GC1-Know affective instrumental or vocal techniques through a structured practice routine
What is an Effective Practice Routine?
An effective practice routine is a routine that an instrumentalist or a vocalist follows in order to improve to their maximum potential. Some routines are ineffective to some people whilst they hugely benefit others. Some good routines consist of warm ups and warm downs, these can be done by vocalists singing scales or even humming scales and guitarists playing scales to help themselves get in the right mind set and improve picking with the right had. I know when I’ve just had an affective practice session because at the end of the session I will be able to do something that I couldn’t do before. Or I’ll be able to something more accurately or quicker.
An effective practice routine is a routine that an instrumentalist or a vocalist follows in order to improve to their maximum potential. Some routines are ineffective to some people whilst they hugely benefit others. Some good routines consist of warm ups and warm downs, these can be done by vocalists singing scales or even humming scales and guitarists playing scales to help themselves get in the right mind set and improve picking with the right had. I know when I’ve just had an affective practice session because at the end of the session I will be able to do something that I couldn’t do before. Or I’ll be able to something more accurately or quicker.
Research on Effective Practice Routines:
I have researched what makes an affective practice routine and searched for what other people have found affective when they have been practice and trying to improve their technical abilities. I have been looking on websites like; ultimateguitar.com and various different internet chats where people discuss what they have found affective and tell other people how they would advise structuring affective practice routines. I have found that most people find doing small warm ups and warm downs of little technical scales and runs is very affective when you spent small amounts of time, like 15 minutes daily on one certain exercise. Exercises like sweep picking and economy picking well be a very good idea for me to do as short warm ups for my practice sessions because it will enable me to begin with the scales at a low BPM and get comfortable with playing them at that speed then every week I will get a choice of how many BPM to increase it by so that hopefully by the end of my two month long practice routine I will have clear improvements between weeks. I have found out through my research that many people find setting manageable targets for them to work towards to be very affective. This is like the SMART goals that i intend to use to track my progress and insure that I am making progress.
Here are some links to websites that I have done my research on:
http://thekennymasters.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Develop-an-Effective-Practice-Routine-for-Guitar
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/general_music/8_steps_to_develop_a_highly_efficient_practice_schedule.html
My SMART Targets
Specific-In my practice dairy I will be practicing a variety of scales and picking exercises as well as learning my songs for the Oxjam gig on the 21st of October.
Measure- I will measure my progress in the songs by how much I learn a week when sticking to my practice schedule and I will measure the progress I make in my technical exercises by the speed I can play them. I will measure the speed I can play them by using a metronome and speeding it up by a certain amount of beats per minute every week.
Atainable-My goals are attainable because with my technical exercises i will not be trying to do the scales very fast straight up. I will begin by playing them very slow and as the weeks progress I will speed up the exercises a manageable amount every week until I can play tem to a fast enough metronome.
Relivant- My smart targets are relevant because all the technical exercises that I will be doing will improve my guitar skills and help me with the techniques I need to use in drifting by Andy McKee witch is one of the songs that I am playing at Oxjam.
Time bound- My smart targets are time bound because I have eight weeks to track my progress witch means that there will be eight dairy entrees witch will each track my progress and show how I have improves each week.
I do the routine that I have writen out below on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and on Saterday I just jam.
My Practice Routine Stucture
My practice routines consists of 3 main sections. These sections are:
Warm up - 15 to 20 mins
My warm up routine for guitar consists of playing a variety of scales in different positions on the neck. Whilst playing the scales I concentrate on my picking techniques to gradually increace the speed of the scales and riffs that I learn. The techneeks that I am learning are called, sweep picking, economy picking and scails with hammer ons and pull offs. As well as playing scales on the guitar to warm up for guitar I also sing scales to warm up my voice to make sure I don't strain my voice. Using SMART makes it a lot easier to astablish a manageable goal.
S - specific
M - measure
A - atainable
R - relivant
T - time-bound
Learning New Songs - 20 to 30 minutes
After I have warmed up for 15 minutes I learn new songs. I try to learn songs that have some of the picking techniques that I am trying to improve on in them. The songs that I am learning for Oxjam are the flamenco version of Stairway to Heaven by Rodrigo and Gabriella, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, Pumped up Kicks by Foster The People, Dani California by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I a few of these songs there are some very challenging sections like the solo at the end of Stairway to Heaven that I will be playing and the solo at the end of Dani California that I will also be playing, and the introduction to the Spanish version of Stairway to Heaven.
Jamming - 20 to 30 minutes
When I have done my warm up and learnt new songs and guitar tequnieks I find it good to have a jam. This is when I play whatever songs I want to finish of my practice session and often sig too. Jamming works well as a warm down because it often consists of chords. It works especially well if you have just been learning very challenging guitar solos.
Weekly Routine
Every week I follow the practice structure that I wrote above. I do this practice routine on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays.
I have researched what makes an affective practice routine and searched for what other people have found affective when they have been practice and trying to improve their technical abilities. I have been looking on websites like; ultimateguitar.com and various different internet chats where people discuss what they have found affective and tell other people how they would advise structuring affective practice routines. I have found that most people find doing small warm ups and warm downs of little technical scales and runs is very affective when you spent small amounts of time, like 15 minutes daily on one certain exercise. Exercises like sweep picking and economy picking well be a very good idea for me to do as short warm ups for my practice sessions because it will enable me to begin with the scales at a low BPM and get comfortable with playing them at that speed then every week I will get a choice of how many BPM to increase it by so that hopefully by the end of my two month long practice routine I will have clear improvements between weeks. I have found out through my research that many people find setting manageable targets for them to work towards to be very affective. This is like the SMART goals that i intend to use to track my progress and insure that I am making progress.
Here are some links to websites that I have done my research on:
http://thekennymasters.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Develop-an-Effective-Practice-Routine-for-Guitar
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/general_music/8_steps_to_develop_a_highly_efficient_practice_schedule.html
My SMART Targets
Specific-In my practice dairy I will be practicing a variety of scales and picking exercises as well as learning my songs for the Oxjam gig on the 21st of October.
Measure- I will measure my progress in the songs by how much I learn a week when sticking to my practice schedule and I will measure the progress I make in my technical exercises by the speed I can play them. I will measure the speed I can play them by using a metronome and speeding it up by a certain amount of beats per minute every week.
Atainable-My goals are attainable because with my technical exercises i will not be trying to do the scales very fast straight up. I will begin by playing them very slow and as the weeks progress I will speed up the exercises a manageable amount every week until I can play tem to a fast enough metronome.
Relivant- My smart targets are relevant because all the technical exercises that I will be doing will improve my guitar skills and help me with the techniques I need to use in drifting by Andy McKee witch is one of the songs that I am playing at Oxjam.
Time bound- My smart targets are time bound because I have eight weeks to track my progress witch means that there will be eight dairy entrees witch will each track my progress and show how I have improves each week.
I do the routine that I have writen out below on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and on Saterday I just jam.
My Practice Routine Stucture
My practice routines consists of 3 main sections. These sections are:
- Warm up
- Learning new songs
- Jamming
Warm up - 15 to 20 mins
My warm up routine for guitar consists of playing a variety of scales in different positions on the neck. Whilst playing the scales I concentrate on my picking techniques to gradually increace the speed of the scales and riffs that I learn. The techneeks that I am learning are called, sweep picking, economy picking and scails with hammer ons and pull offs. As well as playing scales on the guitar to warm up for guitar I also sing scales to warm up my voice to make sure I don't strain my voice. Using SMART makes it a lot easier to astablish a manageable goal.
S - specific
M - measure
A - atainable
R - relivant
T - time-bound
Learning New Songs - 20 to 30 minutes
After I have warmed up for 15 minutes I learn new songs. I try to learn songs that have some of the picking techniques that I am trying to improve on in them. The songs that I am learning for Oxjam are the flamenco version of Stairway to Heaven by Rodrigo and Gabriella, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, Pumped up Kicks by Foster The People, Dani California by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I a few of these songs there are some very challenging sections like the solo at the end of Stairway to Heaven that I will be playing and the solo at the end of Dani California that I will also be playing, and the introduction to the Spanish version of Stairway to Heaven.
Jamming - 20 to 30 minutes
When I have done my warm up and learnt new songs and guitar tequnieks I find it good to have a jam. This is when I play whatever songs I want to finish of my practice session and often sig too. Jamming works well as a warm down because it often consists of chords. It works especially well if you have just been learning very challenging guitar solos.
Weekly Routine
Every week I follow the practice structure that I wrote above. I do this practice routine on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays.
Practice Dary
Week 1
I believe that week one has gone very well. I have begun to learn the introduction of Drifting by Andy McKee. As well as beginning to learn Drifting this week I have also spent the warm up part of my practice building my economy picking and sweep picking and working on what I have to do with my right hand. I find it very hard to economy pick because I have never tried it before. I have been working on a variety of different arpeggiated chords and simply seeping them with my right hand. Here is an example of one of the sweep picking arpeggio exercises I have been practicing:
This is a arpeggio in D minor:
(v = downstroke ^ = upstroke)
v v v ^ ^ ^ v v v ^ ^ ^
E|-----5-3---------1-0------
B|---6-----5-----3-----1----
G|-7---------5-3---------0--
D|----------------------------
A|----------------------------
E|----------------------------
Once I can easily play the tab about I will move on to a slightly more challenging sweep:
v v v v ^ ^ ^ ^ v v v v ^ ^ ^ ^
E|-------5-3-------------1-0--------
B|-----6-----5---------3-----1------
G|---7---------5-----3---------0----
D|-7-------------5-3-------------2--
A|-------------------------------------
E|-------------------------------------
Once that is easy I will expand the arpeggio again:
v v v v v ^ ^ ^ v v v v v ^ ^ ^ v v v v v ^ ^ ^ v v v v v ^ ^ ^
E|---------5---------------3---------------1---------------0-------
B|-------6---6-----------5---5-----------3---3-----------1---1-----
G|-----7-------7-------5-------5-------3-------3-------0-------0---
D|---7-----------7---5-----------5---3-----------3---2-----------2-
A|-5---------------3---------------1---------------3---------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------
Economy Picking Practice For Week One
I believe that week one has gone very well. I have begun to learn the introduction of Drifting by Andy McKee. As well as beginning to learn Drifting this week I have also spent the warm up part of my practice building my economy picking and sweep picking and working on what I have to do with my right hand. I find it very hard to economy pick because I have never tried it before. I have been working on a variety of different arpeggiated chords and simply seeping them with my right hand. Here is an example of one of the sweep picking arpeggio exercises I have been practicing:
This is a arpeggio in D minor:
(v = downstroke ^ = upstroke)
v v v ^ ^ ^ v v v ^ ^ ^
E|-----5-3---------1-0------
B|---6-----5-----3-----1----
G|-7---------5-3---------0--
D|----------------------------
A|----------------------------
E|----------------------------
Once I can easily play the tab about I will move on to a slightly more challenging sweep:
v v v v ^ ^ ^ ^ v v v v ^ ^ ^ ^
E|-------5-3-------------1-0--------
B|-----6-----5---------3-----1------
G|---7---------5-----3---------0----
D|-7-------------5-3-------------2--
A|-------------------------------------
E|-------------------------------------
Once that is easy I will expand the arpeggio again:
v v v v v ^ ^ ^ v v v v v ^ ^ ^ v v v v v ^ ^ ^ v v v v v ^ ^ ^
E|---------5---------------3---------------1---------------0-------
B|-------6---6-----------5---5-----------3---3-----------1---1-----
G|-----7-------7-------5-------5-------3-------3-------0-------0---
D|---7-----------7---5-----------5---3-----------3---2-----------2-
A|-5---------------3---------------1---------------3---------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------
Economy Picking Practice For Week One
In the video above I am playing an A major scale going into a B major scale. This is a part of my warm up routine. I am working on my economy picking. I have never tried economy picking before this week so I am starting with a slow metronome. The metronome is playing in the video at 90 beats per minute. I hope to increase this by 30 beats per minute for the next week’s video entry.
The video above shows me playing the introduction to Drifting by Andy Mckee. I have slowed it down a lot to ensure that I am playing it perfect before I move onto the next section or speed it up. I have now also figured out a good technique to play the hammer on harmonic with my right hand. I have a method of doing it using my second finger. I have also worked out a good way to drum on the guitar. Andy Mckee dose part of the drumming sequence on the underside of the guitar using his first, second and third finger to play a very fast triplet. I have decided that it suits me and my guitar better to play it on the top of the guitar using my first second and third fingers like Andy Mckee dose.
Week 2
This week I have began to relearn Drifting by Andy Mckee. It is a very confusing song but I have learned the whole song in the past and then forgotten it. This song does not have any sweep picking or economy picking or anything like that instead I play with my right hand and hammer on and pull offs on the fret board instead of the more traditional way of playing guitar that consists of using your left hand on the fret board and picking using your right hand to pick the strings. As well as looking at Drifting by Andy Mckee this week I also have looked at some economy picking exercises in my warm up so that I have a variety of scales and different ways of picking them with my right hand. Economy picking is a way of picking a scale efficiently. The way it works is; instead of alternate picking that goes pick up, pick down, pick up, pick down you pick in a certain way so that when you move to pick the next string you are already moving that way. When you practice this technique slow and then speed it up it will become very useful if you are trying to play fast. Here are some of the economy picking exercises I worked on this week:
Econony Picking Excerises to Help Inproove my Econimy Picking
d u d d u d d u d d u d d u d d u d
E|-----------------------------------5-6-5-|
B|----------------------------5-6-5--------|
G|---------------------5-6-5---------------|
D|--------------5-6-5----------------------|
A|--------5-6-5----------------------------|
E|-5-6-5-----------------------------------|
u d u u d u u d u u d u u d u u d u
E|-5-6-5------------------------------------|
B|--------5-6-5-----------------------------|
G|---------------5-6-5----------------------|
D|----------------------5-6-5---------------|
A|------------------------------5-6-5--------|
E|-------------------------------------5-6-5-|
Economy Picking Practice For Week Two
Week 2
This week I have began to relearn Drifting by Andy Mckee. It is a very confusing song but I have learned the whole song in the past and then forgotten it. This song does not have any sweep picking or economy picking or anything like that instead I play with my right hand and hammer on and pull offs on the fret board instead of the more traditional way of playing guitar that consists of using your left hand on the fret board and picking using your right hand to pick the strings. As well as looking at Drifting by Andy Mckee this week I also have looked at some economy picking exercises in my warm up so that I have a variety of scales and different ways of picking them with my right hand. Economy picking is a way of picking a scale efficiently. The way it works is; instead of alternate picking that goes pick up, pick down, pick up, pick down you pick in a certain way so that when you move to pick the next string you are already moving that way. When you practice this technique slow and then speed it up it will become very useful if you are trying to play fast. Here are some of the economy picking exercises I worked on this week:
Econony Picking Excerises to Help Inproove my Econimy Picking
d u d d u d d u d d u d d u d d u d
E|-----------------------------------5-6-5-|
B|----------------------------5-6-5--------|
G|---------------------5-6-5---------------|
D|--------------5-6-5----------------------|
A|--------5-6-5----------------------------|
E|-5-6-5-----------------------------------|
u d u u d u u d u u d u u d u u d u
E|-5-6-5------------------------------------|
B|--------5-6-5-----------------------------|
G|---------------5-6-5----------------------|
D|----------------------5-6-5---------------|
A|------------------------------5-6-5--------|
E|-------------------------------------5-6-5-|
Economy Picking Practice For Week Two
This is me playing my economy picking scales at the begining of my practice routine. I was planning on playing the major scales at 120 beats per minute by this week. However, it has proven to be more difficult than I originally planned. So, in this video I have only increased it by 15 beats per minute. So, the metronome is playing at 105 beats per minute. In this paritcular video, I am playing an A major scale going into a B major. I found the economy picking technique with my right hand very challenging. Since I have never tried it before the first week of my practice diary. Although, I feel as though I have improved moderatly since the start of my practice diary. Which means that my practice routine is effective. I intend on increasing the speed by another twenty beats per minute by next week.
In the video above I am playing through the introduction that I learned the week before. I then play what I have been working on this week which is the second section of the song. The second section of the song has two parts that I am trying to perfect separately before I try and play them together. In the video I play the first part of the second section and then I play the melody that is going to be played at the same time as the first part. One of the parts consists of hammer on power chords on the first and third beats of the bar with the left had whilst tapping the body of the guitar on the second and fourth beats of the bar. The other part is done with the right hand tapping on and pulling off on the fret board and starts on the offbeat of the bar and continues over the left had playing the power chords and the tapping. I hope that by this time next week I will be able to play the two parts that I am now practicing separately together.
Week 3
This week I have followed my practice routine and done my practice on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and had a band practice on Saturday where we jammed for most of the day. I think the week went well because I have learned a variety of different scales on the guitar and playing them at low speeds whilst introducing and working on the economy picking techniques with my right hand. I have also watched a lot of YouTube tutorials that tell you both how you should begin to sweep pick and what you can do once you have mastered some of the basic sweep picking techniques. I have also continued to learn certain sections of Drifting by Andy Mckee that I have forgotten since the last time I practiced the song to a good performing standard.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Three
Week 3
This week I have followed my practice routine and done my practice on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and had a band practice on Saturday where we jammed for most of the day. I think the week went well because I have learned a variety of different scales on the guitar and playing them at low speeds whilst introducing and working on the economy picking techniques with my right hand. I have also watched a lot of YouTube tutorials that tell you both how you should begin to sweep pick and what you can do once you have mastered some of the basic sweep picking techniques. I have also continued to learn certain sections of Drifting by Andy Mckee that I have forgotten since the last time I practiced the song to a good performing standard.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Three
In the video above, I am playing an A major scale going into a B major scale. Originally, I intended on incrasing the speed of the metronome by 20 beats per minute. I am still stuglling with the motion of the economy picking so my progress is slower than I orginally hoped. I have increased it again by 15 beats per minute. Which means the metronome is playing at 120 beats per minute. I hope by the end of next week that I will be able to increase it by further 10. This is because I am being held back by my right hand. Since, the whole concept of ecomony picking is very new to me. I plan on watching some tutorials on Youtube to help improve my economy picking technique before I try and speed it up to faster tempos.
In this video I have showed what I have been practicing this week. I have been working towards playing the second section of the song. There are two parts of the second section. I learned both of these last week however I was struggling to put the two of them together. I have been practicing playing the two parts together this week. I have been following my original practice routine which involves 30 minutes learning new songs three times a week, Monday Wednesday and Friday. I can now play the second section like it is supposed to be played, with the two parts together. I hope that I can nail the next section by next week so then I will have almost half the song.
Week 4
I think that this week has gone well and that I have made some big improvements on both my sweep picking exercises and scales that I play in the warm up section of my practice and my economy picking. In the warm up section on Monday I mainly worked on my sweep picking, however on the warm ups in the Wednesday and Friday sessions I worked on my economy picking techniques. I began to play my economy picked scales at slow bpm's and then build it up to faster speeds and higher bpm’s when I can play the slower speeds easily i will speed up the bpm’s. I have also made a good amount of progress with Drifting by Andy Mckee. I have been learning Drifting from the official tabs and sheet music that I bought of Andy Mckee’s website instead of the way that I first learned the song by watching YouTube tutorials. The tutorials that I followed the first time I learned the song teach it in a very different way to the way that Andy Mckee plays. I am going to learn to play the whole song using the original tabs as opposed to learning someone else’s variation of the tabs.
Week 4
I think that this week has gone well and that I have made some big improvements on both my sweep picking exercises and scales that I play in the warm up section of my practice and my economy picking. In the warm up section on Monday I mainly worked on my sweep picking, however on the warm ups in the Wednesday and Friday sessions I worked on my economy picking techniques. I began to play my economy picked scales at slow bpm's and then build it up to faster speeds and higher bpm’s when I can play the slower speeds easily i will speed up the bpm’s. I have also made a good amount of progress with Drifting by Andy Mckee. I have been learning Drifting from the official tabs and sheet music that I bought of Andy Mckee’s website instead of the way that I first learned the song by watching YouTube tutorials. The tutorials that I followed the first time I learned the song teach it in a very different way to the way that Andy Mckee plays. I am going to learn to play the whole song using the original tabs as opposed to learning someone else’s variation of the tabs.
In this video I am playing the third section of the song very slowly. I have been working on this section this week but I am finding it quite hard to remember. I have been going over it a lot in the three thirty minute long time slots in my practice routine that I have dedicated to learning new songs (in this case; Drifting). I think that progress this week was a bit slow because I was looking at Guitar tabs and YouTube tutorials to learn this section. My goal for next week is to get this section up to speed and get started on learning the next section.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Four
Economy Picking Practice For Week Four
In the video above, I am playing an A major scale going into an G major scale. Fortunatly, this week I have had a break through. I have managed to grasp the economy picking technique. This is due to practice, aswell as help from Youtube tutorials and my classmates. Which means I have improved greatly this week. In this video, the metronome is playing at 135 beats per minute. I feel as though I have advanced greatly this week, yet it is not reflected in the fact that I have only increased the metronome by 15 beats per minute. I feel as though by next week, the change will be clear in my practice diary. I hope to increase the metronome speed by a further 15 beats per minute (taking it up to 150 beats per minute). This will hopefully show my grasping of the technique that has occured over the last week.
Week 5
I think that the progress that I have made this week in the scales and warm up exercises is not quite to the level that I would have hoped. I have researched how to improve sweep picking and economy picking, the research I did helped me come to the conclusion that I would make more progress if I simply practiced one or two sweep picking and economy picked scales whenever I picked up a guitar, so before I play anything else. I have done this technique before when I was learning my grade 8 guitar songs. I was struggling with the technical exercises involved in the exam and my guitar teacher at the time told me that if every time I pick up a guitar I play the scales through once or twice I will improve quicker. I found that using this technique worked very well because it stops me from spending hours trying to do it quickly and getting frustrated with it and not wanting to do it again. I have made some good progress on drifting by Andy Mckee this week. I am considering dropping the guitar down a further tone so that the tuning it C,G,C,F,G,C. This would mean that it does not require quite as much effort to press the string down on the fret board.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Five
Week 5
I think that the progress that I have made this week in the scales and warm up exercises is not quite to the level that I would have hoped. I have researched how to improve sweep picking and economy picking, the research I did helped me come to the conclusion that I would make more progress if I simply practiced one or two sweep picking and economy picked scales whenever I picked up a guitar, so before I play anything else. I have done this technique before when I was learning my grade 8 guitar songs. I was struggling with the technical exercises involved in the exam and my guitar teacher at the time told me that if every time I pick up a guitar I play the scales through once or twice I will improve quicker. I found that using this technique worked very well because it stops me from spending hours trying to do it quickly and getting frustrated with it and not wanting to do it again. I have made some good progress on drifting by Andy Mckee this week. I am considering dropping the guitar down a further tone so that the tuning it C,G,C,F,G,C. This would mean that it does not require quite as much effort to press the string down on the fret board.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Five
The video above is week five of my teckinical exersises practice. This week I have reached my goal that I set last week which was to increase the tempo of my economy picking scales by a further 15 beats per minute. This means that I can now economy pick a major scale at 150 beats per minute. I hope that I can increase this by a further 10 beats per minute by this time next week. In the video above I am playing an A major scale going into a G major scale. I have been reading up about economy picking trying to find out how to make it flow more, even though I did not find any direct answers I do believe that I have grasped the economy picking technique just though repetition of my right hands actions. I definitely can see my improvements from last week in this video.
In this video I begin with the second section up to speed. I then go straight into the third section witch has been my main focus this week. Last week I had only just learned it so I was playing it very slowly where as this week I can play it at the speed I will be performing it. I have also been looking at the section that follows the third section; the fourth section. I have learned all of it of tabs on the internet and YouTube videos. Once I have mastered this section there is only the bridge of the song that I will have to learn because apart from that the rest of the piece is just the second, third and forth sections repeating themselves in different orders. I hope that I can get this section up to speed by my next dairy entry and also have a look at the coda so that I give myself a week to simply practice the piece through to the stage where i am confident that I can go on stage and play it through without any noticeable errors.
Week 6
This week I have made some progress in the war up exercises. I have found that the picking of the scales with my right hand is
starting to flow more, especially with the sweep picking with is supposed to be done in one action. One sweep of all the string, sort of like strumming a chord when you get it fast but you have to start up slow and build up to a fast sweep witch dose look and sound very impressive. I have also been practicing a lot of Andy Mckee’s drifting this week. The oxjam gig it two weeks from now and I’m starting to feel more confident about the new way that I have learned to play drifting, as opposed to the old way I used to play that I learned of a bad YouTube video and found it hard to break the habit of playing it that way. This week I have also been practicing the other parts form the other ensembles I am in. That has taken up a lot of the time in each of my practice sessions on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
Economy Picking Practice For Week Six
Week 6
This week I have made some progress in the war up exercises. I have found that the picking of the scales with my right hand is
starting to flow more, especially with the sweep picking with is supposed to be done in one action. One sweep of all the string, sort of like strumming a chord when you get it fast but you have to start up slow and build up to a fast sweep witch dose look and sound very impressive. I have also been practicing a lot of Andy Mckee’s drifting this week. The oxjam gig it two weeks from now and I’m starting to feel more confident about the new way that I have learned to play drifting, as opposed to the old way I used to play that I learned of a bad YouTube video and found it hard to break the habit of playing it that way. This week I have also been practicing the other parts form the other ensembles I am in. That has taken up a lot of the time in each of my practice sessions on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
Economy Picking Practice For Week Six
In the video above I am playing a G major scale going into an A major scale. This week I think that my economy picking has improved a lot. I am still following my original practice scheduled which involves my economy picking warm ups at the begging of the practise session for 15 minutes three times a week. I wanted to increase the beats per minute by 10 so I am very happy that I managed to increase it by 15. The speed I can now economy picking at is 165 bpm. I Hope I can get this up to 175 beats per minute by this time next week.
In the video above I am playing the fourth section at the speed that I’m going to perform it. I then go into the bridge section witch is the main thing that I concentrated on learning thing week. I then go into the third section and follow the order of the original Andy Mckee,s Drifting from there. Now that I have learned the bridge i have found that the song is really starting to come together and flow more between sections. I now know all of the sections in the songs but still have to think hard about the orders of the sections especially towards the end of the piece because it does get very confusing.
Week 7
In this week I have been following the practice schedule as always, I am now confidant about Andy Mckee’s Drifting as I can play
the song through the whole way usually without many noticeable mistakes. I am also still working on speeding up the sweep picking licks and scales that I have been working on as a part of my warm up for each session. I also think that I am improving on my economy picking because I noticed that it flows a lot better than it did when I began to learn the scales. I am now learning a few other variations of the economy picked scales. The scale I began to practice the economy picking on when I was beginning to learn it is a major scale will the root note on the low E string. I can play this scale in a variety of different positions on the neck and I have also been working on playing the same major scale with the root not the on the A string. Having the root note on the A string dose make the scale a bit more confusing because as I have learned you have to change the standards major scale shape and shift certain notes up a fret when you reach the high B string.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Seven
Week 7
In this week I have been following the practice schedule as always, I am now confidant about Andy Mckee’s Drifting as I can play
the song through the whole way usually without many noticeable mistakes. I am also still working on speeding up the sweep picking licks and scales that I have been working on as a part of my warm up for each session. I also think that I am improving on my economy picking because I noticed that it flows a lot better than it did when I began to learn the scales. I am now learning a few other variations of the economy picked scales. The scale I began to practice the economy picking on when I was beginning to learn it is a major scale will the root note on the low E string. I can play this scale in a variety of different positions on the neck and I have also been working on playing the same major scale with the root not the on the A string. Having the root note on the A string dose make the scale a bit more confusing because as I have learned you have to change the standards major scale shape and shift certain notes up a fret when you reach the high B string.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Seven
In the video above I am economy picking an A major scale going into a G major scale then back into an A major scale. I managed to increase the speed of the economy picked scales by a further 15 beats per minute this week. This means that the metronome is playing at 180 beats per minute. This week I have found that I can economy pick the strings with my right hand much more smoothly and the whole scale seems to run a lot smoother and cleaner that it was in the first four or five weeks. I hope that by next week I will be able to up the tempo by another 15 beats per minutes, meaning that the metronome is playing at 195 beats per minute.
In the video above I begin with playing the introduction. I then go into the first section that uses the two separate parts at the same time. This is followed by the third section witch then leads onto the forth. Once the forth section is over I go into the bridge and then back into the third section. This is followed by the forth section. What I am basically doing in this video is running though a shortened version of the piece or running though the second half of the song with the introduction on the beginning. I am very pleased with the progress I have made since last week because I now can play the piece all the way through at the correct tempo for the performance. I only have one week left until the Oxjam gig so the goal that I am setting myself for this time next week is simply to have practiced the song enough times though that I am confident that I know what I’m doing.
Week 8
This is the final week before the Oxjam gig and I am still following the practice routine. Instead of learning new things in this time I spend doing my practice routine on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday I have been running through the things that I am performing in the Oxjam gig. I can now play Drifting to a good enough standard to perform. I am also spending a lot of my practice routine time trying to remember lyrics so that I don’t need a sheet on stage because that can look a bit unprofessional.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Eight
Week 8
This is the final week before the Oxjam gig and I am still following the practice routine. Instead of learning new things in this time I spend doing my practice routine on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday I have been running through the things that I am performing in the Oxjam gig. I can now play Drifting to a good enough standard to perform. I am also spending a lot of my practice routine time trying to remember lyrics so that I don’t need a sheet on stage because that can look a bit unprofessional.
Economy Picking Practice For Week Eight
This is the eighth week of my practice routine and I have managed to up the tempo from last week by a further 20 beats per minute. This means that I can now economy pick at 200 beats per minute. I am very happy with the amount of improvement I have made in the last three or four weeks because I would never have thought that I would be able to play it as fast as i now can within just over two months.
In this video I am running though a lot of the Drifting sections at the correct tempo for my performance. I begin with the introduction and that is followed by the second section. I then go into the third section witch leads into the fourth section exactly the same as Andy Mckee’s version of the song. I then go in to the second section again as this is what happens in the original. I do not continue repeating these sections but if I had repeated the whole thing apart from the introduction and then played the bridge followed by the third section then the second section I would have played the song the whole way though.
The Video Below is my Group Performance no 1 and 2 Which I Performend with Jasper Lynch
The song we are performing for my first group performance is our version of Stairway To Heaven/Dani California. The performance of this song stars at 02.00 and ends at 08.10
The second of my group performances is on the video below the first performance. The siong is dridting by Andy Mckee and it begins at 22:50
The Video Below is my Group Performance no 1 and 2 Which I Performend with Jasper Lynch
The song we are performing for my first group performance is our version of Stairway To Heaven/Dani California. The performance of this song stars at 02.00 and ends at 08.10
The second of my group performances is on the video below the first performance. The siong is dridting by Andy Mckee and it begins at 22:50
The Video's Below is my Solo Performance no 1 and no 2 Which I Performend in Oxjam
My first solo is let har go by passenger. In this song Jasper Lynch is Backing me on the guitar and I am singing. The song begins on the first of the two videos at 28:40. The video cutts out shortly after the singing starts and continues on the second video at 00:00.
My second solo performance is drifting by Andy Mckee. This song is just me and it is stragt fter let her Go by Passenger. The song begins at 3:15
My first solo is let har go by passenger. In this song Jasper Lynch is Backing me on the guitar and I am singing. The song begins on the first of the two videos at 28:40. The video cutts out shortly after the singing starts and continues on the second video at 00:00.
My second solo performance is drifting by Andy Mckee. This song is just me and it is stragt fter let her Go by Passenger. The song begins at 3:15