Help!I'maRock!'s winter offseason woodshedding diary - mach II

since my excursion yesterday into other books for bass, i have been looking at other books for guitar. particularly, the Christopher Parkening Method for classical guitar. which i think would be very cool. but i also need to realize that i'm on page 25 of a 400 page book, and maybe i should focus on one thing. especially when it's so comprehensive.

also, one of my students came in with the Guitar Fretboard Workbook last week. so now I have to actually do the damn thing.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
also, one of my students came in with the Guitar Fretboard Workbook last week. so now I have to actually do the damn thing.
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:grin:

If you spread yourself too thin with these book you won't get any of them done. I have students come in with 4 books that they want to work out of at the same time and if you aren't dedicating your life to this then you won't have the time to devote to each one.
 
Mark Wein said:
:grin:

If you spread yourself too thin with these book you won't get any of them done. I have students come in with 4 books that they want to work out of at the same time and if you aren't dedicating your life to this then you won't have the time to devote to each one.
Click to expand...

and that's exactly why i'm not buying any more books for guitar. at least it makes sense for bass.

this student is a cop. desk jockey. needs something to do when there's nothing to do. so i told him to get the Guitar Fretboard Workbook. and he actually did it. so now i have to.

any tips on how to relate it to Foundations?
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
and that's exactly why i'm not buying any more books for guitar. at least it makes sense for bass.

this student is a cop. desk jockey. needs something to do when there's nothing to do. so i told him to get the Guitar Fretboard Workbook. and he actually did it. so now i have to.

any tips on how to relate it to Foundations?
Click to expand...

Not really, other than relating it to the movable chord shapes in the power chord and barre chord sections.

You can also show him that the area of the neck that he is reading in is pattern 3 C Major, too....
 
Mark Wein said:
Not really, other than relating it to the movable chord shapes in the power chord and barre chord sections.

You can also show him that the area of the neck that he is reading in is pattern 3 C Major, too....
Click to expand...

ok, well i'll give him some chord progressions and make him do things like play them in one position, or only use a certain shape, etc.

re: Berklee p. 25

very hard. haven't gotten through it, or even used a metronome on it yet. just taking it one measure at a time. i also don't have a clue on how to pick it. i'll figure it out though.
 
it's a weird thing about chord changes. old habits die hard.

the last measure of this piece ends C F C. easy, no? but what really happens is this

C1 F C2

x x x
1 1 1
0 2 0
2 3 2
x x 3
x 3 x

in moving to the F, my second finger simply doesn't want to move to the A on the 3rd string. if i play just the F triad, or if i put a C in the bass, it's no problem. but with the G in the bass, it just won't go. so now i have to sit here and practice this simple chord change.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
it's a weird thing about chord changes. old habits die hard.

the last measure of this piece ends C F C. easy, no? but what really happens is this

C1 F C2

x x x
1 1 1
0 2 0
2 3 2
x x 3
x 3 x

in moving to the F, my second finger simply doesn't want to move to the A on the 3rd string. if i play just the F triad, or if i put a C in the bass, it's no problem. but with the G in the bass, it just won't go. so now i have to sit here and practice this simple chord change.
Click to expand...

Thats a good one to work on, though.

The chord in the middle is actually called either F/G or G9sus4. It functions as a suspended V chord in the key of C.
 
ok, i can see that.

as for the piece, i can play the entire thing, but it's really sloppy. i think i'm gonna flip back to Mel Bay for a bit for a change of pace.
 
i never did go back to Mel Bay. instead, i stuck here and worked out most out most of the kinks. i'm going to be away all weekend, so i'm kinda excited to come back home and see how well i can play this piece on Sunday night. it's not perfect, but i'm pleased with it.

the one thing this piece really did was help me work on my fingerpicking. it's also showing me how much i really have to work on stretching and warmup exercises. especially on the classical guitar.


lastly, my Amazon order came in today. i had ordered the aforementioned blues and funk bass books, and also a Berklee book titled "The Bass Player's Handbook". it talks about the history of both the electric and double bass, and how to approach each of them. very little to play, but lots of good info. between it and the Guitar Fretboard Workbook, i've got plenty to do this weekend.
 
15 minutes later, and i finished what i needed to do in the GFW. at the bottom of exercise 8 it says to now name the notes on the guitar as you play them. i could probably move on with some more written stuff, but i feel that it's necessary to follow the program.

i started on the Bass Player's Handbook yesterday. it's interesting, though doesn't go into enough detail in certain areas. for instance, there is a chart of standard tuning, tempered tuning, and 12 tone tuning. but he never fully explains the chart. later, he talks about tuning and setting intonation via harmonics and not with a tuner. in fact, he kinda looks down on tuners as devices for the weak. while i understand his reasoning that the ear can be that precise, we also know how imprecise the ear can be, and why we have tuners in the first place. that said, i will try his method of intonation. if only to better understand the instrument.
 
finished the Bass Player's Handbook on the plane. i do not think it was worth the asking price. however, if you should find one for $10, then definitely get it.
 
came home and played page 25 at breakneck speed. there are still a few bugs to work out with it, but overall, i'm happy with it.

Etude #3 on page 26 comes back to 8th notes. and then the picking etudes on the next page combine concepts from both pieces, even though it's really a right hand development thing. the problem i'm having is that now i want to fingerpick everything and i have to slow down. my technique is sloppy and i'm picking faster than i can read. but if i work at it, that'll all come together quickly.
 
still sloppy, though getting better. there's some weird moves in the picking etude page. i don't feel like doing the duet on page 26 yet.
 
i have good news and bad news.

good news: callouses are starting to develop on the fingertips of my right hand.

bad news: i really need to learn how to play bass fingerstyle.

ow.
 
weird development on these two pages of Berklee. i've finished the top line of the Etude duet, and i can do the preparation picking example at the top of the next page. but now i need to complete the harder second line and longer picking etude. just kinda weird how this is coming together.

i did take a step back today and just played for a while. set up the new tremolo pedal on my mini board, and it sounds great. that board is now:

sToneBender -> Korg Tuner -> Double Bunny -> Prisoner -> Valcoder

since that's probably gibberish to most people it means:

fuzz -> tuner -> dirt + boost -> delay -> trem

then again, if you haven't been following along for the past 7 years, this whole thread is probably gibberish. :messedup:
 
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