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Daily Practice Regime
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Skai
Posts: 317
Joined: Sep. 12 2004
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Chromatic Scales (in reply to Skai)
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Single line scale practice Firstly, such scales should preferably be practised with im, mi, ma, am, ia, ai and very importantly, ami. |---------------------------------------------------0-1-2-3-4----| |-----------------------------------------0-1-2-3-4--------------| |-------------------------------0-1-2-3-4------------------------| |---------------------0-1-2-3-4----------------------------------| |-----------0-1-2-3-4--------------------------------------------| |-0-1-2-3-4------------------------------------------------------| The reason why I do this scale with 5 notes per string, is that it will force you to use a different finger for string crossings, and not rely on only one. This exercise should be done with all finger combinations as follows. The reason being that the feel is different at the various positions for the left hand. |-----------------------------------------2-3-4-5--3-4-5-6-----------| |---------------------------------2-3-4-5------------------3-4-5-6---| |-------------------------2-3-4-5------------------------------------| |-----------------2-3-4-5--------------------------------------------| |---------2-3-4-5----------------------------------------------------| |-2-3-4-5------------------------------------------------------------| |--------------------------------------------------------------------| |--------------------------------------------------------------------| |-3-4-5-6--------------------------------------------------4-5-6-7---| |---------3-4-5-6----------------------------------4-5-6-7-----------| etc.... |-----------------3-4-5-6------------------4-5-6-7-------------------| |-------------------------3-4-5-6--4-5-6-7---------------------------| All the way till your pinky plays the 12th fret, and beyond it if you'd like to. Lastly, staccato scales should improve your speed, accuracy, articulation and most importantly, PICADO.
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Date Dec. 31 2005 0:50:03
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Skai
Posts: 317
Joined: Sep. 12 2004
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Left Hand Finger Independence (in reply to Skai)
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Left Hand Finger Independence This exercise is taken from Pumping Nylon and I find it a very good exercise that teaches finger independence and helps with your flexibility and agility. However these exercises can cause ALOT of tension esp when doing with the 3rd or 4th finger. So stop and rest when you feel the strain. I agree that you should push yourself on if you're simply a little tired. But the 'no pain, no gain' thing is complete crap and a recipe for injuries. 1. Your fingers are assigned to frets 5, 6, 7 and 8. 2. Anchor your 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger on the 3rd string 3. Play 5th fret of the 1st string with your 1st finger. Then lift it up and play the 5th fret of the 6th string with your 1st finger. Keep alternating between the 1st and 6th string. 4. Repeat the exercise for all left hand fingers while anchoring the other 3 fingers on the 3rd string. Make sure that the transition between notes are as smooth as possible. If you can't do it smoothly and fast, then do it smoothly and slowly. Conclusion Points to note: 1. All notes for all exercises should be played smoothly unless stated staccato. 2. Rhythm and tone should be as even as possible. If you can't play it evenly when playing fast, then slow down and play it evenly! 3. When you feel the strain, take a break. 4. Practise playing loud with the right hand but do it by gripping, not brute force. 5. You left hand should have minimal movement and your touch as light as possible. Use just enough pressure to get the sound. 6. Practise this set of exercises as a backup when you simply have no time. Or else, use it as part of your practice regime. 1hr of exercises and 2 or 3hrs of real playing, ie. repetoire, touching-up old pieces, composing etc. For example, you can't squeeze anything more than 30mins a day. These exercises will at least keep you at almost the same standard, which means you won't get much worst. Used as part of your daily practice, it'll improve your technique. Hope this set of exercises might be useful for some people. It has worked great for me even though I haven't spent much time on it. This applies to classical guitar but will help with flamenco as well. However, I will not go into flamenco technique exercises as I'm still not fully sure about what should be the ideal way of practising. Tip: Print a list of the exercises and paste them where you usually practise. That way you won't leave out anything and you'll be able to run through everything without having to recall.
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Try some Enrique Iglesias for some great cante.
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Date Dec. 31 2005 1:41:07
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Skai
Posts: 317
Joined: Sep. 12 2004
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RE: Daily Practice Regime (in reply to Skai)
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Sure I've time for music, in fact that's mostly what I do and exercises can be completed in half an hour. That's cause I don't have the discipline to do exercises everyday without fail. While repetoire helps you in progressing with musicality, expression, dynamics and interpretion, a basic level of technique is required. And thus these are the exercises that will bring your technique to a higher level. With these exercises, I've been able to improve on pieces I already know and pieces that I learn. New pieces take less time to learn and old pieces sound less sloppy. It's been a great help in my playing and saying 'great' isn't doing it justice. When technicalities are less of a problem, it leaves you with more effort in other details that differentiate you from a Guitarpro/MIDI software, ie. tone and expression. That being said, working on and learning music is extremely important as all technique and no music = Worthless. I feel that these exercises are particularly important in earlier stages in order to reach a decent standard to tackle more pieces. Preferably, 1/2 hr of exercises and 1 1/2 hr of repetoire. The reason why I use this set of exercises is also because when I simply have no time at all for guitar, I breeze through this list in less than 30mins and it maintains my technical standard, preventing me from 'losing' whatever I have. This was particularly important during my days in Army combat training. Lastly, this WILL NOT replace truely playing the instrument, it's just a booster jab and a vaccine to prevent you from getting worst.
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Try some Enrique Iglesias for some great cante.
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Date Dec. 31 2005 13:15:43
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sorin popovici
Posts: 429
Joined: Jan. 7 2005
From: Iasi, Romania
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RE: Daily Practice Regime (in reply to Skai)
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the thing is like that ...i can get 10 sec of my own stuff ...but doing 3 minutes of stuff ,that's hard...and if i do it ,2m30s are constructed and the chords are borrowed more or less and I have no idea ...how much I really meant it to be like that,it was all I knew at the time. Things get more ....like "look a new technical exercise" than a composition,for that u have to have the right ear , experience,know harmony ...so that u can decide what's stupid or not. can u listen this , this is from two years ago ...no flamenco experience then,headphone mic. well...I still like it in a way , so though i can complicate this now technically or even keep a tempo (cause i have a mistake somewhere there) ...i'm still more or less at the same level (i like arpeggios , dont know why). http://hal.cs.tuiasi.ro/~popovicis/bla.mp3 I think Todd listened to this sometime ago ,but well he didnt said anything cause it's probably ..not good.
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Date Jan. 1 2006 16:17:31
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Miguel de Maria
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
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RE: Daily Practice Regime (in reply to Skai)
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Samwise, the finger seems to be mostly healed,although it is weak from months of little use. I use it for arpeggios now, just have to start working it into apoyando too. It feels like something that hasn't been used for a long time, but it doesn't hurt. Sorin, I've come to a personal realization, and that's that in the end, we are all self-taught. If you just listen to the sounds you are making and to what your body is telling you (in other words, does it hurt), and spend most of your time doing it, you will do fine in music. Do you really listen hard to every note you play, like Grisha and Todd do, or do you just ask other people if it sounds good? You can read whatever book you want or study with Paco de Lucia, and you aren't going to go anywhere unless you sit in the room by yourself and devote yourself 100% to the guitar. On the other hand, you don't need a teacher and if you devote yourself, you'll do fine. It seems to me that all the good players are either really smart or at least smart about the guitar. They keep an open mind to what they are trying to do, and through process of elimination, they make their own rules. I have noticed that you ask a lot of questions that have no answer, like "what do I do with my life." Just jump in and give it your all, and I think you'll be fine. (just my opinion of course)
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Date Jan. 1 2006 16:57:32
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sorin popovici
Posts: 429
Joined: Jan. 7 2005
From: Iasi, Romania
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RE: Daily Practice Regime (in reply to Skai)
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Miguel ....I wanna apologize ,i'm not lecturing here this is just my opinion. I dont want trouble,and I do respect u for your hard path that u chose. quote:
Do you really listen hard to every note you play, like Grisha and Todd do, or do you just ask other people if it sounds good? I have little experience compared to others ,I think sometime that I know it ....and that the answer is "yes" ....but surely the correct answer is not that easy to find,and now at the begining maybe the answer is "no". It is because I DOUBT my judgement I ask others . Lets say u are in a foreign city and want to get to the townhall....what's best ,spend ten hours of really really thinking and observing or ask for directions from a man that u know that he knows the answer? Sure ,that asking yourself is important because u find your own answers ....but u still have to verify that answer by asking others. When somebody records smth here and say ..."hey can u listen this?" is not just for showoff(it is sometimes for that also ,also for getting a little respect ...cause otherwise here nody knows who u are as a guitar player) but also because he needs to verify that things are like he thinks it. (y do we listen to them and give opinions , because in this process of listening to them ...we also learn,more or less) Now, I wouldnt advise beeing completely alone in learning smth.... I put lots of questions that saves me lots of time...can u imagine that if u knew exactly what to practice,u will be better not in 10 years but in 5 maybe. Have u never read on this foro a phrase like "my playing is better now thanks to the people here"? that beeing said ...every arguement I made here ,I think u already knew. The real problem is when u do learn smth is how to learn. U can learn from 1.your own experience 2.from others 3.using 1 and 2 Now,I think it is evident for everybody that the corect answer is 3. Again , the real real problem is how much do u take from others and how much from your own experience. my answer is smth like: a)if u are a beginner u better take 10% from your own experience and 90% from others b)if u are advanced u better take 50% from your own experience and 50% from others c)if u are pro .............bla bla now , I believe that this deciding these procents..is your job. There is nothing to talk about ,and there is no misunderstanding ....u think that I ask too much,but it's still my job to decide the procentage ,to find what I do lack in my education. Henrik for example, has very short sentences...I am not there like he is so I need 90% of other people experience. I think this thing I said aplies to every domain , so as I do study engineering ..I think I can have a solid opinion on this topic(the topic of learning),ofcourse if it is about music ...I dont know the details ...so I ask.I'm not forcing anyone into answering. Again I apologize ...i dont want u to be upset about me saying these things,but even if I dont say it ....I still think like that,and it's better for me to say it ...cause maybe I'm wrong and u'll show me that I'm wrong(if u would like and have the time).
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Date Jan. 1 2006 22:12:37
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Miguel de Maria
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
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RE: Daily Practice Regime (in reply to Skai)
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Sorin, I gave you the absolute best advice I could, what can I say? This is what I have learned and I wish I knew it when I was your age, or even much younger (I'm only 31 after all). We all have to take our own paths in life. I will tell you a couple of stories before I leave the field... 1. A businessman met a great and respected retired cellist, and said, "Maestro do you remember me?" The maestro said, sorry he did not. The businessman said, "Really? I was studying cello, and they told me I had lots of talent. So I was given the great privilege to play for you. And you told me 'You lack the fire.' Based on your advice, I quit and tried my hand at business. So you don't remember that?" The maestro shrugged. "Sorry, but I have listened to thousands of aspring cellists play. And I always tell them the same thing: 'You lack the fire.' The ones who lack the fire, quit. The ones who have the fire, they don't listen to anybody, anyway, and they'll make it no matter what anyone says!" 2. A university student studying engineering and zen had the incredible chance to meet a zen master at his house. The master prepared tea. During the conversation, the student talked and talked, hardly listening to the master or giving him a chance to say anything. At one point, the master poured tea in a cup for the student, right up the rim, and kept pouring and pouring. The tea overflowed onto the table. "What are you doing!" cried the student, shocked. The master calmly said, "Like the cup, you are full of your own ideas. How can I teach you unless you empty yourself first?" The book Zen Guitar might help you.
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Date Jan. 2 2006 1:02:06
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