[jumpinjeff]

Self diagnosing what is not working will be part of what you learn, not because it is specifically taught but because you will gain hours and hours of experience. Take as much time as you need to be satisfied with an effort. A mental process, for example: Have i been focused and giving me best effort over the last 10 min. You gain more experience the time frame will extend. Try your best to focus on your effort vs. what the results of your efforts are. This is a practice and a mindset. The difficult part of learning a tough instrument is the dopamine rewards are fewer in the beginning when the beginner would benefit from them and in a weird twist come later when your finger tips have connected to your brain. Today I may go weeks without a break through. Dissecting and working and reworking a particular new technique or rhythmic pattern has been my path to success. It is only with the beneficial mental frame that I can suffer/rejoice at the repetition. I am not a gifted player. When I suffer it the interval for improvement is longer than when I rejoice in the repetition understanding that as long as bring the effort the result will take care of itself…and never in the time I thought it should take. : ) One last thought. When I get stuck the solution or desired skill does not get better slowly, it usually happen in less than a minute. Couldn’t do it for weeks and then BAMSAM! I can do it at will. Happy playing…keep us posted on your progress….every one of us has been exactly where you are, we are with you.

[jumpinjeff]

@Loraine : you have come a long way baby. I remember when you first rolled into TAC. Fun times right? Your determination and willingness to do what is necessary to become the player you want to be has been inspirational to me. Thank you Loraine. The path has fewer obstacles when we walk together. It has been my pleasure walking the path with you.

[jumpinjeff]

I have figured I get about 100 hours out of a set of strings without the strings sounding dead.

[jumpinjeff]

Howard hit the nail on the head. I will add this: every time I hit a wall, I was on the verge of a game changing breakthrough. I just had to push beyond where I thought I could go: the 10,000th time vs 10,001st time. I was not used to nor comfortable with the repetition it took initially for me to break through the wall.

[jumpinjeff]

great effort @Fret_Nothing : onward ho!

[jumpinjeff]

Hi Lollyt: I pile on with everybody else. You will advance in your desire area of play faster when you do the Scale/Improv lesson. What is actually happening?… the training of your ear and connecting that knowledge to your fingers. The nutshell here: listening training, Kinesthetic Awareness, mental process of connecting your ears to your fingers, speeding up your ability to instinctively recognize the chord changes and tonality (understanding and differentiating minor and major tonality), amazing opportunity to work rhythm. I find it has overlap value enhancing my speaking communication as well. Of course it is up to you but If getting to your desired destination is a priority this will speed your arrival.

[jumpinjeff]

Your observation is spot on @Bill_Brown . Lotta love in our house. It does seem to flow. Nary a broken dish. Lovely Christmas for us. Hope yours was great too. HNY.

[jumpinjeff]

@albert_d : time to set out a tip jar and tell her you are working too.🤣

[jumpinjeff]

@albert_d that girl looks like she can really play. And her helper looks like he may know a thing or two as well. 😊

[jumpinjeff]

For sure, the awareness is what I needed to calibrate. Then execution. Even better than an even volume is once that evenness is under finger, is punctuating your playing punching tonally aligned notes, or maybe notes in the octave scale is more accurate, and then working the volume to bring in transitions to other parallel places using notes that are pleasantly unexpected. Pleasantly unexpected, Phewwwweeee! That is another universe and we could probable have a 1k thread post about that. (hint, all notes fit within any scale if you know how to get to and from them. shhhhh.) I forgot to add, I use my computer and an old record player. Warning if you use record players of lower quality their speeds do not always produce tones at 440 hz., which is where we tune our guitars….mostly.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by  jumpinjeff.

[jumpinjeff]

Pink wall, shudder…. I will say I have found one correlation to when it bites me: when I have been on a while without logging in it will log me out without kicking me off. That is when it happens. I usually have to lose a brilliant thought never to be found again before I realize I am logged out. I connected psychically and found your message. We are same page.

[jumpinjeff]

I like where @the-old-coach is going with his answer. This is the area where I live. Exploring the nature of lessons. That is the “or what?” part. I have found that even a single note or, two notes a half step apart can make for interest by using rhythmic variation. Sneaking in a triplet somewhere and giving it a place is pretty fun and cool to do. Even ear training can be done by playing exercises with/in harmony as opposed to doubling. There is no end to what can be added or taken away to increase complexity (this also works if reverse: all exercises can be simplified). People are pretty good about posting variations they find useful in the exercise’s comments too. I am going to put in my 2 cents on the final destination of my journey as well. This is tension reduction. I wish it had been my start too but live and learn. There is no end to being more relaxed attacking the strings more precisely to produce greater sonic complexity. This is the land of tone and dynamics. Infinity lives here.

[jumpinjeff]

Nope, nope…too late, I tried….I will just have to show you when you come over. Or was I going to your house?

[jumpinjeff]

See!? and I thought you were going to ask about the 1/4 tones.

[jumpinjeff]

critique in the form of cash. 20.00 okay. I want the CD case signed though. Make the check out to whom? The Fat Unicorn Foundation.

I am impress as all heck. My favorites remain. SWR Rising! It has been a bright spot watching you Julie and Steve make magic, getting ever tighter. I am longing for those 1/4 tones you used to vocalize in the old days. I am all about the 1/4 tones. I used to think the thing that separated genius and mediocrity was a 1/2 step but now I know it is a 1/4 tone.