Tag: acoustic

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.

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.

Summary

I’m getting to my weekly goals. Let’s do it!

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!