Skip to main content

Day One Hundred Forty Three (Year Two)

I tried to practice deliberately today.  I was successful, at least for a while, by going back to something I had started to work on last year sometime.  I revisited another one of my abandoned projects, if you will.  The project of note was Clapton's version of "I'm Tore Down."  I had started learning that sometime early on in the life of the blog, and then gotten away from it around the time of the "Stairway" experiment.  In going back tonight, I made sure that I was focused in during the bit of time that I had, so that, even if it wasn't enough for me, I would still get something that felt like progress out of it.

I started with the scale that all of the riffs & licks are based on (C minor pentatonic).  I played through it slowly at first, and then with increasing speed.  I discovered that, having done a little bit of work last year, both the scale and the backing guitar parts felt familiar underneath my fingers more quickly than I had expected them to.

I'm also noticing that when I'm playing, I have to make a conscious effort to ensure that my hands are relaxed.  This, to me, says that I don't trust my knowledge yet.  I do notice, however, that if I can get them to relax, my playing improves, and that I tend to think less and feel the notes more.  Maybe it's a question of being warmed up enough before I dive in.  In all likelihood, it will end up being a combination of the two. 

I didn't spend enough time with the guitar today, in part because I wound down from work in front of the TV.  If I had gotten home and thrown myself into practicing, I would have relaxed and been musically productive.  All I know is that I'm getting somewhere, and of late, the steps seem to be quicker than they have been.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day Two Hundred Six (Year Four)

Today was the first official day of the second half of my "album-in-a-month" challenge. As for today's goals, I wanted to see what I could get done in regards to track order, and get at least a little bit of a start on the lyric writing process. I spent more time working on the track order question than I did on the lyrics today, but as a result of that, I ended up with something that I think will work in terms of order. I did sit with the notebook for a few minutes at the very end of the day, and got a solid starting line of lyric and some other ideas that I hope will be jumping off points for lyrics. What I'm thinking I might do, however, is switch my focus from the lyric writing part of the process directly to the recording part of the process.  That way, if I can get the music recorded and burned onto a CD, I can take the music with me in the car, and listen and try to see what images and thoughts the music brings up.  It's a tactic that has worked for...

Day Two Hundred Ninety Two (Year Five)

Today was the last seminary village cookout of the year. While we were all sitting around the picnic tables eating dinner, I got a chance to talk with a few of the Mrs.'s classmates about guitar related stuff. As it turns out, more than one of them wants to be more proficient on guitar. I'm not saying that this will lead to more teaching opportunities, but I told one of them that I would throw a folder together for them. Essentially, anytime I get a chance to talk shop is a great chance for me to reinforce some of the things I have been focusing on. If nothing else, it gets me thinking ahead to tomorrow's day off and a chance to get into the studio for a decent amount of time.

Day Three Hundred Nine (Year Seven)

Well, it happened.  We came, we saw, and we (sort of) conquered.  I'm not sure how great we played all the way through, but there were definite moments that went really well, and all things considered (from my side anyway), it was an absolute blast and I hope we get to play again for something that's not church related. The set list, as it was, went like this: 1.  I'll Fly Away 2.  From This Valley 3.  Crazy 4.  My Church 5.  Jolene 6.  Long December 7.  You & I 8.  Can't Help Falling In Love 9.  Hey Jude It was an interestingly eclectic group of songs, with more bluegrass and country than I would have expected. It definitely took us a little while to get our feet under us, and on some level I felt like we were just getting warmed up by the time "Hey Jude" ended, but it was a start, and I'll take that any day.