Guitar Practice Week Six

We're already up to week six.  That 's almost a month and a half.  I didn't have a lesson last week due to surprise Amanda Palmer concert, which I might try to review at some point this week, and this week I had to cancel for Gordon Webster and Rosh Hashana.  Gordon's probably worth it.

So where am I at today, a month and a half into my guitar adventure?  I've got all the natural open major chords down and most of the natural open minor chords.  I'm pretty darn close to getting barre chords down, and I understand their theory.  I've begun my first forays into power chords and single note lines, and those are coming along.  I'm fairly confident with the major scale, though I will continue to work and work and work at it.

More importantly, my ear training is drastically improving.  I'm beginning to reliably hear major seconds and thirds, perfect fourths and fifths, and octaves quite reliably - at least going up.  Going down, I've only gotten major thirds down so far.  The secret: hearing songs that start on that interval in my head.

• Major Second - Do Ray Me, this one is easy.
• Major Third - When the Saints
• Perfect Fourth - Here Comes the Bride, Chariots of Fire
• Perfect Fifth - So Far Away
• Octave - Somewhere Over the Rainbow
• Descending Major Third - If I Were a Bell

Now I just need to add songs to my head for other intervals.  I'm also becoming better at distinguishing between major and minor third, but I still tend to make mistakes with either very high or very low root notes.  I'm going to keep practicing.

I've decided that ear training is the single most important thing I could be working on, so my progress there is really heartening.  I might become a real musician yet.

Side note: I've been pretty much exclusively using my electric guitar at this point.  It looks and feels so much better than the old Epiphone.

No Lesson this Week

Amanda Palmer concert instead.  Two lessons next week though, so hopefully that will make up for it.

It will also give me more time to practice.  I bet I can get "Where is My Mind" totally aced by next Tuesday.  Which means I'll have time to work on other things.  I'm thinking scales, singing, and ear training.

Ear training is going super slowly right now.  I can do it all easily enough from C, but as soon as we take away the anchor note, I'm practically clueless.  I'm going to work on this as my primary project for the week, though, and I'll report back my findings here.

My lesson next Wednesday is focused on ear and voice work, so that will hopefully help.

My other main project: making my strumming very even and clean.  I want it be able to sound exactly the same every measure of the strumming pattern.

Weekend Practice Wrap Up

So Saturday ... I played for six hours.  That's right, six.  The results were palpable.  You could literally palp them.

"Where is My Mind" is like almost working.  The lead part and chord parts are 95% there individually, and I'm about 80% there to stringing them all together.  Since this is by far the most difficult material I've tackled, I think that's pretty good.

This means that my barre chords are coming along.  The F Major shape is no longer a challenge.  Like at all.  And I can hold it much better than before.  I now have the strength to do two or three choruses of "Creep" before having to quit, instead of just one.

Finger exercises are coming together.  By focusing on relaxing, I was able to blast through the first couple finger exercises Tony had given me.  And I've almost aced the G Major scale already, thanks to LOTS of practice.  My technique: learn it one note at a time.  Keeping it simple and mastering the first three notes, then the first four, then the first five, etc., made learning it cleanly far more manageable.

I've almost got the problem chords in "Autumn Leaves" working.  I'll be able to play the chords all the way through at tempo in a week or two if this keeps up. 

I need to watch out for repeated use injuries.  My wrist was fairly sore by the end of the marathon session.  That shouldn't be happening and is not a good thing.  Also, my fingertips were WAY too sore to even touch the guitar on Sunday, though I tried anyway.

I'm excited.  I think I'm on my way to becoming an actual guitarist.

Unfortunately, I need to cancel my lesson on Tuesday due to surprise Amanda Palmer tickets.  I'm okay with this.

I Will Never Be Steve Vai... and That's Okay.

So I Saw Steve Vai Friday Night ...

And boy, what mixed feelings.  It's amazing to watch and be impressed by his technical mastery of his instrument, but it's just not as easy to care.  Some thoughts:

• If you start at eleven, where do you go from there?  Vai's playing lacked the dynamic range to make the virtuosic work exciting.  It was like listening to a Bach piece - the whole thing is so complicated that you never truly realize it's complexity.  Unfortunately, Vai's music lacked the melodic appeal of Bach's music.  As Vai's appeal is essentially as a virtuoso musician, he should be doing everything in his power to emphasize his virtuosity.  This includes playing like a normal person sometimes.
• Keep It Simple, Stupid.  He said a lot, but there were multiple place where even I realized that he could have said practically the same thing in a more concise way, and I think I would have enjoyed it more.
• Keep your playing human - he was at his most interesting when he was singing along to the notes he was playing or when playing simple clear melodies.  The shredding?  Totally not that interesting.
• I have a new found respect for Eddie Van Halen.  His more melodic approach to the same style made for far more memorable guitar work.  Whilst Vai is undoubtedly more technically skilled, it's obvious why Eddie is the one who attained superstardom. 
• Very few musicians have enough ideas to single-handedly carry an entire two hour concert, no matter how proficient they are.  This is why you have supporting musician.  The concert was most interesting when Vai was interacting with the musicians around him.  Unfortunately, these moments were too few.  He has a truly all star backing crew - his failure to utilize them was his undoing.  It's why his instrumental porn grew stale and the Flecktones, Maceo Parker, John Coltrane, etc. remain consistently fresh.

The Number One Thing I Learned:
I can be the amazing musician I want to become without needing to exhaustively master my instrument.  What I do need: A good sense of dynamics, harmony, rhythm, and melody; a moderate technical proficiency; an ear for music; and the ability to play well with others.
I can do those things, possibly with only a few years of diligent study. 
I will never be Steve Vai, but I don't have to be.  Which is great, because I don't really want to be him anyway.

Guitar: Week 2/3

Week two was a bust, due to social and dance commitments.  Week three, however, has been progressing well.  I have been able to practice at least thirty minutes every day.

Most of my work has been centered around practicing chord changes.  I can now strum quarter notes for "Mr. Jones" and "Closing Time" chords at 96 bpm pretty consistently.  My new goal is to begin incorporating strumming patterns, so I can actually sound like the songs.  If I can just improve this slightly more, I'll be where I need to be to play a full song at speed.

The finger drills are more difficult than I would think, but they are progressing nicely.

I have yet to practice my reading or really dig into "Autumn Leaves," but I still have four days to do that, so we'll make it happen.

On a side note, I also want to start working on some surf guitar stuff.  This guitar would just sound so good playing it.

Greatest success - metronoming.  I now barely consider it practicing when I don't have one out.

I'll try and get another post up Sunday or Monday detailing where I am before the lesson.

Guitar Two: Electric Boogaloo!

Or, I Impulse Buy my First Electric Guitar!

Yeah.  Maybe not my best decision, but she was super pretty.  And RED.

Mine is red.  This one is blue.

And it was only $290, with tax.  It came into the office this morning, and I've been basically incapable of focusing since.

In fifteen minutes, I get out of work, and then it's straight to Guitar Center to get the best amp I possibly can for $200.

And then I'm going to play it till my fingers bleed.  Or till my four French Canadian couch surfers get in tonight and drag me out dancing.  Whichever comes first.