Practicing the Blues Bassline.
Tomo, I am making progress on keeping my fingers down more often. Definitely better than my first tries.This is very hard to do. I am only on the I (one) chord. Do you have any feedback for me on this exercise after watching the video?
Nice! You are working hard Scott!
Keep listening to Tomo. We're getting somewhere.
Thanks again for updating us!
Kurt
Thanks for sharing your practice, Scott! It's so inspiring. And the cap looks great on you!
Looked pretty good, Scott. I could see a finger or two wanting to "fly up" from the fretboard, but you willed them back down!
Great progress Scott! I am so happy to hear this! Okay a few things you can do so you can improve more!
1) Play simple rhytrhm. So play one note each and sustain more!
2) Go slower so that you have more time to fix your 2nd and 3rd fingers movement.
3) Lower the front pickup... 2.00 to 3.00 mm lower the 6th string side so you can get better tone!
More you play slower and much simpler... more chance you will improve! Great work!
Tomo
Ah, yes, one note at a time. I forgot. I will lower my front pickup. I also changed my strings from 9s to 10s, so I had to adjust the floating bridge in the back slightly. Slower. I believe it. Slower, I will do.
Thank you Scott! One note is good! Simple is better! Good job! 10-46 set is good. I do slow a lot.
Tomo
Super slowly!
Tomo
So great to see this! Thank you Richard! Good job! It sounds great!
1) Bassline .... 1st and 2nd note. Do not connect too close. Almost you had two notes together a short second.
2) Those solos sounds great! Play bassline much softer than soloing.
3) While you are soloing, try to use less pressure from your left hand.
Sounds so good! Good job Rich! I love it! PS. Practice simple bassline more! Good for you.
Tomo
Thanks for the feedback Tomo.
You listen so closely!!
I didn’t even notice my first and second notes were bleeding into each other.
I’ll pay attention now.
I think I wanted the phrases to be louder than the baseline so I used too much pressure.
I’ll practice using less pressure and playing the baseline even softer.
Thanks again for listening so closely.
You're very welcome Rich! I practice only bassline part a lot! repeat more than 10 times and sing melodies and sing soloing ideas etc.
Little thing... but I noticed it right away. It's always better to play one thing and play it very slow so you will notice something. You can play your solo phrase as you wish and you can play your bassline a little more softer so you have more contrast that way. Sounds good! I always try to use less pressure from my left hand/fingers. My pleasure! Thanks for sharing!
Tomo
Okay everyone. This is very basic and slow, but this is where I am at with the Blues Bassline. I'm throwing this video out there for feedback about keeping my fingers down better. If I go faster, my fingers fly all over. LOL.
Good job Scott! Playing that bassline slow is so good! It is not easy but you can keep doing that with chromatic scale every day!
It's better to practice with super dry tone so that you can make this process effective. Very nice effect tone for fun!
Tomo
Job well done, Scott. Beautiful guitar, btw.
I think will take a long time to do this exercise correctly. I can do it (and the shuffle), but my fingers still fly all over the place. I need patience.
Good job! This case, you need to practice more foundation which is simple chromatic scale.
Tomo
Should I practice vertical chromatic scale or extend the exercise from the first to twelfth fret?
You can try that too if you want. Only 5th fret to 7th fret so you can focus. Less is better!
For regular chromatic scale on the 4th and 3rd strings. Do that one for everyday.
Tomo
Okay. Great! I will continue doing that on both strings.
I am also working on keeping my fingers down when practicing C and F Major Scale positions all over the neck. I am excited. I appreciate your incredible patience with me.
Sometimes, I feel like I will never progress, then I remember your positivity and I shift my mindset. Don't Worry, Don't Compare, Don't Expect Too Fast, Be Kind to Yourself. These help me so much not be so hard on myself. Thank you for all you do for us to help us learn the wisdom we need to be successful.
Here is my latest progress on the Blues Bassline. Very slow and simple to start.
Thank you Scott for sharing your video! It is getting better and better! Keep it slow. Don't worry about tempo.
A few things that you can pay attention to...
1) First note to 2nd note (Octave higher) do not connect two note together. It is easy to do. So when you play the 2nd note, you need to release the 1st note.
2) Sustain each note much longer. This way you susutain each note with relaxed fingering form. Once you can susutain all 4 notes. While you are sustain,you can fix other fingers position. You can push your tempo slowly.
3) Do practice simple chromatic scale with right fingering movement. I did this about one year without learning and playing any songs! That's why when I started learning and playing song.... pretty smooth.
Tomo
Tomo, thank you for your feedback. I will do these things. I am practicing the chromatic scale,1212, R37, and C major scale every day.
That's huge progress in 5 days Scott - nice work - can hear your effort paying off.
Woah! Very nice
That IS good progress. Sounds nice, Scott.
Thank you Clay, Cruz, Linda and Rich for encouragement!
I was a biginner once and it was not easy to learn things at first time. I was so lucky that I jusu didnot know how to play any songs so I just kept listening music a lot and I only practiced chromaic scale for a year. That experince really helped when I started learning songs and some guitar solo.
Can you imagine that Jeff Beck was a biginner once!
Stevie Ray Vaughan was a biginner once!
Tomo
Crazy to think that everyone was once a beginner (don't compare! LOL, Like I could compare to Jeff Beck RN). I must be patient because I want to do the most complicated things and play like a virtuoso, but I'm glad I have all of you to help me through my journey. Thank you all.
Thank you Scott! Like Jeff Beck... he was so curious about music and guitar so I bet he was super patient toward music in general. Now days... too much fast and easy information via internet and YouTube from YouTubers... I want to teach guitar... but I have to do more fixing than teaching how to play
You are doing fantastic job here!
Tomo
Thank you Tomo! Please fix me all you want to! LOL! I will listen and keep going!
This blues bassline is the hardest exercise for me to do because of my unruly fingers, but I will get there I know. :)
That's great perspective, Tomo:
"I (Tomo) was a beginner once, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a biginner once"
