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Post by cunningr on Aug 31, 2014 3:47:18 GMT -6
Well guess I will kick off the weekly progress thread.
1. Received book order MBYCU, BRYCU, and BLYCU.
2. Continue practicing bending to tone and Bending the Blues my record this week.
3. Started BRYCU completed lesson 1 spread rhythm continue to practice need to record.
4. Read theory BRYCU lesson 2.
ordered compressor, strings, and new strap old one disintegrated, and drooled over D Angelico.
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Post by Phil on Aug 31, 2014 4:42:20 GMT -6
Rich, you beat WPB to the punch.  I just want to point out that today is the 31st of Aug. Your subject line threw me off for a minute, but I being the nimble old guy that I am, I quickly recovered.  Anyway, I've been working on Chord-on Bleu (Lesson 1 MBYCU). I recorded it last night, but decided that it's not quite ready for Prime Time. I may may re-record and post it tonight. I've been trying to incorporate 2 techniques into my practice of this study - hybrid picking and the "light touch". I tried hybrid picking the past, found it difficult, and didn't pursue it. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and started practicing it. I'm playing all of the double-stops in this study using hybrid picking. To practice with a light touch I've found that I also have to pick lightly. It's kind of like rubbing your stomach and patting your head to pick hard and fret lightly. I've also spent a lot more time this week playing other things, noodling around, and sitting on my patio trying to play things from memory. I'm not as obsessed with getting through "More BYCU" as I was with BYCU, although I do want to catch up to Jack.  MBYCU also has a lot of good lesson material in addition to the studies that I want to focus on. I keep a practice log and I'm limiting the time I spend on MBYCU so I can do other things like BRCYCU. I ordered Jazzin' and an acoustic Blues book last weekend, but haven't received them yet. I hope I'm not spreading myself too thin, but I think I've gotten past the begginner's stage and can take on more stuff. The time I spent focusing on BYCU exclusively has paid off and I'm ready to expand my horizons. |
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Post by jack1982 on Aug 31, 2014 4:56:59 GMT -6
Wow, congrat's on the new guitar Rich! I looked at it over at Musician's Friend and it looks fabulous. You'll probably be practicing 10 hours a day now  I ordered a Seymour Duncan '59 to replace the neck pickup in my Ibanez. Hopefully that will give me the awesome tones I seek - assuming I can figure out how to install it lol. I worked on Jumpin' Blues in More BYCU this week. Got the bass part figured out yesterday, which was no small task. The lead has some challenging stuff like two licks - one is a slide up, hammer on, pick two notes, while the other is a slide up and pick three notes. Even though they're played differently you have to do them with identical phrasing. About 90% of the chords in the rhythm part are played on the upbeat, so that will take some practice too. Also worked on '60s Dance Music in the R&B book. Still haven't got the middle part of the rhythm down - lots of first and third chords of triplets and I need to work on the timing. Full tempo on that song is really fast; I've been working my way up a bit from the slow tempo version and I've still got a mile left to go lol. Also was working on my Beginning Fingerstyle Blues book. I got some thumbpicks because there's lots of alternating bass lines, so for instance the E string will be playing and I have to pick the next note on the A, but I always get my thumbnail against the E which sounds cruddy. The thumbpicks solve that problem but they'll take some getting used to. Played quite a bit of bass this week, I think I got enthused from Mick's videos. There are a bunch of blues standards in one of my instructional books so I've been playing through those. Some day - in the distant future - I'd like to do both the bass and guitar parts for Freddie King's Hideaway. A pretty good week of practice overall. |
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Post by joachim on Aug 31, 2014 5:15:41 GMT -6
I started peeking at BRYCU #11, but otherwise I am just consolidating stuff, so I can play a few lessons reasonably well when my electric blues guitar class starts next week.
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Post by blackcountrymick on Aug 31, 2014 5:31:38 GMT -6
Rich, more congrats on the new guitar, of course this now means you have to join us video makers so we can all drool over your beautiful new guitar . My main focus this week has been moving my music stuff out of my sons old room to set up elsewhere as he now has need to come home occasionally and bunk over night. I did however learn and record the bass part to Soul Man, I was really pleased with the outcome and great fun to do. I have started lesson 8 in BRYCU, this is proving very difficult to fret that dreaded 9th chord cleanly especially as JG has already pointed out my shortcomings with this nasty chord shape, so practice, practice and more practice then. |
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Post by cunningr on Aug 31, 2014 6:37:48 GMT -6
Thanks for the congrats but I have to apologize Sunday morning before coffee I missed that extra line of text that got saved. I only got to drool over the guitar, looking at it for Christmas though, nice tone and half the cost of a gibson.
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Post by nursedad on Aug 31, 2014 9:27:42 GMT -6
Still working on BYCU Lesson 6 Delta Mood but not spending all that much time on it. Working on BRYCU Lesson 5 Minor Triad Blues. Also working on Lick 3 in BLYCU and Stevie Ray Vaughn's Tightrope.
Really struggling with the slide into the Cm cord at the 10th to 11th fret at the 6th bar of Minor Triad Blues, I just can not seem to jam all my fingers in the tiny little space. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.
Just a little reminder for everyone including myself, are we learning all the concepts in the lessons? Or are we just learning the tunes?
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Post by cunningr on Aug 31, 2014 9:57:34 GMT -6
Nurse dad you bring out a good point, seems we focus on the tunes. I know for my part I try to practice the theory of the lesson. For example I practice patterns 1thru4 per instructions, and I also practice they rhythms. There is a lot of info in each lesson.
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Post by joachim on Aug 31, 2014 12:44:03 GMT -6
Just a little reminder for everyone including myself, are we learning all the concepts in the lessons? Or are we just learning the tunes? I try to understand the concepts as well, but always have to go back in the books to recall how it was - especially if I've been working on a particular lesson for a long time; then I forget whatever I was reading about earlier... |
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Post by wannaplayblues on Sept 1, 2014 3:58:07 GMT -6
Hi all, I had connection issues hence my failing to start the thread this week - apologies. However, huge thanks to cunningr for stepping in. With a successful recording of "More Minor Blues" it's onto "Major Blues", however, my guitar will probably have it's annual "checkup" (trussrod check, setup, clean, etc) this week so don't know how much playing I'll actually be able to do... it's my saddest week of the year  |
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 1, 2014 6:36:11 GMT -6
Just a little reminder for everyone including myself, are we learning all the concepts in the lessons? Or are we just learning the tunes? That's a good point. I guess the main things I took away from Blues You Can Use is that A) you should add the notes from the chord you're currently playing over to the scale you're playing and B) you should switch between pentatonic minor and pentatonic major - I think it's minor over the I chord and major over the IV chord; I'm not really sure about the V chord, I'll have to look at the songs and see what John does there. And you should eventually combine both techniques and become so fluent at it that you're playing notes from the upcoming scale or chord in anticipation of it. I'm going to start dedicating some time each day to improvising over backing tracks and incorporating those techniques into my playing. That will definitely be a long-term project In the R&B book, it's mostly about using pentatonic major and changing keys to correspond to the chord you're currently playing over, and also learning all the inversions for each type of chord so you can incorporate those into your soloing as well. Another long-term project |
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Post by Phil on Sept 1, 2014 7:29:22 GMT -6
Just a little reminder for everyone including myself, are we learning all the concepts in the lessons? Or are we just learning the tunes? Good point. I know I'm guilty of not spending more time on the lesson material in BYCU. Although I do rotate through the exercises as part of my warm up. I made a list of the exercises and the page numbers and every day run through a couple - at least one on scales and one on chord progressions. "More BYCU" has some pretty hefty lesson material and I am taking the time to go through it. The studies are more difficult than BYCU and I can't possibly move through it as fast as BYCU. So, I'm taking it at a much slower pace and paying more attention to the lessons. |
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 1, 2014 9:05:01 GMT -6
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Post by Phil on Sept 1, 2014 9:43:10 GMT -6
He might be hiding out with TommyD. Tommy was a regular for a while. He was into Jazzin' the Blues like Bruce and seems to have disappeared. |
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Post by bluesbruce on Sept 1, 2014 20:17:06 GMT -6
LOL! I'm trying a new approach - I'm concentrating on only the concepts, and not playing any of the lessons... Sorry, guys - I spent a really long holiday weekend at Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, consuming WAY too much beer and then a few too many margaritas, too. One of my lake buddies is an excellent rock guitarist, though. I've got an old acoustic I keep at our lake cabin, so I did play some - really! Okay, when I dry out, I'm gonna post some new videos, I swear! Been working on learning some "Hide Away" by Freddie King - really cool song. I've also been spending way too much time reading about mixing recordings. I've been contemplating upgrading my "studio". I don't think I'll ever get my dogs trained to perform in videos. All this time not playing is really dangerous.
Bruce 
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I just want to point out that today is the 31st of Aug. Your subject line threw me off for a minute, but I being the nimble old guy that I am, I quickly recovered. 
MBYCU also has a lot of good lesson material in addition to the studies that I want to focus on. I keep a practice log and I'm limiting the time I spend on MBYCU so I can do other things like BRCYCU. I ordered Jazzin' and an acoustic Blues book last weekend, but haven't received them yet. 
