who wants to join a friendly "learn an new song" challenge?

[mc1]

i've started playing through the piece from start to finish, and keeping track of how many times i play it. it's only about 2 minutes long when played up to tempo, which is still rather slow. i am enjoying the piece being so short and pretty accessible. anyway, i practiced for about 1.5 hours yesterday, and ran through it 10 times plus worked on some trouble spots. same for today, although i played it 16 times.

since i've tabbed it out in sibelius, one of the cool things i can do is to play along with the midi file at any tempo, so i also played through it very slowly along with the midi tab.

[creamburmese]

I can now get through 2 lines of the "weeping waltz(!)" but it's not clean yet and sounds clumsy. It's very pretty though... My hand is getting more comfortable with the fingering but now I'm struggling to get the volume and tone right....

[mc1]

Originally Posted by RedJoker

I'm still struggling with my flat picking, hitting the right strings, fretting the right notes. ...

Originally Posted by creamburmese

I can now get through 2 lines of the "weeping waltz(!)" but it's not clean yet and sounds clumsy. It's very pretty though... My hand is getting more comfortable with the fingering but now I'm struggling to get the volume and tone right....

my amateur opinion and what works best for me is to work in small sections, play slowly, so slowly that i hardly make mistakes, and also to use a metronome. volume and tone (especially the tone of the a finger) are a real struggle for me.

"one must practice slowly, then more slowly, and finally...slowly"
-camille saint-saens

[RedJoker]

Originally Posted by mc1

my amateur opinion and what works best for me is to work in small sections, play slowly, so slowly that i hardly make mistakes, and also to use a metronome. volume and tone (especially the tone of the a finger) are a real struggle for me.

"one must practice slowly, then more slowly, and finally...slowly"
-camille saint-saens

Yup, that's exactly what I've been doing. It's good to get reinforcement that I'm doing what I should.

[creamburmese]

Great suggestion on learning tunes in pieces and slowly - and indeed because the fingering is "awkward" for me, I've been learning it a bar at a time very very slowly - just arranging my left hand took a while. I can now do the "one at a time" - it's when I hook them together and try to get some semblance of what the right hand is supposed to sound like that the trouble starts

[mc1]

Originally Posted by creamburmese

Great suggestion on learning tunes in pieces and slowly - and indeed because the fingering is "awkward" for me, I've been learning it a bar at a time very very slowly - just arranging my left hand took a while. I can now do the "one at a time" - it's when I hook them together and try to get some semblance of what the right hand is supposed to sound like that the trouble starts

did you do the fingerings or did your teacher or were they already given? i'd be happy to look at them and help if i can. i find working out fingerings to be most enjoyable, as well as fairly important in efficient playing.

Originally Posted by AX17609

Stefan has a couple versions of this tune -- one fairly simple, the other not so simple.

I'm learning the version from this video: http://www.guitarvideos.com/artists/...e-blues-guitar

Day 6: only had 5 minutes to work on the new song last night. Tried playing what I know. Couldn't play it through without stopping due to mistakes. Feeling discouraged. The chorus will have to wait I guess. I should have more time tonight to focus on it.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

I'm learning the version from this video: http://www.guitarvideos.com/artists/...e-blues-guitar

Day 6: only had 5 minutes to work on the new song last night. Tried playing what I know. Couldn't play it through without stopping due to mistakes. Feeling discouraged. The chorus will have to wait I guess. I should have more time tonight to focus on it.

i found stefan playing it on youtube and it's no cakewalk (that's a pun). seems like it would take a bit of time to get under the fingers. when i'm playing through and i make mistakes, i usually take a look at that section and see if there is something that needs working on, or a left or right hand fingering issue. sometimes i turn a bar or two into some sort of repeatable exercise. anyway, hang in there.

Originally Posted by mc1

i found stephan playing it on youtube and it's no cakewalk (that's a pun). seems like it would take a bit of time to get under the fingers. when i'm playing through and i make mistakes, i usually take a look at that section and see if there is something that needs working on, or a left or right hand fingering issue. sometimes i turn a bar or two into some sort of repeatable exercise. anyway, hang in there.

Thank you for the encouragement!

[mc1]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Thank you for the encouragement!

you are kind. i know that you know it's a lot of work to learn a new song. maybe song 500 is easier, i suspect it is.

i know you love ragtime. there is a little ragtime tune i work on occasionally, american flag rag by john mustang, that is rather easy by ragtime standards, but is a really cool piece. maybe i can send it to you or we could start a thread about it. it is in one of my classical guitar books but i've never seen it elsewhere (and i've searched), or have i found out much about john mustang. but that's another thread, after we work through what's before us.

i'm really enjoying the tune i am learning, although it will be a while before it's ready for primetime (although i'm willing to record my progress if that would be of interest). my fingers are old and set in their ways and require a lot of patience. i suspect young fingers are free roaming and need some restraint as well.

the tune i am working on is very satisfying. written hundreds of years ago, i wonder what was in the composer's or listener's mind. full of suspended chords and parts with no bass, it is an odd piece. something about it is very ethereal, and gives me a sense of longing for something i never even knew i wanted. i suspect i will never do it justice, as what i hear in my head is far from what comes from my fingers. but i have hope that through repetition i can approximate something good. it's a simple piece, although simple peices are tough as well.

i apologize if i am monopolizing this thread. i can easily do that when i'm keen on something.

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

I'm learning the version from this video: http://www.guitarvideos.com/artists/...e-blues-guitar

The other one is on Fingerpicking Blues Guitar Solos, and it has some Blind Blake style stumble bass lines.

Day 7: what a difference a day makes! After my repertoire practice I had an hour+ before bed so I worked through the first two verses of Glory of Love. After focusing on the connecting lick between the verses I was able to play through everything without mistakes several times. Yay! So I moved onto the chorus and nailed it in a few tries. Effectively I know the whole song now with the exception of the final lick so I can start stitching the sections together into a song. Much happier. Thanks for the support guys.

[RedJoker]

I usually pick up the guitar for 10-15 minutes before I head to work in the morning. I noticed a substantial improvement in speed and accuracy this morning. Or maybe my head was still slow and groggy and it just seemed like it...

[creamburmese]

Congratulations on a mistake-free run-through J-Doug! And thanks for the suggestions for fingering mc1 - though my guitar teacher has been through the part I'm working on and yes I have the fingerings written in - it's the player who is the problem It is now apparent to me that this piece was chosen so I could work on left hand positions where the fingers are "reversed" compared to how they are usually arranged. yikes... However I did have something of a beginner breakthrough on tone (especially for the a finger you mentioned - it is definitely a problem child on that high E string). After having been repeatedly reminded, coaxed, cajoled etc regarding relaxing the right hand, I finally managed to do it intermittently last night, and the tone improved enormously. Don't expect miracles, mind you, it's just less bad !!! Overslept this morning so it remains to be seen if the improvement will be sustained.

[creamburmese]

Hi Mc1 - I like ragtime - would also like the music to the piece you recommended that's nice but not too hard....