Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Yes! We like to listen....

To the blues...

and Jazz
and Soul
and Funk
and ..
whatever else people here at GW listen to "just for pleasure"

Did I say The Blues?!? :-)

Have a great weekend, Jeff!
Kurt

Great job Scott reviewing your playing! This is going to pay off big time

Yay I have been excited to see this challenge in action. Well done Scott. I have got the first line down and am going to start the next line tomorrow. I will be posting most likely after Christmas. Keep going.

Thank you Jeff and Serena for encouragement!

Tomo

Okay, great. I will keep going! I love this exercise. I will watch the videos again.

Thank you Scott! Good job!

Tomo

Thank you Kurt for encouragement! Great effort from Scott!

Tomo

This is very helpful. A couple of notes just in the first minute:
- When you finish the last note, still keep the second finger down.
- Then, the next string, keep the first finger, second finger lightly touching the string, not pressing.
- Palm muting the bottom string

Focus and practice on feeling:
- Count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
- Move your body
- Downbeat (1, 2, 3, 4) body moves forward
- Upbeat (&) body moves back

Thank you Sammi! You're a great teacher!

Tomo

Thank you for the notes on this Sammi. This video shows the picking rest and counting really well. I was wondering about that as I work on this exercise. I have heard of a term 'ghost picking' , where one makes the pick motion yet, does not hit the string. It seems to apply to keep the groove moving. I mean I don't think a pick stand still would flow very easily. Thank you, - johno

Thanks for the notes Sammi. I was also thinking body moves forward on down beat when watching. Thank you!

Hi Scott,
Look at the stroke direction marks above the notes. Whenever there are 2 strokes in the same direction, the "rest" or" skip" is between those two notes. This is about picking direction as much as anything.
Kurt

Thank you Scott! Move your body with same picking diredction while couting loud 1& 2& 3& 4& and look at music deeply! That way you will understand each patterns. I will do!

Tomo

Thank you Kurt for your suggestion! Those directions are very helpful too!

Tomo

I will put this into practice, Tomo. Thank you so much.

I thought that was the way to read the music. Thank you. I will keep going.

Thank you, Tomo. This is much appreciated. I will study it very closely. I want to ensure that I do this exercise correctly.

My pleasure Scott! Plesae enjoy it!

Tomo

Tomo, making good progress on the Alternate Picking Challenge. It feels so good to go slow and take my time to make sure I am moving my body and counting correctly. Taking the time to skip the correct note. Thank you. I am enjoying this and will keep going.

i love this scott.
good job man, truly.
let's keep learning together.

So happy to hear that Scott! Good job! Your consistant efforts are so beautuiful!

Tomo

Hey LaVoy! That is fast!
What's up man. Hope the last term was awesome and you're getting some downtime in. I love the ascii art guitar. (Sorry I took over your good morning thread. I have some guilt about this...been practicing most mornings though and regularly. Thank you. :))

Haha that is okay. Made it for everyone.
I am both a night owl and a morning dove. Somedays both.
-LaVoy

Right on!

Thumbs up! Nice work David - sounds good.

Good job David! Thank you for sharing this video. Don’t worry about dynamics yet. First you want to focus on accuracy as much as you can. First thing I noticed it …. 1bar 4th beat … that is not a 8th note so you need longer duration. One more technical thing that you need to keep all your fingers close to the fretboard until you finish the last note of each bar. So you need to understand about tempo choice… this is a little too fast with your accuracy of duratuon and fingering movement. All good! Great effort so far…now you need to become a great teacher for yourself! Please check the last bar…. start with up stroke on end of 1!

Do you have reverb on? Notation B… it was a little difficult to hear any unwanted noise from strings. (harmonics or any open sound) In order to catch these … no reverb, less bass and more bass. Duration problem! Check 2nd bar…. end of 3rd beat…. on the 4th beat is no sound but you sustained! Please check that. Just like that. This tempo is a little hard to hear all noises, directions of picking and each note duration. This is often happening that you paid attention on notes and rhythm but you need to do a little more deeper! Good job! You can fix them very easy.

So everyone should know about guitar learning is not just learning how to play correct notes. More about fixing typical fingering problem, picking direction problem or duration problem. That one of reason this one page taught me many things.

Tomo

HUGE THUMBS UP RIGHT BACK AT YA!!!!!!!!!

NO ANGER INTENDED!!!!!!! ALL EXCITEMENT!!!!
-LTR

Hey Tomo,

I honestly appreciate such a detailed response. I’m going to try to really internalize your points and apply as well as I can.

As for the reverb… yeah, I just got some new gear and I think I had a little reverb on it. My mistake.

If I get enough time I’ll try to do another take in after some time and see if I’ve improved. I appreciate it Tomo!

Thank you Jeff for encouragement! Yes. David did an excellent job with a metronome!

This page really can help your picking and time feel. You can pracrice slowly to faster as your challenge. Important point is to play softer as you get faster!

1) Metronome at 60 to 100....
2) Metronome at 40 to 80 (2&4)
3) Metronome at 80 to 110 (2&4)

Tomo

Thanks, Tomo. Great tips and clarification.
This demonstration is still a little fast for me.
Moving my body with each pick stroke at slow tempo has REALLY helped me get my accuracy.
Slowly trying faster tempos.
I'm doing this everyday with chromatic and R37 and sight reading etc.
Just staying with it every day is making a difference. Thank you for all the help!
Kurt

My pleasure Kurt! This Challenge is one idea and a few other choices.

How about this? Metronome setting: 55 at every beat, 65 at every beat, 75 at every beat then 40 at 2&4.

Moving body is super important! Body language with groove!

Thanks so much for your commitment and pure passion! You make our forum so good!

Tomo

Thanks, Tomo! That helps. 2 & 4 at 40 seems really slow and easy.
I can actually do it pretty well on 2 & 4 at 60 and 80.
2 and 4 is new for me for this exercise.
I had only been doing it on every beat for the last couple of weeks (at 100, 120. 138)
Kurt

Thanks for the video, Tomo. More gems of advice. Does the pick need to be secured slightly more firmly as the picking gets faster and the movements more precise? I always assumed so, or is there another better approach?

Fantastic! Good job Kurt! That case do metronome at 40,55,65,75 (2&4)?

Every beat is very important too! 100, 120 & 138 then 50, 60, 64 on 2&4 as well.

Tomo