Tag: guitar

Day 95. Solo breakthrough

Today I’ve repeated the same routines I did yesterday and found out where my issue with the 2nd bar of the solo was originated.

1234 exercise

4231 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4312 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4321 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

CAGED system

I’m getting better in remembering shapes and switching between them. Not too great though, still need to look up some of them before the recording.

Major chords

Minor chords

Major 7th chords

7th chords

Minor 7th chords

Ear training

I was on an almost perfect streak for the first 100 questions with only 5-6 mistakes. But as soon as Minor 3rd appeared all went south… Also I mixed up some buttons and increased the number of mistakes for Perfect 4th for instance. Need to be more focused to exclude things like this.

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

Today I made a breakthrough. The hardest bar for me was the second one and I thought that it was because of the bar itself. But it appeared that I just hadn’t used alternate picking for the whole bar and had to pick up or down multiple times in a row, which on the higher speeds is pretty much impossible. So I slowed down once again and trained myself to play everything correctly. This bar appeared quite easy so the progress will definitely follow 🙂

Summary

There was a long practice. Nearly 1.5 hours if I’m correct. And it was really fun. Although the next parts of the solo became worse, I’m still really happy with the 2nd bar. There are no more reasons for me to stop increasing the speed, and I’m looking forward to it.

Routines

4231 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min
4312 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min
4321 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

CAGED – Major chords
CAGED – Minor chords
CAGED – Major 7th chords
CAGED – 7th chords
CAGED – Minor 7th chords

Day 94. Memorizing CAGED shapes

Today I repeated everything I’ve practiced yesterday and also returned to Kids by MGMT solo practice.

1234 exercise

4231 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 140 bpm

4312 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 140 bpm

4321 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 140 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

CAGED system

Trying to remember all positions for every chord for now.

Major chords

Minor chords

Major 7th chords

7th chords

Minor 7th chords

Ear training

Got to the level with 7 intervals again!

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

Was trying to practice every bar separately. It went pretty well, but I didn’t have much time to finish the practice, so the whole thing will be played tomorrow.

Summary

The solo is really tricky. Hopefully with the new approach I’ll be able to play in consistently-ish tomorrow.

Routines

4231 – 5th fret – 140 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4312 – 5th fret – 140 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4321 – 5th fret – 140 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

CAGED – Major chords
CAGED – Minor chords
CAGED – Major 7th chords
CAGED – 7th chords
CAGED – Minor 7th chords

Day 93. CAGED system

Today I practices 1234s and scales as usual but also added one more routine on the CAGED system.

1234 exercise

4231 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 130 bpm

4312 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 130 bpm

4321 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 130 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

CAGED system

I just started this routine, so the goal was to play all CAGED progressions throughout the neck for all basic chords.

Major chords

Minor chords

Major 7th chords

7th chords

Minor 7th chords

Ear training

It was pretty hard today, but I managed to get to the level with 7 intervals on the 200th attempt. It means that if I was gonna make a mistake, I’d stop the training there. But fortunately here is the full practice with 400 answers.

Summary

Today I finally started something brand new. I didn’t know about CAGED system at all, and it’ll definitely come in handy in understanding of the chords on the fretboard.

Routines

4231 – 5th fret – 130 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4312 – 5th fret – 130 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4321 – 5th fret – 130 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

CAGED – Major chords
CAGED – Minor chords
CAGED – Major 7th chords
CAGED – 7th chords
CAGED – Minor 7th chords

Day 92. Only 1234s

Today I haven’t got much time to practice, so I just did 1234s to have something to upload.

1234 exercise

4231 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 120 bpm

4312 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 120 bpm

4321 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 120 bpm

Summary

It’s funny how I start playing new combinations and they are completely off, but them I’ll just get used to them and voila!

Routines

4231 – 5th fret – 120 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4312 – 5th fret – 120 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4321 – 5th fret – 120 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min

Day 91. Just chilling

Today I was just chilling and playing the same stuff as yesterday in order to get the videos to my weekly report.

1234 exercise

These are really smooth and easy 🙂

4123 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4132 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4213 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

Scales

Still not legato…

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Strumming

Module 18 pattern [Autumn Leaves]

70 bpm. I managed to play the whole progression without mistakes and the sound was pretty good as well, except for maybe 2-3 chords. So I’ll count it as a win.

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

8th notes @ 160 bpm. After another 20 minutes I managed to play the solo semi-decently 2-3 times, which is horrible. I need to work on the consistency, so I will practice each bar separately and increase the speed of them separately. And only after that I’ll connect them all into one progression.

Ear training

The best attempt yet! 8 intervals in total and under 10 incorrect answers in each.

Summary

Routines

4123 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min
4132 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min
4213 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

Strumming – Autumn Leaves – 70 bpm

Day 90. Solo progress

Today I finally broke through the wall of 160 bpm in playing Kids solo and repeated everything else to increase the consistency.

1234 exercise

I’m completely relaxed now while playing these 🙂

4123 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4132 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4213 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

Scales

Not sure how many more days will it take for me to play the scales decently at this speed. So I have nothing else but more practice.

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Strumming

Module 18 pattern [Autumn Leaves]

70 bpm. The chord transitions are better. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll be able to play it perfectly to proceed to the next routines.

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

8th notes @ 150-160 bpm. Today I finally beat that wall of 160 bpm. It took some time and relearning how to play a few things at slower speeds, but now here it is!

Ear training

Again I couldn’t get to the wanted level. Hopefully this is one time situation and tomorrow I’ll get there once again to reach my goal.

Summary

I’m glad about my solo progress today, but the tooth still hurts, and also I damaged my left hand index finger yesterday… So hopefully tomorrow I’ll be okay and play it better.

Routines

4123 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min
4132 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min
4213 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

Strumming – Autumn Leaves – 70 bpm

Day 89. Toothache and practice

Today I’ve been practicing through the pain after my visit to the dentist. I just repeated everything I did yesterday.

1234 exercise

4123 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4132 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4213 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Strumming

Module 17 pattern [All of Me]

Today I managed to play All of Me perfectly both with open and barre chords, so this is time to leave this song and switch my attention to the next modules.

Open chords

120 bpm

Barre chords

120 bpm

Module 18 pattern [Autumn Leaves]

70 bpm

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

8th notes @ 140-155 bpm. I just couldn’t play decently because of the toothache, so I even got really mad in the end of the video and just stopped playing. But I tried to implement something useful – pulling-off instead of picking in one part where there are 32nd notes in the solo. At the higher speed picking all of them would be literally impossible.

Summary

Toothache got me so hard that at first I thought that I’m gonna skip this day. But fortunately after taking some pills the pain reduced and I managed to maintain my daily practice and upload schedule 🙂

Routines

4123 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min
4132 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min
4213 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 2 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

Strumming – All of Me – Open chords – 120 bpm
Strumming – All of Me – Barre chords – 120 bpm

Strumming – Autumn Leaves – 70 bpm

Day 88. Decent progress

Today I sped up to 160 bpm on Kids solo, got to the final speed of 1234s, played scales a bit better and once again played All of Me and Autumn Leaves.

1234 exercise

4123 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4132 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

4213 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 150 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Strumming

Module 17 pattern [All of Me]

Open chords

120 bpm

Barre chords

120 bpm

Module 18 pattern [Autumn Leaves]

70 bpm

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

8th notes @ 150-160 bpm. Huge leap of speed. Unfortunately I don’t think that these kind of jumps in speed would happen again, because it’s already pretty fast. But this one is really great in comparison to yesterdays 140 bpm. I didn’t manage to play it at 160 bpm clean, and that’s unfortunate, but there was a few pretty close attempts, so I’ll definitely get there tomorrow.

Summary

I’m happy about the progress. Unfortunately my tooth started to hurt, so hopefully I’ll fix this issue tomorrow.

Routines

4123 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4132 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4213 – 5th fret – 150 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

Strumming – All of Me – Open chords – 120 bpm
Strumming – All of Me – Barre chords – 120 bpm

Strumming – Autumn Leaves – 70 bpm

Day 87. Playing solo a bit faster

Today I increased the speed of 1234s as always, played scales much better than yesterday, learned intro to one of the Metallica songs by ear and nailed the Kids solo at 140 bpm.

1234 exercise

4123 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 140 bpm

4132 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 140 bpm

4213 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 140 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Strumming

Module 17 pattern [All of Me]

Open chords

120 bpm

Barre chords

120 bpm

Module 18 pattern [Autumn Leaves]

70 bpm

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

8th notes @ 140 bpm. I just played it a few times at 135 bpm off-camera and then decided that I could play it at 140 bpm as well. After 10 minutes of straight attempts I finally did it. Still a long way ahead though, but I’m sure I’ll get to it eventually.

Metallica – Unforgiven II [Intro]

70 bpm. It’s just a fun riff to play, so I just learned it by ear in a few minutes. The catch is that you need to play everything very precise in order to get a good sound. My performance is not perfect, by I spent a few minutes practicing and maybe later I’ll cover the whole song. Who knows.

Ear training

8 intervals again. I’m starting to think that it’s not a coincidence 😀 The main issue is with Major 2nd and Minor 3rd. I need some way to differ them better.

Summary

Very eventful day and still I leave some time to practice. It’s good that it’s mandatory for me now to play. I mean, I’ve been practicing daily for almost three months now, it’s crazy. And I’m not willing to stop doing it. Let’s go!

Routines

4123 – 5th fret – 140 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4132 – 5th fret – 140 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4213 – 5th fret – 140 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

Strumming – All of Me – Open chords – 120 bpm
Strumming – All of Me – Barre chords – 120 bpm

Strumming – Autumn Leaves – 70 bpm

Day 86. Shitty scales

Today I completely messed up all the scales, but increased the speed of 1234s and the Kids solo.

1234 exercise

4123 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 130 bpm

4132 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 130 bpm

4213 on the 5th fret

8th notes @ 130 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Strumming

Module 17 pattern [All of Me]

Open chords

120 bpm

Barre chords

120 bpm

Module 18 pattern [Autumn Leaves]

80 bpm

Songs

MGMT – Kids

130 bpm. I started increasing the speed. As soon as I play solo at the current speed without pauses I increase in by 2-3 bpm and play further. After the video I managed to increase it even more – to 135 bpm. But at that final speed I still haven’t played the solo yet.

Ear training

Finally. I’m back, baby! 8 intervals. Just hoping that it’s not the only time this week at which I get to this level.

Summary

I have some ups and downs today. But I think that the problem with the scales occurred because of the pick. It was really old and I’ve been using it for years. So I get myself a new one, a thicker one. Tomorrow I’ll be getting used to it.

Routines

4123 – 5th fret – 130 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4132 – 5th fret – 130 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min
4213 – 5th fret – 130 bpm – 8th notes – 3 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes

Strumming – All of Me – Open chords – 120 bpm
Strumming – All of Me – Barre chords – 120 bpm

Strumming – Autumn Leaves – 80 bpm