I have posted a reaction to songs by Alip Ba Ta. 

I haven't posted a video like that since October 2021.

CT43 is an original blues composition played in open G tuning. 

In this video I show you the open G tuning, play a blues song by one of my favorite guitar player singer/songwriters. (See if you can guess what the song is and who did it.) Whoever guesses correctly first will get a free lesson from me. Hint: I sang two verses of the song but the title of the song doesn't appear in the lyrics until the 3rd verse. ;)

We go over 15 chords that we can use in open G tuning to play blues. There are only 5 shapes but when we move them around in 3 different places on the neck we get 15 different chords. That's the way open position chords that turn into barre chords work.

Comments? I'm going to make another video without Alip Ba Ta in it talking about the same tuning and chords. The original Alip song is rather fun and also short.

Hal

https://youtu.be/ppOU0qi-SnE

Alip Ba Ta original - Pagebluk - my take on it.
Hello everyone,

There are a lot of fans in Indonesia that like my work. I try not to cater to them exclusively but it's tempting because they put literally hundreds of comments on my Alip Ba Ta videos and ask for many reviews of Alip's work.

Pagebluk just got published on August 21st, 2021 on Alip's channel. This is an original song meaning "pandemic" in Javanese. Alip is brilliant, as always, in his playing. You can hear the sadness coming through in the music.

I really like this song. It's got two parts mainly. It is in ABA form with a higher part at the beginning and end and a lower middle section that sounds more western in style.

The tuning is very interesting. It is a modified open G tuning: D G D F# B D
I've never seen this tuning before, but then that's not saying much because I'm not an expert in alternate tunings. Have you heard of this tuning? Let me know in the comments.

Alip uses harmonics extensively to play the melody, something I can't do at the moment because of lack of practice in this style. As with most alternate tunings for me I'm completely lost watching the playing because I'm not familiar with the chord shapes.

During this video I play the beginning melody on my classical guitar in standard tuning and try to get a grip on the shape of the tune. During the B section I work on the bass movement and check out the harmony and some of the chords. I like to analyze a piece when it is beautiful and see what the chord progressions are and in what key. This helps my own understanding of music and composition.

This video and composition is all Alip's original work and he gets all compensation from ads. I make no money from making this video except through your support.

Online lessons are available from me in case any one is interested. Get in touch with me on my email.

Hal
https://youtu.be/GCTR1kVWaIY

While listening to Alip Ba Ta play this song I realized that the chord progressions are interesting and not boring like many songs released today. No wonder I've liked this song since High School!

I've made this Alip Ba Ta reaction video because it's easy to make, hardly any edits in it, and there are thousands of Indonesians that love Alip Ba Ta.

The key change that he does on the last chorus is interesting and the run that he plays to get there is fun to listen to.

I will use this song as an example in my live stream tomorrow when we talk about Bare Bones.

I'll be teaching this song soon in a video format along with tabbing out the melody. It is now in the latest version of my book too. I'll release that next week.
You can get the lead sheet now in the description of the video.

Hal
https://youtu.be/rSZaF2lj0-o