After a few cycles where I was really focused on learning solos, I am now trying to build up my strumming chops. I think I’d always taken my strumming for granted but looking at playing “American Girl” has helped me identify that I probably need to work a bit on strumming speed and endurance, while “Listen to the Music” showed me that getting my left-hand working as a pendulum in constant motion isn’t something I’d ever mastered before. When I self-taught, nobody ever told me that that was valuable, so I always just winged it but I think not getting that basic technique has led to me hitting a limit that I now need to overcome.
To that end, I am continuing to work on American Girl. I’m focused on the sixteenth-note octaves primarily (I think Mike’s part?). I’ve found that once I hit about 100BPM I can maintain the sixteenths but lose the accents that are so important in that song. So, I’m slowing it down and going to build speed back up again.
I also have been looking at some other songs that have a driving rhythm like that. A similar song is “Last Nite” by the Strokes which I picked up. I found it a lot easier than “American Girl” and I think I can probably consider it a campfire song. I also have some others on my list: Should I Stay or Should I Go," “The One I Love,” and “What I Like About You.” These are meant to just get the pulse going and build up some more endurance. Then I’ll start to add complexity with some other rhythm patterns or syncopation. This is really a back to basics things to try to look back at things I might need to un-learn from my self-taught days and establish new habits and muscle memory. I do think the left-hand pendulum is coming along.
I am still working on solos and lead stuff, of course. I have been working on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” recently (the Clapton solo, not Prince’s!) and it’s a real workout in terms of bends. I have also been playing the first solo in “Wish You Were Here.” I like playing more aggressive solos alongside ones that are really about touch and light articulation. It’s a good study in contrasts.
I also continue to chip away at the “Stairway” solo and… it’s frustrating. I feel like I just can’t build up speed. I slow down, play it through, and then ease up the metronome (by 3 bpm a day) but I’m not able to get to full speed. The most I can do is about 83BPM, and even then, I can’t play it cleanly every time. So I slow it down again, and build again, and hit a wall again. I’ve been trying to improve this solo forever, it feels like, and it bugs me that I can’t get past it.
I am still loving my new G&L guitar. I found a guy who will re-wire the pickups back to the S-500 passive treble and bass controls which I am excited about—just waiting for him to get the components ordered and then I’ll hand it over for a couple of days. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye. It’s been pretty much the only guitar I’ve played since I have got it.
I also picked up Dan Erlewine’s book “How To Make Your Guitar Play Great.” I want to learn how to do my own setup and repairs and so I have it in my head now to try to find cheap used guitars, fix them up and set them up, and then donate them to music schools or programs.
