2023-09-26
After two and half months of unplanned extra guitar practice time I’m back to regular working hours and reduced practice time. I used this extra guitar time to practice the 12 bar blues variations 3 & 4, the minor pentatonic patterns 3 & 4, and some song and pieces that I’m working on. Good progress with everything.
12 bar blues variations 3 & 4 are getting more fluid. Now I can do them following one of the blues drum patterns of the guitar modeler at 80 b.p.m. Still they’re not as automated and fluid as the basic pattern is. I have to work also on my strumming hand to emphasize some notes.
Minor pentatonic patterns 3 & 4 are much better, Now I can do them with alternate picking at 60 b.p.m. (120 8th notes per minute) of the metronome.
I revisited two songs from my guitar life before Justin Guitar and played them on JGC OM 18. The following Monday I recorded them for the AVOYP section, they were Pueblito viejo (Old Little Town) and Mi Barca (My Boat).
I was planning to get ready for recording the first 18 bars of Asturias, but after realizing that bars 17 to 24 were similar to bars 1 to 8 with a couple of variations, I changed my mind and decided to go for the first 24 bars instead. Changing the pedal note from open second string to open first string for the last 8 bars of those 24, after 16 bars playing the pedal note on the open second string, has been challenging for me.
I’m getting better with the bass notes of Habanera, but not so much with playing the two sixteenth notes after the combined hammer-on and pull-offs specially when the third string is involved. Now that I am doing better with the bass notes I’ll bring the metronome in to work on the timing of the four bars that have those sixteenth notes.
Esperanza (Hope) is getting better. I almost can go through the first section with only a few stumbles on some not yet completely memorized notes. The second section practice is more about maintenance because I still remember how to play it from my in persons lessons. I started working on the third section and I’ve already memorized a couple of bars.
For A Horse With No Name now I can play the two bar rhythm suggested in the songbook doing the two chord changes this song has throughout. My next goal for this song is to be able to play and sing it. For practicing playing and singing I alternate playing a straight eights rhythm with playing once in a while the rhythm suggested in the songbook. As the lyrics fall wherever in the bar, when I practice playing and singing I alternate doing it very slow to work in the phrasing and doing it faster to get into the groove.
La Bamba is progressing slowly and I’m starting to feel more fluid playing a two bar rhythm using only down strums and up strums instead of the two bar combination of strumming and bass line rhythm the songbook suggests. Anyway I’m practicing the suggested rhythm too, but I’m not very fluid with it yet. The rhythm pushing for the chord change from mini F to G is now sounding like the song. I’ve attempted to play and sing, but until I have the rhythm more automated, playing and singing won’t work very well (nothing to do with the Spanish because Spanish is my first language).
I’m still in the research and preparation phase for a song that mixes English and French that I want to revisit. I would like to play it for a future OM participation. I’m first giving it a try to a couple of arrangements until I find which one I want to commit to practice. I’m working on another song that is fully in French. Chord changes and rhythm are not an issue for this one, but syncing the playing and the singing is not coming easy. To improve on that I’m doing the exercise of playing and singing slow so I I can relate each beat to the right syllable. Now that I think about it, I should also do the muted strings and singing exercise with this one.
I’ve recorded now two riffs of the lessons of Justin Guitar, Peter Gunn Theme and Seven Nation Army, and I’ve started working on Sunshine Of Your Love. Even with some guitar skills already learnt, every new riff that I tackle require some time to get fluid with it. They are an excellent exercise and in top of that I can play something that can be identified as part of a specific song (in some way as the song); that’s a double win. I’m waiting to have recorded about three minutes of riffs to post a compilation in the AVYOP in a consolidation topic.
I’ve continued revisiting some practice melodies from the Hal Leonard method I have. I’ve recorded Spanish Theme and World Beat. The finger picking of Ode To Joy is ready for recording with the acoustic, but my C to F chord change with the electric for the accompaniment needs improvement. Gradually I feel more comfortable using the looper to add an extra layer of sound and be able to finger pick the melody and accompany myself.
I expect that by the end of October I’ll be switching my practice routine from Stage 9 of Beginner Guitar Course [Classic] to full consolidation mode.