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Post by wannaplayblues on Sept 28, 2014 1:35:55 GMT -6
Hard Edge Blues had me going in circles on the fast runs - so I had a break from BYCU and read some other Blues books I have. This week it's onto Preaching Gospel Blues. All in all I've been playing guitar every day and it's gone well.
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Post by cunningr on Sept 28, 2014 2:41:06 GMT -6
Well I practiced for one hour almost every day. Worked some more on bends slides and shifts Started on funky blues and practiced spread rythm
I also learned a new SRV rythm and stated on a easy slow blues song.
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Post by Phil on Sept 28, 2014 3:23:19 GMT -6
I practiced about 9hrs. this week spread out over 6 days. I spent a lot more time (3 hrs,) than I usually do practicing scale and run exercises. MBYCU has some really good and useful exercises in Lessons 1-3 that prepare you for the study "Cheap Runs." At least that's the way I think it's supposed to work. I spent about 3 hrs. on "Drivin' Blues." I'm almost to the point of playing it at full tempo without being too sloppy. I'm using this study to develop my ability to hybrid pick. I'm playing all the double-stops and sixes (notes played on same fret on 1st and 3rd strings) using it. If anybody else is working on this study I have a tip - you absolutely have to relax your fretting hand or you will never be able to play this up to speed. The benefit of playing with a "light touch" is becoming more and more apparent to me. I started on the 1st 3 bars of "Cheap Runs" for about an hour yesterday. This is going to take some time to get it up to speed. It has some very fast runs. Faster than anything I've ever played before. It is definitely going to be worth the time and effort expended to learn this study. I only spent an hour doing other stuff and reviewing studies. Justin Sandercoe had a lesson on a T-Bone Walker lick that I tried. I need to start looking at John G's "Lick of the Week." I tend to go directly to the forum and skip the home page. I'm sure I'm missing some interesting stuff by doing that. The practice log I'm keeping helps to see how I really spent my practice time, and not how I think I remembered what I did.
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Post by bluesbruce on Sept 28, 2014 4:53:45 GMT -6
Spent the week traveling, not playing guitar...
Bruce
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 28, 2014 5:24:01 GMT -6
I'm still working on Big Bends in More BYCU. Made a recording of myself the other day and about half the bends were slightly sharp and my vibrato wasn't quite right, so now I know what I need to work on. Especially on the notes you bend and hold for a long time, you need to put a very mellow vibrato on them - when John does it it sounds beautiful, when I do it it sounds like some weird phaser effect. The rhythm part is really sparse and needs to be played in perfect time, so that's taking a fair bit of practice.
Also working on It's About Time in the R&B book, the '60s slow dance song as I call it. That's coming along pretty well. There's a free time section at the end where the rhythm and lead parts need to be in perfect sync', I've got some work to do on that. But overall it's getting there.
Been thinking of trying to learn Rock Me by Great White, it's a really cool and mellow bluesy tune with a few rockin' parts in it. I found the bass tab online last night and I've got the guitar tab around here somewhere.
Not the best week of practice this week, Sunday through Thursday were good, but Friday I was so busy with other stuff I didn't even touch a guitar (for the first time in months) and Saturday I only got to practice for a half hour or so. Hopefully this week will be better. I did get my other Seymour Duncan '59 ordered for the bridge position on my Ibanez, so I can't wait until that arrives and I get it installed. Should be a pretty darned cool guitar then.
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 28, 2014 5:36:39 GMT -6
Spent the week traveling, not playing guitar... Bruce
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Post by blackcountrymick on Sept 28, 2014 7:00:44 GMT -6
It's been another good guitar week for me, most days I managed 1 1/2 hrs guitar time and recorded "lost love", another great R&B tune from John. The triple screen editing was a lot simpler and quicker second time around so thats another skill in my bag!! It's been about 5 weeks since BYCU graduation and I've had a lot of fun dipping into this and that, but its about time I got a structured program going again to move forward so I reckon its time to get started on MBYCU and work through as suggested. I recognise that my current weakness that needs more work is chords so I will also be working from BRYCU. That should accommodate my 1 1/2 hrs per day. I expect I will also find some "dipping" time though .
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Post by Phil on Sept 28, 2014 11:21:01 GMT -6
Question for Jack1982. Did you spend much time on the scale/run exercises in MBYCU Lessons 1-3? Just curious. Mick, Jump into MBYCU. I'm sure you've checked out a few of the studies already. I recommend that you do them in order. They start getting difficult fast - like about 2 bars into the 1st study.
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 28, 2014 11:42:38 GMT -6
Phil, no I really didn't. The first two chapters focused on moving between pentatonic boxes, up and down the fretboard - if anything I already do too much of that lol. I need to work on staying in one position and playing some melodies and using bends to hit the notes I want instead of just zooming up and down all the time. And chapter 3 looked like it had some runs that were pretty similar to what was in the song, and trying to get that song up to full tempo was more than enough of those sorts of runs for me Sometime in the future I'll go back and take a look at those though, stuff like that is always useful for adding a little extra flair to a solo. I really should play through Cheap Runs a few times every day just to keep it in the repertoire and not lose that technique I spent all that time working on. Mick it's great to have another guy working on More BYCU! Look forward to hearing your stuff.
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Post by Phil on Sept 28, 2014 13:16:18 GMT -6
Phil, no I really didn't. The first two chapters focused on moving between pentatonic boxes, up and down the fretboard - if anything I already do too much of that lol. I need to work on staying in one position and playing some melodies and using bends to hit the notes I want instead of just zooming up and down all the time. And chapter 3 looked like it had some runs that were pretty similar to what was in the song, and trying to get that song up to full tempo was more than enough of those sorts of runs for me Sometime in the future I'll go back and take a look at those though, stuff like that is always useful for adding a little extra flair to a solo. I really should play through Cheap Runs a few times every day just to keep it in the repertoire and not lose that technique I spent all that time working on. I'm not a big fan of exercises, but the ones in MBYCU have been useful so far. Once someone has "Cheap Runs" down I imagine that just running through it as a warm-up covers a lot of bases.
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Post by blackcountrymick on Sept 28, 2014 16:03:10 GMT -6
Mick it's great to have another guy working on More BYCU! Look forward to hearing your stuff. I've just had an hour on lesson 1 and I don't think it will be anywhere near as quick as I did the first 2 R&B tunes .
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Post by Phil on Sept 28, 2014 17:01:30 GMT -6
I've just had an hour on lesson 1 and I don't think it will be anywhere near as quick as I did the first 2 R&B tunes . I was rolling right along with BYCU and ran smack into a brick wall with MBYCU. It was definitely a wake up call for me, but I'm determined to get through this book come hell or high water. Just to make you feel better - you'll soon look back on "Chord-on Bleu" as having been one of the easier studies.
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 28, 2014 17:26:14 GMT -6
LOL, like I said in another post, you practice those More BYCU songs until you think you're going to go nuts if you play through them one more time - and then you know you're about halfway done Ya gotta love a challenge though, right?
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Post by blackcountrymick on Sept 28, 2014 17:31:21 GMT -6
I've just had an hour on lesson 1 and I don't think it will be anywhere near as quick as I did the first 2 R&B tunes . I was rolling right along with BYCU and ran smack into a brick wall with MBYCU. It was definitely a wake up call for me, but I'm determined to get through this book come hell or high water. Just to make you feel better - you'll soon look back on "Chord-on Bleu" as having been one of the easier studies. Thanks Phil, that's really reassuring . I've had a good look now at what is actually involved in the first few lessons in MBYCU, all I can say is WOW!! I don't think I will be dipping into anything else for a while, more than enough here to keep me occupied. Jack, total respect for getting nearly halfway through this book in such a short time.
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 29, 2014 5:15:18 GMT -6
Thanks Mick! I like working on the R&B book at the same time because some of those MBYCU songs can seem pretty insurmountable; I'll work on them for a month and still can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. It can get a little disheartening at times because I don't feel like I'm making any progress or the songs are just beyond my abilities, so it's nice to have a somewhat easier R&B song that I can finish in a reasonable amount of time to keep me motivated.
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Post by Phil on Sept 29, 2014 9:15:07 GMT -6
The studies in MBYCU sure do cause you to respect John G's abilities as a guitarist.
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 29, 2014 11:39:06 GMT -6
Look at the word he put at the beginning of the sheet music for Cheap Runs. Think we'll ever get to the point where we'll be able to play it that way?
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Post by blackcountrymick on Sept 29, 2014 12:07:49 GMT -6
Look at the word he put at the beginning of the sheet music for Cheap Runs. Think we'll ever get to the point where we'll be able to play it that way? RELAXED!!!!
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Post by Phil on Sept 29, 2014 12:39:01 GMT -6
You have a good eye for detail, Jack. I never noticed that and I'm working on that study right now. I said in a previous post sometime back that I think John G. has a perverse sense of humor.
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