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Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
"Coupling" issue - serious...
No this isn't a dodgy request! This is what ToddK said when advising John about his picado runs
quote:
I think you might have a very very slight "coupling" issue between I and M.
Although I'm nowhere near at John's level, I'm struggling with a coupling issue between M and A in arpegios - when I play at speed M is always a little bit late, so a fraction too close to A. At first I thought it was the nail catching, but it isn't. So I practice REAL slow. But if I try faster it goes back to it's previous pattern. Any suggestions?
hey ailsa, this is where technique becomes soo gruelling and slave-driving. but you're doing the right thing, you already know what you're trying to improve and with persistency of the obsessive variety you will see results. as with all cases of training techniques, it comes down to extreme patience - something im training in itself! - so id say keep listening to examples of good arpeggios and going it over with the metronome until it eventually gives in lol and i think that the robotic right hand takes a loooong time to get, and a human hand doesnt seem to suffice!! perhaps gerardo's got a bionic hand......
Posts: 2879
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England
RE: "Coupling" issue - ser... (in reply to luke.park)
Hi Ailsa, I posted this advice to someone struggling with Pimami arpegios, but can be applied to Pima too if thats your trouble spot.
quote:
Hey, another good practise technique for this (as well as everything else) is overlapping/underlapping. Its helped me a great deal especialy with my continous rasgueado.
basically it goes like this...... for arps...
.....If you are playing pimami, pimami etc,...then you have six strokes.
For underlapping, Play very slowly and precisely and count each stroke as you go. Count in fives. 1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5 etc and stress every stroke on the count of 1.
So you'd end up with.... PimamIpimaMipimAmipiMamipImamiP......etc etc 1234512345123451234512345123451.....etc etc You are basically changing where the stress is everytime. The stress moves in the opposite direction of the apr.
For overlapping you just count in sevens and again stress every count of one. this time the stress moves in the same direction as the arp.
Does this make sense??
It may sound confusing here but once you try it you will see how it works and its fairly straight forward. Once you've cracked it its good to use on other techniques aswell.
Stu
In your case, if you are doing four stroke arps then you would count in 5s to overlap and 3s to underlap.
Try it if it makes sense, if it doesn't I'll show you on Sunday
Stu's advice is very good - a classic method for dealing with many problems. Practising scales with M and A (slowly) can help too.
Here's another arp exercise you might like to try (assuming that you have i-m-a on 3-2-1, and p on whatever bass note you like, depending on the chord). Practise groups of five, grouped into 2+3 by accenting M and A like this: p i M i m |A m A m i
...slowly and evenly, concentrating on the exact placement (in time) of m and a in particular. It really focuses the attention on the relationship (there's that 'coupling' thing again ) between those two fingers.
Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
RE: "Coupling" issue - ser... (in reply to Estevan)
Thanks Stu and Estevan! Will try those in my practice tonight.
Stu your explanation is fine - the accent is either one note more, or one note less, than the pattern, so it moves one note every time. Maths I can do, it's just arps!
Simply landing my "weak" finger ON the strong beat usually works out the bugs for me. Use a metronome, medium speed. Mipa, Mipa, etc. Or Mapi, Mapi, or Mamipi, or Mipima.
If the string M finger is on is 2nd string, I might change just that note in the chord each beat so I have a melodic focus as well as rhythmic.
Cut you fingernails short, so your fingers can adapt to the movement without fingernail snagging. Then when you get smooth and fast, let them grow back out a bit. Long nails can cause all kinds of misery when trying to develop speed at some techniques.
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) between those two fingers. 
Will try those in my practice tonight. 
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