Tag: songs

Day 26. Through beginner modules

I watched through modules 9-11 which concluded Part 1 of the course. I will pick songs with I-V-vi-IV and vi-IV-I-V and probably make full cover of them after the two songs I started to play before.

1234 exercise

I decided to change the structure of this part to differentiate all finger combinations and make it easier to look through.

1234 on the 5th fret

Today I used this as a warmup to play other stuff more consistently. The metronome is at 320 bpm.

1234 on the 1-12 frets

Then I played the same 1234 on the whole fretboard at the same 320 bpm.

1243 on the 5th fret

My pinky still got tired after just 2 minutes of playing, will practice more. 300 bpm.

1324 on the 5th fret

It would be better for my performance to take a break after the previous exercise but I started this one without it, so it wasn’t perfect and after a few minutes I started to make mistakes. 300 bpm.

1342 on the 5th fret

Here comes the new combination. Started to increase the speed I did it at a week or so ago – 240 bpm. I really want to get to 300 bpm till the end of the week.

Chord transitions

B7/E transition

I felt really comfortable with B7 today at the same 100 bpm. Tomorrow I’ll increase it even more.

B7/C transition

Again, B7 feels more natural here now. 100 bpm.

Am G/B C G/B transition

Still don’t know why my brain mixes up these three chords and plays C G/B C or Am G/B Am from time to time. Anyway, I almost nailed it at 90 bpm. And the transitions themselves are not the main issue here.

Em D/F# G D/F# transition

As always the shape with my thumb feels easy, so 90 bpm is okay. Using the other shape with the index finder at the E string I managed to do it at 60 bpm today.

Strumming

Module 7 pattern

Last time I haven’t played it perfectly at 100 bpm, so today it was time to nail this speed.

Module 9 pattern

These patterns are not so hard, maybe tomorrow I’ll repeat them at the same 120 bpm all at once.

Let It Be

As in the Am G/B C G/B chord progression, the main issue here was not the chord transitions themselves. Somehow I kept struggling with realizing which chord needs to be played next. Anyway I have been playing it for 5 minutes at the original speed – 143 bpm.

Summary

I want to practice as much as possible by the end of the week to start the new one with new “post-beginner” modules. At the same time it will be great to finally record When I Come Around with the bass part. We’ll see how it goes.

Day 25. Welcome to Paradise

Today I accidentally played the chord progression which sounded very familiar. Turned out it was from Welcome to Paradise by Green Day. So I remembered this song, played and recorded it after all the routines. I messed up two or three times during the song, so I’m gonna practice it more. This is like the first try to compare with in the future.

Here is clean version to hear how messy it sounds now 🙂

1234 on the 1-12 frets

I continue to practice it at the same speed – 320 bpm – and not sure if I’m getting better at it. Maybe I need to warm up before it instead of using this exercise as a warmup.

1234 on the 5th fret

1243

As I mentioned yesterday, I reduced the practice time for this combination to 2 min. Still the same 300 bpm, because it’s not clean at all yet.

1324

Finally this combination is completed and played at 300 bpm. It’s easier for me than 1243. Anyway, tomorrow I’ll start the next one – 1342.

Chord transitions

B7/E transition

I started with the same speed as yesterday – 90 bpm.

And then proceeded to 100 bpm.

B7/C transition

Same chord – same story. 90 bpm at first.

And then at 100 bpm.

Am G/B C G/B transition

Finally I stopped messing up the chord order. Now the Am and C are played exactly when they should. Increased the speed to 80 bpm.

Em D/F# G D/F# transition

Still struggling with the D/F# shape. So I practice both variants – with my thumb on the E string and with my index finger. The former is done at 80 bpm, the latter – hardly at 50 bpm.

Strumming

Module 7 pattern

Today I got to 100 bpm. Not everything went smoothly, but at the end I nailed it.

Fretboard knowledge

Realized that haven’t been practicing this stuff for a few days now, so I just did two attempts in a row on camera and got the time below 1:50 both times. Still worthy 🙂

Summary

I really like that thing with the songs and surely will do full covers (I mean two guitars and a bass) of both of these. Need more time to practice the bass lines, they are pretty fast and tricky. And keeping it up with my daily upload thing gets harder. But I’m having too much fun to stop doing it, so I’ll keep it up for as long as I could!

Day 23. When I Come Around

I watched module 8 and there was that routine – to play When I Come Around power chord progression. I couldn’t resist and decided to make the complete lead guitar cover of this song.

So here is how it worked out.

And that’s the same version but without effects or amplifier itself.

Fun part completed, let’s get back to practice 🙂

1234 on the 1-12 frets

Today was a messy day 1234 wise. I messed up a lot, but routine is routine, so here it is at 320 bpm again.

1234 of the 5th fret

1243

I repeated this combination at 300 bpm again. Again after 1:30 my fingers stopped behaving as they should but to that point everything went pretty well.

1324

Today the metronome was set to 260 bpm and it went very smooth. Already look forward to get it to 300 bpm in 2 days.

Chord transitions

I decided to practice at 120 bpm max. There is no really any need to go above this speed for such a long time, so I better focus on my precision here.

C/D transition

Did it at 120 bpm.

A/E transition

120 bpm here as well.

G/D transition

Again, 120 bpm.

B7/E transition

Increased to 90 bpm today. Definitely need to practice at that speed more.

B7/C transition

The same thing with the speed in this transition – 90 bpm for now, mistakes were made.

Am G/B C G/B transition

I don’t know why, but my brain refused to remember either Am or C was just played, so I ended up repeating C G/B C or Am G/B Am for a few times during the video. I started with 60 bpm.

Em D/F# G D/F# transition

I tried two variations of D/F# fingering. When I was using my thumb to play the F# on the E string, I nailed the 60 bpm transitions completely, as I’d been using my thumb to mute that string for a long time and there’s not anything unusual. Then I tried to play F# with my index finger and everything went really south. After some attempts and practice I managed to kind of play this variation at 40 bpm. Not sure if it’s necessary to train it instead of just using the variation I’m comfortable with.

Strumming

Module 6 pattern

I started at the same 140 bpm I played yesterday.

Then I increased the speed to 160 bpm and it was not hard too. I think that’s the fastest speed I will ever need to play it with so I’ll stop practicing it for now.

Module 7 pattern

Somehow my brain completely forgot how to play it and I basically had to start over and train myself to do it again. After 5-10 minutes off-camera I still wasn’t able to play it even at the same 70 bpm I played it yesterday. But then during the recordings I kind of pulled this off.

After that there was not much hustle to do the same at 80 bpm, so here it is.

Summary

First cover (a messy one, but still) in years done! I’m looking forward to learn the bass part as well and play the song completely. Preferably I will need the drum part. Still don’t know how to download them and is there any way to import the drums into Garage Band.

I decided to practice all the 1234 combinations that got to 300 bpm for 2 minutes instead of 5 just to be able to focus on the new ones more. I’ll do it starting from tomorrow.

My daily routine becomes really time consuming so I need to finish the simple chord transitions routines to free some time. Also I didn’t have time for fretboard knowledge practice today. Absolutely need to include this one in my schedule tomorrow.