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Post by wannaplayblues on Apr 4, 2015 23:30:24 GMT -6
HAPPY EASTER
Practice has been GREAT!!! Playing Delta Blues at 90-95%. Hope to record this week  Practice routine still going well! I have a new book that I am working through too, but the desire to graduate is strong.  |
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Post by joachim on Apr 5, 2015 0:19:55 GMT -6
What is the other book, WPB?
I finished "Hard Rocker", so I am working on the next study in BYCU as well as "Rockin' Boogie in A" from BRYCU; both studies are great, so I am going to have fun with them. The BRUCY study looks somewhat easier, so I will probably be able to finish that before the BUCY studies.
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Post by cunningr on Apr 5, 2015 2:28:35 GMT -6
Well my practice this week has been less do to Holy Week activities but still managed at least 30 minutes everyday maybe a little more. Big accomplishment was knocking off a recording of Preacing Gospel Blues. With that done I have started Blue Sixths, need to read the theory again, my wife sees me reading and starts talking to me every time.
Reflecting back I think the most improvement in my playing has been timing.
I also practiced some out of BRYCU spread rythmn.
My bass book hasn't arrived yet, so didn't do any thing with that.
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Post by Phil on Apr 5, 2015 3:57:03 GMT -6
I got in 5 days for a total of 5 hrs. - not as much as I'd like, but acceptable. "Big Bends" is almost ready for prime time. Just need to work on the last part a little more and get the rhythm part down. I have "True Trem" clean at 75% of full tempo. So, I just need to increase the speed. Of course, that's easier said than done.  I reviewed "Cheap Runs" after not having played it for 2 months. I surprised myself in that 1). I remembered all of it except for 1 measure, and 2). I played it better than when I last recorded it. I'm working on it 5 - 10 minutes every practice session and plan on re-recording it this month. Playing those sextuplets evenly was my biggest problem. I also got in 3 practice sessions of Jazz this week. I worked on a chord melody course and "Jazzin' the Blues" studies 1 and 2. The studies in JtB were very easy compared to MBYCU and it was a nice change to be able to learn and play a study in 1 or 2 practice sessions. The important stuff in JtB is the theory, scales and ARPs in each lesson and learning how the studies relate to this. Technically the studies so far have been easy. Starting today I'm setting monthly and then weekly goals in order to stay more focused and try to speed up progress a bit. My problem with goal setting in the past has always been setting them too high and not being able to achieve them. I'm setting reasonable, attainable goals from now on. At least that's the plan. I've also made a commitment to keeping T-Bone's true identity a secret.  Phil |
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Post by jack1982 on Apr 5, 2015 5:11:18 GMT -6
Well I had an eggcellent week of practice - about 17 hours on guitar and 5 on bass. Also did my 15 minutes of ear training each day. Worked a lot on Groovin' Easy in MBYCU, which really isn't all that easy lol. Got halfway decent takes of the rhythm guitar and bass parts recorded, though they need more polishing. Worked a lot on the lead, it's got some fast parts where you're sliding 6ths around and jumping positions; I need to work on those in isolation. This chapter is on arpeggios so I've been working on those too. Probably take months of practice but I think they'll add some much needed variety to my playing. Also worked a bit on switching between the minor and major pentatonic scales while improvising. That too will take months of practice; it's really easy to make some terrible noises if you do it wrong  Worked some on D Minor Blues in the Rhythm book, still alternating between playing through the rhythm part once and then improvising over it the next time through in order to avoid the dreaded bar chord hand cramps. Also practiced Lazy Day Blues from BYCU, maybe make a new recording of that one of these days. And I did quite a bit of improvising over backing tracks as usual. I think the ear training is really helping with my note section. On bass I worked on Bass Aerobics, as well as Groovin' Easy. Bought a couple of courses from TrueFire (I had no choice, they were having "Our biggest sale of the year!!!" ). One is called Slow Burn Soloing; I think that coming from a rock/metal background my solos tend to be too notey, I need to get into that play a phrase, pause, play another phrase thing. This course is aimed exactly at that. The harmonies the guy creates with the chords are just amazing. There's a bunch of short solos and plenty of discussion of the theory and ideas behind them. The other one is Solo Electric Blues, which has a bunch of songs to play unaccompanied. Lots of hybrid picking, open tunings, even one song with some slide guitar (I sent away for a slide of course 'cause, you know, when I get to that song a year from now I'll need one). My favorite song sounds like Bridge of Sighs by Robin Trower. Lots of discussion of the techniques used and theory behind everything too. Happy Easter everybody! |
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Post by Phil on Apr 5, 2015 5:23:21 GMT -6
@ Phil: I take it there are no hard feelings, are there? If so, I hope you see where I coming from regarding this privacy issue when you read my respective post in the other thread... T-Bone, Of course there are no hard feelings. I'm just a smart-ass by nature and can't resist throwing out an occasional smart-ass remark. Regarding sight reading: are you saying you can sight read standard notation? If so, I'm impressed. That's a major achievement. I found a couple of neat little games to learn the fret-board and recognize notes on the staff that you might find interesting. www.fachords.com/fretboard-cyber-trainer/www.readmusicfree.com/notablyquickguitar.htmlAfter looking at several Jazz guitar sites I've found this one to be the best I've found so far. www.jazzguitarlessons.net/how-to-play-jazz-guitar.htmlPhil |
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Post by Phil on Apr 5, 2015 5:30:57 GMT -6
Bought a couple of courses from TrueFire (I had no choice, they were having "Our biggest sale of the year!!!" ). I deleted those emails from TrueFire immediately without reading them to remove any temptations to buy more stuff. I've bought a few courses from them and they are pretty good. I just took a look at what I have and I didn't even remember I bought some of them.  |
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Post by jack1982 on Apr 5, 2015 5:51:58 GMT -6
Bought a couple of courses from TrueFire (I had no choice, they were having "Our biggest sale of the year!!!" ). I deleted those emails from TrueFire immediately without reading them to remove any temptations to buy more stuff. I've bought a few courses from them and they are pretty good. I just took a look at what I have and I didn't even remember I bought some of them. I just took about a 4" stack of barely-leafed-through guitar books and put them in the bookshelf downstairs because they were cluttering up the place up here. So yeah, I felt the need to buy yet more instructional material I admit it, I'm utterly hopeless  |
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Post by bluesbruce on Apr 5, 2015 6:57:10 GMT -6
I deleted those emails from TrueFire immediately without reading them to remove any temptations to buy more stuff. I've bought a few courses from them and they are pretty good. I just took a look at what I have and I didn't even remember I bought some of them. I just took about a 4" stack of barely-leafed-through guitar books and put them in the bookshelf downstairs because they were cluttering up the place up here. So yeah, I felt the need to buy yet more instructional material I admit it, I'm utterly hopeless Well, I'm the late-rising straggler this week! and how fitting to start off with talk of purchasing more instructional material, a topic near and dear to my heart... Well, I actually played quite a bit this week, what with a new guitar and all. I'm beginning to see that I need to set some goals if I actually want to accomplish anything or to improve. I'm also seeing that those goals really need to include MBYCU. I had sort of taken on JTB, seeing the same thing that Phil saw - these studies were way easier than MBYCU. I also think my goals need to include some repertoire building - probably some classic blues and rock songs. I'm also thinking that I'd like to include some acoustic playing. I think if I'd start with some one month goals (finish such and such a lesson, learn such and such song, etc.), then I can always revise goals from one month to the next. Oh, and I at least need to put up some video of the new guitar - hopefully I can do that today. Bruce |
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