PENCO

Eric’s Playtime Series # 9 – Open G for the first time

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Playtime # 9 is played in Open G. This is where the notes on the guitar are the notes of a G chord. I have used open tunings for quite a long time now but this was the first time I played in Open G.

This is a really sloppy piece. However, the whole idea of Eric’s Playtime is to have one-take, unedited playing. Everything is raw and real. Even to this day, I believe I am a good, not great, guitar player. But I do believe that my songwriting is my strength. This is an energetic upbeat piece. I played those two chords from above the fretboard to get the open strings to ring well. Hard to do with a standard playing style.

The guitar is my 1977 Penco of course tuned to Open G (D G D G B D).

Please “like” and Subscribe to see all of my videos. I have posted Playtime videos, Performance videos as well as lyric videos. Please leave a comment to share your thoughts!

I have a Facebook page for my music as well as a YouTube Channel. I have released 8 songs to virtually all streaming services under the band name Wise Inspirations. And of course I have this website.

Eric’s Playtime Series # 8 – Playing in Drop D

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Playtime # 8 is played in Drop D. This is where the lowest note on the guitar is tuned down to a D and all the other strings stay the same. This allows the D chord to be really full, 6 strings instead of 4.

I do not love this piece but parts of it can be used in other songs. Back in those days, 2017, I was still learning “the neighborhood” in some of the tunings. That is my term for finding chords and ways to put things together that sound good. As guitar players we “know the neighborhood” of standard tuning quite well. But once you change how the guitar is tuned we have to learn again.

The guitar is my first guitar, “Penny”, my 1977 Penco.

Eric’s Playtime Series # 7 – Slow Blues in E

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Playtime # 7 is also really old at this point. These are the very early writing I did leading up to 2017.

This is the same song as in my Playtime # 4 video. I must have really liked this song back then.

Again the guitar is my first guitar, “Penny”, my 1977 Penco acoustic guitar.

I have a Facebook page for my music as well as a YouTube Channel. I have released 8 songs to virtually all streaming services under the band name Wise Inspirations. And of course I have this website.

Please “like” and Subscribe to see all of my videos. I have posted Playtime videos, Performance videos as well as lyric videos. Please leave a comment to share your thoughts!

Eric’s Playtime # 6 – After The Storm

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Playtime # 6 is also from my early days of music performance and songwriting. Played on “Penny”, my Penco acoustic guitar. My first guitar. Took every penny I had. As a matter of fact she

is nicknamed “Penny” though that is because she is a Penco. LOL

first day of me videoing me playing my songs. Played on my amazing Breedlove Atlas Stage Acoustic 12-string. This is my favorite 12-string I have ever played. Back when I did a lot of open mics, this was my usual performance instrument. The only challenge was to make sure it was tuned. Most often back in those days it was tuned to an open D tuning which is the tuning used in this song.

After The Storm was written an April 6th, 2016 sitting outside a Costco while a tire was being repaired. That day was the first nice day of the spring. It must have been 75 degrees. So I wrote a song with the words “After the storm”. I have always felt that the guitar work is quite pretty. It is currently one of the pieces I play very often. Especially on a really beautiful day!

Please “like” and Subscribe to see all of my videos. I have posted Playtime videos, Performance videos as well as lyric videos. Please leave a comment to share your thoughts!

Eric’s Playtime # 4 – Hammered Blues in E

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There is a common riff in blues playing where the guitar player hammers on their finger to go from the minor to the major third in a chord. In this song I do this over the I, the IV and the V

chords using lots of open strings. I like to keep things open, you see. Back in 2017, several people liked it when I played this one at open mics and jams, etc.

Playtime # 4 is also from my first video of me playing my songs. Played on “Penny”, my Penco acoustic guitar.

On the A chord there seems to be some harmonic coming from brushing against the high E string. I always tried to get that harmonic. Not so easy to do though.

As a songwriter I don’t just play chords, I try to craft the sounds for the exact feel of what I am doing. This includes notes I play, the order of the notes (voicings), open strings, how I touch the strings, etc. It is an art form so it deserves the art we put into it!

Please “like” and Subscribe to see all of my videos. I have posted Playtime videos, Performance videos as well as lyric videos. Please leave a comment to share your thoughts!

Eric’s Playtime Series # 3 – Blues in E

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Eric’s Playtime Series is the best place to see me being creative spontaneously. Many of the videos show me playing something he just wrote. Others present one of his favorite pieces. But

all are Real Raw, One Take, with no editing. Presented with mistakes and (too often) bad hair days. I am just an imperfect person same as everyone else. But in these videos I believe there is a creativity that might you might enjoy.

Playtime # 3 shows my love of the blues. In this song I am using a technique to play triads and riffs over the blues shuffle. A 12-Bar is one of the most basic things in music. If I had a few people over and said “12 bar in E”, everyone would know the chords and have an idea of what to do. Of course there are unlimited options for enhancing the 3 chords. For me the beauty of the blues is that is so simple at heart but it can incorporate such complicated variations and enhancements. I love the blues.

This video was filmed along with a couple other songs on my first ever video of me playing my songs! Recorded on January 27th, 2017, and played on my Penco acoustic guitar. (The first guitar I ever owned). Filmed outside the company I worked for at the time.

Please “like” and Subscribe to see all of my videos. I have posted Playtime videos, Performance videos as well as lyric videos.

Eric’s Playtime Series # 2 – Lie To Me

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Playtime # 2 is very early in my songwriting life! Recorded on January 26th, 2017, and played on my Penco acoustic guitar. (The first guitar I ever owned). Filmed at the company I worked for

during a break.

Filmed way back toward the start of my songwriting journey on January 26th, 2017, I am playing my Penco A170, named Penny. I bought her new in 1977 using every cent I had. I even liked “Penny” enough to put a deposit down and come back a month later with more money. She is still in close to perfect shape. She will always be one of my favorite co-writers!

In Lie To Me the verse starts off with an E5 chord followed by an E(no 5) then a D5 and a D(no5). That gives the song a unique sound and feel that I haven’t heard many times in my experiences. Also The chorus feels fresh to me. Anyway That is what I like about this song. Currently the song is on hold because I don’t really like the lyrics. But one day…

Eric’s Playtime Series # 1 – Round and Round

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Eric’s Playtime Series is the best place to see me being creative spontaneously. Many of the videos show me playing something he just wrote. Others present one of his favorite pieces. But

all are Real, Raw, One Take, with no editing. Presented with mistakes and (too often) bad hair days. I am just an imperfect person same as everyone else. But in these videos I believe there is a creativity that might you might enjoy.

Playtime # 1 is my first ever video of me playing one of my songs! Recorded on January 30th, 2017, and played on my Penco acoustic guitar. (The first guitar I ever owned). Filmed at the company I worked for during a break.

Filmed way back toward the start of my songwriting journey on January 26th, 2017, I am playing my Penco A170, named Penny. I bought her new in 1977 using every cent I had and she has enjoyed the ride up to this day. She is now 47 years old and still in close to perfect shape. She is still one of my favorite guitars to play. In fact some of the songs I wrote with her, I can only play on her.

This song was written in a laundromat in one hour and was titled Laundromat Hour. Later re-named Round and Round, inspired by the dryer spinning round.