When you realize song is too hard right now....
 

Al Petteway's "Elk Mountain Rag" is kicking my fingers butts, lol. I started it 12/26/17 and its still not even clean at 40% of performance! Granted I'm in busy season and I don't get to sit down with a guitar until 9, 9:30pm during most nights during the week, but wow.

I think I'm going to make certain chord positions and changes into exercises. There's a few bar chords with arpeggios that I'm not getting right. Arrgg. When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher!

Keep the rhythmic bounce even when playing slower and don't hang on to notes but cut the notes values a bit short to make quick chord changes easier.
You'll get it.

Thanks Rick, I'll do that.

Barry, don't give up on it! It will only make you that much better as a player when finally nailed down. When you push yourself to learn something out of your wheelhouse, it only makes you stronger. Hence the saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." It's very true my friend. I am constantly pushing myself to the point where I can experience some greater level of playing ability. Mainly because I neglected it for 20 years and now there's a real bee in my bonnet to keep learning. Not to impress others but to amaze and surprise myself. There's not a better feeling in the world than when you accomplish something on the guitar that takes you to that next level of play. The only reason I got into jazz chords is that it was sooo foreign to me at the time. Now I can't do without cascading progressions and 9th or 13th diminished chords. What began with simple barre chords has now grown to this and this will grow to something else.

Perry

This is a great idea.

I like writing etudes to address certain things...might be a technique, or a tricky chord progression, or tough harmony for improvising...you can write an etude for pretty much anything!

I'm going to keep hammering away at it Perry.


Yes, beating it with repetition is the only way I know. I just have to be careful I practice it correctly. Better slow and right then quick and wrong.