who wants to join a friendly 14 day practice challenge?

Originally Posted by creamburmese

Glad to see I'm not the only one struggling with Reaper - I think I need to get my feet wet with something a little more straightforward - it's not like I need the absolute best recording ability - at my level it just needs to be basic.

Zoom H2n? I love mine. Super easy.

[Earwitness]

Almost one week down. I've played quite a lot, trying to finalize these two alternate thumb standards, Skip to My Lou and Freight Train. As said before, I'm trying to improve my right ring finger, especially on quick double notes, and making it wait until after the second thumb strike for synocapations.

One side benefit of my project that I noticed today was that in playing some songs for a class in church today, it has become pretty natural to play a G chord with the ring finger on the 6th string, which let me add some flavoring notes with the index, and to change more smoothly to C chords, and to add the 9 on C with the now-improved left pinky.

So, so far, so good....

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by creamburmese

Does anyone else find that something they just played 5x in a row without problems becomes a mess when that little red recording light is turned on?

Yes, I have same problem. My strategy is to just keep doing it until I get used to it.

With respect to Reaper, a "Quick Start" guide would have been helpful...just something to walk you thru the process once. Their current "Quick Start" guide is just a table of commands. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos, but they all assume more knowledge than I have. I finally figured out a little SOP that I follow, but I don't know how to do anything more fancy that what little I do. This reminds me of when I was first learning Photoshop.

BTW, J-Doug, I like the H2n, too. I just need someone better to play into it.

[Staredge]

I have an H1 I rather like. Surprising how good the recordings I've done (full surf band) have turned out.

Unfortunately, mine also is defective. Got it out to record a bit of my playing, just to see how it really sounded. I kinda suck. Not horribly so. I'll keep working on it, and record a decent version later in the week.....get an idea of how I really sound. I'm fighting some left arm pain/finger numbness. I've been pretty hard on it this week (after not really playing before), and I've had this before. On with the Motrin, and looking up some stretching activities.

[LeftArm]

I always think that the weekend will offer some recording time only to find that finding a quiet half an hour is almost impossible.
Anyway Happy Chinese New Year to you all.

The playing is coming along ok though.

[RedJoker]

I have been practicing difficult (for me) parts of songs for a week or so. When my girlfriend asked me to play her something last night, I struggled to get through a song. Guess I should be sure to keep up the songs I know.

Tonight, I get to pick up my new guitar from its setup but then I have to travel for business the rest of the week. I'll report on my practice tonight but then you won't hear from me for a few days.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by creamburmese

ps I think input on recording would be great! However from my beginner standpoint, most of the discussions on the recording thread and on the web are way over my head. I need the manual titled "how to get started recording simply"

One of the easiest ways to record on to the mac would be to use Garage Band. There are plenty of beginning tutorials for it on YouTube. I use it on all of my lesson recordings along with a Audio-Technia AT2020 USB mic and get fine results. You can also add effects such as reverb to the finished product.

[s2y]

Late to the game. Wish I could participate in the challenge. I have some bike, computer, and perhaps guitar related tendinitis in my left hand and will be taking a break from all of the above for a week to see if it improves. Otherwise, I'll be getting some hydrocortisone shots.

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

One of the easiest ways to record on to the mac would be to use Garage Band. There are plenty of beginning tutorials for it on YouTube. I use it on all of my lesson recordings along with a Audio-Technia AT2020 USB mic and get fine results. You can also add effects such as reverb to the finished product.

As someone who only recently emerged from the ranks of total recording beginner, I agree with Toby. One of GB's strengths is its collection of built-in post-processing tools, like reverb and EQ, that can be manipulated on the fly. You can even up the ante on input slightly by using a stereo USB mic. In my case, I was forced to go in another direction, because my copy of GarageBand kept crashing. It's the only program that has ever crashed on my Mac. That led me to Audacity and then, ultimately, to Reaper.

Day 7: half way there! My wife put my son to bed so I put in a full 2.5+ hours practice and will be able to again tonight. Hesitation Blues was much better. Only took a couple of tries. Still not sure of the root cause or a consistent solution though. That said, I think I just need to let it go and focus on other things like my new song. Speaking of the new song, Shuffle Rag is coming along. Spent 20 minutes solidifying the intro and I watched the next bit. I had already figured it out on my own but I need to work on the "connective tissue" so to speak.

Edit: I'm probably going to record Freight Train tonight.

[Staredge]

I'm taking a day off. Whenever I have my left elbow bent, my fingers start to tingle. I've had it before, when I was playing bass a lot, but not quite this bad. 2nd week of my Coursera classes open up today, so I'll spend some time on those and see how I feel tomorrow.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Edit: I'm probably going to record Freight Train tonight.

Looking forward to that one Doug.

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

Looking forward to that one Doug.

Hope I do a good job then!

[Trevor B.]

Day 7: Upped the tempo to M.M. eighth note = 160 for the whole piece. Went well. Took a break from Manhã de Carnaval this afternoon and worked on 3 new variations for Pachelbel's Canon in D.
On the recording front, I recently acquired Logic Pro X and have done some recording with that DAW but have a lot to learn before I'll be comfortable with the editing functions.
So much to do, so little time.

Day 8: weird practice. Half of the repertoire went flawlessly but the other half? Ick. Lots of false starts, quite a few mistakes, some that I made it past, some that were show stoppers and I had to start the piece again. Sigh. Oh well, with the good comes the bad. At least I got to practice for 3+ hours! On a more postive note I made really good progress on Shuffle Rag tonight. I learned the whole first verse and the only thing that's still kicking my butt is a 5 string spanning lick that I need to practice. Otherwise I'm good to move onto the next verse.

And as threatened I recorded Freight Train: http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...splay.php?f=20