When I count the time 1 and 2 and 3 and… etc while doing the picking exercises (and the guitar method book) I hear myself counting, but I don’t really hear the notes I’m playing. If I don’t count I hear the notes, but the time is in my head and not as accurate.
I’m counting and thinking up or down pick more than the notes. Does this happen to anyone else? Is it normal at first?
Don't worry! You can do this super slowly! First you need to move your body so you can really feel all down beats ( 1 2 3 4 ) and up beats (..&..&..&..&)
It is very hard at first! I just didnot have any good sense of time at all! So you can do this!I I think you are not moving your body with 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &....
Please do Page 14 Imitation Duet while you are counting.
Then do Page 18 a lot with super slow tempo. Do these for 2-3 weeks.
Tomo
John - I am on pp18 and 19, and I had the same struggles making two parts of my brain work at the same time. It's better now. I'm on my 4th or 5th week I think. Second exercise on pg18 is still hard for me to count. I can play it fine from feel / sound / Tomo's video. But when I try to count it at the same time, I get tripped up sometimes.
Great job challenging yourself to learn to read music John! Go slowly and repeat the exercises and lessons many times.
It is normal for the counting to be super-duper hard at first. Thankfully we have Tomo's lessons to help us along.
The main thing is to stick with it and follow Tomo's advice on moving your body. You are guaranteed to improve if you just keep at it.
I have the important real-paper book "book" of course, but also the digital iPad/iPhone version.
The digital version has recordings of the exercises. I use it to confirm the timing of some of the passages (rests, doted notes, tied notes etc.) I play everything super-duper slowly for a long, long time. After 6 and 1/2 months, I'm only up to pages 36 and 37. No hurry. I am reviewing everything I've worked on up to this for a few minutes (very. very insanely early each and every morning :-).
It is a slow process, but the payoff is huge as we get better and keep challenging ourselves.
Like Clay said, we get tripped up sometimes. it is part of the process.
We are getting better if we just keep at it slowly. No hurry! Just be consistent and stay with it a little each day.
Kurt
Day 194 of 1095 straight days of sight-reading
Hello John! I made this video for you. Hope this one is helpful for you. Please let me know if you need any help. Thank you for being here with us.
Tomo
Thank you Clay for sharing! I spent a lot of hours on page 18 and 19! Many many days! Please keep going! Let me know if you need any help on those pages.
Tomo