who wants to do a 40 day practice challenge with me?

Days 17-20: Woohoo halfway there! Just normal practices for me except on day 19. I was really struggling with the new section on my new song that night. Totally nailed the new section last night so I'm ready to move on! Been feeling really good over all. These practice challenges really work for me.

Tonight: recording night again. I've been having a hard time deciding what to record. I have two songs in mind but I only feel like recording one so we'll see. I'll post the results!

Seems like we've lost some people along the way though. C'mon check in and tell us your progress guys!

[delb0y]

I kinda hit the wall the last two nights - the progress I thought I'd made turned out to be an illusion. You know...I thought I knew this piece but when I tried to play it at the target pace (which itself is only 75% of the original speed) I was making mistakes and forgetting bits all over. Found my arm tensing up, too. Same thing tonight, too, though I got a little closer to a good take. I was hoping to nail the actual arrangement and give myself time to work on the detail. Alas, I'm starting to think it might take all 40 days just to get the basic playing up to speed.

[usb_chord]

I had some rotator cuff issues that slowed me down not long after my first post in the topic. Now I'm back in action and ready for some consistent practice!

A few days ago I decided to start arranging Carole King's "Too Late" for solo guitar. I'm about 60% complete with it...a few tricky fingerings happening in the chorus to iron out and I also need to figure out a smooth transition back into the verse. Hopefully this weekend I'll get the rest mostly figured out!

[mc1]

i missed a couple of days of practice, due to circumstances, and i feel guilty. i need to make some changes to get the practice i need.

Originally Posted by delb0y

I kinda hit the wall the last two nights - the progress I thought I'd made turned out to be an illusion. You know...I thought I knew this piece but when I tried to play it at the target pace (which itself is only 75% of the original speed) I was making mistakes and forgetting bits all over. Found my arm tensing up, too. Same thing tonight, too, though I got a little closer to a good take. I was hoping to nail the actual arrangement and give myself time to work on the detail. Alas, I'm starting to think it might take all 40 days just to get the basic playing up to speed.

that's kind of to be expected. keep plowing through. i know, easy for me to say.

Originally Posted by usb_chord

I had some rotator cuff issues that slowed me down not long after my first post in the topic. Now I'm back in action and ready for some consistent practice!

A few days ago I decided to start arranging Carole King's "Too Late" for solo guitar. I'm about 60% complete with it...a few tricky fingerings happening in the chorus to iron out and I also need to figure out a smooth transition back into the verse. Hopefully this weekend I'll get the rest mostly figured out!

sounds cool. i find ironing out fingerings to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of arranging.

Nice to see more people checking in! Practice went great tonight. Chose my song and got it recorded. Here's the result: http://soundcloud.com/tripleohdoug/late-morning-blues

[clintj]

I got to work some overtime (Money good! Less practice time bad!) so my practice time is a bit less this week. Making excellent progress on the inside-out and outside-in Travis picking patterns and can switch between them fairly smoothly now. My speed is still not the greatest, but it's coming along too. Trying to coax myself into moving my thumb more forward to clear my index finger which is helping my picking, but still feels a bit awkward when starting out each session. Proud to say I can play about 90% of one of my songs at tempo now, just need to focus on one part and nailing the chord changes more smoothly and I'll have it. I have a feeling getting my new guitar in and playing on lights instead of mediums will help there, too. Less work for my fretting hand on a couple of barre chords that are challenging me. I've progressed more in the last couple of weeks than I did in the last six months before this challenge.

[delb0y]

Day 22: I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I can't play the guitar...

Based on the old saying about an amateur practicing until he gets it right and a pro practicing until he never gets it wrong....well I'm yet to get it right even once in three days of trying.

On the plus side, all these failed recordings are at least highlighting other areas of improvement and I think the bits I do get right are starting to sound better. I was just hoping to have moved onto this focus stage by now. Hey, ho still 18 days left...

[bayoubill]

Where do you and the others here post their recordings? I found soundclick and soundcloud. I like easy without hype. Soundclick is MP3s and Soundcloud is wav.

[Picking Moose]

As far as I know the Soundcloud player internally converts wav to MP3 and it does that in a very bad way. But the file, when downloaded from Soundcloud, is in the original form.

Please correct me if I am wrong

[Picking Moose]

Although in my original post here I stated I didn't need to join this challenge because I already play/practice at least a good couple of hours a day, I must confess that reading through the various posts is actually making me playing even more

Even the recording mood is coming back. Last time I sat down in front of a mic was several months ago.

It is nice to know there are so many committed fellow guitarists out there.
Just remember, specially if you've just started, that progressing on guitar is not a smooth up-going line. You play and practice for days or weeks on end and nothing seems to happen then suddently "bang"! you realise what was difficult yesterday is easy today (or something like that).

Here is the latest recording I mentioned about.. I will also post it in the "Show and Tell" section (I think that is the appropriate one).
Hope you all like it

https://soundcloud.com/pickingmoose/sundays-rain

Originally Posted by mc1

i missed a couple of days of practice, due to circumstances, and i feel guilty. i need to make some changes to get the practice i need.

Cut yourself some slack! Life has it's way of throwing up obstacles like this. Just do what you can when you can. That's what this challenge is all about.

Originally Posted by clintj

I've progressed more in the last couple of weeks than I did in the last six months before this challenge.

Now that is awesome!

Originally Posted by delb0y

Day 22: I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I can't play the guitar...

Based on the old saying about an amateur practicing until he gets it right and a pro practicing until he never gets it wrong....well I'm yet to get it right even once in three days of trying.

You should cut yourself some slack too! I find I am experiencing the same thing. Someday it perfection other days I can't do a thing right. Oh well it's better than sitting in front of the TV!

Originally Posted by bayoubill

Where do you and the others here post their recordings? I found soundclick and soundcloud. I like easy without hype. Soundclick is MP3s and Soundcloud is wav.

I upload WAVs to soundcloud.

Originally Posted by Picking Moose

Although in my original post here I stated I didn't need to join this challenge because I already play/practice at least a good couple of hours a day, I must confess that reading through the various posts is actually making me playing even more

Now that's exactly the feelings I was hoping to promote when I started this thread! Really nice tune by the way!

[mc1]

Originally Posted by delb0y

Day 22: I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I can't play the guitar...

Based on the old saying about an amateur practicing until he gets it right and a pro practicing until he never gets it wrong....well I'm yet to get it right even once in three days of trying.

On the plus side, all these failed recordings are at least highlighting other areas of improvement and I think the bits I do get right are starting to sound better. I was just hoping to have moved onto this focus stage by now. Hey, ho still 18 days left...

i have now played the guitar for 30 years, which is a bit of a misnomer since i often put it down. but i still can't play, at least most of the time. i think you are working hard and that that will pay off. hang in there.
i really think your determination will pay dividends. pay attention to what is good and bad in your playing, and you will improve.

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Cut yourself some slack! Life has it's way of throwing up obstacles like this. Just do what you can when you can. That's what this challenge is all about.
...

hi doug, thank you. it certainly does. things are really busy for me these days, what with spring here, and some work requirements. some of my practices lately have been really rewarding, where i could focus on my shortcomings, both technically and musically. i really enjoyed those practices. surprisingly beneficial. it really proved to me to me that quality practice is better than quantity practice.

however, i still need to practice more. so i have decided to give up the agf for a month or so. i spend a lot of time here, and it's a bit of a habit. i enjoy that habit, but for the moment, i want to focus on the guitar. so i would like to spend that time practicing and recording. i will probably read this thread, so no slacking! i might post here or in show and tell, but i'm concerned i will wander back into the various forums. so i may not.

best thoughts.

[delb0y]

The AGF is great - but it can devour time. I scan read the thread titles, but for the most part the PLAY section is the place to be!

I tried and failed again last night to get a complete recording of Ragtime Annie done. I think I'm pushing too hard. So instead I reverted back to focusing on the areas where attention is needed and I'll let the overall thing take care of its self over the next week.

These areas of focus are on making the single note eighth note lines swing. Trying to hold as many of the notes as long as possible - not easy with eighth notes - to give the tune a more resonant sound. Trying to get good tone (amazing how much difference I can get by just moving the little Tascam around) and the cross-picking sections. Yeah, the cross-picking sections...

This last bit is my real bugbear. I'm so used to not playing DUDU all the time that when playing this style it catches me out, and in cross-picking these old habits are even harder to break. I still find it easier to play two downstrokes when playing, say, the third string followed by the second. It seems counter-intuitive to play an upstroke on the second string when your pick is right there resting on it ready to play a down stroke. I'm no gypsy jazz player, but it is a style I've studied for the last few years, and the gypsy picking right hand technique feels much more sensible to me. Plus I have a book on cross-picking by the great Eric Thompson and he advocates DDU too - saying it gives it more syncopation. However, I've had this discussion on flat-picking sites elsewhere and there's plenty of evidence in the fingers of immense players that DUDU does work and gives songs such as this the swing they need (which is one of my goals).

So a bit of a quandary. I don't think I'm going to fix it now. I think it's a study worth spending years on, not just 40 days. Ultimately I'd like to be able to master both ways of cross-picking and then I could pick and choose based on bounce, swing, syncopation...

Lastly, when listening to my failed recordings I can't believe how slow this version sounds. I'm not being deliberately modest. It rocks along in its own way, but I can't believe that I'm struggling so much at this pace. Just goes to show how good the good guys are!

More later...

Derek

[delb0y]

Today is Day 23 I think. Nothing to add to the previous posting, but I thought I'd better post something to show progress so far. This isn't too bad, but plenty of mistakes in the second half particularly... still a fortnight to go though so I'd like to think I'll improve on this! Comments welcome.

Warty Annie

Kind regards
Derek

[Picking Moose]

Just had a listen to Warty Annie and really enjoyed it.
Your picking reminds me of Doc Watson.

Nice clear recording too