20 days of practicing and learning 1 song

[JackC1]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

I think I'll learn it too!

Originally Posted by TBman

Me too

Wonderful! Please feel free to post your recording here (if you want to); I'm all ears.

[JackC1]

******************* DAY 3 **************

Practiced Measures 9-16 (the bottom half of the song).

The damp in Measure 13 was giving me trouble using my previous choice of damping with finger 4 (i.e. pressing strings 1 and 2 with finger 4). I've decided to change it to using my a-finger (the ring finger of the picking hand). This works better because I can play the next note (C) with less chances of buzz.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to play the arpeggio of the last measure using a strum with the thumb. I think it may have to be played using the thumb and fingers like the reference video. The strum is definitely easier for me; but I'm also practicing the fingers (which seems more useful as it will allow me to play the notes in any order in the future). I shall ask on Delcamp.

As I play, I noticed that I'm clawing my thumb at times, which gives bad/inconsistent tone. I think this is because I'm still not comfortable with the song. I have to remember to push the strings more consistently.

I'm also not sure if the barre on the last measure should be barred with finger 1. I naturally like to barre (partial) with finger 2 or 3 because it is like an A-chord. The "C II" (capo, 2nd position) notation may want me to use finger 1 to free up the other fingers. I'll have to ask on Delcamp.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by JackC1

Wonderful! Please feel free to post your recording here (if you want to); I'm all ears.

I might just do that later. It's a ladies bingo night for my wife.

[mr. beaumont]

Had a minute to do a "read down." A piece that looks easy...until you play it and try to get the nuances down...playing this piece well is certainly a lot more than just getting the notes right! Definitely something I'd like to get "off paper" with asap so I can concentrate on things other than the notes themselves.

I think I'll mess with it more. Picking apart stuff like this regarding fingerings, tone production, damping...its important!

[JackC1]

Put in another practice session; mainly on Meaures 1-8 at 72 BPM. I'm hoping that after 2 more practice sessions, I can record a play thru at 72 BPM.

Since these videos are really from my practice journal, I normally write my thought as comments on the videos. So I won't repeat them here. I'll try to be more entertaining with what I write

This thread has definitely helped me get a move on my practice. Having a public thread is both good and bad. The good, I think can outweigh the bad if done infrequently. The little bit of pressure to practice really can help (it's pushed me to put in a lot more time than normal); but if done too frequently, I'll probably burn out.

[JackC1]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Had a minute to do a "read down."

Wow! I love your playing. I can move with it and want to dance to it!! BRAVO! It's got that soft/tender, yet forward moving feel that, I think, captures a pavane. I espectially like how you moved to the half notes of Measures 4, 8, and 12.

Thanks for posting such a nice rendition; I can listen to it all day. (I'm going to memorize this peice bas on your post.)

[TBman]

Here's my 2 cents. I played melody with bass, melody only and then both again. My string dampening needs work

Anonmye Pavane:

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[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by JackC1

Wow! I love your playing. I can move with it and want to dance to it!! BRAVO! It's got that soft/tender, yet forward moving feel that, I think, captures a pavane. I espectially like how you moved to the half notes of Measures 4, 8, and 12.

Thanks for posting such a nice rendition; I can listen to it all day. (I'm going to memorize this peice bas on your post.)

Well thank you...while I love a lot of classical guitar, I am NOT a classical player by any stretch! I'm really a jazz guy, which basically just means I have problems doing things "as written" or "the same way twice."

I tell you that, just to say I might take more liberties with pieces than maybe some teachers would like...so keep that in mind! Don't want your teacher saying to you "Now who the HECK told you to do THAT!?"

[JackC1]

Originally Posted by TBman

I played melody with bass, melody only and then both again.

I enjoyed very much listening to you; it's got a good flow to it. Thanks for the wonderful performance.

Both you and @mr. beaumont played it really beautifully. Tomorrow, I shall show the world the opposite

[JackC1]

I was hoping for another practice session today, but looks like I'll do it tomorrow morning instead. Morning practice always seem to work best for me.

(Currently, I'm watching Metropolis <-- yes, the B&W silent film. I've heard of it for so long and borrowed it from the library today. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish it. It isn't what I had in mind.)

[JackC1]

**************** DAY 4 ***************

I've decided to memorize this piece. I normally don't devote time for memorization because I feel it is just wasted time (i.e. since I don't put in the time to maintain the memorized songs, they get forgotten soon after I stop playing them). However, there's no denying that we all play memorized songs better (probably... sometimes we'll play it wrong and think it's right

So, today's practice begins with memorization.


The funny part about memorizing songs (at least for me) is that I need to be able to "sing" it to memorize it. I'm never able to just plow through any songs via muscle memory. So, it's kind of like reading (the musical score), I have to sing it ahead of what I'm currently playing.

This memorization is a skill. I've not memorized things in a while so my mental "singing" lags my playing and I pause a lot. But as I'm practicing, it is all coming back to me; and I'm smoother.

A lot of times I also give up memorizing a piece and drop into what I call a hybrid reading mode, where I'm using the music to cue each phrase (where I can mentally sing each phrases much easier than singing the entire music; also much less chances of making mistakes unknowingly).

I think I need another few minutes to finish memorize this piece, but I can do the hybird playing right now. It's tempting to just go hybrid on this guy.

[JackC1]

Put in 2 more practice sessions today. Still working on memorization.




Today's goal: memorize this song.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by JackC1

I hear progress, keep it up!

[JackC1]

********************* DAY 5 ****************

Yeah! I'm 25% there. Or shold I be worried? as in "Oh no, 25% of time has passed"; hahaha. Actually, I'm pretty reliefed right now; as I've just found out that Delcamp has replaced one of the May month's new song with _THIS_ Pavane. This means I only have to learn 1 extra song in May (plus this exam piece). Immediately, that's 50% more time for this piece (i.e. 2 songs vs 3 songs).

Anyway.

Today, I was feeling pretty confident and decided to make a play-thru recording. (Part of the Delcamp online class requirement is to regularly post recordings of the assigned pieces for comments. And this song, now being an "assigned song" means I'll be making regular play-thru recordings.)

Unfortunately, I'm just not ready yet... so I wasn't able to make a post-worthy play-thru. I kind of wasted my practice time for very little return.

The trouble with making play-thru recordings is that I spend time play sections that I'm already good at (ok, that's "already-good-at-relatively-to-the-sections-I-really-need-to-put-in-more-time"). When all is said and done, the entire piece should be at similar level (and not just a few good sections) because for these exam songs, their worst parts get the attention.

The good thing about play-thrus is that I get to see just how far along I've come when I listening to my own recordings; and that gives me new motivation to push forward. It's like a mini goal and a mini reward for reaching it.

[TBman]

I'm a member of the Delcamp forum too. Can anyone join these lessons? I though they were primarily for people who don't/can't have access to in person lessons.