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Old 04-08-2013, 02:05 AM
delb0y delb0y is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Gloucester, UK
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Another progress update on my 40 day "Ragtime Annie" challenge.

Day 2 - Pushing on with learning beginner's version A & B sections. Figured it was going to be hard to get my time in yesterday on account of I was out all day at a motorcycle meeting, but I did manage to sit quietly in the evening for an hour with the Telecaster unplugged and continue to work through the early stages of learning this tune. I've now memorised the Beginners version and the first go-through of the A section of the Intermediate version.

Day 3 - Today. Had half an hour before work and recapped on what I've learned so far, plus pushed forward a few more bars on the Intermediate chorus. Not sure how much of this morning's work has 'stuck' but another hour tonight should see it retained.

I've also scoped out the rest of the tune and, unlike the few other pieces from this book (Parking Lot Pickers vol 1) that I've worked on there doesn't appear to be anything too difficult in the rest of Ragtime Annie, no syncopated cross-picking moments or difficult runs, so it definitely feels do-able.

Haven't ascertained what BPM I'm aiming for yet. Maybe it's irrelevant - the key thing I want to get out of this exercise is to improve the feel in my flat-picking. My playing always feels heavy-handed and dull compared to other flatpickers who appear to dance across the strings with a lightness of touch and a spring in their step! That's where I want to get to in my playing. I think it's partly around right hand technique, but more about getting the right and left hands perfectly in synch. I'm like a car who's timing is just a little out at the moment - it goes along okay and gets you where you want to go but there's just something not right.

Anyway, for now, learning this piece is simply a memory task, and will be for a couple of weeks. I shan't post every day - but unless I have something to keep me focussed the tune will probably slip off and join all the other pieces on that unfinished pile, so it's nice to have something to keep me on track.

Kind regards
Derek
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My acoustics:
  • Tanglewood TW-60
  • Manouche 'Moreno' Modele Jazz
  • 2006 Martin 000-15
  • Tanglewood TW-40
  • Furch D32-SM
  • Michael Messer Lightning

Last edited by delb0y; 04-08-2013 at 02:10 AM.
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