|
Post by creamburmese on Mar 8, 2017 22:09:01 GMT
I have the same problem Stan. The classic exercise over here is to play scales (or a piece you know) making every string buzz. Harder than it might appear! Then (they say) only a touch more pressure is needed to stop the buzz. However personally I have failed to spend enough concentrated time on this yet - and still press way too hard. I think I would need to stop doing anything else and just do this for a few weeks to get it ingrained...:0
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Mar 2, 2017 16:10:25 GMT
That sounds awesome Mark! Very evocative of - er - the Byzantium??
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Feb 27, 2017 19:58:16 GMT
I hate to reinvigorate this thread - but I just had to share - I have been practicing a piece I love but there is that fast bit starting sometime soon after the 1 minute mark. UGH! I love everything about this piece except for that half minute of craziness in the middle that I may or may not ever conquer. However baby steps - at my rather rudimentary level I'm just practicing increasing speed at arpeggios on single bass notes moving up and down the fretboard on a single string - and I discovered practicing major minor and modal scales is a great way to avoid boredom - and helps lock them in a bit better too! Next the Byzantine scale (which definitely has some possibilities for improvisation Mark) byzantine scale
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Feb 13, 2017 21:46:32 GMT
I just bought a rocking gardening seat (meant for weeding instead of groveling on your knees) for string changing. I usually put my guitar on a padded ottoman but as it's low to the ground I end up not being able to get up without creaking afterwards. I changed strings on my 3 guitars this week and can assert I enjoyed the rocking but I'm not sure if it helped with the creaking
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Feb 5, 2017 0:14:01 GMT
I agree with you about modes being an iffy concept to get your brain around Mark. I still get befuddled when I'm supposed to remember which step of a major scale it starts on etc etc. What worked for me was taking a "standard" major or natural minor scale and altering the notes - eg raising the 6th for Dorian. And as you say, it translates onto the fretboard too. Though working through all those words in your post has had the usual effect on my brain...
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Feb 1, 2017 23:47:20 GMT
I really like a lot of York stuff. His music seems to be widely used in teaching over here in the US even if not often heard "on the circiut" - probably because his music spans many ability levels, and is "interesting". I myself was just given a piece mystifyingly titled "royal plum pudding" to learn - at least so far as I'm concerned it beats Fernando Sor -
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 30, 2017 19:33:18 GMT
Now, when I teach, I emphasise musicality from the start. It's one thing being able to "execute" a tune, another thing entirely to make it sound like music. Just wish I'd learned that a lot earlier! You must be a sought after teacher I think!
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 30, 2017 15:38:41 GMT
I'm one of the few here, perhaps, who is still entrenched in the world of classical lessons. However I wonder if it has changed or if it's just a more relaxed approach that American teachers take to teaching adults to play? My teacher has emphasized musicality from the start, something that intensely annoyed me initially when I was just struggling to fret the notes in some semblance of a tune. Also the majority of pieces I have learned, even at my elementary level, are not from the classical guitar 'methods' but pieces I heard and really wanted to be able to play, subject to teacher approval (there were some he rejected, or at least made me wait!) It's only recently that I had my first SORe piece ( I wonder if that should be spelled differently ) and that was when I insisted he provide material that would enhance my technical abilities. I also subscribe to an online forum/lesson series run by Simon Powis and even at the very earliest stages in his lessons the musicality is emphasized. Yesterday I plucked up courage and played at an online masterclass with that group (the sound quality was crap so I was secure in the knowledge that he couldn't tell how badly I was screwing up) and again the emphasis and feedback was all about the musicality. Admittedly classical music is never going to be as catchy as ragtime or blues, but it must have something going for it having endured so long! I haven't abandoned to my original intention, which is that I will use my classical guitar skills for fingerstyle playing when I get good enough, or give up on classical!
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 26, 2017 20:25:10 GMT
I totally agree with DelBoy, Riverman, 007 and Nick regarding slow practice and working on technical exercises. The problem is that some of us (ie me) find it very hard to put into practice in favor of blasting through something that is beginning to sound like a tune. Personally I find it like exercising - I'm not likely to stick with it unless I enjoy it (or at least can be done without any major effort, kind of defeating the purpose). So Nick's comment about having fun is very relevant. Funny thing that, sometimes I only need to get into it and start to see some progress and lo and behold an onerous task gets to become fun (or as near fun as sitting in a room on your own puzzling over something can be). I found this with sight reading - I was told to do it every day but I am so bad at it that it can be intensely frustrating, and invariably after a few days or a week or two I'd give up. However I made myself do it every day over the last 6 weeks and I actually kind of like it now. I can't really tell if I'm getting any better, but just experiencing all the material has now become "fun." and I'll sometimes stick with it much longer than the prescribed 15 minutes a day. Same thing with recording myself - I resisted mightily doing it because listening to the results was/is quite humbling, but from just doing it persistently it's become much less of an emotional struggle and more of the tool it's supposed to be. I'm hoping that the latest challenge I'm setting myself (I am going to video my "work" piece every day played all the way through for a month) and see if it has the same salutary effect. I've done very few videos, and none of them look even half way decent so this is yet another task I'm approaching with the "throw a set amount of time at it every day" - and wait and see what happens.
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 24, 2017 18:29:50 GMT
I know most of you will find this totally hard to understand, but one of my new year's resolutions was to spend more time WORKING at guitar playing and less time having fun. No I'm not certifiably insane (at least no-one has certified me yet) and so far as I know I've not yet succumbed to Alz... Alzh... ? Yes, well whatever. I had this big discussion (we don't use the word FIGHT over here because it could be perceived as pejorative) with my guitar teacher when I demanded we spend less time just messing around learning new tunes, and instead more time working on technique. Nearest I've seen this mild-mannered guitarist (whose most intense criticisms usually take the form of "you might try...." ) break out in outright disagreement. "But this involves 'WORK'" he protested. I've had this sneaking suspicion before that he thinks anyone over the age of -um- 50 is totally incapable of working to improve something that is "just for fun" but this seems to confirm it. He got even more upset when I told him I was quitting orchestra and intending to get better to the tune of at least a couple of grade levels before age/infirmity or disillusionment puts a stop to that. Not that I take exams or have any intention of same, it was just to give him an idea of what my goals were. I figure a lot more of the classical guitar 'repertoire' will be reachable at that level than at my current ability, and there's a lot of contemporary music I would really like to play. As I haven't got a lifetime to get to that stage, I need to work on it now. Accordingly, he gave me some material that in his view I needed to use to master various techniques. I may yet live to rue the day I came up with this crazy idea - I haven't had any lessons since before Christmas due to an extended winter break plus 2 weeks spent in rain-sodden South Wales, but I'm fervently hoping I never get to use the words 'Fernando Sor' in the context of my personal guitar music again. Initially working on these (to me) uninspiring pieces was soul destroying. What's the point in practicing it if you don't want to actually play the pieces after you've learned them? Could my guitar teacher be right yet again? However, one of my most endearing (?) characteristics is that someone telling me I can't do something is likely to have me turning over heaven and earth to prove them wrong. So I persevered, and in the end had to ditch my usual habit of repeating big sections of the music until they "came right" and instead had to break it down into the small strange individual movements that were needed, record them so I could hear what was going on, and then repeat the process until I got the desired result. Actually working at it like this is not that bad - kind of like playing Soduko or solving puzzles. And then I came up with the idea of adding a "fun" piece to learn without worrying about all the minutiae - currently a short Blues piece, which I swear is 5x as pleasurable to learn because of the contrast between that and my "WORK' pieces... I'll post it when I get it into a condition worthy of the 'duck' but I can assure you you're never going to hear a recording of a piece by Sor from me
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 24, 2017 17:07:34 GMT
Among the most crucial points made here are those about about the skill of listening, and the corollary of listening to and learning from the playing of others is that we should listen just as carefully to ourselves. I know it's difficult enough just to squeeze the notes out in the beginning, but it's never too early to turn a critical ear on yourself. How's your timing? Are you maybe hitting the strings too hard? Do you like the way you sound and do you think others might too? Musicality may be something we're born with, but the development of musicianship relies on self-criticism and refinement over time. I've found I'm remarkably deaf to my own shortcomings when I'm playing - at least the specifics of it. I've recently started to use my trusty iphone to record myself - another version of 'deliberate practice' - talk about humbling! However it's actually kinda nice when you get over the red button syndrome because it gives you a concrete small somethings to work on and a way of seeing if you have actually improved.
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 24, 2017 16:54:55 GMT
I think you dreamed it... though after the initial crop of horror stories, it seems to have died down in the media. I had read that one of the reasons ALL types of rosewood have been added to CITES (appendix 2) is because pretty much no customs agents (or presumably most other people too) can reliably tell a Brazilian rosewood in a guitar from another type of rosewood just by looking at it. Also it looks like most countries will have an exception to the general rosewood CITES limitations on intercontinental movement for small quantities (ie guitar-sized) bits of rosewood in finished objects. I'm not so worried about that one - I have documentation, which I carry with the guitar, that the guitar was built years before the new rules were enacted this month. However I've actually applied for a "guitar passport' for my Brazilian guitar based on the luthier's assertion that the rosewood came from old (pre 1992) stock. I haven't heard anything yet though. I'd be really interested to hear from frequent travellers how often your guitar actually gets looked at - mine hasn't ever, yet.
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 24, 2017 0:28:08 GMT
I just came back from the UK last week on BA. I took over ( and brought back) an expensive classical in a visesnut case. My advice would be to fly BA if you can. I agree - dont ask - take it through security, and when you get to the gate politely ask the gate agent what you can do to be sure it goes in the cabin with you. They usually put a gate check tag on it just in case but I've never had it gate checked. Every time I've flown with BA they have preboarded me to be sure that there is room for it- it usually goes in closets up front (or once I was told it went on the flight deck!) I've not flown internationally enough to know if the latest cites classification of all rosewood is an issue- I carried a letter from the luthier indicating when it was built but in fact I've never had anyone even ask to look in the guitar case when I've flown between Uk and US. I wouldn't risk a brazilian guitar though ... being cites appendix 1 they could seize it if you don't have the correct paperwork.
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 8, 2017 20:26:20 GMT
I have brought guitars to the UK 3 times, always in the passenger cabin. Twice with British Airways they preboarded me because of the guitar and put it up front somewhere. In fact the half dozen times I've traveled in the US with a variety of airlines I've never had to gate check it.
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 7, 2017 12:39:58 GMT
Regarding traveling with a personal Indian rosewood guitar- I wasnt able to find out if the UK has endorsed the "personal exemption" clause for CITES appendix 2 that allows you to bring up to 10kg (not specified if whole guitar or just rosewood part) of a finished item without official guitar passport. FYI I understand that the US and Canada have signed on to the exemption. Nevertheless I threw caution to the winds and brought the guitar through Heathrow this week (though I did have a letter from the luthier indicating what it was made of and when it was built). It was a non issue. There was no customs check- in fact there were no customs officials at all .....
|
|