Day 19. Tricky transitions

Finally I had some time in the morning to play the guitar. I went through module 7 and took some routines from it. I didn’t touch new strumming patterns because I didn’t quite master patterns from the previous module.

1234 on the 1-12 frets

I started the exercise at 300 bpm. It got better than before. My phone ran out of memory again so I didn’t record the first attempt and repeated 1234s one more time.

1243 on the 5th fret

This time the speed was increased to 240 bpm.

And I repeated the routine in the end of today practice just to improve the results more.

Chord transitions

In module 7 there were two chords added – G and B7. The latter was almost not used by me at all, so these were tricky ones.

A/E transition

Did it at 140 bpm. Not sure if I will practice this transition more – it’s pretty easy to play it.

A/Dm transition

This time the metronome was set to 120 bpm. I decided to mute the strings after each strum to hear if all the strings are played in each chord.

G/D transition

This one was easy. The ring finger serves as the anchor point to rotate other fingers around it. The pace was 120 bpm.

B7/E transition

There is where fun begins… I played this chord literally several times in my life. And the hardest part of it is to place the fingers so that open strings are not muted. So I started at 60 bpm. I wouldn’t say it was too fast, but for now my transitions are not very consistent at that speed.

B7/C transition

Somehow this one was a bit easier for me despite the fact that in terms of fingers movement there is much more going on here. I think that that one song I played which contained B7 chord was with this transition, so I have some kind of muscle memory for it.

Fretboard knowledge

As always, first attempt for today – 1:41.

The best one was in 1:35. And the last one on camera was in 1:42.

Strumming

I continued increasing the speed for module 6 strumming pattern. At first I played it at 110 bpm.

Then I increased the speed to 120 bpm. Will start from this speed tomorrow, because it was not perfect.

Summary

I want to play 1243 on the 5th fret at 300 bpm by the end of the week. So I will be practicing mostly this thing as long as I could in terms of my hand and finger exhaustion.

It’s cool to finally get to the point where I need to practice something from level zero. I’m talking about B7 chord. I was surprised to see it as one of the crucial ones. I saw it maybe in 1 or 2 songs I played. It will be fun to improve my chord transitions speed with this one.

Day 18. Repetition

Today I didn’t have much time to practice so I just repeated every yesterday exercise, some with the metronome speed increased.

1234 on the 1-12 frets

I repeated it at 300 bpm. There were errors but not so many. I missed a string with a pick a few times, messed up timings of my ring and pinky fingers a bit and messed up with transitions between the frets once or twice.

1234 on the 5th fret

I continued to practice different combinations of fingers at the same 220 bpm. It’s quite hard for muscle memory and for the brain to master all combinations at once so I decided to practice them one by one for a few days each to get to the consistent playing at 300 bpm or so.

1243

1324

1342

Chord transitions

I practiced the same transitions as yesterday at the faster speed.

A/E transition

Did it at 120 bpm. Because of the way I play the A chord this transition is easy for me. Tomorrow I’ll increase the speed even more.

A/Dm transition

That’s more tricky, but not impossible, especially at 100 bpm. Tomorrow I’ll increase this value.

Strumming

I started with practicing it a bit more without the metronome, because I did’t quite mastered it yesterday. Then I tried to do it on beat. After several attempts this chord and strumming progression was written to my brain and I managed to do it pretty seamlessly and clean.

This is my last attempt, I recorded it separately to have it in other video.

Fretboard knowledge

Maybe I need to practice more of it every day or maybe it’s really hard to get below 1:30, but I didn’t get closer to it yet. My first attempt was in 1:42.

My best one for today was in 1:38 and the last one I recorder – in 1:41.

Summary

I don’t have much to say today. It was quite an eventful day, so I got only 1 hour or so in the evening to practice. I did nothing new, just repeated the previous day routine. But that’s ok, I think. The best thing is that I find some time to do it. And my consistency with these daily posts is what makes me happy.

Day 17. Proceeding further

I decided to continue doing different 1234 combinations but at the same time look through some following modules to start practicing something more exiting. These 1234s are great but not so enjoying. Not mentioning the fact that my left hand gets tired after 1-2 practices 5 minutes each so I need to do something else. So I watched the 6th module today.

1234 on the 1-12 frets

I spent my time at the same speed – 300 bpm. I need to make this consistent. For now, it’s not like it.

1234 on the 5th fret

I kept the speed to practice all these new combinations more and try to make less errors while playing. It was not very successful so I’ll continue to practice at the same speed for a day or two more. The metronome was set to 220 bpm.

1243

1324

1342

Fretboard knowledge

I somehow deleted the video of my first try of this day, but it was in 1:42.

The last attempt was faster, I managed to finish it in 1:38. Still not the new record but pretty good. All my attempts today was below 1:50 even regarding the fact that I messed up a lot.

Chord transitions

In module 6 there was A and Dm chords presented. So transitions included these two.

A/E transition

That’s a pretty easy one but I decided to start safe at 110 bpm to have some room to proceed to.

A/Dm transition

That’s trickier, so I set the metronome to 90 bpm just to be sure I would make it.

Strumming

A new PDF was given, so first of all I started to learn all new strumming patterns without playing actual chords. I played them line by line and then all together at 100 bpm.

After that I included chords in the equation. As I saw this combination the first time, it was quite tricky at first, and I set the metronome to 80 bpm to play it consistently.

Unfortunately, my phone ran out of memory again so I had to record the final attempts at 80 bpm as well. Surely, I will increase this speed shortly.

Summary

After the answer to my week 2 summary I started to practice being plugged in when it’s possible. And the first thing that I got from it was the fact that after practice I wanted to play more, to do something beyond the routine. So yesterday I started to record The Kids Aren’t Alright by The Offspring. And after a few major problems with my software it all is set up and running, so I’m gonna work on it the next days.

Day 16. Step by step

1234 on 1-12 frets

I returned to practicing this routine on different frets. Last time (it was in the week 1) I did it at 270 bpm. So today I started at 300 bpm. It wasn’t perfect, but it was ok.

1234 on the 5th fret

Other combinations I practice is not enough well-played to do this kind of stuff, so I practice them at 5th fret only for now.

1243

This one is the easiest one of the combinations left, but I want to improve them simultaneously, so the speed was increased to 220 bpm as for the others.

1324

That’s the combination at which my fingers stopped obeying my brain… The first two minutes went pretty decent but then… So many times I stopped because of my fingers mixed up and pressed the strings at the wrong time. Tomorrow I’ll repeat this routine with the same 220 bpm.

1342

Another tricky one. Emotions are pretty the same here. Need more practice. Tomorrow it will be at 220 bpm again.

Fretboard knowledge

Same as always, there is my today’s first attempt. I finished in 1:42.

Unfortunately, I was thinking too much about the record and my goal to beat the 1:30 time and it interfered with my playing which led to me messing this up. So the last try was in 1:52.

Chord transitions

I sped up every transition for a bit and nailed it.

C/D transition

Transitions were made at 110 bpm. The hand started to feel pain, but not much so nothing unusual.

Am/C transition

I increased the speed to 180 bpm. I have no idea why would anyone in any song did so many Am/C transitions at that speed.

E/D transition

I did it at 160 bpm with some errors. Don’t know why this is needed too.

Summary

I decided to stop doing these chord transitions. They are not fun and I am pretty good at them when it doesn’t go to the speed where the transitions start to sound unnecessary fast.

I will practice as many 1234 combinations as I could this week and will proceed further into the course.

Day 15. 1234, 1243, 1324, 1342

Finally I managed to start doing different combinations of 1234s. At first I thought about taking 6 combinations and practicing only them today, but then my fingers started to get tired and I switched to other routines to continue the practice and ended up with 4 variations for today.

1234 on the 5th fret

I definitely need to come up with another name for this part because there are not only 1234s, but some other stuff happening here now.

1234

I started with 1234 at 320 bpm. I failed at that speed yesterday so I kept it to become more consistent at it. But I still ended up making lots of mistakes so I will continue practicing at this pace tomorrow as well.

1243

Before recording the video I tried to play these a few times. It turned out that this combination is quite natural for my fingers so I set up the metronome at 200 bpm right away and considering it was the first time ever to play this combination it went pretty well.

I had the opposite issue with my pinky. At 1234 it flied away form the strings before needed to be placed on the string. Here it stayed on the strings after being played with. I’m gonna be working on that.

1324

Here comes more tricky one. From now on I needed to think more about finger placement order and it led to quite a lot mistakes during the routine. Still first time though so I’m not gonna be very upset about it and just continue to work on my precision tomorrow. Did it at 200 bpm too.

1342

There was some problems with letting my ring and pinky fingers off the strings after being played with. So when I was supposed to play with my middle finger, sometimes the string was muted. So… again, lots of work here to be done 🙂 But still kind of did it at 200 bpm as well.

Fretboard knowledge

You know the drill. First attempt of the day – 1:43.

Last attempt of the day – 1:40.

I managed to set my new record off-camera which was 1:36. I’m getting closer to my goal which is to do it below 1:30.

Chord transitions

Not much to say here. I sped up each pair of chord a bit to face the new challenge.

C/D transition

Nailed it at 100 bpm.

Am/C transition

Did it at 160 bpm.

E/D transition

Practiced at 140 bpm.

Summary

Let’s just say I’m glad to start working on different variations of 1234s for now.

Week 2. Summary

This week I worked mostly at my 1234s technique. I tried to keep my fingers on the strings to keep my pinky from moving too far away from them. Beyond that I watched the 5th module and did some strumming exercises. This is my week 2 summary video.

Fretboard knowledge

All strings at once â€“ 2:26 → 1:44

1234

On the 5th fret (with all my fingers on the strings) – 80 bpm → 240 bpm
On the 5th fret (without paying attention to the fingers) – 300 bpm → 320 bpm

Chord transitions

C/D – 80 bpm → 90 bpm
Am/C – 120 bpm → 140 bpm
E/D – 100 bpm → 120 bpm

Strumming

Whole PDF at once – 80 bpm → 180 bpm

Day 14. Improving everything

It’s the last day of the week so I tried to do my best in everything I practiced this week. How did it go out? Let’s see…

1234 on the 5th fret

I started with 240 bpm again to seal my alternate picking skills. It felt natural and was not hard at all.

After other routines I decided to check if this week somehow changed the way I did 1234s before. So I did the same exercise at 300 bpm to find it out.

I felt no challenge at 300 bpm so then I tried to do it again at 320 bpm. There are a lot of messed up moments in this video, but still I’m sure tomorrow I will do it flawlessly at that speed.

Chord transitions

Last time I practiced these two days ago. Today I tried to increase speed of each of them a little.

C/D transition

Despite the fact that a part of my palm became very tired after the exercise and some chords wasn’t clean enough at the end, I see this as a win and look forward to increase the speed even more. But I really need to do something with my thumb and my palm being too tensed and becoming tired after I intensively play just for a few minutes. I did it at 90 bpm this time.

Am/C transition

It’s the easiest one of all three, so I nailed it easily at 140 bpm.

E/D transition

The D chord didn’t always sound clean, so I will work on this transition more, but despite that I played these transitions at 120 bpm.

Strumming

I missed this one yesterday – it’s so much fun! So I started at 140 bpm again to make sure I can still manage this speed.

Then I started increasing the speed. At first to 160 bpm.

Then even more – to 180 bpm. It was really messed up at the beginning, but I focused and made through the whole sheet 3 times in a row without major mistakes.

Fretboard knowledge

This time my first attempt became my best one yet – 1:44.

And after a few tries I started to think a lot about beating my time and this anxiety was so great that I kept messing up again and again and didn’t manage to beat my record. Anyway, that’s 1:54 attempt.

Summary

These reports increase in size every day and it takes a lot more time to upload all the videos to YouTube. Maybe I need to rethink what I record and how much I record. Anyway, the week was a very busy one. So I’m happy I found time to do these posts every day.

Day 13. 1234 improvement

I literally got no time today, so my practice started at 00:30. I was to do 1234s for a couple of minutes and report this routine but ended up playing for about 40-50 minutes 😀

1234 on the 5th fret

I started with the speed I ended up with the previous day – 200 bpm. It felt way more natural for my left hand than before. To make something different I decided to set the metronome at half a speed I wanted to play at.

Then the speed was increased to 220 bpm.

Then to 240 bpm. Two speed increases per day – wow!

I reached the speed at which it’s almost necessary to use alternate picking. So at the end of the routine I decided to repeat 1234s at the same 240 bpm but using that technique. I didn’t use alternate picking for a while so my attempt turn out quite rough, but I’m sure tomorrow I’ll do this as it was meant to be played.

Fretboard knowledge

As always, I recorded my first attempt. I was 2:16

This time I managed to go under 1:50! 1:49 is now my new personal record. And I got it on camera this time 🙂

Summary

These last few days were very eventful, I didn’t have much time at all. That’s really great that my enthusiasm keeps me doing these posts even after midnight – that’s how I’m positive about doing this challenge!

Day 12. More routines

Chord transitions

I forgot about these routines which are pretty useful. Last time it was Am/E chords transitions and it was very easy. Today the trickier ones come to place.

For now the trickier chord for me to change to it C. It’s about the index finger which become situated too close to the bottom of the fretboard. It’s not as convenient regarding the way I hold the neck while I play. Will ask about it in the week 2 summary.

C/D transition

It appeared to be the hardest one for me, so I gradually went down to 80 bpm and practiced at that speed.

After other exercises I returned to this chord transition and did it once more at 90 bpm.

Am/C transition

It was the easiest one today, because basically you just need to move the ring finger and slide middle one a bit. So here it goes at 120 bpm.

E/D transition

It went quite well, I set the metronome to 100 bpm and did it for a minute as I was supposed to.

Strumming

I started with my previous best speed – 120 bpm.

Then I tried to do what I failed to do yesterday – go through the whole sheet at 140 bpm multiple times in a row without any errors. And I nailed it this time!

1234 on the 5th fret

Again, yesterday I failed at 180 bpm, today I managed to do it the right way.

And then I proceeded to 200 bpm. Should practice more to decrease the number of errors, but it was decent for sure.

Fretboard knowledge

As always I filmed the first attempt, which ended in 2:15.

Then I practiced a few times and got my new record there – 1:52! Unfortunately I didn’t repeat it on camera. This attempt was in 1:55.

Summary

I’m happy with my results today. I’m starting to formulate what I will ask in the week 2 summary to increase my technique and dexterity and some other stuff.

Day 11. Lack of focus

The day was quite eventful and I got tired by the time I had time to play. So today I haven’t proceeded to much, mostly just repeated my yesterday results.

1234 on the 5th fret

I started with 180 bpm like the metronome was set yesterday, but the number of mistakes was huge.

After other routines I tried to repeat this one again and it was a bit better this time.

Strumming

Yesterday I managed to sort of play the whole sheet of strumming PDF at 120 bpm while counting out loud. So for starters I did it again today.

It wasn’t perfectly fine, but I decided to increase the speed to 140 bpm to test myself.

And I started to fail at the second half of the sheet. So after several attempts the decision was made to set the metronome back to 120 bpm.

Fretboard knowledge

I continued to did this a few times every day to increase my speed. As always I recorded my first attempt of the day, then practiced a few times and tried to beat my last record. The first try went quite well – 2:21.

And the goal was achieved, I beat my previous record by 6 seconds. Now it’s 2:07.

Summary

I’m glad that even after so much activities during the day I still wanted to practice. Maybe the enthusiasm wasn’t as great as it was before, but this daily upload thing keeps me tight. Hopefully tomorrow I will practice in the morning when I’m full of energy and will to do it.