I hit a wall and I can get up.

[Lou777]

I have been learning about a year. I was just working on my left hand and stumming. I was progressing OK by my standards.
So I moved to South Carolina and I start going to a place where they jam (Bluegrass ) Friday nights. I new I could not play with them so I start to learn some Bluegrass picking. I even signed up for some lessons. Now I am so frustrated, I can't just get going. It has been a couple of months and I can't even get it enough to feel like showing up for my lesson. I will get it a little one day, then later that day I am lost again. Its the picking (bass). So now I am so messed up I can't even follow a simple cord progression strumming.

I needed to vent. Any suggestions.

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by Lou777

Its the picking (bass).

Can you expand on this bit?

I thinking you're talking about the transition from strumming an entire chord at once (easy) to hitting one bass string on the big beat and then strumming the rest on the little beats (trickier).

If that's what you meant I may have one idea to suggest that I've found opens things up a little in my own playing...

[garywj]

Originally Posted by Lou777

I have been learning about a year. I was just working on my left hand and stumming. I was progressing OK by my standards.
So I moved to South Carolina and I start going to a place where they jam (Bluegrass ) Friday nights. I new I could not play with them so I start to learn some Bluegrass picking. I even signed up for some lessons. Now I am so frustrated, I can't just get going. It has been a couple of months and I can't even get it enough to feel like showing up for my lesson. I will get it a little one day, then later that day I am lost again. Its the picking (bass). So now I am so messed up I can't even follow a simple cord progression strumming.

I needed to vent. Any suggestions.

What works for me is if I do it slow enough for long enough I will get it. Recently I've hit the same wall as you, but it's related to barre chords. In order to fingerpick some songs at speed I need to be able to get a barre chord locked down much quicker. So, about a month ago I started doing some chord progressions (with these barre chords) for a warm up and cool down exercises. Throughout the day I'll do set of 100 a couple of more times. That means I've done those tough chord transitions 300-500 times a day. I started off ridiculously slow but have at least doubled my speed in the process. By the progress I've made so far I expect to have this wall breached within another month. It's not the fun part of playing but, for me, it's what it takes.

[Lou777]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

Can you expand on this bit?

I thinking you're talking about the transition from strumming an entire chord at once (easy) to hitting one bass string on the big beat and then strumming the rest on the little beats (trickier).

If that's what you meant I may have one idea to suggest that I've found opens things up a little in my own playing...

Yes that is part of it. The other part is the alternating. Like in G you hit the Low E and strum. Then A and strum. Go to C hit the A , strum and D ,strum or sometimes in C, A , strum then E, strum. It is supposed to be pick strum pick strum. I either miss the bass string or it winds up like pick strum strum strum or the wrong bass string. You name it if it can be messed up I'll find it.

What isn't helping is I have been told to use my middle and ring finger for the G cord to make it easier to go to C and it is, but it is retraining my muscle memory.

I know what Gary is saying is what I have to do but man I'm frustrated. I had hope of seeing a little progress. Old dogs you know.

[Brent Hutto]

Well while you're retraining your muscle memory anyway...

Look for chances to form chords one or two fingers at a time. Like when you're doing the pick-strum on a C-major chord only the root note on the 5th string has to be there on "pick" then you have a full beat until the other fingers have to be there for "strum".

I've found that whenever possible, taking an extra beat or half-beat to spread out the movement helps a lot. Of course a lot of times the music is going to make you do it all at once but maybe start out by practicing the times that you can do it in pieces.

The other idea I have is, if hitting the right string is a problem, start out by doing "pick" with your thumb and "strum" with the back of your finger or even just grab the three top notes fingerstyle-style. I find that hitting the correct bass string with my thumb is much easier than being accurate with a flatpick...although that's probably because I played fingerstyle for two years before ever trying the pick.

[Fliss]

A few possible suggestions:
1. talk it over with your teacher
2. try taking longer gaps between your lessons (e.g 2 weeks instead of 1 week) to give yourself long enough to work on each new thing in between
3. listen to some new music - whether in the genre you're trying to learn or not
4. take a break from it -earn to play some new music that's different from what you're trying to learn at the moment, then come back to it fresh
5. allow yourself more practice time, but little and often, say half an hour at a time, rather than trying to do an hour or two at a time (I don't know how you do practice but clearly this wouldn't apply if you already practice in short bursts anyway!)
6. this may be obvious but it may be worth saying anyway - when you practice, take it slowly, don't try to do it straight away a the speed they play in the jam. You need to be able to do it slowly before you can do it fast.

Fliss

[Badfrog]

I'm going through that same thing right now with bass note strums. I'm using verious strums, alternating bass notes and also using bass note runs.

I think like another poster mentioned, just slow it down (I've seen this mentioned by a number of well known guitar players). Make it so slow that you can't and don't miss. I know that that's what I need to do. Then you can slowly work on building up your speed along with the accuracy.

The thing to remember is that once you've got it down, it should open up a lot of other options (different chords and patterns).

[Lou777]

Originally Posted by Fliss

A few possible suggestions:
1. talk it over with your teacher
2. try taking longer gaps between your lessons (e.g 2 weeks instead of 1 week) to give yourself long enough to work on each new thing in between
3. listen to some new music - whether in the genre you're trying to learn or not
4. take a break from it -earn to play some new music that's different from what you're trying to learn at the moment, then come back to it fresh
5. allow yourself more practice time, but little and often, say half an hour at a time, rather than trying to do an hour or two at a time (I don't know how you do practice but clearly this wouldn't apply if you already practice in short bursts anyway!)
6. this may be obvious but it may be worth saying anyway - when you practice, take it slowly, don't try to do it straight away a the speed they play in the jam. You need to be able to do it slowly before you can do it fast.

Fliss

Thanks Fliss

I did 1&2 and just started 5 and will try the rest

[Lou777]

Originally Posted by Badfrog

I'm going through that same thing right now with bass note strums. I'm using verious strums, alternating bass notes and also using bass note runs.

I think like another poster mentioned, just slow it down (I've seen this mentioned by a number of well known guitar players). Make it so slow that you can't and don't miss. I know that that's what I need to do. Then you can slowly work on building up your speed along with the accuracy.

The thing to remember is that once you've got it down, it should open up a lot of other options (different chords and patterns).

Thanks Badfrog,

I just had my lesson and the teacher helped me see that I was doing somthing weird with my picking of the Bass notes. I was not going through and down to the next string I was brushing over them like a strum.

My teacher just said the same thing about going slow and go for accuracy.

[Badfrog]

Originally Posted by Lou777

Thanks Badfrog,

I just had my lesson and the teacher helped me see that I was doing somthing weird with my picking of the Bass notes. I was not going through and down to the next string I was brushing over them like a strum.

My teacher just said the same thing about going slow and go for accuracy.

I actually had a lesson last night and was not looking forward to demonstrating my bass strumming to my teacher (I play worse in front of him than I do at home). But he forced me into and I wasn't as bad as I thought I would be.

Then I went home and things really started to click better for me. To me, I just kind of slap down on that bass note and pop the pick back up. Then I do the strum(s).

One thing that helped me was to work on songs in my beginner's songbook that force you to strum and then pick notes. Also, I force myself not to watch my pick hand and I really listen and try to feel that I'm on the right strings. Once you are confident that you are able to pick or hit the right notes, then the rest opens up. On the bass strums that I've been working over I'll use everything from the 3rd string to the 6th string for bass notes and I'll use a fair amout of chords (G, C, E7, D, D7, A7, Am).

The bass runs are going to take a little while for me to get good with. Glad it's getting better for you.

[Fambroski]

Yup, you're learning alright. One step forward, two steps back. Just keep at it. There's no avoiding the time you'll have to put in. I often remind myself of a particular definition of 'common- sense' that I like: when some thing is done so often that it becomes common to the senses. Good luck. It will come.

[BULLSPRIG]

Bluegrass is perhaps one of the most complex and tricky styles to play. So I would look at it with that perspective. You're trying to improve in a sea of talented musicians, most of whom probably have a lot of speed and interchange skill. Bottom line, don't kick yourself. That's a tough group of players to match wits with, I'd imagine. Sort of like an amateur pilot thrown into a F-16 dogfight.