Tag: strumming

Day 117. Polishing CAGED shapes

My routines remain the same, I just repeated them all again to improve.

1234 exercise

1234 on the 1-12 frets

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

CAGED system

Major chords

60 bpm

Minor chords

60 bpm

Major 7th chords

60 bpm

7th chords

60 bpm

Minor 7th chords

60 bpm

Strumming

Module 19 pattern

All of Me in D

120 bpm

Autumn Leaves in Gm

70 bpm

Ear training

Intervals

8 intervals

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

8th notes @ 180 bpm. Still failing to play it, decided to skip this one today.

Routines

1234 – 1-12 frets – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 4 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 8 min
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 3 min

CAGED – Major chords – 60 bpm – 4 min
CAGED – Minor chords – 60 bpm – 4 min
CAGED – Major 7th chords – 60 bpm – 4 min
CAGED – 7th chords – 60 bpm – 4 min
CAGED – Minor 7th chords – 60 bpm – 6 min

Ear training – Intervals – 8 intervals – 10 min

MGMT – Kids [Solo] – 8th notes – 180 bpm – 3 min

Strumming – All of Me in D – 120 bpm – 2 min
Strumming – Autumn Leaves in Gm – 70 bpm – 4 min

Total – 56 min

Day 116. Skipping scales

Today my playing of the single notes was not ok. So after trying a bit I decided to almost skip these parts of the routine.

1234 exercise

1234 on the 1-12 frets

16th notes @ 90 bpm

CAGED system

Major chords

60 bpm

Minor chords

60 bpm

Major 7th chords

60 bpm

7th chords

60 bpm

Minor 7th chords

60 bpm

Strumming

Module 19 pattern

All of Me in D

120 bpm

Autumn Leaves in Gm

70 bpm

Ear training

Intervals

8 intervals

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

16th notes @ 90 bpm. I tried to play it but didn’t feel like it so just skipped this one for today.

Routines

1234 – 1-12 frets – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 4 min

CAGED – Major chords – 60 bpm – 4 min
CAGED – Minor chords – 60 bpm – 3 min
CAGED – Major 7th chords – 60 bpm – 6 min
CAGED – 7th chords – 60 bpm – 5 min
CAGED – Minor 7th chords – 60 bpm – 9 min

Ear training – Intervals – 8 intervals – 12 min

MGMT – Kids [Solo] – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 2 min

Strumming – All of Me in D – 120 bpm – 3 min
Strumming – Autumn Leaves in Gm – 70 bpm – 4 min

Total – 52 min

Day 114. Combining scales

Today I repeated yesterday’s practice but with combining major and minor scales into the single videos.

1234 exercise

1234 on the 1-12 frets

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Scales

Major scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

16th notes @ 90 bpm

CAGED system

Major chords

60 bpm

Minor chords

60 bpm

Major 7th chords

60 bpm

7th chords

60 bpm

Minor 7th chords

60 bpm

Strumming

Module 19 pattern

All of Me in D

120 bpm

Autumn Leaves in Gm

70 bpm

Ear training

Intervals

6 intervals. I had 5 beer so my ear is not in the best condition now.

Perfect pitch

3 notes. After 5 beer still.

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

8th notes @ 180 bpm

Routines

1234 – 1-12 frets – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 4 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – EADG strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 8 min
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – EA strings – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 3 min

CAGED – Major chords – 60 bpm – 5 min
CAGED – Minor chords – 60 bpm – 5 min
CAGED – Major 7th chords – 60 bpm – 5 min
CAGED – 7th chords – 60 bpm – 5 min
CAGED – Minor 7th chords – 60 bpm – 11 min

Ear training – Intervals – 9 intervals – 13 min
Ear training – Perfect pitch – 3 notes – 7 min

MGMT – Kids [Solo] – 8th notes – 180 bpm – 7 min

Strumming – All of Me in D – 120 bpm – 3 min
Strumming – Autumn Leaves in Gm – 70 bpm – 4 min

Total – 80 min

Day 113. Everything at once

Today I practiced everything I’ve been playing before, trying to improve the speed or consistency. Also I added All of Me and Autumn Leaves in different keys. So the routines list is really HUGE.

1234 exercise

1234 on the 1-12 frets

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Scales

Major scales

E string

16th notes @ 90 bpm

A string

16th notes @ 90 bpm

D string

16th notes @ 90 bpm

G string

16th notes @ 90 bpm

Minor scales

E string

16th notes @ 90 bpm

A string

16th notes @ 90 bpm

CAGED system

Major chords

60 bpm

Minor chords

60 bpm

Major 7th chords

60 bpm

7th chords

60 bpm

Minor 7th chords

60 bpm

Strumming

Module 19 pattern

All of Me in D

Figuring out the chords

120 bpm

Autumn Leaves in Gm

Figuring out the chords

70 bpm

Ear training

Intervals

9 intervals

Perfect pitch

3 notes

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo]

8th notes @ 170 bpm

8th notes @ 175 bpm

8th notes @ 180 bpm

Routines

1234 – 1-12 frets – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 4 min

Major scales – 1-12 frets – E string – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 4 min
Major scales – 1-12 frets – A string – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 2 min
Major scales – 1-12 frets – D string – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 2 min
Major scales – 1-12 frets – G string – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 2 min
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – E string – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 2 min
Minor scales – 1-12 frets – A string – 90 bpm – 16th notes – 2 min

CAGED – Major chords – 60 bpm – 8 min
CAGED – Minor chords – 60 bpm – 6 min
CAGED – Major 7th chords – 60 bpm – 10 min
CAGED – 7th chords – 60 bpm – 8 min
CAGED – Minor 7th chords – 60 bpm – 15 min

Ear training – Intervals – 9 intervals – 13 min
Ear training – Perfect pitch – 3 notes – 7 min

MGMT – Kids [Solo] – 8th notes – 170 bpm – 5 min
MGMT – Kids [Solo] – 8th notes – 175 bpm – 5 min
MGMT – Kids [Solo] – 8th notes – 180 bpm – 4 min

Strumming – All of Me in D – 4 min
Strumming – All of Me in D – 120 bpm – 4 min
Strumming – Autumn Leaves in Gm – 8 min
Strumming – Autumn Leaves in Gm – 70 bpm – 5 min

Total – 120 min

Week 13. Summary

This week was kinda relaxed on practice. I mean, I still practiced daily, but All of Me and Autumn Leaves are not that hard and are fun to play. So to spice it up a bit I concentrated mostly on the Kids by MGMT solo.

Originally it’s played as 16th notes at 123 bpm. Last week I just learned the solo and played it as 8th notes at 123 bpm, recording every bar separately 😀 By the end of the week I managed to get to the speed of 8th notes at 160 bpm. It’s not consistent at all – I’ve been recording myself daily for 20-30 minutes and from that footage I only get 2-3 successful attempts. So I’m gonna change the approach and practice each part separately, increasing the speed. Then I’m gonna connect them all. Hopefully, this will help me progress faster.

Anyway, here’s the video. There are no questions this week, and also I tried to organize it differently for it to be shorter 🙂

The goals for this week were:

  • [Done] 4123, 4132, 4213 as 8th notes at 150 bpm on the 5th fret
  • [Done] Get to the level with 7 intervals on ear training at tonedear.com 3 times
  • [Done] All of Me consistently at 150 bpm (both open and barre chords versions)
  • [Done] Autumn Leaves at 120 bpm

My goals for the next week:

  • 4231, 4312, 4321 as 8th notes at 150 bpm on the 5th fret
  • Practice ear training at tonedear.com daily
  • Kids by MGMT solo at 170 bpm consistently
  • Implement Modules 19-20 routines

1234 exercise

4123 on the 5th fret – 8th notes @ 120 bpm → 8th notes @ 150 bpm
4132 on the 5th fret – 8th notes @ 120 bpm → 8th notes @ 150 bpm
4213 on the 5th fret – 8th notes @ 120 bpm → 8th notes @ 150 bpm

Scales

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

Strumming

Module 17 pattern [All of Me] – 120 bpm
Module 18 pattern [Autumn Leaves] – 70 bpm

Ear training

Intervals – 243 of 300 – 81.00% → 175 of 200 – 87.50%
Minor 2nd, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Tritone Perfect 5th, Octave

Songs

MGMT – Kids [Solo] – 8th notes @ 123 bpm → 8th notes @ 160 bpm

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