Dust in the Wind

[biotechmgr]

Hey all seeking wisdom of experienced hands here.
Been playing steadily over 4 years. Built pretty good rhythm guitar skill, I keep the time in our amateur band.
Started into fingerstyle with DITW a year ago.
Off and on with it, put more into it last 2 weeks.

My issue for discussion I can play it 60 to 70% speed.
Can I get to 100%? I am just average in musical talent and 58 years of age. What are my chances of speeding up, am I limited by age, talent, dexterity...
Beating myself up a bit on this one, love to hear your advice or your journey.

Thanks all!

[Oldguy64]

Originally Posted by biotechmgr

Hey all seeking wisdom of experienced hands here.
Been playing steadily over 4 years. Built pretty good rhythm guitar skill, I keep the time in our amateur band.
Started into fingerstyle with DITW a year ago.
Off and on with it, put more into it last 2 weeks.

My issue for discussion I can play it 60 to 70% speed.
Can I get to 100%? I am just average in musical talent and 58 years of age. What are my chances of speeding up, am I limited by age, talent, dexterity...
Beating myself up a bit on this one, love to hear your advice or your journey.

Thanks all!

Play the song till you can’t get it wrong at half speed.
Then keep playing it and upping your speed.
About the time you hate the song, you’ll be up to speed.

[Tahitijack]

I agree with old guy. Start out slowly until you can comfortably add speed without errors. I'm learning to play piano and my teacher keeps telling me not to worry about tempo. Play it in your style, be a note player not a note reader, you are not a machine, play it as if you are singing it. Michael Buble and Sting might sing the same song differently both would be right.

[retsofekaj]

I also agree, but highly recommend using a metronome if you aren't! When I learned DitW, I was so stuck on how fast it felt that after awhile, I went back and played with the track and I was wayyyyy fast (and sloppy)

The metronome keeps me honest, and helps me see progress.

[biotechmgr]

Originally Posted by retsofekaj

I also agree, but highly recommend using a metronome if you aren't! When I learned DitW, I was so stuck on how fast it felt that after awhile, I went back and played with the track and I was wayyyyy fast (and sloppy)

The metronome keeps me honest, and helps me see progress.

Good idea...I started using Songsterr app which allows me to play along at different speeds in 10% increments.
Thanks

[tbirdman]

I started Travis fingerpicking in Oct with a three month class. I started out at 40 BPM, and gradually move up the speed to about 200 BPM capability with the Travis finger picking using a three line base inside out pattern. I also discovered one day that I did not have to look at my hands when fingerpicking. But key was I moved up slowly as I got better. When I started I joked that I was playing so slow that I was falling asleep. You will develop muscle memory. Going back and playing 100 BPM songs, seem so slow now. I'm 64.

[NormanKliman]

Originally Posted by biotechmgr

Can I get to 100%? I am just average in musical talent and 58 years of age. What are my chances of speeding up, am I limited by age, talent, dexterity...

That’s not a particularly hard one. If you’re sure you’re playing it right (check against the recording and any videos you find), just keep at it and the progress will come.

Originally Posted by Oldguy64

About the time you hate the song, you’ll be up to speed.

[Birchtop]

Originally Posted by retsofekaj

.....When I learned DitW, I was so stuck on how fast it felt that after awhile, I went back and played with the track and I was wayyyyy fast (and sloppy)

The metronome keeps me honest, and helps me see progress.

Man, does that sound familiar.

Good advice.

[zombywoof]

When most of us started out Travis picking or Carter Style was the way we taught ourselves to play. I took more to Travis picking. For me it was songs like Mississippi John Hurt's "Spike Driver Blues" and Dave Van Ronk's "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me." I learned by dropping a needle over and over again on a record. But as other have noted, first I figured out the basic pattern and worried only about playing the notes cleanly. After that I was able to gradually build up the speed as well as get more inventive with melody and harmony lines.

[smic28]

I don't think it is an age problem. I am 57.

Even though I have been playing for many years, I still learn new songs note by note or phrase by phrase, depending on how familiar I am with the passages or patterns involved. That learning process is slow and serial, one step at a time. Once the song is fully learned, the playing process becomes fast and automatic (muscle memory). When you get to that point, you will be able to just "dial in" any speed you want (within reason).

If you are still having to think about what comes next, or perhaps read/interpret music or tab, or pause to move to a new fingering position or chord, then that is probably your bottleneck.

[biotechmgr]

Thanks all

[Glennwillow]

I remember that the guy who wrote "Dust in the Wind" was actually working on learning how to play the Travis pick when he came up with the song. So it's good song to learn the Travis pick on.

Too bad it's so ridiculously high to sing. I did a Show & Tell entry a while back on Dust in the Wind. All these years I had never learned to play it. I learned to play the Travis pick more than 5 decades ago, very much like zombywoof described above in his post, but I finally decided to see if I could sing it. Barely...



- Glenn

[JERZEY]

Originally Posted by biotechmgr

Hey all seeking wisdom of experienced hands here.
Been playing steadily over 4 years. Built pretty good rhythm guitar skill, I keep the time in our amateur band.
Started into fingerstyle with DITW a year ago.
Off and on with it, put more into it last 2 weeks.

My issue for discussion I can play it 60 to 70% speed.
Can I get to 100%? I am just average in musical talent and 58 years of age. What are my chances of speeding up, am I limited by age, talent, dexterity...
Beating myself up a bit on this one, love to hear your advice or your journey.

Thanks all!

I hate this song more then any other song... I have played it so many times...

Download a player like Tux(free) or GTPRO. Get yourself a tab file. Keep inching the speed up.

GuitarNick has a solo fingerstyle arrangement of ditw thats fun to play. Mix it up and keep on chugin you will get there.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by JERZEY

GuitarNick has a solo fingerstyle arrangement of ditw thats fun to play. Mix it up and keep on chugin you will get there.

Good one. I always wanted to play this one, but never found a decent arrangement. Thanks.

[JERZEY]

https://www.guitarnick.com/dust-in-t...uitar-tab.html