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Post by cunningr on Feb 10, 2019 4:39:09 GMT -6
Well guess I will start the thread this week.
I have done about an hour a day, pretty good considering i got diagnosed with shingles on Thursday and feel like crap.
still going on Born under a Bad Sign, and instructor has me working on next part of Honky Tonk by Muddy Waters.
I received my new a tuner, was open box and got a good deal works great. Also received a hi hat stand i won off ebay for $35 to finish up my electronic drum build i did for my son.
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Post by grampalerxst on Feb 10, 2019 6:29:33 GMT -6
Sorry to hear about the shingles Rich, never had them myself but by all accounts they are pretty miserable. I was probably at around 7 hours myself. Being at work 11-12 hours per day versus 9 really cuts into my guitar time. Not only are the 2-3 extra hours away gone, but I often don't have the energy to do much once I get home. So I'm frustrated in that regard. But I get a little extra money for the longer hours so it's not totally lost time.
I'm reading another book on practice. This one is called The Practice of Practice by Jonathan Harum. It's a little better than the last one I read due to it being slightly more practical, but not particularly applicable to a midlife guy trying to learn a little guitar. There's a lot of talk about the philosophical approach of highly accomplished musicians in Western Jazz and Classical music, as well as several other worldwide traditions. There is some discussion of playing along with slowed-down recordings, and playing super slow in general, but it seems more geared towards a professional-level musician trying to build performance repertoire as efficiently as possible (versus a guy slogging up the foothills en route to conquering the mountain of competence for the first time). Still, it was thought-provoking and I'm going to keep an eye out for the appropriate piece to try some of the ideas on. It would have to be something that is within reach for my current skill/dexterity level while posing a few challenges. Increased practice efficiency can only help.
Been working on Blues Rock Tune (BYCU #2) using the playalong reps thing I've been up to. I never practiced much with the original demo cd, and the feel is quite a bit different than the vibe I get playing along with the playalong mp3 that JG did. Not sure if what I am doing will translate very well when I co back to the backing track, but we'll see. Playing along with the demo makes me feel like I'm improving at least.
Still working on those sections of Pride and Joy and Electric Gypsy I've been talking about. I'm about ready to move on to the intro of Pride and Joy. Electric Gypsy is a bit more difficult for me. I'm in a cycle of working up to about 75% tempo on "the lick" then dropping back to 60% when I discover another sticking point (almost always requiring adjustment to my picking hand). I haven't been recording that one so I don't know for sure if I'm improving, but I assume I am. Interestingly, some of the musicians quoted in The Practice of Practice (mostly high-level horn players) have a habit of alternating between 50% tempo and 100% tempo as a standard approach to learning challenging new pieces as efficiently as possible. I've started adopting a variant of that (going back and forth between my current working tempo and one quite a bit slower during a session) rather than starting at a slower tempo and monotonically inching the tempo up to my target tempo. Too soon to say if it helps, hurts, or matters not.
I'm a little sad this morning. One of my chores today is to put some fresh strings on my old Strat--I'm selling it to a colleague at work. Between my Suhr and a used AT100 I picked up last summer I don't play it much and it's getting to be time to start winnowing my possessions in preparation for retiring and moving/downsizing. I'm also going to let him try out my Line 6 POD HD500X to see if he wants it too. I didn't bond with it all that well and now that I've bonded well with the Helix it's time to let it go too.
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Post by Phil on Feb 10, 2019 10:27:58 GMT -6
The forum seems to be in one its all too frequent doldrums. We get 80-100 visitors daily and the occasional new member signs up, but haven't had a new active participant in years. That's a mystery to me. Anyhoo, I got in 10 hours which is good for me. Two of those hours were spent playing with another guitarist. My wife commented that we're finally starting to play something that sounds like music.  It's a very worthwhile activity if you can find someone to play with. It's great to be able to bounce ideas off each other face to face as opposed to via the Internet. I did everything I planned this week at least once. I like my new approach of having a list of 5-6 things to choose from everyday. Of course, I always find something else to do which distracts me from my plan. I've learned to just go with the flow and try to steer myself back towards the plan. Rich: Sorry to hear about the shingles. I understand that it can be extremely painful. Just out of curiosity, were you vaccinated against shingles? That's one vaccination I made sure to get. Gramps: Sounds like an interesting book. I think I'll get it. At the this stage of the game none of us will ever reach the level of technical proficiency of the masters. However, we can still strive to play better than we did yesterday and reach a fairly high level eventually. Every great player spent an extraordinary amount of time practicing during their formative years. 6-10 hours a day was the norm for them. I hear and read this in interviews constantly. When the other kids were outside playing they were in their rooms practicing. Their amount of drive and self-discipline was way above normal. They were obsessive in achieving their goals. Our challenge is to figure out how to use the limited time available to us as efficiently and effectively as possible. |
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Post by cunningr on Feb 10, 2019 14:08:08 GMT -6
The forum seems to be in one its all too frequent doldrums. We get 80-100 visitors daily and the occasional new member signs up, but haven't had a new active participant in years. That's a mystery to me. Anyhoo, I got in 10 hours which is good for me. Two of those hours were spent playing with another guitarist. My wife commented that we're finally starting to play something that sounds like music. It's a very worthwhile activity if you can find someone to play with. It's great to be able to bounce ideas off each other face to face as opposed to via the Internet. I did everything I planned this week at least once. I like my new approach of having a list of 5-6 things to choose from everyday. Of course, I always find something else to do which distracts me from my plan. I've learned to just go with the flow and try to steer myself back towards the plan. Rich: Sorry to hear about the shingles. I understand that it can be extremely painful. Just out of curiosity, were you vaccinated against shingles? That's one vaccination I made sure to get. Gramps: Sounds like an interesting book. I think I'll get it. At the this stage of the game none of us will ever reach the level of technical proficiency of the masters. However, we can still strive to play better than we did yesterday and reach a fairly high level eventually. Every great player spent an extraordinary amount of time practicing during their formative years. 6-10 hours a day was the norm for them. I hear and read this in interviews constantly. When the other kids were outside playing they were in their rooms practicing. Their amount of drive and self-discipline was way above normal. They were obsessive in achieving their goals. Our challenge is to figure out how to use the limited time available to us as efficiently and effectively as possible. No they dont give the vaccination until uyou hit 60. Just unlucky, really is painful. Yeah guess no one likes to be a participant. |
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Post by jack1982 on Feb 10, 2019 15:28:12 GMT -6
Rich so sorry to hear about that, get well soon man! Gramps - selling a guitar? In the immortal words of Mr. Tebbs: Lousy week for me (surprise surprise). Busy with tons of stuff, and when I get a little free time I spend it running the snow blower. Got going on that challenge a tiny bit, it's Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Perhaps this week I'll have better luck  |
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Post by bluesbruce on Feb 10, 2019 20:18:19 GMT -6
Rich, sorry to hear about the shingles, too. My brother had them a few years ago, a pretty miserable business. I've been on vacation all week, drove home from Colorado today. No guitar time all week, though. At least should do better next week!
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It's a very worthwhile activity if you can find someone to play with. It's great to be able to bounce ideas off each other face to face as opposed to via the Internet.
