|
Post by grampalerxst on Feb 16, 2014 5:17:03 GMT -6
My practice weeks run from Sunday-Sat, and each week I take a few minutes to recap the prior week. I thought I'd put a condensed version of my recap on here to see if it sparks any discussion.
Thanks to some unexpected time off work due to weather I surpassed my "record" set last week with a little over 17.5 hours of "official" practice time. Coming off such a long layoff from playing, that's a lot and I can feel it in my hands. Fortunately, perhaps, that's not a sustainable schedule for me.
I felt a little sporty this past week and spent more time than usual "pushing" myself at relatively fast tempos. One thing I learned is that as I increase speed playing scales (right now I'm on BYCU lesson 2 so scales means the first minor pentatonic pattern) my RH technique gives me as much or more problem than my left. What I observed is that when I get going near my limits (which is eighth notes around 132-144 bpm) I begin to over-exaggerate the follow through of some of my pick strokes, almost like little flourishes. So now and going forward I'm on a campaign to tighten that up and train myself to get the pick ready for the next stroke with an efficient movement coming out of the current stroke, which means I'm back to very slow and careful playing, and practicing awareness as much as finger movements.
I'm able to go a few clicks higher with the second BYCU study Blues Rock Tune, in the 80-100 bpm range, but beyond that can't grab the chords reliably. BRYCU study 2 is coming along but it contains some quarter note triplets that make a relatively straightforward piece excessively complicated for someone like me for whom rhythm does not come easy. Just need to plug away, I suppose. In my rhythm-specific practice I've begun adding 16th notes, and some drills where I transition/alternate between bead divisions by measure (e.g., a measure of eighth notes then a measure of eighth note triplets, then a measure of eighth notes, then triplets, etc.). Seeing slow and steady improvements.
I've started to realize an important consideration for me is striking a balance between pushing myself and shoring up basic movements (which requires very slow tempos). So my new strategy is on weekends when I tend to have more time, I'm going to put the primary emphasis on "slow and careful" and use my shorter blocks of time through the week for working near max tempos and the like. We'll see how that works out.
Every gain seems to be accompanied by a moment of euphoria followed by a realization that every challenge I overcome seems to leave me facing three new challenges in order to build on it.
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Feb 16, 2014 7:41:45 GMT -6
Grampa, (I've settled on calling you grampa after reading your explanation.)
Thanks for sharing. It looks like you're keeping a practice log of some sort. If so, care to share how you've set it up. I've been thinking about starting one, but don't know if I should do it the old fashioned way or on the computer. If I do it on the computer I'm wondering about how to set up a daily log with something like MS Word and not have it as just one long Word file. Any suggestions?
I'm hoping that today will be the last day I have to mess around with the Guitar Interface and recording software. I know I have to learn how to do this, but it's really cutting into my practice time. All I'm looking for is a decent sounding recording and today is the day I'm going to do it.
Phil
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Feb 16, 2014 9:58:49 GMT -6
Grampa, (I've settled on calling you grampa after reading your explanation.) Thanks for sharing. It looks like you're keeping a practice log of some sort. If so, care to share how you've set it up. I've been thinking about starting one, but don't know if I should do it the old fashioned way or on the computer. If I do it on the computer I'm wondering about how to set up a daily log with something like MS Word and not have it as just one long Word file. Any suggestions? I'm hoping that today will be the last day I have to mess around with the Guitar Interface and recording software. I know I have to learn how to do this, but it's really cutting into my practice time. All I'm looking for is a decent sounding recording and today is the day I'm going to do it. Phil Hi Phil. I have a notebook and a pencil with an eraser, one of those "composition" notebooks but graph ruled instead of lines. Nothing fancy. I just like writing things on paper rather than typing in a computer file, plus it's easier to scribble down a few musical notes or chord diagrams or whatever on paper than figure out the proper ritual to do so on a computer. Very low tech on that front. Good luck on your recording, I'll be looking forward to your next audio posting. Next weekend or the following week I'll start rehearsals for my end-of-February Blues Rock tune recording, and maybe the BRYCU study for the month. I don't think I'll get to experiment too much with the sound this go-round, but I do have a new "blues" tone on the POD I'll try out. Hopefully it will work okay.
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Feb 16, 2014 10:48:21 GMT -6
A notebook sounds like the way to go. I'll be more likely to keep up with it. All I have to do now is find a pen that has spell check.
Phil
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Feb 22, 2014 20:07:09 GMT -6
So, I thought I'd just add on here rather than making a new thread. I must have some amount of a masochistic streak because I set another new record this week for "official" practice time at a little over 18 hours. It should be obvious I have a fairly slow life. On my BYCU lesson 2 scales (minor pentatonic, first pattern) I edged up a couple notches on the metronome for my top speed, getting up to eighth notes at 152-160, which is sort of interesting because except for my "test run" all my scale practice was between 1/8th and 1/2 that tempo. I'll probably try to record BYCU study 2 (Blues Rock Tune) tomorrow. I haven't quite nailed it yet but I can force my way through it at full tempo and I don't think it will get any better by the end of the month, so it's test time . Study 2 from BRYCU is under my fingers pretty well. I'll probably get a snapshot of it tomorrow too, although I don't know that it's worth posting. Overall my routine would appear extremely tedious to an outsider with all the slow motion and relentless metronome clicking, but it seems to be doing me some good. I did take a few minutes at the end of tonight to (re)learn a guitar rhythm play-around-the-campfire for Bob Marley's No Woman, No Cry. Not really Blues, but every bit as soulful. Someday I want to transcribe the guitar solo from the live version on Legend. On tap for next week: more slow and careful--right hand sloppiness is definitely a limiting factor in a lot of my playing, and I'd like to get it cleaned up some.
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Feb 23, 2014 5:47:46 GMT -6
... Study 2 from BRYCU is under my fingers pretty well. I'll probably get a snapshot of it tomorrow too, although I don't know that it's worth posting.... Is this the one on page 20? If so, did you have a problem with measure 4? How the heck do you count 1/4 note triplets? I know that 1/8 note triplets are counted '1-and-a' but 1/4 note triplets have me confused. I got the general feel from playing along with the recording, but get lost when I try to do on my own. I need to know how to count it. I recorded "Bends, Slides and Shifts" yesterday, but I'm not happy with it. I just don't seem to be in sync with the backing track and I'm getting distracted by the rhythm guitar on the track. That was really frustrating since I thought I had the tune nailed. I'm going to have to listen to the backing track and try to count along to see where I'm going astray. I wasn't going to upload it, but maybe I should to get some objective feedback. It looks like there are only about 6 people who are active on this forum. I hope that John doesn't decide to shut it down. Phil
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Feb 23, 2014 8:40:48 GMT -6
Phil, I started a thread for the BRYCU 2 recording. Yeah, that's the one. I talked about the 1/4 triplets there since I was intending to confess that I cheated my way through that part. I failed on BYCU Blues Rock Tune, just haven't got it at full tempo yet. I tried kidding myself that maybe I could get a lucky take, but it wasn't happening. However, listening back to the flubbed attempts is good feedback in addition to humbling
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Mar 1, 2014 7:03:09 GMT -6
Technically, I still have the rest of today as part of the week, but I don't think much is going to change through the course of today (I don't think working on my taxes is going to be much help other than possibly imprinting the blues more deeply onto my core). So I'm starting to feel on familiar ground again: stuck in the muck, cannot proceed. I'm not able to look back at the week and point to any definite signs of progress. Most frustrating is that I seem to have hit a wall on Blues Rock Tune (BYCU study 2). Just can't get it under my fingers at tempos beyond the 80-100 range. Could be one of two things (or a combo): either I'm running up against the limit of some facet of my current technical ability, or I've not found an effective practice strategy for it. Although it marks a bit of a defeat relative to the goals I established when I picked up the guitar again, I'll have to set it on the back burner. Since it's a new month I'm going to move on to the next lesson. I'll try to hit BRT a couple times a week and hope somewhere down the road a fresh perspective will allow me to get over the hump with it. It's really frustrating, though, because the collection of things I've put on the back burner over the years is massive, and I'm really wanting to to get in the habit of getting things learned 100% no-kidding. Getting stuck after a month's worth of work on the second lesson of a beginner blues book makes me a grumpy grampa It was a more "normal" week where my time-on-practice was down to ~12-13 hr range which is more sustainable then what I've been doing the last couple weeks. Still quite a bit of time for me to be practicing relative to my past history.
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Mar 1, 2014 12:11:51 GMT -6
Grampa, I definitely think you should move on and then go back to it in about 2 weeks. Is there a specific part that's giving you trouble? Maybe you could go over only those specific measures for a few minutes every practice session. I'm currently stuck on 'Getting Funky'. I skipped over some studies that gave me trouble or that I didn't really like. I've gotten more focused and disciplined over the last 2 weeks and plan on going through each study and learn them in order. Anyway, there are a couple of measures in 'Getting Funky' that are difficult for me, but I've got the rest of the study down. So, instead of remaining stuck on this, today I'll move on to the next study and just spend a few minutes at the end playing the measures of 'Getting Funky' that are a problem. At least that's the plan. Here's an observation that I've made over the years - progress does not come about incrementally, it comes in sudden bursts. When I was strength training with weights regularly I noticed that I'd struggle along trying to add small amounts of weight, get stuck and not make any progress for weeks. Sometimes I'd back off and suddenly one day I'd walk into the gym with a noticeable increase in strength and then I'd go through this cycle again - make small progress, stall, back off, make a big jump. I'm beginning to see the same pattern in my guitar playing. So, back off the study that you're stuck on, go on to something else, and go back to it later and see what happens. You might even want to try NOT playing at all for a couple of days. Maybe you are over-training. Most importantly, don't get discouraged and chop your guitar up for fire wood. One day you will make a sudden leap in progress that will make you wonder what the hell just happened. Phil
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Mar 2, 2014 4:46:29 GMT -6
Hey Phil, I'm still trying to nail down what the specific problem is (or problems are). In general things seem to get dicey when moving back and forth between 5th and 7th position, but I've worked all those moves and in isolation I can perform them pretty well. So I think something is going on upstream of there that's predisposing me to get out of sync jumping up to those chords. Another frustrating thing is that it's intermittent which makes diagnosis tricky. I agree that leaving it alone/on the back burner for a time might help (and having been a Crossfitter for a few years your gym analogy rings true). Anyway, it's March now so I'm primarily on to Lesson 3 in the two books. I'll revisit BRT once or twice a week. I read somewhere that if you are practicing well/effectively, then practicing one thing is practicing everything. It's just sort of a blow to the old self-confidence to get hung up so thoroughly one one of the "easy" ones right out of the box. I hope your last sentence comes true! Getting Funky is going to be a major battle for me I believe. If I stick to my schedule I won't be starting it until September. Maybe I'll have a handful of the sudden leaps you mention between then and now and be comfortable jumping back and forth between the 16ths and longer note values.
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Mar 2, 2014 12:38:35 GMT -6
Grampa, Getting Funky is not half as difficult as you might think it is and you'll be playing it long before Sept. I'm confident in saying that because you'll nail some of the up-coming studies sooner than you think. I think you'll find the next study, True Blue, to be pretty easy. The one after that, Swinging the Blues, is also straight forward and fairly easy, but quite fast. When I got it up to speed I found that it is the most fun study to play so far. Even though it's relatively simple, for me playing at that speed and being able to keep up with the backing track gave me a real sense of accomplishment. I'm sure that different people will find certain studies that I find difficult to be easy and vice-verse. To this day the one that I still can't play without screwing up is Delta Mood. Other people may find that one to be among the easier studies, but for me those string jumps continue to throw me off. True Blue will give you some good practice on bending to pitch - something I should have spent more time on instead of jumping ahead to Minor Blues before I was ready. Like I said in another post - I've gone back and am learning the studies in order now. It's almost as if John Ganapes had a step-by-step plan in mind when he laid out this course. Phil
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Mar 8, 2014 7:12:33 GMT -6
Week of Mar 2-8. I don't know if I'll keep doing these journal-ish reports, but here's what's been going on this week. Very much a lunch pail week, just pick up the guitar and go to work. For March I've moved forward to Lesson 3 in both BYCU and BYRCU per my plan. I'm still only to the point of getting the new material under my fingers but I don't anticipate the same degree of challenge I've experienced with BYCU study 2. That one is still showing up in the rotation every 2-3 days but I've not made any attempts to push the tempo towards the full performance tempo--I'm just walking my fingers through it every now and again to strengthen the image my subconscious has to work with. I have noticed that in my playing I have a bit of a disconnect in what I can do consciously, and what I can do instinctively (not the perfect term, but I don't have one that seems to fit better). What I mean by that is much of what I can do at tempos/speeds that can be considered musical, I can't do very well if I slow down to the point there is no musical cohesion to the series of notes. So there may be some scale I can do pretty comfortably with eighth notes at 60bpm, but when I try it with whole notes at 60 bpm I often make a lot of errors. I'd like to eliminate that tendency because I believe that ultimately it creates a limitation (as I try to move past what are comfortably moderate tempos for me at this time). So as always, lots to work on. It's a long journey nd luckily I enjoy it.
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Mar 8, 2014 13:35:06 GMT -6
Grampa, I'd hate to see you stop posting these weekly updates. I enjoy them and wish more people would post what they're working on. So, keep 'em coming even if it's just a couple of sentences. I'll tell you what (if you don't have any objections) - you post your updates and I'll piggy-back on your post and tell you what I'm working on and what's giving me problems. Maybe we can also get others to join in. I think posting our progress is helpful in many ways and even serves as a motivator. I now understand why people post their exercise work-out logs on the internet. Here is my input: I've been working on "Bends, Slides and Shifts", "Getting Funky", and "Lazy Day Blues". That sounds like a lot, but let me explain. I thought I had "B,S & S" in the bag 2 weeks ago. I could play it with a metronome and along with the full version just fine. However, when I tried playing with the backing track I ran into a problem. The rhythm guitar slides into a chord and then plays an accent on the up-beat. Now, this shouldn't pose a problem for anybody, but it throws me off in measures 11 and 12 where there's a couple of multi note runs. So, I pretty much have this study down - I just need to learn how to get along with the other members of the band. Instead of beating my head against the wall over this I put it on the back burner and moved on to "Gettting Funky" on 23 Feb. Not as hard as I thought it would be - the 2nd half of measure 7 and from the 4th beat of measure 10 through measure 12 were the hardest. I got measure 7 down, but the other one is still a problem when I try to play it at tempo. I went on to "Lazy Day Blues" while going back and practicing only the specific measures in "Funky" that were difficult and playing through "B, S & S" occasionally. I found the most difficult parts of "Lazy Day" to be measures 9 and 10. I hope by next weekend I'll be ready to record these and move on to "9th Chord Blues". I'm also working on BRYCU sporadically - about to start Lesson 4. I need to make a commitment and dedicate more time to this. I've finally gotten over the jump-around-and-try-to-learn-everything-at-once syndrome that has always plagued me. I'm focused on BYCU and BRYCU. Although I'm also dabbling in ragtime finger picking and such, that comes after BYCU and only if I have the time. I started a practice log on 20 Feb and I think that it's very helpful in staying focused and sticking to the plan. I hope you don't mind me jumping into your thread like this. I guess I could start my own update thread, but then the conversations start to cross over and you end up with the same conversation going on 2 or more threads. Future updates will be much shorter. Phil
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Mar 8, 2014 15:54:25 GMT -6
Phil, I don't mind at all, that was sort of my purpose in starting this, to get a discussion going of what's being worked on, struggles, triumphs, and so on. I've sort of become a practice nerd and enjoy it as it's own topic even though it's arguably just a means to an end. Being one of those guys who has to grind out every tiny improvement in every twitch of every muscle fiber, it's important I try to be as effective as I can with my time, so I pay a lot of attention to it. I also am trying to buck a long-engrained habit of flitting from project to project without really getting anything done. I decided it's time to lay a sturdy foundation rather than trying to get by on a rickety stack of half-broken palettes and old cardboard boxes.
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Mar 8, 2014 16:32:58 GMT -6
I also am trying to buck a long-engrained habit of flitting from project to project without really getting anything done. I decided it's time to lay a sturdy foundation rather than trying to get by on a rickety stack of half-broken palettes and old cardboard boxes. I know exactly what you mean. A person can have 30 years of experience in playing the guitar, or they can be like me and have one year of experience 30 times. I have a lot of lost time to make up for and a little less time to do it than I care to think about. So it's important for me to stay focused and move steadily forward instead of taking 2 steps forward and 3 steps back as in the past. I've got to get back to "Getting Funky". Talk to you later. Phil
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Mar 15, 2014 7:55:35 GMT -6
Well things are going pretty good in some senses: That pesky BYCU study 2 is coming along, still not good enough to capture for posterity yet, but closer. BYCU study 3 is getting close to being ready to record an move on, and BYRCU study 3 is probably ready to go already. However, ...
It seems I've sustained an injury in my left hand. I have a stubborn soreness in the tendon that runs on the outside (relative to the center of my wrist) of my thumb. I'm not positive what the source is. I realized a few weeks ago that I had a tendency (habit formed decades ago) of really clamping the guitar neck and squeezing with my thumb as I played. I could tell it was causing me a number of problems so I started working to unwind the habit. Not long after I started having success the soreness appeared. I assumed it was just something temporary related to the change in mechanics but it has persisted. Ironically, at the same time I've seen quite a bit of improvement in the ease of playing in that hand (I'm a righty so it's my fret hand). Another contributor could be a heavy dose of working with spread rhythms from the first 3 lessons of BRYCU.
So, I'm debating whether I should put my left hand on injured reserve for a week or two and come up with an all-right hand routine in the interim. It's not like I don't have many, many things with it I could work to improve. At the same time I wonder if I shouldn't just rub some dirt on my left hand and not be a wuss about it. It's not like it's something acute that causes suffering when I play or any other time. My orthopedic doc who looks after my shoulder likes to remind me, "Well, you're not 19 years old anymore."
|
|
|
Post by perfopt on Mar 15, 2014 8:35:40 GMT -6
To build speed I like a technique that I got either from Justin or Pebber Brown - not sure who. The tip is essentially this:
Play the scale (or chord change) very very slow 60 bpm or even slower. Focus on accuracy. Every finger should land exactly on the fret you want (for chords your fingers should form the chord in the air and land all together) and picking should be perfectly alternating and consistently the same "volume". Do 5 mins of this every day, you will find that your playing speed improves.
|
|
|
Post by bluesbruce on Mar 15, 2014 14:50:53 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Phil on Mar 15, 2014 19:18:34 GMT -6
Grampa, I warned you about over-training with your marathon practice sessions. That's the problem with you crossfit guys - you don't know when to stop. Seriously, I think you're going to have to let it rest a while. You don't want to develop tendonitis or the even worse chronic form that I think is called tendonosis or something like that. However, I don't think you need to stop playing completely. This might be the perfect opportunity to start practicing the 'light' touch that John talks about in one of the supplementary lessons. But for SHORT practice sessions. I started working on this after reading it. I have osteo-arthritis in the base of my left thumb which makes it almost impossible for me to play barre chords or put any pressure when I place my thumb in the 'correct' position behind the neck. Practicing the light touch is really helping me avoid pain or further damage. Did you ever notice how jazz guitarists don't appear to be putting any pressure at all on the frets? They appear so relaxed and to be playing so effortlessly. I think it's important to learn to play like this and try to get a few more years out of my hands. Don't blow this off and try to work through it and continue to play the way you're accustomed to. You need to take some steps now or you'll end up setting yourself back and just getting frustrated. Phil
|
|
|
Post by grampalerxst on Mar 16, 2014 3:43:03 GMT -6
perfopt, speed per se really isn't my concern at this stage, but that advice is very good. When I start something new I usually start much slower even than 60 bpm (I'll set the metronome there, but ignore the correct note values and make them all half notes or whole notes just to teach the sequence of movements to my fingers).
bluesbruce, that's pretty close although the discomfort for me is not as acute as that description would imply, and when I do the "Finkelstein Test" it doesn't hurt at all. But that's more-or-less the area, although maybe for me slightly more up towards/along the thumb. And I have no issues gripping or turning my wrist.
Phil, that's the rub--this started happening when I *stopped* using my thumb as a vice and lightened up my overall fretting approach! I think my "marathon" practice sessions are an urban legend of sorts. Usually the longest I'll sit with the guitar is 30 minutes before taking a break, and those usually aren't a frenetic 30 minutes. But obviously I need to do something different. At first I thought that maybe with a greater degree of relaxation in my playing mechanism I was expanding my range of motion and experiencing the normal soreness/stiffness that comes with that at the beginning. Now I don't know what to think.
|
|