Weekly Update 05-07-15

Kind of a lazy / busy week for me, got in 11 hours on guitar and 1 3/4 on bass. Worked quite a bit on Half Steppin' in More BYCU, been practicing the lead at full tempo but the fast part needs some more practice in isolation. I've got about 100 takes of the rhythm guitar and bass parts recorded, there must be a satisfactory one in there somewhere    Worked some on Lazy Day Blues and did my usual improvising.  

Hopefully this coming week I'll have more time to practice.

I had a good week of practice, divided between MBYCU lesson 1, picking exercises, and practicing short licks from another book.

MBYCY lesson 1 is coming along. I made a good recording of the rhythm yesterday, but the lead is not up to speed yet. For the lead part I discovered that there is a golden ninth chord chart on the last page of BCYCU that really helps breaking down the lead part. Although the lead part is moderately simple to play, it's not so easy to analyze when you're used to only thinking in the usual minor/major patterns. There's certainly much to be learned from that book. I hope to wrap up the first lesson during the next week, because after that I will away on travels.

Probably I will try to squeeze in a little BCYCU everyday - it's a goldmine.

Not a bad week, I got 10.5 hrs of guitar practice time in with some tangible progress made. No bass this week.

Slow Dance Dreams - BRYCU - Lesson 3: playing both rhythm and lead parts at full tempo playing along with John for a few days. Moved on to next step - recorded a good enough rhythm and drum track to practice playing the lead part over. I started working on this last night, the lead part is sounding very scrappy and nowhere near as good as I thought I was playing it over John's original recording, more work required here before moving on.

Drivin' Blues - MBYCU - Lesson 2: Rhythm part ready to record over a drum track once I have done one. Lead part is comfortable at 90% speed but I can push it to 100% with a bit of finger fumbling. Hopefully I will get a rhythm track put together this coming week to practice the lead over, then I suspect this will become a whole new ballgame!! 

Cheap Runs - MBYCU - Lesson 3: I've not started work on the rhythm part yet but I've got the lead part up to about 85% and currently feel this about my max speed, so loads more speed building to work on.

Other Stuff: Working on some building speed exercises (Jimmy Page minor blues style). Started lesson 7 from the Troy Stetina rock guitar book.

Bruce, I intend to have a go at "Blues for Charlie" after I put "Slow Dance Dreams" to bed, it would be great if I could use your biab bt for this one   .

It wasn't a real good practice week for me. I got in 5.5 hrs., but about 4 of those were spent on "Lazy Day Blues." I had 3 choruses worked out in my head. However, trying to go from head to fingers is proving to be a real bitch. Good thing I'm not a studio guitarist who has to come up with stuff on the spot.

I've got 2 choruses down (now if I could only play them ). I'm going to have to come up with a whole new idea for the 3rd or just leave it at 2. I think I mentioned before that I was going to do 5 choruses - 1st and last by the book, and 3 of my own sandwiched between. "Lazy Day" is not one of my favorite BYCU studies, but this is a good exercise in trying to come up with something original.

I thought I was going to get "True Trem" recorded by the end of June. Then again, back in January I thought I'd finish MBYCU by July. Anyway, after I record "Lazy Day" I'll focus on "True Trem."

pulled the trigger and ordered the Charvel Warren DeMartini Signature Snake. I'm going to try not to drive the guitar shop crazy asking when it's coming. No snakes were harmed, it's paint, and the case is fake snakeskin.

I should really count the practice hours. I just have a guitar stand in the living room and when I'm on the couch I practice whatever it is I'm practicing. I still play Delta Mood every time I practice, at least a few reps of that. I was also able to play Ratt - Round N Round and it was like magic in my hands. I got that book Fretboard Freedom and I've been playing a lick at 110 bpm. Top speed is 128. I'm close but even at this speed I'm going "Holy cow, I'm actually playing that!"... Moment of realization made me realize I NEED ANOTHER GUITAR! Well, I'm not married yet so here's my chance. ROCK ON!!!!

Thanks very much Bruce it is really appreciated.