[jumpinjeff]

Hang it there @JoeT . It gets better. Vent away. Then go back to playing. Let’s talk about that Bm7 chord eh?

[jumpinjeff]

Too late @Mrfredsporty you are already a player. After you get that down you may be a player with a bigger bag of tricks, but a player? you already are. Onward strum pick or percuss.

[jumpinjeff]

Hi @OhWowMan , you got me with two concepts: Frustrated and not digging right now. I have been there. If we could figure out what is at the root of those two things we could get you back on your way to success at every turn. Any Ideas?

I am a flat picker myself but I have to acknowledge the benefit of doing the finger picking exercises. It develops kinesthetic awareness in a way that only “flatpicking” does not. I was having problems with bass note accuracy at one point. My fix was found in a finger picking exercise. The down stroke of the pick and the down stroke of the thumb are at its core very similar.

[jumpinjeff]

The search is as much fun as the settling on which that you like. Whatever you do don’t try santa cruz strings. There is something in them that is addictive and they are 3x more expensive than other strings. Consider yourself warned. 😄

[jumpinjeff]

First and foremost belated CCDCFE sweet @JulieI . Second, you guys making me smile 😃, Who’s on first. I Dunno…..third. What?…you guessed it,….Second.

[jumpinjeff]

Hi @elisabethajgmail-com Shoulders wrong load. Posture with a neutral, slight curve lower spine, neck tall, shoulders down. The idea here is getting used to feeling your load distribution evenly on your collarbones and scapula. By keeping the shoulders down you give the most free range of motion for your upper arm bone (humerus) to rotate. Imagine your arms spanning out equally from your body while you play, right arm rotates inwardly while the left rotates outwardly. Practice holding your guitar and finding this balance place as if you were going to fly (without playing the guitar, just holding). Lastly the neutral position of balance between collar bones and scapula is super hard to achieve if you are looking at your hands. That little bit will shift you balance point toward you back and put extra stress on your trapezius.You may also find this may cause some neck pain that may eventually make its way into your rotator cuff (shoulder) Stretching can help with this a gentle long stretch, stretching the head side to side keeping the shoulders low as you do.

[jumpinjeff]

@bugmeist : We worked the last week on of last month on the Bass Walk Challenge. If you have not had a chance to go through it yet, I loved it. Many many good nuggets in there. You can find it in the “Challenge” section of “Skills Courses”. I have two of the warm ups in my favorites: Ring Finger roll and Strong Pairs. I am still challenged by Ring Finger Roll and find it an exceptional finger strength builder and visit it regularly. Not sure about the rest. @Carol-3M-Stillhand is right though, today is the best day for today’s lesson. Put focused energy into that and you will be rewarded. You didn’t miss anything. It all comes round the horn again. Sorta like a scale, where does it start and stop?…just depends on what you want to call it. Just a big circle.

[jumpinjeff]

Hi Mark,

Speaking directly to your learning strategy: I like it. Play fast, play loud, play softly, play slowly. The biggest consideration in all of this…keep the tension to a minimum. Let the fingers fly, let them dance just make sure they are tension free. What I really liked about your strategy is that you found it to be fun. Winning big right there. Fun Fuels Progress. Whoa that sounds like a thing. Wonder who said that? If at some point your improvement curve starts to uncomfortably flatten, time for evaluation. I am impressed you have 15 songs in the hopper. You one of those good memory guys?😄

[jumpinjeff]

I know exactly what you are saying @Guy_H . When I play I am always subtly adjusting the guitars position to achieve that balance. When I started I held it in this rigid static position moving myself around the guitar. The gave my some problems, common based on what we share here, neck and shoulder pain, yada yada yada, and then I realized it was so much easier to shift the guitar (and i am talking pretty darn minor shifts) in order to keep that balance. It is one of the things I take time to be aware of while drilling and working out tension….am I balanced in that sweet spot giving me the best chance at that holy grail state: effortless playing.

[jumpinjeff]

Truly I have forgotten which part that was.

[jumpinjeff]

All of the 5 Day Challenges. As far as I can remember it does. But I forget to take out the garbage.

[jumpinjeff]

@Mrfredsporty : I was working on something this morning and realized there is another technique that I use (reflexively now). Palm muting. Or for me it is done with the outside, pinky side, of my right hand. I will do this mostly to quiet the bass strings but works for all.

[jumpinjeff]

Good Morning @Cadgirl , all the challenges can also be accessed through the “Skills Courses” in the menu. There is a lot of stuff in there so I sort them by searching “Challenge” and they all come up in one list.

[jumpinjeff]

☁🧘‍♂️☁

[jumpinjeff]

Just make sure you don’t forget your guitar. : ) Say,… are meals included?