Last week I closed almost every exercise goal in order to have some time to play When I Come Around this week. The rest routines are mostly 1234 variations, and today I added one of them to the list – 1423.
1234 exercise
1423 on the 5th fret
I started with the new combination at 200 bpm.
After the pressure control exercise I realized that I could play this combination at 240 bpm with no struggle. So I played it at 240 bpm.
1342 on the 5th fret
Repeated this one at 300 bpm.
1324 on the 5th fret
Played this combination at 300 bpm again.
1243 on the 5th fret
Tried to reduce the pressure while playing at 300 bpm. Not quite succeeded in it unfortunately, but still it was ok.
Pressure control
The goal of this exercise was to start playing with the fingers laying on the strings without pressing them down and gradually increase the pressure to find the sweet spot where it doesn’t need much but the notes are still being played.
I confronted an issue here. My left and right hand always seem to play with the same tension. If I start playing louder with a pick my left hand automatically starts to press the strings more and vice versa. Not sure what to do with this yet.
Played it at 240 bpm.
Summary
I practiced When I Come Around for an hour I think. The guitar part is ready to be played and recorded, but the bass part is not quite as playable yet. I decided to lower the bass position so I released the strap a lot and it feels like I need to start over and get used to how it is played on one more time. Above that I want to play the bass part completely as it supposed to be played, and in order to do it I need more pull-offs and hammer-ons practice. Well, I have the whole week for that 🙂
