Today I watched through Module 16, repeated every yesterdays exercise and picked the melody from Gravity Falls Opening.
1234 exercise
2341 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes @ 150 bpm
2413 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes @ 150 bpm
2431 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes @ 150 bpm
12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 34 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes @ 150 bpm
Scales
Major scales
8th notes @ 150 bpm
D string – Pronouncing notes [Fretboard knowledge]
G string – Pronouncing notes [Fretboard knowledge]
Minor scales
8th notes @ 150 bpm
Strumming
Module 15 pattern
100 bpm
Ear training
Again didn’t manage to get to the level with 7 intervals… Still struggling with Major 2nd, Minor 3rd and Major 3rd intervals – they sound pretty much the same for me. It’s easier when the played notes are close but in other situations I just can’t differ them yet.
Songs
Today I figured out the opening for Gravity Falls. Here it is.
On the random riffs front there’s not so much today, I basically just repeated something I played before.
Gravity Falls Opening Happy Birthday Король и Шут – Лесник The Phantom of the Opera Marilyn Manson – Sweet Dreams Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train [Intro]
Summary
I’m eager to end this week and start some new routines. Also the chord construction module is so much fun. It’s so simple yet enjoyable. I understood that one can play chords everywhere on the fretboard just by playing the correct notes right away, but now I know everything about it – inversions, positioning and so on. Maybe tomorrow I’ll start practicing something from that module routines.
Today I finally watched Module 15 and implemented something new into my practice routine.
1234 exercise
2341 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes @ 150 bpm
2413 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes @ 150 bpm
2431 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes @ 150 bpm
12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 34 on the 1-12 frets
8th notes @ 150 bpm
Scales
Major scales
8th notes @ 150 bpm
D string – Pronouncing notes [Fretboard knowledge]
G string – Pronouncing notes [Fretboard knowledge]
Minor scales
8th notes @ 150 bpm
Strumming
Module 15 pattern
80 bpm. I really have no problem with my barre chords but their substitutes are something new for me. Hence my disability to play them fast. But it’s an interesting practice, so hopefully I’ll master them by the end of this week, as they are not that hard.
Ear training
I didn’t make it to the level with 7 intervals, but managed to improve my successfully guessed ones percentage. It’s fun how I’m thinking that I’m worse that the previous day, but it turns out my result is better that the previous one. This perception of progress is quite funny 🙂
Songs
I was interrupted and had to end the practice but managed to play some riffs anyway.
Cream – Sunshine Of Your Love Europe – The Final Countdown Green Day – ¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl) [Solo] Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit Black Sabbath – Paranoid Arctic Monkeys – Do I Wanna Know?
Summary
I’m happy about my fretboard knowledge and will be definitely able to switch to the next iteration of fretboard knowledge for scales exercise using the random scale machine. The new barre strumming routine is not that hard so hopefully I’ll get it to 120 bpm by the end of this week.
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]
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.
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!
This week I finished the beginner part of the course (watched through modules 8-11) and I’m really eager to proceed further.
At the same time when I faced the When I Come Around routine I really started to want this song to be fully covered and recorded by myself. I learned the bass part already so it’s only a matter of time for me to master it completely, record and make a video out of it.
So in order to be able to spend more time on it I wanted to finish as much routines as I could this week, because my routine schedule became really large and after the practice I didn’t have much time left to do anything else.
The next week goals are:
Play 1423 and 1432 combinations at 300 bpm
Increase the consistency of 1234, 1243, 1324, 1342 combinations
Play and record Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar and Bass parts of When I Come Around
I didn’t practice fretboard knowledge this week. Need to get it back into my routines schedule.
Here is the video with more details:
1234 exercise
1234 on the 5th fret – 320 bpm → 340 bpm (as a warmup) 1234 on the 1-12 frets – 320 bpm (increasing consistency) 1243 on the 5th fret – 300 bpm (increasing consistency) 1324 on the 5th fret – 240 bpm → 300 bpm 1342 on the 5th fret – 240 bpm → 300 bpm
It’s the last day of the week 4, so I wanted to conclude as much routines as I could to start the new ones and proceed further into the course. I will repeat most of today’s routines for a day or two still to make them sound cleaner and more consistent but the goal was to get all of them so the speed I wanted them to be played at.
1234 exercise
Today I started with the newest combinations not to get tired when I finally get to them 🙂
1342 at the 5th fret
My goal was to get it to 300 bpm this week. Today I started with 280 bpm as a warmup.
Then I played it in 300 bpm as well. It was far from perfect but still I kind of managed to play it so it counts 🙂
1324 at the 5th fret
I got this combination to the 300 bpm a few days ago so I just repeated it at the same speed to develop consistency.
1243 at the 5th fret
At the end of today’s practice I had some time to play this combination, but my fingers were tired already so I messed it up significantly.
Chord transitions
Today was the day I finished all my chord transitions routines. It means that I played all of them at 120 bpm pretty consistently to count it as a success.
B7/E transition
B7/C transition
Am G/B C G/B transition
Em D/F# G D/F# transition
Strumming
The strumming patterns went the same way – played them at 120 bpm to finish up those.
Module 7 pattern
Module 9 pattern
Let It Be
I played it pretty well at the first place, but after a few days of practice I got better at F C Dm C fast chord transitions part.
Summary
I’m not sure what to do next. Part of me wants to go deeper into the course to find out something new and my other part tells to just continue the 1234 practice with other finger combinations and to master and record full versions of Green Day’s songs. We’ll see what I choose to do next week soon.
