Radek’s Learning Log

Short clip with Christmas greeting and few first bars of White Christmas written by Irving Berlin (made really famous by Bing Crosby in 1942).

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Hi Radek,
Nice :sunglasses: but waaaay to short :smiling_face_with_tear:
Greetings,… :santa:

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Thanks Roger, it was intended as short greeting but maybe next season I’ll prepare whole song.

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It was a year full of challenges, hopes and expectations. Also a reality checks. I managed to progress in certain areas but also gave up on certain ambitions, I worked for two years on a song only to realise I won’t be able to play it with this particular arrangement.

I chased way too many songs that were out of my league instead on focusing on quality and precision on what I already know how to play. It also became clear to me that I want to focus solely on fingerstyle, at least for now.

On the technical side I improved quality of my recordings, especially the sound, which makes me happy. But the more I learn the more I understand how much more is still is left to do.

I want my learning to be more structured and organised, with clear goals and milestones. Right now the only measurement of the progress is difficulty of what I’m trying to play. It would be much easier to know which pieces to approach instead of getting stuck in the middle of something because of overestimating my skills.

I want to record way more then I did in this year to overcome with my anxieties and fears. And to enjoy music more rather then trying to force the advancement.

May this year be happier and fuller than the previous one. I wish your dreams come true! :guitar:

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Hi Radek, having some clear thoughts about what you expect from this year is a good start.

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Thank you Andrés. The plan is always some sort of general draft, life circumstances usually get in the way, one can only hope about some of the percentage to be achieved :).

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Radek, loved those little musical Christmas and New Year greetings.

Sounds like positive and constructive reflection which is a great way to set you up to continue the adventure in 2023.

The sound quality and your play in these most recent clips are good, a sign of progress made.

Keep doing what you’re doing.

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Thank you kindly for this encouraging words. I like creating little short clips as they are easier to produce and allow for more frequent posting keeping recording routine alive.

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Fingerstyle Exercise 1

One of the basic fingerstyle exercises I practice daily. It helps me to contain the urge to play fast and forces to pay attention to all notes to sound out properly.

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Efficient and accurate speed is not possible without control. Your exercise is the epitome of control, from which your speed will develop and grow. Just MHO.
:sunglasses:

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Thanks for sharing, Radek. Just an exercise sounds great :grin:

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Thanks Toby. It is a simple one but it can easily go wrong, maintaining steady speed is always a challenge.

Thanks David, melodic exercises are fun and motivating, try to post some more :).

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I have stuck so many times in the middle of song, many of arrangements starts relatively easy and encouraging only to hit with something heavy in the middle. I slowly learning from looking at the tabs which pieces are approachable and which should be saved for later.

There is still a lot of fingerstyle basics to practice which I have tendency to forget. I practice scales using “mi” pattern, play lot of exercises with “pima” but in the songs, especially easy ones, it all can get messed up.

New year and new challenges, the plan here is that along with all other ongoing songs I will attempt to play 12 classical and contemporary popular pieces to improve the mentioned technique and fill gaps in my education.

Challenge no 1, Ode to Joy by Beethoven.

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Looking forward to these Radek, that was well played sir.

Just found a new (for me) Marco exercise combing right hand pattern exercises and chord/melody, with alternating bars. Like your example above good for had synchronisation. So it should benefit the Solo Blues work I am doing but with a different twist genre wise !

1 down 11 to go, off to a good start !

:sunglasses:

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This also happens to me, especially repeating fingers on the same string, even if I’m practicing alternating picking a lot!

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I just had a listen to to your recordings and they are all really enjoyable.
Somethings I relate to from your retrospective on the past year, like the too many songs and the need to be more structured. I also chosed to focus solely on fingerstyle 2 years ago, and I fully understand your choice; then Justin’s approach made me change my mind after a few months, but it’s been way harder than fingerstyle for me.

This is something i firmly believe in. Well being is soo important and makes us better and faster learners by actually slowing down the pace.

I’m very happy I finally found sometime to check your log and find out you’re a fingerstyle enthusiastic as me :blush:

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Thank you Toby :slight_smile:.

Glad that you found something interesting from Marco. Quite recently he started posting content related to electric guitar so there is a hope you will find more interesting exercises or ideas.

Thank you kindly :sweat_smile:.

Good to know that I’m not alone :slight_smile: .

JG is well rounded to suit the needs of majority and touches upon all aspects of the guitar, whether it is acoustic or electric. I don’t have a clear explanation why fingerstyle is more appealing to me, perhaps because of the artists like Sungha Jung, Ulli Bögershausen or Estas Tonne or perhaps because it allows me to play entire complete piece without relying on backing track or additional instruments.

I understood this very late, almost 3 years since I started. I spent hundreds of hours trying to play songs way above my skill level, to skip over few steps at once. This is the journey for the patient (unless someone happens to be born music prodigy) and humble or at least this is how I feel.

I’m also glad that you visited my Log, there is strength and inspiration in the unity :slight_smile:.

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Wow, 3 hours a day with a family, that is super dedicated. I did 2 hours a day during my second year, 3rd year it droppped to 90 then 60. Youve inspired me to push back to 90 (dont want to get too ahead of myself!).

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My kids are not small anymore, both in the elementary school age so this leaves some reasonable time options. I don’t think there is specific amount of time needed to dedicate in order to progress, smart people are getting it faster. For me it is almost always 2,5 - 3h, to do warm up, exercises, scales, work on the new songs and practice learned songs (in rotation).

Recently I had to split my exercises into two groups and rotate them over 2 days. One day it is melodic fingerstyle and the other is just scales. This could be be the answer how to practice smart, not just hard :slight_smile:.

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Fingerstyle Exercise 2

Another fingerstyle exercise with quite a nice melody to keep it from getting boring.

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