Beatup6string's (formerly called Giskard) learning log

Community Hub Learning Logs
17

I’ve neglected my learning log since my last post. I have kept playing and learning and making steady progress, but didn’t find much time to keep up with the Community or share my progress… my non-guitar life was way busier than usual.

Over the last ~2yrs, I have taken my time with BG3, studied some classical music at another website, ‘jumped ahead’ to IG4, PMT attended as many of the Vintage and Motivation clubs as I could, and have truly learned a lot from @Richard_close2u, @LievenDV.

Justin talks about ‘finding your way’ and deciding what kind of guitarist you want to be. I still don’t know :slight_smile: but this quick tip, as well as the Greensleeves and ‘Flexing Time’ lessons, and the club with Joe Robinson combined with my long-standing fascination with finger style guitar led to a long hiatus from the linear JG journey while I worked on my finger style techniques, revisited old songs, bought a nylon string guitar (a Cordoba Fusion).

A few things helped me much more than I expected they would:

  1. All this year, I have maintained a weekly journal (practice log), writing down what I want to work on, an end of week self-assessment, etc. it’s helped me focus and progress and fine tune as I go.

  2. I wrote down ‘mini practice routines’ for things I want to revisit periodically, on a bunch of flash cards, and ‘pick one from a hat’ every now and then, or when I feel the normal practice routine is getting a bit stale.

  3. Justin’s ear-training and time trainer apps, as well as an old-school ‘physical’ metronome.

  4. Mindful listening

  5. Tapping the heel of my left foot instead of my toes. I’d started off with my foot but stopped due to plantar issues, and when I was able to switch back I noticed the difference it made. Tommy Emmanuel talks about how tapping the heel make our whole body feel the rhythm and improves our timing… it’s certainly true in my case!

I am happy with my non-linear progress, and feel like my technique and playing has improved a lot.

I have recently taken the ‘BLIM plunge’ and hope to come out the other side a better player :). Here’s the pre-BLIM baseline as a reference point:

Me trying to improvise a solo, realizing I don’t really know any licks and am not good at bends, curls and vibrato :slight_smile: and playing the notes that felt right at the time, in a (hopefully) call-and-response vibe.

Revisiting the BG2 beginner blues solo:

Edit: Added point 5 above.

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