Hi WonderMonkey,
Welcome back.
I'm still about where I was but it suddenly became much easier a month or so ago. I spent five months working on Examples 8-10 before I could play them along with a metronome on 60. I spent another few weeks playing at that speed and crashing every time I tried to go faster. Then all of a sudden, something clicked. It was just as sudden as plugging a lightbulb in. My speed shot up and everything else I was doing on the guitar became much easier. I'm working on Example 12 now. I've made more progress on Example 12 in three days than I did on Example 11 in three weeks and on Examples 8-10 in three months. I guess whatever neural connections needed to be made between my brain and my hands finally happened.
I'd always read that progress with this sort of skill is non-linear and in my case that certainly seems to be true. After so long stuck on a plateau it feels great to have the breakthrough.
I skipped ahead and am also working on the alternate picking exercises so when I get to Exercise 16 it won't be so hard. I think I'll be there sooner that I once expected.
Summertime is when my job can suddenly cosume all my time so I don't know what my practice schedule will be like this summer. I plan to just keep pounding away at it until I get somewhere, whenever that may be.
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