What Are You Working On Right Now?

[Fishbulb]

More or less. My understanding is "tennis elbow" is tendonitis, but on the outer area of your elbow; mine is on the inside, right where you can feel the corner of the bone. Mine might be considered "golfer's elbow...?"

Check this out:

 

[TSJMajesty]

Check this out:

Thanks, but where he pointed is not my symptoms. Mine is right at that small inner bone, maybe even just a bit toward the bicep. Barely even tender atm, and I played for 3 hours last night. And it was a bit sore.

I'll still try his exercises.

Edit: It seems that is what I have, just more focused at one point.

 

[TSJMajesty]

I wasn't going to play tonight since it's late, but a voice said, "Even if just 15 minutes, you should play every day."
I'm glad I did/am. It only took about 15 minutes to get back to where I was yesterday, and now I don't feel like stopping just yet. Lol

 

[Deleted member 472]

I wasn't going to play tonight since it's late, but a voice said, "Even if just 15 minutes, you should play every day."
I'm glad I did/am. It only took about 15 minutes to get back to where I was yesterday, and now I don't feel like stopping just yet. Lol

Man, I wish I had that drive to practice more. I always end up just noodling and getting lost in the TOOOAAANNN!

 

[Jazz Padd]

Currently I'm working on an instrumental medley of two Beatles songs, "Yesterday" and "Now and Then." I've done this before with "Blackbird" and "Free as a Bird," and with "Lucy in the Sky" and "In My Life." The latter four I combined into a "Beatles Suite" that I performed live in March. Once "Yesterday" and "Now and Then" are worked out, I plan to expand the "Beatles Suite" with them.

I'm not aiming for a strict cover of these songs, but rather to do something personal with them. The melodies are the guiding force, so I begin by playing them in all registers, back and forth between them to cultivate some commonalities that might help a medley. It's in the early stages with these two songs now, so I'm just trying to gain some fluency with the melodies, and grabbing a few notes within reach to hint at the chord progressions. "Now and Then" is a bit haphazard, but I prefer the pruned down Lennon demo to the full-blown virtual Beatles version. To me it feels like the song was not ready to demo. It's more like a journal of ideas, with places that seem like he was meandering, or searching for something. While I respect that and what was done with it recently, I also see this as an invitation to try something new with it, especially within the context of the medley I'm doing.

I'm not a full-time musician, so all of this is just for fun. I have a live performance lined up for early September, so the plan is to work on this new medley with the above rig for a month or so, getting the songs fluent. That typically involves using some pedals for inspiration. The guitar I'm planning to use has a built in compressor and phaser, so that renders the board-bound pedals redundant. Some kind of delay is essential, at least for me, so I'm going through my delays to find one that speaks to me for this medley. I tend to use a different rig for each performance, which to me is part of the fun.

Finding a delay that speaks to me for this project serves a dual purpose, as I'm looking to downsize the collection by culling some of them. Today I tried the Ibanez DE7, which was not very inspiring. But part of the practice routine for the coming month, while internalizing the melodies for the two songs, is to play around with these delays. I just got started on this project, so there's a ways to go. Once the melodies are fluent and I've worked up some chordal accents and settle on a delay, I plan to return to the previous two Beatles medleys and figure out how to add this new one to them and expand the suite. The ultimate goal is to arrange a twenty minute suite of six tunes, as part of a forty minute live performances. Once that Beatles segment is comfortable, hopefully by August, I'll then rehearse the entire performance for the September set, which will tentatively include my previous arrangements of the Kinks' "Tired of Waiting for You" and Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man."

For now, I thought it might be interesting to share some of my work flow for these kinds of projects, which I generally do a couple of times a year. I hope you found it enjoyable. Thank you for reading.

 

[metropolis_4]

Currently I'm working on an instrumental medley of two Beatles songs, "Yesterday" and "Now and Then." I've done this before with "Blackbird" and "Free as a Bird," and with "Lucy in the Sky" and "In My Life." The latter four I combined into a "Beatles Suite" that I performed live in March. Once "Yesterday" and "Now and Then" are worked out, I plan to expand the "Beatles Suite" with them.

View attachment 45281

I'm not aiming for a strict cover of these songs, but rather to do something personal with them. The melodies are the guiding force, so I begin by playing them in all registers, back and forth between them to cultivate some commonalities that might help a medley. It's in the early stages with these two songs now, so I'm just trying to gain some fluency with the melodies, and grabbing a few notes within reach to hint at the chord progressions. "Now and Then" is a bit haphazard, but I prefer the pruned down Lennon demo to the full-blown virtual Beatles version. To me it feels like the song was not ready to demo. It's more like a journal of ideas, with places that seem like he was meandering, or searching for something. While I respect that and what was done with it recently, I also see this as an invitation to try something new with it, especially within the context of the medley I'm doing.

View attachment 45282

I'm not a full-time musician, so all of this is just for fun. I have a live performance lined up for early September, so the plan is to work on this new medley with the above rig for a month or so, getting the songs fluent. That typically involves using some pedals for inspiration. The guitar I'm planning to use has a built in compressor and phaser, so that renders the board-bound pedals redundant. Some kind of delay is essential, at least for me, so I'm going through my delays to find one that speaks to me for this medley. I tend to use a different rig for each performance, which to me is part of the fun.

View attachment 45283
View attachment 45284

Finding a delay that speaks to me for this project serves a dual purpose, as I'm looking to downsize the collection by culling some of them. Today I tried the Ibanez DE7, which was not very inspiring. But part of the practice routine for the coming month, while internalizing the melodies for the two songs, is to play around with these delays. I just got started on this project, so there's a ways to go. Once the melodies are fluent and I've worked up some chordal accents and settle on a delay, I plan to return to the previous two Beatles medleys and figure out how to add this new one to them and expand the suite. The ultimate goal is to arrange a twenty minute suite of six tunes, as part of a forty minute live performances. Once that Beatles segment is comfortable, hopefully by August, I'll then rehearse the entire performance for the September set, which will tentatively include my previous arrangements of the Kinks' "Tired of Waiting for You" and Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man."

For now, I thought it might be interesting to share some of my work flow for these kinds of projects, which I generally do a couple of times a year. I hope you found it enjoyable. Thank you for reading.

Very cool, thanks for sharing! I also like to build a different rig for each performance based on what’s speaking to me

Are you performing that solo, or with an ensemble?

 

[Jazz Padd]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! I also like to build a different rig for each performance based on what’s speaking to me

Are you performing that solo, or with an ensemble?

Thanks for reading and for the kind words.

This is for a solo set at a small local venue.

 

[PLX]

Workin' on this 80's style guitar songbook..

 

[TSJMajesty]

Too tired after work the past 2 days to play, but I made up for about half of that tonight.

Took a break from string skipping stuff, and worked on my picking speed/synchronization. Running a bunch of 16th-note riffs & solos, and getting comfortable at 150 bpm, which is still shy of the 176 I need to play this (which I've been TRYING to nail for years now! ):

Cued to the riff-

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Worked out the intro for a new tune...

Blue thang

Blue thang

www.soundslice.com

 

[TSJMajesty]

View attachment 43839

Back on this- Dsus4 to D arpeggio. But Troy Grady today, as I'm focused on the pick slants.
The solo is at 128, and I can play other stuff faster than that, so I figure it's my mechanics holding me back.

I'll usually match up a downstroke to a downbeat, which is what I do here. So that means an upward pick slant for the 1st beat, then during the D/19-17-19, rotate it to a downward slant, then return to an upward slant, right after I hit the e/17, high A note, then finish the rest of it with an upward slant.

One of the hardest things I find is hitting 1 note on a string, then going right back in the other direction, because you have to flip your pick slant. It's quite like doing a figure-8 with the path of the point of the pick.

And during other parts in this solo, that movement is made even more difficult by having to skip a string right after!

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Back on this- Dsus4 to D arpeggio. But Troy Grady today, as I'm focused on the pick slants.
The solo is at 128, and I can play other stuff faster than that, so I figure it's my mechanics holding me back.

I'll usually match up a downstroke to a downbeat, which is what I do here. So that means an upward pick slant for the 1st beat, then during the D/19-17-19, rotate it to a downward slant, then return to an upward slant, right after I hit the e/17, high A note, then finish the rest of it with an upward slant.

One of the hardest things I find is hitting 1 note on a string, then going right back in the other direction, because you have to flip your pick slant. It's quite like doing a figure-8 with the path of the point of the pick.

And during other parts in this solo, that movement is made even more difficult by having to skip a string right after!

Have you tried exaggerate the motion before making it small?

 

[TSJMajesty]

So I have this up to an honest 100 bpm- clean, accurate, can play it several times in a row..., and it sounds great.

Like, when I start to approach Petrucci-speed, and things start to resemble whatever it is I'm trying to learn, it sounds cool af. But then I realize it's played 30% faster, and I wonder..., does he sit around, work up this shit, then go, "Yeah that sounds good, but I need to make it 30% faster so most guitarists out there will never get it."

Unfuckingreal

 

[TSJMajesty]

Have you tried exaggerate the motion before making it small?

Absolutely. I do it that way to train my muscle memory, so that when it gets faster, and needs to be smaller, it just happens automatically. And I know when that happens, is when I don't miss any notes, or "trip" across a string.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Got Innocence Faded, the whole song, up to 110!
Might be the first DT song I'm able to play the whole way through...

Part of me wants to keep going while I'm good and loose, but another part wants to move onto something else. (And my grass needs cutting.)

 

[TSJMajesty]

So on that string-skipping part that I posted the tab above, I topped out at 110 bpm yesterday. (Song is 128)

So today I started there, but in half-time, went up 10 bpm at a time after playing it many times, until I got to 190, then switched back to "regular time" at 100, went up 5 bpm, then reached 110 again. Which at that point, even though I could play it several times in a row, it started to lack the clarity I had at the slower speeds.

So I'm wondering if I stay there, and break it into smaller bits, and push it faster, or slow it back down, and gradually push the tempo that way.

For now, I'll do both, but I'm curious to hear from any of you that have worked similar type riffs past your current abilities, and what worked for you. Especially if it's a technique that's quite different from something more in your comfort zone. (I've not spent much time on string-skipping stuff in general, especially picked.)


Edit: Got it to 120, and tried the entire solo, but at that tempo, I have to pass over some notes, and play some of it legato, to be able to keep up.

I think at this point, I'm gonna have to create "exercises" from certain parts, and just practice them in total isolation. Iow, @ 128, the solo is past my technical abilities. And that's fine, since I know what I need to work on if I want to finish this thing.

Time to have some fun with something else! (But I'll play this every day, so I don't lose any ground on it either.)

 

[Gothi]

Working on a new tune in 7/4. The rhythm is danceable despite its odd meter, but you have to tune in to its basic clave and free your mind from the 4/4 that your body want it to be.

 

[la szum]

(But I'll play this every day, so I don't lose any ground on it either.)

That's my greatest challenge in technical improvements. Keeping the gains is never-ending. Like my
fingers want to get fat and lazy, lay on the couch and eat Doritos and drink Pepsi.

It's really become more like a fitness challenge for me. Have to apply myself at least 5 days
of the week or increases in my own personal capacity get lost..... or at the very least, regress.

 

[TSJMajesty]

The final sextuplet run in the Bark at the Moon solo. It's faster than I can even pick, but at the tempo I can pick it, I don't have my technique dialed in, which is all upward pick slant for me, since I start it on a downstroke.

Even when playing a riff that doesn't involve changing the pick angle, I still have tendency to rotate my wrist (like opening a doorknob) slightly, and jump over a string, instead of keeping my pick motions completely straight. (Shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line.)

Need to keep the pick moving in a straight line, and using the "escape point" to allow me to clear the string when changing strings, instead of trying to "hop over" it. Just one more bad habit I'm working on cleaning up, that I never even realized until I started getting serious about my technique, and watching guys like Ben Eller and Bernth show the mechanics.

So I'm trying to build the muscle memory, playing it slowly, and keeping all the picking coming only from an up/down motion of my wrist, and eliminating that damn rotation!

I've said it before..., I SO wish I'd practiced this stuff when I was much younger! Those brain pathways, that are bad habits, or at the very least, inefficient technique, are like paths worn down to dirt, through a grassy corner lot.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

The final sextuplet run in the Bark at the Moon solo. It's faster than I can even pick, but at the tempo I can pick it, I don't have my technique dialed in, which is all upward pick slant for me, since I start it on a downstroke.

Even when playing a riff that doesn't involve changing the pick angle, I still have tendency to rotate my wrist (like opening a doorknob) slightly, and jump over a string, instead of keeping my pick motions completely straight. (Shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line.)

Need to keep the pick moving in a straight line, and using the "escape point" to allow me to clear the string when changing strings, instead of trying to "hop over" it. Just one more bad habit I'm working on cleaning up, that I never even realized until I started getting serious about my technique, and watching guys like Ben Eller and Bernth show the mechanics.

So I'm trying to build the muscle memory, playing it slowly, and keeping all the picking coming only from an up/down motion of my wrist, and eliminating that damn rotation!

I've said it before..., I SO wish I'd practiced this stuff when I was much younger! Those brain pathways, that are bad habits, or at the very least, inefficient technique, are like paths worn down to dirt, through a grassy corner lot.

It’s also faster than he can pick since out of those 7 1/2 sets of 16th triplets only two are sixes the others are 5th.
But 150bpm is pretty hefty for 16thtriplets.