Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

My attempt on the "soft" picking as below; same settings as above, thanks.

Notes on this lesson (basically a read-out of Tomo's lesson with slight re-organizations) for sharing and future reference:

1. One-string, one finger approach with C Major
2. 2nd string, 1st Finger
a. Fret 1 onwards, C D E F G A B C
3. Distinguish between intervals of Major 3rd and Minor 3rd
a. Major 3rd: C to E, where E is C’s major 3rd (two full steps)
b. Minor 3rd: E to G, where G is E’s minor 3rd (two full steps THEN one half-step down)
4. Ear training
a. Do Re; Do Mi; Do Fa… so on and on until octave
5. Playing (alternate picking is OK; start with downstroke)
a. C Major Scale: 6th String Root
i. 8th Fret, 2nd finger, Root start
b. C Major Scale: 5th String Root
i. 3rd Fret, 2nd finger, Root start
c. C Major Scale: 4th String Root
i. 10th Fret, 2nd finger, Root start
ii. Remember to shift half-step up on B string (due to standard tuning)
d. C Major Scale: 3rd String Root
i. 4th Fret, 1st finger, Root start

Take-away summary for this lesson: Learn notes, intervals, degrees, ear training and singing.

Thank you Hugo for sharing.

Don't touch your guitar volume knob that often. Set it around 8 and do not touch it unless you play R 3 7 Swing groove. I think it's too close from iPhone.

You can play it very slowly. Did you practice One String One Finger approach on 2nd string?
When you do it, do not look at your fingers.

Good job! Nice and clean. Very smooth. Your picking position could move a little toward a fronf pickup.

Tomo

Good job Hugo! Always practice softer picking! (When you are playing without an amp... you cannot hear any sound from your guitar.... that soft!)

Tomo

When you post a video, after this, please wait 2 weeks then you can post another one.

Tomo

Thanks so much Kim Sun Ho for sharing your thoughts & this live video! Yes! The strap length is super important! Once I had to play a guitar with a super long strap! (Another mistake!) with Marty Friedman!

Funny story..... I remembered that the Fender Deluxe Reverb sounded so great at rehearsal. Then I noticed something... this amp was a little bright at sound check. Finally I noticed it that this amp was not real tube amp! (I noticed it around A section of KYOTO!) But it was too late! So I believed as if this amp was a real tube amp! (It was a little hard to play it through... but I do whatever takes! Life is a great lesson!) This amp was not a real tube amp so I had to cover with my picking volume and nuances.

Tomo

Nice to meet you Sun Ho, and thanks for the kind words, which is a huge boost for me! (I watched the video for posture info but got lost enjoying the music instead. I don't exactly know the genre/style but I can't imagine time passes so fast in this piece. Haha.)

You actually read my mind on the posture and strap issue. It has been tough issue for me, as I have been trying guitar support (the one like Performaxe), classical position, footrest; but unfortunately so far nothing really feels perfect for me. Part of the blame is actually on me, as I used to work in the office and had bad posture. Adding to that is I rarely exercise. So now, my body starts to show all sorts of posture problems (back, shoulder, etc), which is too early for my age. I'm at the very slim side, even among Asians. Together with learning guitar, I am doing more exercise and cardio to better my condition.

Back to the main topic, from my research, I understand that the "overall best / better" position is to have the guitar at a comfortable level (provided that the posture is right of course) while standing (strap on); and while sitting, the less that it deviates with standing position is better.

Initially, the guitar support seemed to work well. But after a while, I find that I can never get the guitar as "centred" as it has to be like I am standing on my left or right lap. I then tend to slowly slant into either way, no matter how hard I try to sit up straight. It seems to be a physical issue of the guitar support.

The "more traditional" footrest option seems to work well (I bought a Hercules one) but it's bad for blood circulation and for longer sessions (even if I rest for 5-minute stretch/walk between every session), I still feel uncomfortable. I also tried sometimes clinging my foot slightly to the chair (like those guitar stool in music stores). To my surprise, it sometimes feel OK. I guess I have a weird body ratio (and because I'm not in a healthy shape).

I also can't get the standing position right, as you have observed. From the video, I saw Tomo's shoulders are very relaxed; the guitar neck is around 30-45 degrees from his body; his left forearm has around 90 degree leeway (not too high nor too low) for main access of the fretboard; and the right forearm/hand rest just right slightly on the body - but for the live of me, I just haven't found my best position.

I got the general idea that both hands must be free to access respective parts of the guitar. I'll keep trying and exploring!

P.S. Yes, especially my right shoulder twisted backwards a bit too extreme in certain of my posture.. when I try to get ease of access for my fretting hand. I'll try again relaxing the strap slowly and try for positions, then translate to the sitting position.

Hugo

Thanks Tomo!

Come to think of longer strap. When I was in highschool, as a bystander/observer to classmates who do bands. They said it's cooler to have the strap way down. Perhaps it's the reason!

For tube amps, I'll see if there is a chance for me to taste "real meat" burgers. I haven't understood the difference between them but I'll research. Looking forward to that!

Hugo

Thanks so much Tomo for the insights and sharing! I especially LOVE that you went different directions, which are all inspiring and have allowed me to soothely bathe in the "hotspring" of guitar. I can't express how happy I am, waking up at 7 (and coincidentally, I practised until 12-ish last night).

On sitting and general position/posture:
I'm sitting on a saddle-type drum throne currently (knee at 90 degrees) and I'll definitely try the two leg positions to slightly elevate the guitar. In some ways, I suspect that why guitar support or foot rest didn't really work for me was because they actually place the guitar too high or give too much "up" angle for me (I'm around 175cm tall). Always exploring! (Side note: I think it's true too that you are so accustomed to balancing the guitar, because when I was sitting the guitar on my right lap, sometimes it will fall to the left side (but my guitar definitely do not have neck dive problem. This comes with time for me too! But that's easy solution: "Just play more" for me.))

On the amp (and settings):
I think I have watched your other video about that practice amp (and your current amp position be one of my two placements - if I got my hands on the Vibro (more likely getting a B-stock)/Blues Jr 30th. It's real tough choice as they are so similarly priced. Vibro definitely works in my small room but Blues Jr has more versatility if I decided to use it not just for practice).

The settings resonate me deeply, though I am using the "veg burger" plugins. All other bells and whistles off, cranking up treble and overall volume and lowering bass give a "nowhere to hide" environment dedicated for practice. For practice, it's not so much about "good" tone but maybe it's more about spotchecking, so a lousy cabinet/speaker without any tempering may actually do a better job (as long as it is not malfunctioning or damaged of course haha). I have incorporated this setting philosophy in other tasks and exercises.

On the C Major scale - I'll update my practice with:
1. all downstrokes (and alternate picking) with rhythmic body movement (without tempo and later with slow tempo)
2. lighter picking on the 6th string in contrast to other strings
3. play with quarter notes first

On the C scale single note exercise (I'm trying on all strings):
1. My current way is to listen and also think about the full/half steps between each note when I move my fretting hand.
2. But I have to confess sometimes I "cheated" by waiting and letting my index finger to ever so slightly glide on the fret (after gently lifting and avoid finger noise) to feel how many frets I have to go across. NO cheating, Hugo!
3. Mistakes are actually GREAT, because I'm actually doing ear training when I hit a wrong note (higher or lower? I asked myself)
(Again, it's just so many details whether you have named them, but there's deep reason to everything - I love it.)

Philosophy: get simple and slow; lay good foundation before speeding up or going with tempo/metronome. The faster we try to rush, the slower we improve.

On the acoustic (guitars):
It makes so much sense that the car anology crosses through both playing and life. Every car is different (character and how to "drive"), needs proper maintenance; or else, they break down middle of the road or slowly something goes wrong (You're right. I've learnt my lesson, happily, now somewhat early enough in my life).

Now I happily steal this chord from you (let me figure out on my own what it is!)!

Can't express how much of my gratitude and peaceful happiness again.

Hugo

You're very welcome! So happy to hear that Hugo! "Peaceful happiness" Glad to be helpful! Simple, slow and less choices and better not look for one correct answer.

Tomo

Thanks much Sammi! We got the exact same proverb for mistakes - the mother of success :)

I'll pick up the speed once I recover better from allergies. See you in the streams!

Hugo

Thank you Hugo for sharing your video. Do Re Mi Do Major scale exercise is very important! Around 0:45… you can hear other string is ringing so you need to practice a little slower. It is very simple method. Once you hear a few noises, that tempo is no good. Simply you need to slow down. Great example… around 1:02… you could not keep up tempo and play notes cleanly so you need to slow down. I am so happy that you are using an amp! Good job! Move your body with melody, tempo, music! Your body is not moving! You need to feel music much more deeply! This is so good! Great tone! I love it! Good job!

Maybe you should keep it simple. Major scale one octave from 6th string, 5th string and 3rd string. This way, you keep it simple.

Tomo

Thank you so much Tomo. I'll dial it down a bit and be mindful of these! Will do a 4th or 8th note on a 4 4 signature only after I am better at muting the strings.

Hugo

My pleasure! No need to do alll! Pick 3 positions and play them super slow. Move your body with music!

Tomo

Sure, Tomo. I know one of your suggested ways is to move our head with the beat/groove; but by no means of challenge, I wonder if it's also possible to use my heel and toe. I'm trying to move my (left) heel for the beats and my toe for the first beat (or just all heels). I know you mentioned in one video that it's not good making noises with the toe.

A related Q: Can I move both head and heel at the same time to develop groove? Thank you!

Hugo

Thank you Hugo for replying! Move your body is so good. You can also move your feet but no sound is better. Yes. Both.

Tomo