Day 38 | Cleaning up
Let’s cut to the chase and get this out of the way…
Progress update!
16 days since my last update and it doesn’t feel like great progress…
- I can play the verse and chorus at 50% of the tempo
- I’ve reworked and polished the intro a little…
It’s pretty satisfying to be able to play through intro, verse and chorus! (although it must be quite annoying to my landlord and neighbours)
Should I be further along by now? How long does it take for people to learn a song?
Anyway, I’ll get there when I get there, right?
You get what you measure
Since my last update I’ve realised that my goals have been explicitly framed around speed only: working my way to the original tempo. It’s not that I haven’t paid any attention to quality, or have ignored mistakes while I speed everything up, but I’ve let my playing get a little sloppy nonetheless… Even when I don’t make mistakes in a run, it still doesn’t sound great. And maybe it doesn’t feel as confident or steady as it should either. Poor technique here and there: bad hand position, open string noise, imprecise fretting, etc. And I know they’ll only get amplified as I keep playing faster. Unless I correct them now.
This past week I’ve focused a little more on technique and cleaning up my playing:
- I’ve started practicing the song with gain. I tended to avoid it while practicing because it makes mistakes so much louder. But it was only hiding them and keeping me from correcting them. Eventually I’ll need to play well enough to sound good with the amplification I need for the song. So might as well practice that way (sorry, neighbours…) However tempting it is, I try not to use delay during practice though.
- I’ve reworked parts of the intro individually. Starting slowly again and correcting my technique.
- While doing that, I focused on my picking hand and tried to build some healthy habits: muting open strings, keeping my pick close to the strings, picking in the most efficient direction instead of stubbornly sticking to alternate picking.
- Also changed the way I’m playing a particular section in the intro which felt hard to fret accurately and kept getting sloppier and sloppier. So I followed an alternative, easier, way to play it. It might not sound quite the same but hey, good enough:
- I opened my practice sessions with warm up exercises. Not only because it’s good exercise, but also: my hands were just often COLD and clumsy 🥶 Around 5–10 minutes spent on scale runs, 3rd intervals over scales, and more exotic and challenging patterns to travel up and down the neck. I might share them later in a separate post.
- I switched picks for heavy ones. I used to hate picks, and if I ever used them I chose very thin ones (0.40 to 0.60). I quickly realised with this song that the more give the pick has, the more difficult it it to play fast and accurately. I ordered this variety pack of Dunlop Jazz III picks. It took me a couple of days to get used to them but I really enjoy them now. I still play with the larger ones because I find that the small ones make palm muting more difficult for me.
- I started recording my practice. Three reasons: 1/ I’m hoping I can trick myself into forgetting the recorder and capture some decent playing moments, 2/ I can play the recording back to spot mistakes or things that don’t sound great, 3/ Sometimes I take breaks in practicing the song, improvise for a bit and get lost for a moment playing with a riff idea or a chord progression or… I always think I’ll remember these later, and I always forget them!
(Head) space
I haven’t been very focused on my practice these past two weeks. Mind busy with work + spending as much time away from my place as possible outside of work hours because the place I live in at the moment makes me anxious + started looking for a flat again = little time spent with my guitar with a clear head.
I really need to sort out this “not feeling at home” situation that I’ve been dealing with since Summer. It’s keeping me from enjoying what I love when I’m at “home”, whether it’s playing guitar, drawing, cooking, writing, practicing yoga… I’m running away all the time. Moving quickly from one activity to the next, or even just avoiding them entirely, because where I am doesn’t allow me to be comfortable.
I hope this issue gets better when I find a home. But deep down I’m scared that I’ll never be comfortable anywhere.
My plan for the coming week(s):
- Keep cleaning up the intro before speeding up
- Keep practicing the first verse (timing could be better) and the first chorus (pinky slides could be cleaner and stronger)
- Look at the first wind down
Maybe also find a flat? And meanwhile, find some comfort where I live at the moment for the duration of the lockdown at least, somehow…
See you soon! Leave your comments below :)
