Hey hey, update time! I'm going to start using headings to give these entries some sort of structure and make it easier to organize my thoughts. Anyhow, here we go:
Deep River BluesIt is done! I recorded and posted it up over in AVOYP (
link). Not 100% happy with it so I'm going to do it over some time next year, but I really need to learn to play with thumb picks first. I have to work really hard with my thumb while palm muting in order to play the bass line loud enough and that just doesn't work very well with all the fast parts. That quick snappy bass run over E at the end of the verse is especially tough.
Overall learning this song has been really fun, challenging, and frustrating all at the same time but it was well worth it. I feel like I've learned a heck of a lot of new tricks:
- Palm muting
- Thumb independence
- Keeping time with my thumb
- Playing triplets
- Bunch of new awesome chords
- and probably a lot more.
It's the hardest and most complicated song I've had to learn yet and I probably should have started with something a little easier to get my thumb going - Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotton for example. No regrets though, it's an amazing song that I will continue to work on and keep forever in my repertoire.
What's next?I went pretty hard with practicing for the past couple of months and managed to hurt my shoulder somehow so sitting with a guitar in my lap kind of hurts. Strumming is off the menu for a while and picking isn't super comfortable either but I have discovered that I can still work on tapping, hammer-ons and pull-offs without any pain so I'm learning a song (no spoilers)
I'm going to take it easy though, chill for a bit and enjoy the holidays. Up until now all I did in my free time is play guitar so I've got a lot of shows and books to catch up on, and some video games maybe?
As soon as my shoulder gets better I plan on getting out my thumb picks and learning how to use them properly. I'm having some trouble with volume because I'm used to picking pretty hard with my thumb, so now when I put a pick on the sound simply overpowers everything else. I need to go back to square one and practice picking softly with my thumb while matching the volume with the rest of my fingers. Really excited about it to be honest because as soon as I get the hang of it I'll be able to add a load of awesome techniques to my arsenal.
So one or two more songs, thumb picks, and then its back to Justin's courses. I'm planning on going over Justin's new beginners course because there's lots of cool stuff in there that wasn't included in the classic course, and then I'm doing the theory and ear training courses right after. I feel like I have amassed a pretty good repertoire of songs so I'll be polishing up the ones I already know alongside these courses. I also might revisit some old songs I learned earlier and see if I can learn more advanced fingerstyle arrangements of them.
While on the topic of my repertoire, I made a
playlist over on YouTube of all the stuff I've uploaded here on the forum sorted by date from earliest to latest. It's a convenient way to see all my recordings without diving into my post history so feel free to check it out! I'll update it every time I post something in AVOYP.
GearFollowing David's latest RC entry I thought I'd also post a list of all the gear I have and use (crossed out is stuff I no longer have):
GuitarsIbanez EW20ZWENT (sold)
Squire Affinity Telecaster
Fender Blacktop Partscaster (sold)
Martin DJr-10
Yamaha FG-TA (sold)
Gibson L-00 Studio Rosewood
A&L Legacy CW
Taylor GS Mini-e Koa
PedalsTC Ditto
TC Flashback 2
TC Bodyrez
EHX Soul Food
AmpOrange Crush 12
RecordingMXL V67N Small Diaphragm Condenser
Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen
SoftwareAbletone Live 10 Lite
Adobe Premier Pro
I think that about covers it for now. Till next time!
