I didn’t manage to keep a daily Diary, strumming practice has been absorbing a lot of my energy lately, but this doesn’t mean I neglected practicing Dee on the Classical Guitar. I think I’ve been a bit creative in varying the practice sessions in order to make the due countless repetitions a bit less boring so that to make each day different. Here are the “learning strategies” I applied, as they come to my mind :
one day I worked with a timer and methodically spend 2 focussed minutes on each bar+the change to the next bar, stopping on beat 1; often I repeated the practice on the same passage for 2*X times, then moved to the next one, taking a few short breaks now and then, up to bar 21. I did this for 45 minutes at the end of which I was so happy with myself that I treated myself with a cup of thick hot chocolate:)
another day I did something really fun: I listened to Justin’s playing for just one or a couple of phrases, stopped the recording and tried to imitate it and get as much close as I could to the original recording, then listen back, compare, try again, move on to the next phrase and do the same procedure
you’ll be glad to read that on same days I also practiced the way I guess we’re supposed to: nice and slow, aiming for clean notes and more clarity; timing surely sucked, I just tried not to rush the changes but being relaxed and be as much accurate as I was able to (not enough lol).
one Sunday morning, I needed to be quiet because my husband was still sleeping, I practiced only the fretting hand, without using the right one, just focusing on smooth slow movements, making the hammer-ons strong, while singing it slowly and keeping time in my head, without the concrete sound. I enjoyed this kind of practice too.
Ooops…not to say about the following bars…those hammer-ons and flick-offs are so challenging! I recorded only up to bar 21, like in the former video…because from that point on I really lose control…I will have to
practice more
aim for less
I knew this was too much for me, but so far it gave me a real sense of achievement, it was good practice…now it starts giving me a real sense of frustration.
I’m going to learn the last couple of phrases and see if I’ll be able to make it fall into place or just be content because this was great practice for me to gradually achieve more control over my fingers.
I’m ready to restart working on this with renewed focus
I’ll update here daily or almost so that it keeps me accounted, on track and motivatited. The challenge is big so reflecting on my practice will be super helpful.
and zoomed on Justin’s fretting hand, listened and observed several times. Then I tried to do the same (the slow one only) and I have 2 observations:
it’s a good idea for me to put down the two fingers together (not sure how correct it is but makes things a bit easier) and I can work on it “as if it were a chord change”
I need to control the direction of my fingers for the flick-offs to prevent them to sound so clumsy and loud as they presently sound.
I’m working with a 2 minutes timer on the single elements of bar 22
G String
first hammer-on: I can make it strong
hammer-on+first flick-off: it doesn’t sound terrible
second flick-off: exploring it on its own trying to observe what makes me produce the right sound, not too soft, not too loud…but I’m not able to tell yet…I can produce it though.
Changes between the strings
at the end of the 2 minutes I realised the wrist was hurting and I had to correct the angle and repeated for another 2 minutes - I tapped my foot on the beat and used i and p on the right hand as it should be (a quick check on the clip confirmed my angle was wrong).
This really is solid commitment Silvia!
Your self analysis and note taking is so advanced, as well as the level of concentration to put into your practice. It shows too with your playing and how you’re progressing.
I love to read through your notes but I’m still at a loss as how to do anything that comes close. It’s amazing
Thanks so much Jason and Jasmine @Ontime@Avalon426 for your encouringing words and Lisa too for your support! I was panicking a bit about this…but now I’m right back on track!
It’s about going slow enough so that you can observe yourself, I’m sure Justin mentions this in one of his lessons. Like ridiculously slow.
This is what I was missing lately, because I was feeling overwhelmed…but a little break and some reflection and I now feel I regained the right focus!
I set a 15 minutes timer with the explicit goal to avoid overdoing…overdoing is bad! I was guilty of it and I can say it’s really really bad for learning!
I thought I would just explore bar 22 freely and first of all I checked the position of the arm, wrist, hand and fingers.
The principle I have to follow to make decent flick-off I was soon able to explicit: the movement of my finger needs to be delicate. I was happy with the sound of most my flick-offs, some were too quiet and only a few were too loud.
I also spent a couple of minutes to change between the strings landing on the open D; I bothered about timing only for this exercise.
I was focussed, it’s been good practice
I’ll be back here tomorrow.
I played my Beginner Carcassi Waltz to warm up my fingers and then I set a 15 minutes timer. I zoomed again on Justin’s hand to observe it.
I practiced the flicks-off with ring finger on the 4th fret and then the flick-offs on the second fret in isolation.
A few observations:
I need to be always aware to put down the fingers in a way that the wrist is positioned correctly and can support the fingers’ work: without a good position of the whole hand the flick-offs with ring finger are impossible.
the fingers need to be well alligned on the frets so that the wrist doesn’t bend too much, ideally it shouldn’t bend at all I guess, but just a tiny little bit maybe it won’t be the end of the world.
Use a 5 minutes timer for each of the following exercises:
changing between strings
flick-offs on the 2nd fret
flick-offs on the 4th fret
slowly play the all sequence
I need to:
check and make sure of the position of the wrist and fingers at each exercise
get up and have a very short break at the end of each exercise (take a breath in the balcony, a glass of water, neck and shoulders exercises to contrast tension…)
Today I practiced exactly as I planned yesterday and it went well; it’ll be worth tomorrow to repeat the same exercises + 1.
In fact I added a 10 minutes to revisit bars 1-21: I went slow, doing a silent counting and tapping my foot…because they both make me feel more in control, and I much need this kind of feeling.
I’m happy to say I felt more in control over my flick-offs as well.
+1 = positioning correctly the hand after the harmonics on bar 21 (12th fret) so that this sequence of flick-offs on bar 22 becomes easier; this means a steady thumb behind the neck right were the third fret is and a good angle of the wrist.
Today’s practice went reasonably well. I feel I don’t need to practice the flick-offs on their own anymore; I feel ready to practice the whole sequence from the harmonics on the 12th fret to the open D…BUT …it seems a good idea to develop to it like this:
5mins for changing from the harmonics to a good positioned steady thumb and index finger on the g string/2nd fret (keep in mind ring finger needs to be ready to hammer-on)
5mins repeating the previous and add the changing between the strings
5mins repeating the previous and add all the notes, the hammer-ons and all the flick-offs.
THE COUNTING/TAPPING is crucial: it gives me all the time I need to position the thumb steadily behind the neck without panicking! And it keeps bar 22 1e+a2tri-plet3trip-let1 really nicely consistent.
A few notes between an item of practice and the next one…
uh the sound of the harmonics is so sweet!!!
hey…I’m being really consistent with my timing…and the change feels steady…
yes yes… I made it to keep everything nicely in time with a decent quality of most my flick-offs…YAY!!!
It’ll be worth to repeat this same sequence of exercises on Monday…further considerations on how to progress and new exercises will come along the way.
Finally it’s the weekend…and it’s wise to have 2 days break. The progress is ridiculously slow but steady
Harmonics are amazing. Its cool all the uses of them too. I was suprised when I found out that a lot of metal guys use them within their riffs and solos but super fast giving unique sounds and tones. While I can do then slowly at my stage I can only listen for them in speed metal and not replicate that style.
They are indeed! I can’t tell about Metal, I observe them in Classical Guitar and it’s like they bring magic into a piece! These natural harmonics seem the easiest to play and so satisfying!
5mins for changing from the harmonics to a good positioned steady thumb and index finger on the g string/2nd fret (keep in mind ring finger needs to be ready to hammer-on)
5mins repeating the previous and add the changing between the strings
5mins repeating the previous and add all the notes, the hammer-ons and all the flick-offs.
I added 5 mins to work on bar 22 without the harmonics: I need to build speed, it’s not easy; I thought my good friend the metronome will help; I tried and 55 bpm seems a good starting point, but I wll see tomorrow, maybe it’ll be 50bpm.
There’s was no time for Dee yesterday. Today I have more spare time and I’m going to practice until I feel my focus will be good enough.
I need to recap and I’ll write down my items of practice one at the time while going.
warm up: 10 mins (waltz and melody by ear)
bars 1-21 slowly and as much accurate as I’m able to : 5mins (I felt it was quite good apart from two chord changes that need refinement …now!)
chord change 1: 5 mins (mmm, I can do accurately if I do it slow but the piece requires it to be faster, I will add 5 mins of this everyday till death do us part so that adding down those 2 fingers becomes gradually effortless)
chord change 2: 5mins (this one is way easier, a bit of a jump but just a matter of taking the measures and it’s easily fixed)
bar 22 free exploring: 5 mins (I almost immediately adjusted the wrist angle and the quality of the flick-offs didn’t seem too bad
bar 22 with metronome (my dear friend, why do you sometimes turn out to be just a panic inducer? The quality of flick-offs was really bad at the beginning - I stopped the metronome, had a word with him, telling him I wouldn’t get overwhelmed by panic and when I restarted I tried to do less repetitions and let the wicked little thing click without following, trying to better channel my focus at each repetition; less is more, it worked, I slowly got more in control - this needs to be practiced over and over “till death do us part” - 50bpm is a good starting point.
That’s it for today, it was good practice and now I will treat myself with another melody by ear 10minutes, one melody that I’m really nailing
Your metronome and mine must run with the same crowd of people. It think they are a bad influence. We will get them turned around.
Some of the chord shapes in this song are just so hard.
So amazing. I am still hitting it once and a while, not as regular as you are tho, and I have not gotten near as far as you have gotten through on this one. I am good until bar 6 or 7 maybe.
Well Jason…this is already something to be proud of! This song is Grade 6! And it’s absolutely not easy; it is approchable nonetheless, if you break it down and progress gradually.
I’m determined to learn it, which doesn’t mean I will be able to play it properly soon, I decided to tackle it for the learning opportunities relatively to my journey - we’re different, our journeys are different and it’s totally fine that our goals with it are different. I will find a moment to write down and share what my goals are, the real whys I decided to learn it.
BUT…big BUT…consistency does help.
Thanks for keeping me good company while I’m learning it
I managed to find 15minutes for Dee after dinner. The warm up has consisted in the dishes washing, which by the way made my callouses so softer and flick-offs way easier
I worked with the metronome on bar 22 only, stopping it anytime I saw something needed to be adjusted. I started with 50 bpm but soon raised to 55 which turned out to be more comfortable. Far from being accurate, I didn’t do too bad either and something tells me I’ll do better tomorrow
Thank you again for sharing your progress and journey with this Silvia!
You’re so disciplined with it, even the taking breaks, practicing exactly what you planned to AND the practice time that you plan.
I practice in 5 minute blocks, setting a timer, but I often go ‘just another 5 minutes…’ and use up all my practice time on one or two things I’ll work on that.
I agree, harmonics are amazing
I love that you and Jason @Ontime are learning this at the same time too.
ADD A 5MINS BAR 21TO BAR 22 CHANGE
since were talking about it.
I’ll work on that.