LC Music Practical Guitar Advice?

Conor94

Hi, I know there's a leaving cert forum but I thought the people that frequent this forum might know more than the few that do music on there.

Basically I have to choose my 4 songs for my practical exam.

I've picked out 3 possible ones, but I'm not sure whether they're difficult enough... My teacher knows nothing about guitar so asking her really isn't any use.

The three I've picked are:


* Someone Like You (As arranged by Sungha Jung)

* Jessica - The Allman Brothers Band

* Day Tripper - The Beatles

I'd really appreciate if you could offer me any advice on whether those songs are suitable or any suggestions for songs.

Thanks.

Conor94

No-one?

Herb Powell

I'd say you'd be better off asking in the Leaving Cert forum, tbh. I know even though I've played guitar since I was 12, I didn't do it for the leaving, so I have no idea what they'd expect. What you have should be absolutely fine though, I really don't think they're looking for virtuosos, just competent musicians.

Conor94

Herb Powell wrote: »

I'd say you'd be better off asking in the Leaving Cert forum, tbh. I know even though I've played guitar since I was 12, I didn't do it for the leaving, so I have no idea what they'd expect. What you have should be absolutely fine though, I really don't think they're looking for virtuosos, just competent musicians.

Yeah I think I'll post in the LC forum after all I think confidence is one of the most important factors... which will be the most difficult part for me, I hate performing :P

Redrally

Hey Buddy,

I did it for the LC a few years ago, bass was my primary instrument at the time but I did 4 vocal/guitar and 4 bass (Wasnt up to scratch vocally or on guitar at the time), still pulled an higher level B2 out of it.

I played Bad Penny, Ghost Riders, Lips of an Angel & Sultans of Swing on acoustic guitar, my advice is to pick em to suit your style nevermind complicated stuff, and to do them as well as you can.

I got a couple mates to jam with me so we had a more fuller sound, would recommend it because its easier to have fun at it, could see the examiner loved it!!

Hope this helps,

Redrally.

Fandango

I did ordinary level music for the LC as I hadnt done the course so didnt go for Higher but I also play Bass as my main instrument. As far as I recall I only had to play 2 pieces for OL but may be wrong as it was 12 years ago!! I basically played an original song on bass and played something relatively simple on recorder as was advised not to play 2 bass songs. From what I remember, they dont expect you to play something crazy and ultra-impressive. Competence and knowing the song are most important so dont over-extend yourself. While the pieces I played were nothing special I calculated that I must have got around 90-95% in the performance part (easy to calculate when you leave the written exam after about 20 mins!!) and got a C3 (I think). Basically practice whatever your playing till your fingers are numb, know the song back to front and you should be fine. Im doing music in college now and have a similar thing next week (although I dont get to choose the tracks freely unfortunately) but spending about 3-4 hours a day practicing the song over and over so that its jammed in my head along with some technical exercises we have to do but basically a solid performance will get you through it so practice them fingers to the bone