who wants to join a friendly 14 day practice challenge?

[Luke_]

I can't play anything right the last couple days, been working late and just forcing myself to play isn't working in my favor

Day 11: 5 minute practice! Last night was a scheduling disaster and I had to put my son to bed so I only played the first 28 bars of Buck Dance through a couple of times and that was it. I was out of time. It's weird to go from 4.5 hours of practice one night and then 5 minutes the next. Ugh. The good thing is that I incorporated that little variation in the second verse of Buck Dance without a problem so thank goodness for that. Hopefully tonight I'll have more time to practice.

[creamburmese]

I've been slacking off serious practice the last few days - switched back to the acoustic for some fun stuff (strumming and singing with group) - every time I do that I realize how much fun it is, even though I get much personal satisfaction from working on playing tunes on the classical. I don't practice that though, so my efforts are pretty basic even by my standards.

I am getting somewhat better on the barres - the 5th fret while picking notes on the first string is there most of the time, sometimes even at tempo (!) and the 7th fret barre plus notes on 1st and 3rd strings is ringing except for one note requiring 2 D# which I only get occasionally - and not to tempo. However the fact that I can get it sometimes means it will come eventually (I hope) and its already better given that the first time I saw it I didn't see how I would ever get it to ring.

I have been working on my Valse piece intermittently and now I"m mostly not struggling to get the notes, am enjoying adding more "emotion" to it. Latest suggestion was to bring out the melody line in the treble more while keeping the accompaniment quiet...

[creamburmese]

HI Luke

I'm still learning to make myself do this - but when playing through things repeatedly doesn't work, I go back measure by measure and play each one on its own to figure out the problem areas. If a measure doesn't work at tempo I slow it down until it works. Then link it with the prior measure (still as slow as it needs to get it right). Only then bring it back up to tempo. Repeat as necessary!

Day 12: Nice long practice. Made up for day 11. The usual repertoire followed by Buck Dance. Played through the first 28 bars with the little variation then went upstairs to watch the video for the second turnaround. BUT when watching the video I remembered that Stefan added a little bounce to the rhythmic lick that runs throughout the song. He's just lifting his fretting hand after a note to choke it. When I was first learning the lick I was doing the bounce but then I forgot about it once I started to incorporate the chords. So now I have it back in and it sounds great. It really breaks up the repeating lick and makes it swing. Then I spent a bunch of time on the second turnaround. I can play it really slowly but consistently which is good. After that I worked on the chorus and I pretty much have that down. So the song is starting to come together but I still need to get the second turnaround up to speed.

Day 13: Repertoire went really well and quickly. Spend a short while on Buck Dance. Played my 28 bars again and then worked on the second turnaround and the chorus. The turnaround is still a struggle but the chorus is coming along.

Day 14: Quite the struggle with repertoire today. Took a lot longer than it should have and I was pretty fried by the time it was done. Just an off day I guess. More time with Buck Dance. The turnaround is starting to flow and so is the chorus. Hoping I can have it all together in another week and then I'll record and post it if I have time before Fur Peace.

Well this is the end of the line for me. I achieved my goal of 14 days straight of practice and starting to learn Buck Dance. I didn't record though. I just couldn't come up with anything I felt like recording right now.

Thank you to those who joined in and those who followed along. I hope you had fun!

[000JB]

J-Doug just had a listen to Shuffle rag that you recorded, nice work! What version are you playing?

[Luke_]

Originally Posted by creamburmese

HI Luke

I'm still learning to make myself do this - but when playing through things repeatedly doesn't work, I go back measure by measure and play each one on its own to figure out the problem areas. If a measure doesn't work at tempo I slow it down until it works. Then link it with the prior measure (still as slow as it needs to get it right). Only then bring it back up to tempo. Repeat as necessary!

The funny thing with me is I'm a mechanic by trade (owner of a diesel truck performance shop) so my hands take some serious abuse. And with the climate changing and the rain they are aching pretty good. And to boot I'm usually exhausted by the time I get home. I have extremely large hands and the song I'm learning is tricky with the fingering. I can play what I've practiced no problem (usually better when I play it up to speed) my problem is trying to not buzz notes and getting my big sausages out the way to let open strings ring out without muting the with the finger that frets next to it. So I concentrate on perfect finger placement which leads to gripping hard and awkward which leads to hand fatigue which leads to frustration... And then other days I can play it with no issues. Tommy said there are days you can do anything and others that are constant struggles. He was right! I would give anything for smaller finger tips. Cuz I don't have a problem with the learning or the playing. Just the accidentally missed notes that totally ruin it for me

Originally Posted by 000JB

J-Doug just had a listen to Shuffle rag that you recorded, nice work! What version are you playing?

Thank you very much! I'm playing the version I learned off of Stefan Grossman's "Ragtime Blues Guitar" instructional DVD. It's based on the playing of Big Bill Broonzy.

[Luke_]

Here's the song I am working on... Was told the best way to get better at recording was to record everything. I put up a condenser, and used the aura to balance... I'm sure I'm a little too fast and def not perfect. I've got the verse just need to work on the chorus and ending. Oh and the accidental buzzes haha.

How's the audio guys and gals?

http://youtu.be/XH9pI5Mfm-M

[creamburmese]

Hi Luke!
Loved listening to that! - you really have a good rhythm going ! If I had any suggestions it would be to mike it so the tune comes out more clearly - currently that wonderful base pattern is dominant...

[Luke_]

Originally Posted by creamburmese

Hi Luke!
Loved listening to that! - you really have a good rhythm going ! If I had any suggestions it would be to mike it so the tune comes out more clearly - currently that wonderful base pattern is dominant...

I suppose If I left the room mic off it woulda been cleaner. I didn't have a stand for it so it was just kinda laying there on a stool. I think any YouTube videos suffer in the sound department. I had to mix it down thru a couple programs and that killed the sound a bit. If you listen in headphones it sounds better. If I do any serious recordings maybe I'll upload them to sound cloud or something? I know them bluechip picks make her thump some!

Thanks for listening

Originally Posted by Luke_

Here's the song I am working on... Was told the best way to get better at recording was to record everything. I put up a condenser, and used the aura to balance... I'm sure I'm a little too fast and def not perfect. I've got the verse just need to work on the chorus and ending. Oh and the accidental buzzes haha.

How's the audio guys and gals?

http://youtu.be/XH9pI5Mfm-M

Very nice Luke! I liked it a lot. Well done.

[Luke_]

Thanks Doug, did the thumb seem to drown out the rest i to you?... Just looking for another opinion

[Paully]

Today was Monday 4/28. I put two hours in the woodshed today. I have practiced every day, Two hours minimum. Taking Wednesday off for over a year now. I've been about two weeks working on Beethovan's " Fur Elise" and today I got through it better than ever, hitting my goal speed of 60 beats per minute. (I use the metrionome obsessivly). I'm hoping to have it at 100% by the middle (Wednesday ?) of the week. When I've got "Fur Elise" secucrly under my fingers I'll be starting on Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" (think theme song from the movie "The Sting") it's a rag time piano piece, and I think that the melody part will be challenging for me. Lot's of 1/8 notes and rests. The sheet music looks like a black page, Lol.
So that's what I'm up to. I look forward to reading about what's going on with you guys (gals)
Keep on pickin' and grinin'