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Old 05-12-2015, 10:08 AM
carpunky carpunky is offline
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Default Tips for learning new songs

Hi,

I know this question is all over the internet but I had a little more specific question.

I got the alternating bass down with the thumbpick. I can keep it going when improvising because i have nothing to remember. When I go to learn a song it stops being automatic.

For instance when pinching strings , so now I am having to stop and think about when to pinch and when not too.

Im just trying to figure out if its me or does it throw other off too. Just trying to get thru one measure of a simple song , like Old Susanna from Toby walkers course is taking me forever ( great by the way )

thanks
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Old 05-12-2015, 10:21 AM
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rick-slo rick-slo is offline
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Play it over, and over, and over, and over, and over ... and since you have the thumb part down in general, be concentrating on the melody line and its rhythm.
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Old 05-12-2015, 10:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carpunky View Post
Hi,

I know this question is all over the internet but I had a little more specific question.

I got the alternating bass down with the thumbpick. I can keep it going when improvising because i have nothing to remember. When I go to learn a song it stops being automatic.

For instance when pinching strings , so now I am having to stop and think about when to pinch and when not too.

Im just trying to figure out if its me or does it throw other off too. Just trying to get thru one measure of a simple song , like Old Susanna from Toby walkers course is taking me forever ( great by the way )

thanks
Hi cp…

When I'm first starting a new technique, I will play the repetitive part (for you the alternating bass) in time and then play individual melody notes every other measure (which seems very slow, but I can play them accurately and in time) and simply repeating them till they are boring.

When I was learning Travis Picking, I started by playing open scales (first position) with the fingers while keeping the bass going with the thumb. Scales were a known quantity to me, and I didn't have to think hard about them, so right out of the box I was moving treble/melody notes along with alternating/rapid-fire bass.

After I mastered playing one note per measure, I started playing that note twice in a measure, and (with the root and alternate bass notes). After that was boring (mastered properly), I played the note twice and evenly spaced with each bass note.

Then start adding more treble notes as you play. It takes a slow steady build up to retain accuracy, timing, and feel.






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Old 05-12-2015, 11:05 AM
FlyFast FlyFast is offline
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I always play the song together, alternating bass and melody. Just play it very slowly many times. Increase speed as your proficiency improves but take your time. If you can't play it well slowly, it will sound terrible at tempo. Practice and repetition playing it correctly is the key.
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Old 05-12-2015, 12:10 PM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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I agree with the above. Being able to play the bass easily is no help really - it's not too hard to set that up and get comfortable with it. It's the co-ordination with fingers that is always the stumbling block.

IMO, the only way is r-e-a-l s-l-o-w, bar by bar, beat by beat, playing the whole pattern.

Eg, beat 1 might thumb alone. OK;
Beat 2 could be a pinch. OK again;
Beat 3, thumb again. But between 3 and 4 you might get a finger stroke (on the "and of 3");
Beat 4, maybe thumb alone again.
Code:
BEATS: |1   .   2   .   3  and  4   .   |
                F           F
        T       T       T       T
Naturally you need to keep those beats regular. But there's only ever 2 possibilities on any single beat: thumb only, or thumb and finger (pinch). Between the beats, it's only ever finger (could be any finger, btw). It's just a matter of stringing those simple elements together - and repeating each bar as often as it takes. Then moving to the next bar.... and then joining those two bars together... and moving on to bar 3...

That's how I did it myself - nearly 50 years ago now (age 16) - and I had it down in less than a year, maybe 6 months. (I mean after I first picked up a guitar.)
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Old 05-14-2015, 06:41 AM
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I'm practicing similar to Larry's suggestions. My teacher has given me some exercises that have my fingers playing scale notes while maintaining the root-alternating bass pattern. The exercises have 1/4 and 1/8 note scale patterns and we started with the key of C (because the white notes are easy to visualize). I can see doing the same exercise in other keys to help with fretboard note memory also.
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Old 05-17-2015, 06:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ljguitar View Post
Hi cp…

When I'm first starting a new technique, I will play the repetitive part (for you the alternating bass) in time and then play individual melody notes every other measure (which seems very slow, but I can play them accurately and in time) and simply repeating them till they are boring.

When I was learning Travis Picking, I started by playing open scales (first position) with the fingers while keeping the bass going with the thumb. Scales were a known quantity to me, and I didn't have to think hard about them, so right out of the box I was moving treble/melody notes along with alternating/rapid-fire bass.

After I mastered playing one note per measure, I started playing that note twice in a measure, and (with the root and alternate bass notes). After that was boring (mastered properly), I played the note twice and evenly spaced with each bass note.

Then start adding more treble notes as you play. It takes a slow steady build up to retain accuracy, timing, and feel.






That seems to be really sound advice.
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