|
|
Post by cunningr on Jul 19, 2015 3:11:03 GMT -6
Well I think one of us was requested to start the weekly update thread, so I got it covered.
My practice was on and off but I did get 5 hours in of focused practice.
Main focus has been on finish memorizing and timing on all form blues so I can complete the brycu book.
i reviewed some of the other tunes delta child and major blues rythm.
been diligently practicing excersise 1 in mbycu.
i also started working on Texas flood again and Mary had a little lamb, I need to retune one of my guitars to E flat I think if I am going to work on SRV songs.
|
|
|
|
Post by joachim on Jul 19, 2015 3:19:12 GMT -6
I had a whole week of nothing - at least next week can't be any worse...
|
|
|
|
Post by jack1982 on Jul 19, 2015 4:46:49 GMT -6
I got in 14 hours on guitar and 3 on bass. Got started on the last song in More BYCU, Rakin' in the Funk, which shares some similarities with Funky Soul in the R&B book so it feels like I've got a little bit of experience with it already. Haven't started figuring out the bass line for it yet, it sounds like that will take a while. Got started on Delta Mood, got a little bit of stuff written for it. On bass I worked on week 22 in Bass Aerobics and I also did my improvising as usual. Here's a little sample:
My right hand was in a particularly uncooperative mood yesterday and decided to miss a whole pile of notes.
|
|
|
|
Post by bluesbruce on Jul 19, 2015 5:03:27 GMT -6
I'm with Joachim on this week - hardly picked up the guitar at all. Next week has to be better! Jack, enjoyed your jam - sounding very smooth there.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Jul 19, 2015 5:44:18 GMT -6
I only got in 4.5 hrs of practice this week, but it was focused on "True Trem Blues" and Tremblin' Tremolo" from MBYCU. Both are coming along slowly, but surely. I had planned on recording "True Trem", but I just didn't have time. Hopefully, I'll get it in the can this week. I'll also work on bringing "Tremlin' Trem" up a few more bpm's, and get started on the next study, "Groovin' (IS NOT SO) Easy."  |
|
|
|
Post by blackcountrymick on Jul 19, 2015 6:39:43 GMT -6
I managed to get 6 hours in this week mainly practicing Drivin Blues and Slow Dance Dreams, they are both at the "moving on" recording stage but need a lot more work to be a performance video, so my intention this week is to record and move on  , (Boss recorder permitting  . ) Jack, great work with the improv, your skills are definitely developing. You've got me thinking again that I should be working some improvisation into my practice routine but there just isn't enough play time available for me for me, I've already pretty much dropped the bass so that I can put the required time into MBYCU etc. |
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Jul 19, 2015 11:50:24 GMT -6
Jack, The improv was pretty damn good. No mindless meandering. Everything right on the chord changes. Good stuff.  This is something I really need to start doing. |
|
|
|
Post by jack1982 on Jul 19, 2015 13:30:28 GMT -6
Thanks for the kind words about my improv guys, I appreciate it! Phil, yeah I think I've heard Clapton's solo on that so many times that the general flow of it is etched in my brain so - at least for once - I didn't just prattle on with a bunch of meaningless notes |
|
|
|
Post by mikeherb on Jul 19, 2015 14:15:32 GMT -6
On bass I worked on week 22 in Bass Aerobics and I also did my improvising as usual. Here's a little sample: My right hand was in a particularly uncooperative mood yesterday and decided to miss a whole pile of notes. WOW!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS OFF THE HOOK JACK!!!!! I played for about half hour this week. I bought a new amp... This Yamaha THR10X.. It's basically metal in a small box that fix on your end table. Very cool little amps with a lot of growl if you like metal. I think it'll sound awesome with blues too. Very dirty. 2 Month wait on that Snake. BY THE WAY I haven't played my acoustic in months and going back, my fingers are tougher after bending and doing vibrato on the strat... I am going to put thicker strings on my acoustic, they feel like fishing line now. |
|
|
|
Post by cunningr on Jul 19, 2015 15:24:46 GMT -6
On bass I worked on week 22 in Bass Aerobics and I also did my improvising as usual. Here's a little sample: My right hand was in a particularly uncooperative mood yesterday and decided to miss a whole pile of notes. WOW!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS OFF THE HOOK JACK!!!!! I played for about half hour this week. I bought a new amp... This Yamaha THR10X.. It's basically metal in a small box that fix on your end table. Very cool little amps with a lot of growl if you like metal. I think it'll sound awesome with blues too. Very dirty. 2 Month wait on that Snake. BY THE WAY I haven't played my acoustic in months and going back, my fingers are tougher after bending and doing vibrato on the strat... I am going to put thicker strings on my acoustic, they feel like fishing line now. I was looking at those amps pretty cool nice compact. Do they have a USB out to connect it to your computer for recording? |
|
|
|
Post by bluesbruce on Jul 20, 2015 7:36:07 GMT -6
Jack, that was a great improv. I liked very much how you really developped on motiv and your use of double stops, great stuff! As for myself, the last few weeks I spent much time on other stuff than music (as I got his leg thing), but I was working on my repertoire and got some Blues standards down. Thanks to the BYCU curriculum it's really doable to transcribe original songs, and this really kept me occupied as it's great fun to jam along to original recordings... Greetings, t. T, Hope your leg is healing up well. Care to share with us what are some of the blues standards you've learned? Bruce |
|
|
|
Post by jack1982 on Jul 20, 2015 10:09:24 GMT -6
Thanks Mike and Tbone, glad you guys liked that!
Tbone sounds like you've been busy doing some really interesting stuff, cool! Also hope your leg is doing well.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Jul 20, 2015 15:18:23 GMT -6
Thanks, Bruce - time will tell! Regarding the songs I'm working on, that's all the Chicago Blues standard stuff that the BRYCU tunes lead too, e.g. Sweet Home Chicago, Babe What You Want Me To Do, Bright Lights, Big City, Honky Tonk (a tough one), Stormy Monday, Killing Floor etc. ... Phil pointed me towards Magic Sam, and I'm a big fan now - what a player! The thing is, if you worked through BRYCU, you basically got all the ingredients those tunes consist off - of course it's the intros, riffs, breaks etc. that you need to figure out first, but then it's just going with the flow... and then there's the solos, but that's reserved for later. Focussing to get the rhythm parts of some standards down should provide some familiar ground to tread upon in possible future jam sessions... T-Bone, Your taste in Blues seems to be the same as mine. The 2 Jimmy Reed songs are my 2 favorite Reed tunes. "Killing Floor" is a good one - a real classic. My favorite Howlin' Wolf song is "Smokestack Lightening." Which versions of "Stormy Monday" and "Sweet Home Chicago" do you prefer. For "Stormy" I like the Allman Bros. version the best. They took Bobby Bland's version and improved it even more with that cool chord progression. I don't particularly like the versions that do it as a straight 12-bar Blues (e.g., Albert King, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, etc.) "Sweet Home Chicago" has been covered by everybody. Although Freddie King's version of "Sweet Home" is great, I love Magic Sam's version. I'm not familiar with "Honky Tonk." I think there have been a few songs with that name or similar to it. Who is it by? |
|
|
|
Post by bluesbruce on Jul 20, 2015 16:28:34 GMT -6
Thanks, Bruce - time will tell! Regarding the songs I'm working on, that's all the Chicago Blues standard stuff that the BRYCU tunes lead too, e.g. Sweet Home Chicago, Babe What You Want Me To Do, Bright Lights, Big City, Honky Tonk (a tough one), Stormy Monday, Killing Floor etc. ... Phil pointed me towards Magic Sam, and I'm a big fan now - what a player! The thing is, if you worked through BRYCU, you basically got all the ingredients those tunes consist off - of course it's the intros, riffs, breaks etc. that you need to figure out first, but then it's just going with the flow... and then there's the solos, but that's reserved for later. Focussing to get the rhythm parts of some standards down should provide some familiar ground to tread upon in possible future jam sessions... That's some cool songs, T. Of course, we'd like to see some video... Keep up your good work. I'd love to see us take on some blues standards on this forum, would probably be some good practice for everyone. Bruce |
|
|
|
Post by mikeherb on Jul 21, 2015 22:15:36 GMT -6
I was looking at those amps pretty cool nice compact. Do they have a USB out to connect it to your computer for recording? Yup there's USB and a way to download more tones online and record. You can also run it for about 8 hours apparently on 8 AA batteries if you want to take it out somewhere, which would be pretty cool. You'll love the punch. Sounds like an overdriven marshall but it's nice and quiet. |
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Jul 22, 2015 14:24:21 GMT -6
...... BTW, I'm still on MBYCU, but it (again) occurred to me that the method's curriculum is supposed to be the means to an end, and knowing how to play 40 BYCU tunes vs. 0 original tunes feels like I somehow got something wrong, therefore the shift in priorities. Also, i need to listen to a lot more Blues, anyway... but of course I'll stick with it, only the proportions have to be adjusted... Greetings, T. I think this is the secret. Listening to a lot of Blues will cause you to internalize the music, and then one day the lights will come on and you'll see how you can apply what you learned from 40 BYCU tunes. |
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Jul 22, 2015 16:16:40 GMT -6
T-Bone,
I read your post again and reading between the lines I get the feeling that you might be having doubts about the values of learning these studies. It's extremely time consuming and takes a lot of self-discipline to learn these studies, so it's only natural to question if it is worth the effort.
Here's the way I look at it. It's not the studies in and of themselves that are important. It's not even the licks (and there are a lot of useful ones) that are important. It is the guitar playing skills that you develop by learning these studies. These skills are fully and completely transferable to anything that you want to play. If you need proof go back to an early study that gave you problems, or another song the was difficult for you a year ago. I guarantee that if you have been practicing the BYCU studies regularly and consistently, it will be easier to play today.
Developing guitar playing skills is the true purpose of the BYCU courses.
|
|
, (Boss recorder permitting 
. ) 
