Today I started practicing three new combinations: 2134, 2143, 2314 and tried to set the new record for fretboard knowledge. Also I replayed Demons by Imagine Dragons and got interrupted twice during 12-13-14-23-24-34 exercise.
1234 exercise
I wanted to start from 8th notes at 150 bpm but then realized that starting the pattern from the middle finger really makes everything much harder. So I dropped the speed to 110 bpm and played all of them, decent-ish.
2134 on the 5th fret
8th notes at 110 bpm.
2143 on the 5th fret
8th notes at 110 bpm.
2314 on the 5th fret
8th notes at 110 bpm.
12-13-14-23-24-34 on the 5th fret
8th notes at 120 bpm. Got interrupted twice…
Fretboard knowledge
From now on I’ll record every attempt to 100% film the attempt that will be the new record.
Imagine Dragons – Demons
I played this song again in order to relax my right hand more and play loudly. When playing like this another issue occurs – I just miss the E string while doing snares.
Summary
Not much practice today, but it’s a start of the week, so there are more days ahead to implement something new.
What a great week it was! I reached all my goals for it and more importantly – uploaded my first cover in a very long time.
It was much fun to practice and record it, but the downside of cover making is that it took almost all my practicing time. So in order to progress through the course faster I’ll try do do one every month or so. Just to practice something else useful in between.
The goals for this week were:
[Done] Play all six 1234 combinations I managed to get to 300 bpm across the whole neck at the same speed
[Done] Record When I Come Around and make it into a video
[Done] Start implementation of Modules 12-13 routines
My goals for the next week:
Play at least three 1234 combinations starting with 2 at 300 bpm
Increase my ring-pinky endurance and precision in 12-13-14-23-24-34 exercise
Find notes on all strings in fretboard knowledge exercise in less than 1:30
Watch through Module 13 again and start the ear training
As always there is a video with some details.
1234 exercise
1234 on the 1-12 frets – 8th notes at 170 bpm → 16th notes at 90 bpm 1243 on the 1-12 frets – 8th notes at 150 bpm (increasing consistency) 1324 – 8th notes at 150 bpm (on the 5th fret → on the 1-12 frets) 1342 – 8th notes at 150 bpm (on the 5th fret → on the 1-12 frets) 1423 – 8th notes at 150 bpm (on the 5th fret → on the 1-12 frets) 1432 – 8th notes at 150 bpm (on the 5th fret → on the 1-12 frets) 12-13-14-23-24-34 on the 5th fret – 8th notes at 100 bpm → 8th notes at 120 bpm
Strumming
Module 12 pattern – 120 bpm
Songs
Green Day – When I Come Around [Cover] Imagine Dragons – Demons [Thumb snare + Palm muting]
Today I played 1*** finger variations for the last time for now in order to start practicing 2*** ones. Also my fretboard knowledge was checked once again. Besides I implemented palm muting and thumb snares playing Demons by Imagine Dragons.
1234 exercise
I wasn’t in great shape today so I’m gonna use yesterday’s videos for the week summary.
1234 on the 1-12 frets
16th notes at 90 bpm.
1243 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
1324 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
1342 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
1423 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
1432 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
12-13-14-23-24-34 on the 5th fret
8th notes at 120 bpm.
Fretboard knowledge
Finally I got back to this exercise. As before – here is my first attempt. Finished in 1:55.
Off-camera I managed to do it in 1:32 and it was my best attempt yet. Unfortunately I couldn’t repeat that result on camera. So there is my 1:39 attempt.
Imagine Dragons – Demons
I implemented thumb snare in verses and palm muting in pre-choruses. It was fun. Maybe one day I’ll be able to sing along, but at this point my singing is completely awful…
Summary
Finally the cover is done so are 1*** combinations. Tomorrow there will be many new exercises which I’m really excited about.
I finally released my first cover after 7 years of silence on the YouTube channel! Also thus I completed one of the goals for this week, which is great. But I practiced other stuff as well.
1234 exercise
1234 on the 1-12 frets
16th notes at 90 bpm. Tried to increase the speed today. It went quite well. Tomorrow I’ll polish my performance and finalize the week.
1243 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm. Still trying to improve.
1324 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
1342 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
1423 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
1432 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm.
12-13-14-23-24-34 on the 5th fret
8th notes at 120 bpm. Increased the speed. 24 and 34 are the most exhausting ones.
Strumming
Module 12
120 bpm. Final video on this exercise.
When I Come Around
Here is what I spend half day on. It’s not perfect but pretty good. And it was really time to record this cover already. I stuck at practicing this song for too long. Maybe someday I’ll revisit it and make a new version.
Summary
One milestone through there is no time to hesitate. Tomorrow I’ll set some new goals for myself.
Today I finally played 1432 combination across the fretboard and almost fully mastered the bass part for When I Come Around.
1234 exercise
I played the final combination across the neck today – 1432. Hopefully by the end of this week I’ll be able to consider all six of them done to start practicing new ones.
1234 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 170 bpm. Almost perfect this time. Tomorrow I’ll try 16th notes at 90 bpm.
1243 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm. I wasn’t warmed up enough so this attempt was not my best. Will try to improve it tomorrow.
1324 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm. Played it decently.
1342 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm. There were some minor issues but still pretty well played.
1423 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm. Fun to play combination.
1432 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes at 150 bpm. Finally I tried to play it on the whole fretboard. It was much better than my similar attempt to do it a few days ago.
12-13-14-23-24-34 on the 5th fret
8th notes at 110 bpm. The hardest combinations are 24 and 34. They really made my hand feel some muscle pain which is not completely great. Thought I would practice them separately for a few times to get my hand used to them.
Strumming
Module 12 pattern
120 bpm. Repeated this exercise at the same speed to get cleaner sound.
When I Come Around
I played full song for a several times off-camera while the videos I recorder were transferring to my computer in order to free some phone memory and record the last video for today. That’s the result. I played the song along with the original recording at the full speed. My hammer-ons and pull-offs are not perfect, definitely needed more power. But I suppose I just got tired of all the attempts that were made off-camera. Think I’m ready to record the cover.
Summary
Well, the day has come. Tomorrow I’ll start the cover recording.
I hadn’t spared time to play today so eventually I had to practice after midnight. So in this post there will be no comments at all. Only videos. Beside them I played the bass line from When I Come Around for a few times off-camera.
Today I completely repeated yesterday’s routine to make everything sound cleaner and smoother. And I made some progress in all of it.
1234 exercise
Repetition is a key to success. Not sure if anybody said that this way but surely I heard that somewhere. So I continued to play the same combinations at the same speed to increase my skills of playing them consistently.
The same issues apply to all of combinations, so I’ll just write them here not to repeat myself 6 times. The main struggles are:
Playing the E string with my pinky at the upper frets
Going down the neck with moving my thumb down as I go
1234 on the 1-12 frets
Played it at 340 bpm. It’s much cleaner than before. Still a few struggles up the neck and on the way down.
1243 on the 1-12 frets
Practiced it at 300 bpm.
1324 on the 1-12 frets
300 bpm as well.
1342 on the 1-12 frets
Played it at 300 bpm.
1423 on the 1-12 frets
Practiced this combination at the same 300 bpm.
1432 on the 5th fret
Played it pretty decent this time. Tomorrow I’ll try the same speed at the 5th fret again and maybe proceed to playing in across the fretboard. 300 bpm.
12-13-14-23-24-34 on the 5th fret
I changed the approach to this exercise. Now I play each combination for a minute and them switch to the next one. 24 and 34 are the toughest ones for me, need to pay more attention to them.
Strumming
Module 12 pattern
I repeated that pattern at 120 bpm to make the sound cleaner. And despite the fact that I mixed the chords a bit it went great. The second pattern made me make some stupid mistakes without any reason but it’s still okay.
When I Come Around
Today I started the bass practice at the original speed of the song – 98 bpm. It’s not clean, but I suppose it’s cleaner than yesterday.
Yesterday I played along with the original song a few times. Today I wanted to do it again and get it on video but my phone ran out of memory in the middle of the song so it’s not complete. Still not close to perfect – will practice more.
Today I finally added new routines from Module 12 and managed to play the bass part for When I Come Around along with the song at the original speed.
1234 exercise
I continued playing all these combination across the neck in order to improve consistency and reduce the amount of errors.
1234 on the 1-12 frets
I see the progress at 340 bpm. A few more days and it should be possible to play it almost perfectly.
1243 on the 1-12 frets
I still struggled with this variation but surely it went better than yesterday. 300 bpm.
1324 on the 1-12 frets
Improving at 300 bpm.
1342 on the 1-12 frets
To the issue with the one with two same notes being played one after another the second one was added. Now the problem lied in my thumb usage. It stayed in place while moving down the fretboard and then had to make a jump through several frets at once, making it harder for me to maintain the speed and precision at the same time. Need more practice. 300 bpm.
1423 on the 1-12 frets
The same issue with the thumb here. Will practice more to improve my performance. 300 bpm.
1432 on the 5th fret
I took a step back to 5th fret only because yesterday my performance was awful. And it was really smooth today! I was surprised how relaxed I was during the practice of this exercise. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try to play it across the neck again. 300 bpm.
12-13-14-23-24-34 on the 5th fret
I decided to practice all these variations at once. I started at 240 bpm but then reduced the speed to 200 bpm. Maybe I need to choose some of them to practice separately, mostly 34. Tomorrow I’ll do it somehow differently.
Strumming
Module 12 pattern
The time had come to play on the acoustic guitar. I’m not a huge fan – the electric one is preferable for me in most situations, but the snare sound just doesn’t work on the electric guitar – it’s awful there. So here it is. Played at 120 bpm. I won’t increase the speed, instead will work on making the sound cleaner.
When I Come Around
Finally I got this close to recording the final version of the cover. First I practiced the bass line at 70 bpm just to become more consistent with my pinky usage.
Then I played more off-camera to increase the speed to 80 bpm. After that I recorded my attempt to play it at 90 bpm and then at the original 98 bpm. It was quite ok.
Unfortunately at that point my phone ran out of memory again so I didn’t film the last part, but I played along the song a few times to get used to all transitions from intro to verse, from verse to chorus and back to verse. I wasn’t good enough to record something yet, but I’m getting closer to this point!
Summary
Finally got more time and more will to practice than the last few days. I’m excited to finally master the bass line and also to start new routines. Let’s go!
Today I didn’t have much time so I just tried to play every combination I practiced before across the whole fretboard.
1234 exercise
1234 on the 1-12 frets
Played it at 340 bpm as usual. Made fewer mistakes but still far from perfect.
1243 on the 1-12 frets
Today it was better, which is expectable. But still need to practice more. Played it at 30 bpm.
1324 on the 1-12 frets
This combination was the easiest for me except for 1234 itself, but playing it across the fretboard was not simple. But still I managed to play it pretty decently at 300 bpm.
1342 on the 1-12 frets
The first combination where it was easier to slide down the neck and not up. It’s because the note on the middle finger was the same as the note on the index finger while I was going up the frets. Anyway, played it at 300 bpm.
1423 on the 1-12 frets
Pretty fun combination to play. Pulled it off at 300 bpm. Much more needed to be practiced but for the first try it’s okay.
1432 on the 1-12 frets
This combination is a disaster. Will reduce the speed and return to playing it at a single fret. Need more effort to make my muscles work as they should in this exercise. Anyway, there’s the video of me trying to play it at 300 bpm.
Summary
Will have more time to practice tomorrow. I still want to record When I Come Around.
This week I had three goals. Two of them are achieved now. I played 1423 and 1432 combinations at 300 bpm. Not perfectly, it’s still work in progress, but I’m getting there.
The third goal however appeared to be an overkill for me. I wanted to record guitar and bass cover of When I Come Around, but the bass line appeared to be trickier that I thought so in order to play it the way it was played in the original I had to start over a few times.
As soon as I had made some progress I watched another cover or Green Day’s live performance and found out something slightly different but yet crucial and returned back to square one. Nevertheless I manages to learn it the way it should sound so now it’s only a matter of time. Hopefully I will manage to record it the next week.
The goals for the next week are:
Play all six 1234 combinations I managed to get to 300 bpm across the whole neck at the same speed
Record When I Come Around and make it into a video
Start implementation of Modules 12-13 routines
Anyway, here’s the video summary for Week 5.
1234 exercise
1423 on the 5th fret – 200 bpm → 300 bpm 1432 on the 5th fret – 220 bpm → 300 bpm 1243 – 300 bpm (on the 5th fret → on the 1-12 frets) 1234 on the 1-12 frets – 320 bpm → 340 bpm
