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Old 01-05-2017, 03:59 PM
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Eric Skye
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 7,668
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Originally Posted by dkstott View Post
Eric, your video is great after I got past the 1st 5-6 minutes of discussion. I just have a pet peeve of mine that instruction videos need less discussion and more instruction…
Hi dkstott

My whole Thirty Day Guitar Challenge series of videos is based on my opposite opinion. They are intended as essays, not instruction. My goal was to not have any new chords, scales, exercises, etc for anyone to learn, but to share some thinking about overall musicianship. They may or may not be what people are after, but for the record that’s what it’s about.

I like your idea of playing along with others -can’t ague with the value of that. But I would say, in my mind, playing along with others, or with recorded tracks, or a drum machine is problematic as a sole means of improvement because they're doing all the work for you. It’s not really developing your command of time and of the math, or at least it's taking a longer way around. Moreover, I think for many people, they can play along with others or recorded tracks for years blissfully unaware that they are rushing, that what thier playing on it’s own doesn't feel all that great.

Incidentally, here's a little exercise that's great for showing yourself exactly where you really are with your sense of time. Get a metronome that goes fairly slow. Many conventional metronomes only go down to 40, but most apps these days like go down to 20 or below. Pick a small segment of a tune and you know well, perhaps just strumming two simple chords to a medium slow blues. Set the metronome at 80 and just play along until you feel like you're in the pocket. When you feel comfortable, set it to 40 but continue to play at exactly the same tempo. Now the metronome is giving you half the help that it was before. When you are confident with this, set the metronome to 20, and continue to play at the same tempo. The metronome is now just marking each measure for you ( you can even go to 10 with it marking every-other bar). Use your iPhone or whatever to quickly record this exercise and then objectively listen back. For most people this is one very humbling and sobering experience. I know it seriously is for me every time!
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Last edited by min7b5; 01-05-2017 at 08:42 PM.
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