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Been a looooong break. Nice to be back. And nice to see one of these again: FLAWLESS. But yeah, I've had to back down my difficulty. Ah well. If history of the blog proves anything, is that I should improve exponentially fast & even jump above where I left off.

This is the 100% FC take that made it to #2 on the leaderboards, 2000 pts shy of #1.Pretty good for a non-singer =P

Little Wing

So while I can play songs on Hard, it does not mean I can play them well. XD

Let me point out what to listen to in the recording: The recording has its flaws, and I promise that every note is the proper one. But I've also discovered something about my particular guitar, which I've suspected from the beginning - IT HAS HORRIBLE INTONATION.

The thing is perfectly intonated on each Open string and the 12th fret harmonic, but the frets in between? They can definitely get wacky and sharp. See? there were definitely benefits to not having an ear which could hear things in tune. ;)

So if it sounds like I'm playing the wrong notes, it's my guitar. Promise. Listen more for improper note duration, inconsistent volume, jarring transitions and tone, and feeling.

Little Wing is one of the handful of songs I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO LEARN ON GUITAR, so I'm happy to put some time into it.

I've been working on the intro only.I can nail the intro at 100% every few takes, but that is far cry from being able to make it sound good.

So I've humbled myself, while I may be able to play the notes of the songs, my technique still has miles to improve. I can't ye produce the expression and tone I want ...

and hear in my mind ...

and feel ...

I'll get there.

(Keep reminding yourself, you've only been playing for 1 year. Even a Hendrix or Gilmor sucked in their nascent years -- hehe.)

Ha! Might want to attach a recording to this post! Will rectify that :)

Dreams

I've found I can attempt most songs on HARD!!

Wow! What a difference from just a few months ago! For example, I went back and did Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" and just jumped into hard WITHOUT ANY PRACTICE and ... ... got it!

So here's a recording of it - the tone of the picking matches fairly well to the song. Sounds almost listenable. ;)

Ha! Might want to attach a recording to this post! Will rectify that :)

Don't Practice What You're Trying to Learn

I can hear myself getting better in leaps. But I am getting there through unconventional means, probably with the worst advice a teacher could give "Don't practice what you're trying to learn".

It seems I'm pushing through roadblocks by unconscious, indirect means.

XD

I'll be stuck on a change (say, C - F) and put it down, play other songs which have NO C or F chords in them, and when I come back to the other song?

Nail it!

I can't explain how, but I'll take it. :)

The Ear Grows

Ha! the title sounds like a bad B-movie. XD

What I'm referring to is that I had an aural break-through!

I CAN HEAR THE UNDERLYING CHORDS (KEY?)!

When I'm listening to a song, and especially when I'm singing it, I can hear the overall tune. I can hear this certain tone which all the notes in the song float around. Notes which are out-of-tune just don't sound right if they pop in. When I'm singing, it's like I'm humming this overall tone the whole time I'm singing the individual notes. I've heard Chord changes for a while now. I can pick up the chord and hear how the notes fit into it. But this is something larger - this is a tone that even the chords float around. If I change that tone as I hum, then all of the notes of the song shift with it (almost like a transposition on the piano).

Perhaps what I am hearing is the scale that the song is written in, or what I know from piano as the Key Signature.

I'm assuming this is what is meant by Key (Key of C, etc.) Perhaps it is also related to Scale modes (Pentatonic, etc.)

As I progress through my Music Theory work, I'm sure I'll figure out the conceptual meanings. But for now?

I'm happy I can hear it!

The Year in Review

I realized the other day: March 1st marks ONE YEAR. I got the Squier March 1, 2011. So I've been playing officially for ONE YEAR. :D

I feel like I should reflect a little bit on that milestone ...

... a moment of reflection please ...

...

Rather than a lengthy, rambling, post with no references, I'm just going to integrate that reflection into my posts over the next couple of weeks.

WOW.

A YEAR.

O.O

Bored Now

I realized tonight why I was getting frustrated in September and why I slacked off since then -- I WAS BORED. The process of score-whoring turned the learning into a chore. On top of that I was no longer challenging myself to get better AT GUITAR only to get better AT THE GAME.

>_< U

That's never the reason I wanted Rock Band.

I wanted it to LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR.

-----

I found this out the past week as I have been trying to learn a really tricky song: "Burden in My Hand" by Soundgarden. There's no easy rhythm in it; it's a lot of tricky tempos. The chords are wacky, not standard stuff, and the chorus is NOTHING BUT BARRES. No chords. Just a STRAIGHT BARRE. (when I tried to play it through an amp, I found out why - the song is in a crazy made-up tuning: C-G-C-G-C-E)

I've been doing it on Hard so I force myself to work on barre chords, and it was hard and painful and there were many times I wanted to throw my guitar against a wall. But last night, I started to get it, and tonight I understood it, and suddenly it was AMAZING!

I plugged up to the amp, detuned, set up the Distortion to match Soundgarden and played the song --- it was AWESOME! Then I went back and played it in the game again, and I was SO MUCH BETTER! I had that old sense of excitement as I beat my own score.

I have forgotten, playing it to SOUND GOOD makes me better in the game, but more importantly, MAKES IT MORE FUN TO PRACTICE.

I had forgotten: THE GAME IS NOT THE GOAL. THE GAME IS A TOOL TO REACH THE GOAL.

"Come As You Are" bass riff Some hesitant notes land off-beat, but awesome to know I COULD NOT PLAY THIS a year ago

Wrote a chorus I really like; though it'd prob sound SOo much better done by someone who can sing...WARNING: I'm singing :) http://soundcloud.com/sentientsoup/hey-mister-mister

Back to the Grind

I did a solid practice session tonight, which makes three days in a row. It's nice to be back into the old groove of daily practice. I need to retrain my muscles for guitar, so I am really sore after each session. But even though people say that they "lost the muscles", I don't believe that's accurate because, while I am extremely sore after even a simple song, I am able to hold barre chords longer than I ever did previously. It's a strange paradox (but very welcome).

WANT. :D (iOS stomp pedal interface) http://www.ikmultimedia.com/irigstomp/features/

F that!

Playing through "Space Oddity" and something occurred to me: I WASN'T SWEARING AT THE F CHORD!! I got it! I was transitioning into the F shape Barre chord without thinking. Ok, my changes still need work to be really clean, but I got it! :D Time to drill some 1-minute changes :)

Recompense

As often as I have posted since September, that is nearly how often I have practiced. Tonight I did (what used to be) a short practice session. And what happened?

My hand & finger muscles are killing me! (my calluses have lasted; so at least fingertips are doing fine) But both hands ... ... they feel like the first few months of playing.

I suppose this should be expected recompense for my lack of practice.

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