[Bluesyzep]

I've been working on this tune "Boogie Blues" in 4/4 for a few days now. Probably 12 hours or so. Over and over. I'm learning to up stroke. It seems to me that that to play this correctly I should not be able to distinguish between 1 & 2 & 1 & 2. It should be one fluid up/down throughout the song. Is that correct? Know what I mean? Maybe I need another 12 hours or so of this.

[Nem]

i dont really know what you mean, but when you count 4/4, it goes 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

and your "8th notes" aka quavers are played as the upstroke on the &

so the strumming is fluid in the way that you go down up down up, is that what youre asking? i dunno :s

[Bluesyzep]

Originally Posted by Nem

i dont really know what you mean, but when you count 4/4, it goes 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

and your "8th notes" aka quavers are played as the upstroke on the &

so the strumming is fluid in the way that you go down up down up, is that what youre asking? i dunno :s

Oops. My mistake about the count.

Answered. One fluid motion from one down/up to the next down/up. The song just seemed insanely fast and thought I was trying too hard to be perfect. Going to be a long week of practice.

[Hero]

i dont know any of that stuff, eight notes,etc

[Bennett]

Basically, for a song in 4/4 time (4 beats per measure), each beat is a QUARTER note. Four quarters = 1 measure. Each note is one beat (1 2 3 4 1 ...).

Eighth notes are just half that. So a note on the beat and on the "&": 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & ...

Then you have 16th notes etc. You can also get dotted notes and such.

A good starter lesson to look at is right here on this forum.

[Bluesyzep]

I've been up late the last couple of nights working on this. Making progress. Almost fast enough to keep up with the recording. Few more hours of practice might do it. I'm not used to the rapid changes from note to note and string to string but that's the whole point in learning.

I'm pretty much learning to read ahead and memorize while playing the current note.

Someone said 16th notes! Now I'm getting scared. Must be something Eddie Van Halen came up with.

[6string]

Originally Posted by Bluesyzep

Someone said 16th notes! Now I'm getting scared. Must be something Eddie Van Halen came up with.

I've heard of 32nd notes, 64th notes and 128th notes, be afraid, be very afraid lol

[Bluesyzep]

Been working on it some more for the last couple of weeks off and on and am not getting anywhere. Tempted to skip the lesson but don't think that's the answer. Felt like breaking the damn thing and figured I'd better give you guys a try again. Is it normal to have problems at this stage? It doesn't seem like I can physically move any faster. I started off relaxed but tend to hold the pick tighter and tighter. Start cramping and get frustrated.

I was reading the "Take Lessons vs. Teach Yourself" thread. I'm intrigued by the idea of using the metronome to learn speed. I traded my Korg for a BOSS TU-80 to get the metronome feature. The instructions were pretty vague and I find the click click sound to be pretty irritating. Basically, I don't know how to use the damn thing except for tuning.

Any tips for learning to play faster or if someone can give a rundown of how these electronic metronomes works would be helpful. Thanks guys.

[Lcjones]

Hey BluesyZep,

Just my thoughts here...... I don't know your level of playing, but my recommendation is to not try and get the speed before you know the song. Just work on the transitions. Speed will come later. I promise. Once you are comfortable with doing the tune without the speed, then you can start to crank it up. But get comfortable with it first.

And speed isn't everything in guitar playing. Take your time and in the immortal words of Bob Dylan, "I'll know my song well, before I start to sing".

Les

[Bennett]

Hi Bluesy.

I must say I can't quite figure out your problem exactly.

Is it that you're having trouble with STRUMMING as such or is it more a case of single notes?

Also, maybe you could post up a recording so we can get a better idea of where the problem lies?

I can't give you any advice re the electronic metronome since I only use an online one, however as for playing faster, well, there's a saying that in order to play faster you have to start slower ... or something like that.

So start with your metronome slow and focus on getting it right, rather than focusing on speed. It can be frustrating but it's better than chasing your tail.

Anyhoo, let us know exactly what you're having trouble with and we'll hopefully point you in the right direction.

[737blues]

Sounds to me like you should give yourself a break from this one. Move on and come back to it. I got really frustrated trying to do 'Guitar Boogie' like Tommy Emmanuel does it ... then I got realistic and concentrated on just playing it slowly and accurately, trying to build the speed a bit at a time, without losing the rhythm. Some days I can get it close but other days ... Well, I just keep working on it but don't get hung up over it.

[Bluesyzep]

Originally Posted by 737blues

Sounds to me like you should give yourself a break from this one. Move on and come back to it. I got really frustrated trying to do 'Guitar Boogie' like Tommy Emmanuel does it ... then I got realistic and concentrated on just playing it slowly and accurately, trying to build the speed a bit at a time, without losing the rhythm. Some days I can get it close but other days ... Well, I just keep working on it but don't get hung up over it.

I would have moved on but figured that it wouldn't be in the lesson plan at this point if I wasn't supposed to be able and handle it. Maybe I am just pushing but considering the time that I've put into it figured I would be further along by now. I've probably played this tune 200 times at least.

Also, being a perfectionist I have a self-imposed rule where I have to play and match the recorded song twice in a row before I move to the next lesson. I'm going to try some of the reccommendations here and then consider moving on.

[Bluesyzep]

Originally Posted by Bennett

Hi Bluesy.

I must say I can't quite figure out your problem exactly.

Is it that you're having trouble with STRUMMING as such or is it more a case of single notes?

Also, maybe you could post up a recording so we can get a better idea of where the problem lies?

I can't give you any advice re the electronic metronome since I only use an online one, however as for playing faster, well, there's a saying that in order to play faster you have to start slower ... or something like that.

So start with your metronome slow and focus on getting it right, rather than focusing on speed. It can be frustrating but it's better than chasing your tail.

Anyhoo, let us know exactly what you're having trouble with and we'll hopefully point you in the right direction.

I can hit the notes and transition fairly well but when I try to play up to speed I start losing it. I'm going to go back and break it down. I'll try using the metronome but still not sure about it. I'll figure it out though.

[Bluesyzep]

Originally Posted by lcjones

Hey BluesyZep,

Just my thoughts here...... I don't know your level of playing, but my recommendation is to not try and get the speed before you know the song. Just work on the transitions. Speed will come later. I promise. Once you are comfortable with doing the tune without the speed, then you can start to crank it up. But get comfortable with it first.

And speed isn't everything in guitar playing. Take your time and in the immortal words of Bob Dylan, "I'll know my song well, before I start to sing".

Les

Taking a chill pill now. Think you're right.

[LeeB]

Originally Posted by Bluesyzep

Taking a chill pill now. Think you're right.

Good advice from Les I think...and good advice to yourself.... Its takes a long time to play a song slowly before speeding it up.... in my experience.