VincentC guitar learning log

Daily Repertoire #010
https://www.tiktok.com/@realvincentc/video/7200353692325907714

I tried to control myself from moving too much and involuntarily tapping my foot :rofl: This is how I actually practice every day. The same old song, standing up/moving around like an idiot (haha), play along with the original track on speaker (it is muted in this case), just really inspiring and motivating =)

If I were to perform at stage probably I would stand up, so I shall slowly refine my showmanship :heart: Have to practice sitting down from time to time, because I usually sit down to perform casually to friends, or just don’t have the strap at the moment.

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Absolutely brilliant, well done Vincent!

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Daily Repertoire #011
https://www.tiktok.com/@realvincentc/video/7201098072774954241?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7170680706766177794

Okay. Now a piece of cloth beneath so my foot stepping does not make noise :joy: The only thing I could do to improve is to move to a better place… the noise was the door opening by neighbour :sob: :sob: And will work hard to improve my socioeconomic position, which in turns motivates and makes me perform better =)

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Daily Repertoire #012
https://www.tiktok.com/@realvincentc/video/7202254092029136130

My stamina dries up at the end… haha. (a lot of retakes thou)
Figure out I need to mentally picture my fingering on the fret board every moment before hand, if my muscle memory is not quite there yet.

Okay will give it another try few days later. And slowly make my performance longer into a full song =)

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Okay. The problem came again :joy: This time I was going through one of my repertoire “Drifting” and I seemed to be hallucinating? Going into wrong section when I complete upon 3rd chorus.

Seems like I need to be paying mindful attention when the songs reaches the end.
*This issue never happen now for the first fingerstyle song I learn (and relearn recently), which is seven years ago. And I think I did face similar issue the first few months after I learn that song.

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Daily Repertoire #013
https://www.tiktok.com/@realvincentc/video/7203332395158883592

I think I did badly this time haha. Read a book talking about customer experience, and figure out starting cool finish strong, and overall good flow (with some peak experience in between huhu) would give the best experience.

Somehow my mind is occupied towards the end, I just keep telling myself “I need to finish this song no matter what :joy:” Still too much thing to sort out both mentally and technically at the same moment, and some good old practices for the muscle memory would definitely help.

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Would want to say when it comes down to endurance, the aim is not to be perfect but to provide the best experience as possible to the audience.

And the ability to make good split second judgement really matters, and I humbly think it is a result of conscious reflections on mistakes while practicing.

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Daily Repertoire #014
https://www.tiktok.com/@realvincentc/video/7205195504467070216

Full “Drifting” performance ^.^ Well I am not as perfect as Andy in time feel and precision but I hope you like it =)
There are minor intonation issue, which could be solved by getting a full custom handmade guitar lol. A very high quality guitar is very inspiring and in turns help in practices and performances, ahem :upside_down_face:

PS. it is raining outside in Singapore :cloud_with_rain:

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Amazing performance Vincent, always impressing.

As for the instrument, you already have a great guitar and I’m sure you can make it sound however you like if you look closer into editing. One thing would be to capture the ambient noise profile and take it down as much as possible without compromising too much sound details (it will always be a compromise).

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That was off the scale impressive, Vincent.

Sounds no different to people like Andy McGee etc though I don’t listen to this style of music often. And my ear is nowhere close to being well enough schooled to pick up the intonation issues you mentioned.

The only minor quibble from me would be your camera position. For most of the video the lower frets and headstock were out of shot. But there was room to rotate the camera slightly to exclude space to the side of the guitar body and bring the rest of the guitar into shot.

That doesn’t change the sound but would be good to see your left hand working its magic.

As for guitar quality, as @RadekSiechowicz said, your guitar sounds great. Eventually you may want to play live (as far as I am concered you are more than good enough in these recordings) then having electronics would help.

A few years ago I went to a workshop presented by a couple of guys who played this style. Both had pickups in their guitars. As I recall one was a mic inside the body and the other was some kind of fancy pickup (not your common or garden piezo) then those dual lines went to a pedal board with a variety of effects and paths, to feed sound to a stereo PA. Sound was incredible.

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Daily Repertoire #015

It was awesome! Got to play Froggy Bottom at local guitar shop. Wonderful experience indeed :sparkling_heart:

On some occasion I could not see the fretboard position well becoz of the lightning (it shines on the marker and I couldnt identify it in time :sweat_smile:) And the dim light surroundings makes me a bit uncomfortable to play, probably just need to get used to it?

It was a one-to-one session, made some mistakes while performing to the spokesperson, nevertheless she seems satisfied with my performance. It felt so different when I play to myself or facing the pc in the bedroom, and getting along with audience is definitely something I need to work on :rofl: :rofl:

Thank you everyone for tuning in =)

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Hi Vincent,
You do special things with that piece of wood and some strings :sunglasses: :clap:
Greetings…

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Ooh, which one? Swee Lee?

Cheers,

Keith

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Yep. Cant believe they actually sell Froggy Bottom and its fabulous :sparkling_heart:

Amazing performance, it turned out great!

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Oh wow - just seen this. I’m so impressed that you’ve learnt Rylynn. That’s super inspiring as it is on my dream list. Could I ask what grade/module you were at when you felt able to start unpicking it. It would be super helpful to get a gauge on what to look forward to. Well done on the daily posts.

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Hi Sound_Bound, and thank you for tuning in! Beware of a very long feedback for you enquiry xD

After you are comfortable with the basic fingerstyle patterns (probably on Grade 4) you can give Rylynn a go. That’s might seems hard for a beginner but it will take time and determination to eventually master any fingerstyle songs. And slowly you will develop the muscle memory you need to conquer other songs as well. The only downside is Rylynn tuning is so odd (ECDGAD, partial capo 5) that you couldnt play other songs you usually want to after you switch to that tuning. (Psst, if you know DADGAD you will realise Rylynn tuning is actually a variation of DADGAD xD)

Personally, I do not follow Justin course like textbook lol. You got to learn whatever you need to be able to play the song well. And a good guitar with you, too. Hope it helps!

PS
You could take a look on my personal guitar experience in detail on my cover song Senbonzakura, I wrote it down on the description. I have tried to learn Rylynn the first few year on a plywood guitar, but without a good guitar/environment it is fruitless. Only able to learn it recently (havent got the time to master it, yet xD) with proper gears and guitar on hand, good environment and most importantly, a good tutorials from Andy himself =)

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Thank you so much for taking the time to give a detailed reply. It’s so helpful to hear how more complex songs map against the course content.

I was expecting perhaps Andy McKee songs to be somewhere in the advanced grades. It was a pleasant surprise to hear Grade 4 /intermediate would line up with picking off some sections of Rylynn. So far, I’ve not experimented beyond EADGBE tuning. (Still got a lot of basics to get right before that.) Maybe Driftwood would be a better starting point as the first dream song.

Being able to see how folks have started on Module 1 and then progressed is seriously motivating.

Btw - years ago I was lucky enough to see Andy McKee play live. Very memorable.

Thanks for sharing the link for Senbonzakura ft. Hatsune Miku. Huh - I’m now realising I’ve heard vocaloid music without realising what it was. That’s super interesting reading about the process behind how you’ve approached this.

I appreciate your generosity! :smile:

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Daily Repertoire #016

Good day! A full performance of Wings~You are the hero!

Have been visiting to local public piano lately and interacting with some amateur pianists. One of the guy reminds me the importance of articulation in music piece and live performance, which I think I am lacking right now (in the performance I shared above, too!)

It got to do with the guitar amplification as well. I brought my guitar over there and realise the sounds is so much quiet compared to a grand piano (on my guess it is 90~100 dB), and it is played in a hall T.T

And actually both control of articulation and guitar amplification have common ground, such that the the strength I play on my guitar when plugged in, can be heard from an amplifier distinctively. (I have plugged into a very big acoustic amplifier before, even a small scratch I did on guitar matters a lot)

Well. Time to dig in the amplification and showmanship =)

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Amplification, articulation and consistency, thereafter bringing out the feelings of groove, are what matters in live performance with crowd, I guess :sob: