|
Post by allthumbs on Aug 27, 2015 18:50:05 GMT
I enjoyed reading this thread. For me, Ive mapped out a one month plan (in Excel) to conquer the fan stroke i.e to make it look really nice and sound really nice plus the other 'Formby' strokes. I don't play uke for George Formby although I like him and know 2 or 3 of his songs, I was turned on to other possibilities of his techniques by a wonderful ukulele talent who goes by the name of Ukulelezaza on YouTube. He plays effortless fans, splits etc. in his covers of 20s and 30s jazzy stuff.
My plan will incur slavish use of my metronome and my Ipple aPhone. I've not used my metronome very much but have to say when I have used it, I improved. Time is a ruthless task master.
Like all great intentions, I have lesser expectations. I shall defer it (until next month when my Open Uni unit ends).
Oh..and to re-learn all the chords on that bigger thingy, waddyacallit...guitar....that I haven't played for years....now that my daughter is learning it at school. I sincerely hope that doing this will bring focus to us both in terms of improvement and establish a bond that we share for the rest of my life.
|
|
|
Post by jwills57 on Aug 28, 2015 12:07:55 GMT
Hey, Guitar Friends. I've been doing a lot of composing lately; sometimes I find that when I'm in this mode I tend to neglect my "finished" pieces. So got a big sheet of news print paper on which I wrote down every piece I play, covers and originals, came to about 30 or so. I took this and taped it up on my practice room wall. Every day when I go to practice, sometime during the practice session, I choose 5 or 6 at random to play through. This has worked well for me to keep in mind pieces that I don't play so much, that might have gotten rather completely neglected or even forgotten (which does happen from time to time). Best, Jack
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Aug 28, 2015 16:24:07 GMT
Hey, Guitar Friends. I've been doing a lot of composing lately; sometimes I find that when I'm in this mode I tend to neglect my "finished" pieces. So got a big sheet of news print paper on which I wrote down every piece I play, covers and originals, came to about 30 or so. I took this and taped it up on my practice room wall. Every day when I go to practice, sometime during the practice session, I choose 5 or 6 at random to play through. This has worked well for me to keep in mind pieces that I don't play so much, that might have gotten rather completely neglected or even forgotten (which does happen from time to time). Best, Jack I like this idea - I had written a list once, but out of sight, out of mind and I have no idea where it is. Not that there's anything like 30 pieces on it, and of course I didn't compose any of them However when I want a little diversion from training my left hand fingers to park themselves simultaneously on a string for double descending slurs, or other riveting exercises, I tend to play only my favorites with the result that I can more or less play 4 or 5 pieces from memory and have forgotten the rest. Then when I try to play things I haven't seen for a while I find it too much trouble to root out the music so it gets buried even deeper ... So I shall take this as a call to action during my summer "break" from lessons ( 6 weeks starting now - I'm free!!! ) and make myself a convenient folder with all the music that I liked and could once more-or-less play. It may even have an index on the front (though given there aren't that many pieces it may not be necessary)
|
|
maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,195
|
Post by maninashed on Aug 28, 2015 21:09:37 GMT
A bit of a change in direction for a while. I'm having surgery on my shoulder tomorrow and will have to keep my arm in a sling for a few weeks, so no guitar or uke.
I always wanted to learn harmonica so I'm going to have a go one handed. The course I'm using also teaches reading music which will be very handy as I'm coming to realise reading standard notation will open up a lot more music, especially for uke, as there's not that much tab available for the music I'm interested in.
|
|
ocarolan
Global Moderator
CURMUDGEONLY OLD GIT (leader - to join, just ask!)
Posts: 33,956
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"c0cfe1"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 182a3f
Mini-Profile Text Color: 733a1c
Member is Online
|
Post by ocarolan on Aug 28, 2015 22:25:55 GMT
maninashed - Hope the surgery goes well and achieves the desired objective. Wishing you a comfortable, quick and complete recovery! Keith
|
|
leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 24,535
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
|
Post by leoroberts on Aug 29, 2015 7:23:47 GMT
A bit of a change in direction for a while. I'm having surgery on my shoulder tomorrow and will have to keep my arm in a sling for a few weeks, so no guitar or uke. I always wanted to learn harmonica so I'm going to have a go one handed. The course I'm using also teaches reading music which will be very handy as I'm coming to realise reading standard notation will open up a lot more music, especially for uke, as there's not that much tab available for the music I'm interested in. Best of luck with the surgery- I'm sure it'll all go well
|
|
maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,195
|
Post by maninashed on Aug 31, 2015 10:07:23 GMT
Thank you for your good wishes! Back from the op and it all went well and I'm very pleased that I've got much more mobility in my shoulder than I was expecting. Enough to play my tenor uke anyway. The surgeon said I should be OK as long as I didn't put my arm back like throwing a javelin. I assured him javelin throwing didn't feature in my plans for a while. So I'm going to get to grips with the 'Ukulele Course - A Melodic Approach' by Raymond Gamble G.L.C.M. I've learned to play fingerstyle guitar and Ukulele by reading TAB which means I can play quite a few pieces but I've got virtually no knowledge of music theory and I can only play pieces that I can find written in TAB. So I'm hoping to learn to read staff notation and a bit of theory so I can access more material to play and maybe do my own arrangements and compositions eventually. Should keep me busy until I take up javelin throwing again.
|
|
|
Post by colan on Aug 31, 2015 13:58:15 GMT
Congrats on your successful treatment, maninashed. Wouldn't it be advisable to play air ukulele for a while ?
|
|
ocarolan
Global Moderator
CURMUDGEONLY OLD GIT (leader - to join, just ask!)
Posts: 33,956
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"c0cfe1"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 182a3f
Mini-Profile Text Color: 733a1c
Member is Online
|
Post by ocarolan on Aug 31, 2015 14:12:10 GMT
|
|
chinanight
Strummer
Posts: 25
My main instrument is: Taylor and National
|
Post by chinanight on Oct 16, 2015 14:04:48 GMT
I've just started learning some Bert Jansch stuff. Does anyone know if there is a instructional DVD available. For example Blackwater side. There are virtually zero decent lesson or guides on YouTube and the only tab I've found is not all that helpful. Thanks
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Oct 16, 2015 17:59:32 GMT
I always like to hear about successful surgery Good luck Maninashed! I had shoulder surgery to reattach a biceps tendon (yikes!) about 5 years ago on my left shoulder, and despite it working perfectly well for every day life, when I started learning guitar I had trouble keeping that left arm up while playing in that strange classical position. However all the guitar callisthenics seem to have done it some good because it rarely causes me trouble these days It's so interesting seeing all the diverse things people are working on - I'm currently fighting a losing battle with some very weird rhythms in an orchestra piece. All on the off beat, and not the same off beat from measure to measure Requires counting it out in 12/8 time and then speeding it up to mach 10. And I thought Brazilian rhythms were tough I think this is going to involve a convincing "air guitar" for this particular section !
|
|
|
Post by colan on Oct 19, 2015 7:52:31 GMT
I've just started learning some Bert Jansch stuff. Does anyone know if there is a instructional DVD available. For example Blackwater side. There are virtually zero decent lesson or guides on YouTube and the only tab I've found is not all that helpful. Thanks With a free video-capture software such as Ummyvideo - or a low cost audio slow-down software such as Riff Station- you can break down any style, tune or technique you like without resorting to lessons or tabs.
|
|
|
Post by scripsit on Oct 19, 2015 8:28:56 GMT
I've just started learning some Bert Jansch stuff. Does anyone know if there is a instructional DVD available. For example Blackwater side. There are virtually zero decent lesson or guides on YouTube and the only tab I've found is not all that helpful. Thanks I've not used this myself, but there are YouTube samples from this which are very close to the original Jansch sound. www.guitarvideos.com/products/instructors/rolly-brown/guitar-of-bert-janschI decided early on (after trying to learn a few pieces from Rosemary Lane) that Bert is like John Lee Hooker in that even if you know the notes he's playing it's very hard to replicate the feel. Some of his timing is very eccentric and hard to replicate. Kym
|
|
|
Post by elverman on Oct 21, 2015 11:58:49 GMT
Some nice ideas in this thread, cheers.
I keep a big list of my repertoire as well (compositions and covers). Tbh, most of the stuff I play these days is technically very simple. The practice I need most is for keeping vocals in shape and remembering lyrics.
Just dug a dog-eared copy and the current total is 78 with 18 originals... just five chords between them.
|
|
leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 24,535
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
|
Post by leoroberts on Oct 21, 2015 15:27:39 GMT
the current total is 78 with 18 originals... just five chords between them. *my hero*
|
|