Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

When I have an issue which is often lol, I reduce, and reduce more, and slow down. Even 3,7 can hold its own in a song in context especially if a base player is holding down the root. Beyond that I often set aside one concept to do something fun and come back to it later. There's plenty of content on GW. And, songs to learn that are inspiring.

Playing a melody to a great song or doing improv to a great song always refires me up :). All the best.

Thank you Rich for sharing this. Guitar is not easy if you really want to play well.

Please send me a few videos on this topic, I would love to see and hear the details so I can give you a little more personal attention.

Please don't discouraged by this... it will take longer when you accomplish something so good! I still struggled my muting techniques, time feel and everything! I never ever felt that I have mastered them all!

Definitely it is not easy to make that chord clear (R 3 7 on 5th string root)
Unwanted string noise... your thumb position and a slight angle can change a lot!

Thank you.

Tomo

I made this advice video for you.

Please let me know how you feel about this video and let me know if I can help you more.

Thank you.

Tomo

Thank you Cruz for sharing your experience.

I go for really slow too. But not too much.

R 3 7 / R 7 3 groove is so great for techniques and ears. For playing with bass player ... 3rd & 7th = guide tone is good!
But this R 3 7 / R 3 7 thing is so deep! I love practicing this everyday! I can hear chords easier from this. Thank you for your suggestion! Yes! Many other things you can do!

Tomo

Love it Tomo.
R37 really is endless, so deep!
I speed up with 1212 too, I keep thinking I am cheating haha.
Thank you, love this place, so positive and encouraging to all!

Thank you J for your imput! I practice with a few diffent guitars everyday. Fender & Gibson... then 24 inch scale (Mustang, Jaguar, Musicmaster II, Duo Sonic II and 22.5 inch scale Duo Sonic & Musicmaster from 1956 to 1964. This way my fingers work harder to fit any type guitars.

Tomo

Thank you Sunil for encouragement!

I go for keep going no matter what!

Rich has been doing really well. He can focus on other things too.

You're so sweet!

Tomo

Thank you Tomo!
Yes, keep going!
I stopped so many times with guitar from a boy, on.

I did lots of other stuff but always wanted to be better at guitar, to play well, with others.

Now I feel like I don't have any time left to stop. I know even if I am sitting in an office somewhere, I will be wondering why I am not playing guitar.
Practice really has become my meditation.
I don't see the point in doing anything else right now. (...although it would be nice to win lotto now haha)

I learn so much from every interaction on the forum. 🙏🏾

Sunil, practice is indeed a great meditation. Often I look up and can't believe an hour has flown by.

Thank you Linda! Yes! Guitar is a great meditation and a great medicine!

Tomo

Totally agree with that Rich! Thanks so much for your openness on the forums. It helps everyone.

Richard, likewise we are glad you are here. You are such an important voice on this forum.

Thank you j! I totally agree with you! What a great thread!

Tomo

Rich, I don't know what the problem is but I think we're at the same place so I hope you don't mind my (weird?) advice.

I think these three bits for R37 seemed to help me with muting and associated issues. It's not really straight forward, just things that were in the air while I was practicing R37 with 1212 and triads almost daily, dec-jun.

1) I watched Tomo's livestream for slowing down to observe and think critically about what is happening, to solve problems.

2) I stared at my fingers.

3) I maxed out string height at saddles.

First two worked together to help me visualize (also another livestream :)) what might be causing the unwanted mute.

I wanted "to see" what my fingers are doing, but I couldn't get my phone in there to take a video so my lazy-man version was to visualize. To do that I needed to know how my fingers are shaped, to visualize.

I realized I thought of my fingers as kind of squished sausages, or flattened ellipses. But they don't have the same shape as I thought.

If I point at my eyeball with my middle or ring finger (don't do that in public haha) the cross section of the first segment looks like a rounded guitar pick to me. If I look at my finger tip sideways, there is that fleshy bit opposite of the nail that hangs down. I thought that was the culprit.

Then everyday I tried (still trying) different positions, or orientations of my fingers to let the strings ring out and avoid the muting like Tomo showed with his thumb in the video above. That is what I am doing now for unwanted harmonics problems.

It can be frustrating because you won't know if you're on the right path.
But just sticking to Tomo's suggestions for time spent on daily foundation exercises is profoundly helpful. If you go overboard you can hurt your hand. If there is pain, stop, ice it, twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off. Continue the next day after pain is gone.

Then finally, string height, I maxed out my action after my last string change and set up. I maxed out all saddles, then I used a string radius curved guide (piece of metal with a handle I got from stwemac) to lower each to match the fingerboard radius in the guide.

I am not sure what made me try this but after I did it seemed to help a lot after all the practice. I also after I remembered hearing/reading somewhere that Tomo liked high action (and a little bit of neck bow, and I think intonation not so perfect for lightest touch) for funk. Probably from a Tomo interview I watched, I think. I am not there yet, straight board and intonation is set for lightest touch during 1212 and triads. I used to like low-medium action, but all my guitars have this high action now so I can do R37 on all.

I hope this helps my friend!
Sometimes I think I have no idea what I am doing, just listening to Tomo, and keep going. So you are not alone, right here with you man.

Thank you Rich for posting these videos. Please watch this video for muting techniques/angles of view. I also added some practice ideas.

Tomo

Love it Tomo!

On the edge between being humble and fearlessness. This is an interesting point.

Reminds me of watching my kids learn to walk. They worked on it everyday, and we just smiled, and they kept going.

Walking is a controlled fall, hard to do actually, but we do it without too much thought.

Thank you Sunil! A lot of detaisl! I will reply to you by my video. Please take a look and let me know how you feel about it. Regarding string height and more!

Tomo

Thank you Tomo, love it!

Uh oh! I think I maxed height and have very little bow almost straight, maybe got me in the sweet spot for R37 somehow?

I tried the two pick test (one "Be kind to yourself!!", and one "Don't expect too fast!") and they seem little bit tighter than yours!

They kind of just sit there, maybe they come down a little if I pound on the horn. I tried on silver sky (7.25 inch radius), avrii61 (7.25), mario martin s-style (9.5-12), and on g&l bluesboy p90 (9.5)...all have the same result with the picks.

Do you think I should experiment with adding a little bit more bow? Then I can compensate by reducing string height...?

After that I practiced 1212, triads on the bluesboy, it has a killer neck haha.

I have to watch your reply a few more times to reply to everything. Kyoto and the end reminded me of Kyoto Challenge thread! I think I remember you talking about setups on many different guitars in the stewmac video you made with them and also your book (English edition).

I think I am just beginning to be aware of what light touch is...

I am so happy to continue to learn here with you and everyone else!

My pleasure! Thank you so much for your attention.

Tomo

Bravo!!
Well said Scott!

Thank you Scott for your kind words and encouragement.

AI is great for looking for one correct answer or direction etc.
For music, guitar thing is not like that. There is no wrong answer or no only one correct answer.
Each person's choice is so beautiful and we all have struggles no matter what we do. We need to learn how to live comfortable with these things.

I love everyone here at GW and GW forum. Very special place!

Thank you everyone!

Tomo

Nicely said, Scott. Thanks for posting. How is the hand-numbness issue?

Getting ready to have neck fusion surgery on August 7th. I'll be out of commission about 8-10 weeks. Trying to play as much as I can before that happens. LOL. It's not as bad, but the real issue is a bone spur that's pressing on my spinal cord.

Best wishes there, Scott. Our thoughts will be with you. Please be sure to check in during that recovery period and provide us with situation reports.

Thank you Andy.
I will let you know.

Thank you Andy! I give same suggestions to all my students! Very subtle.

Good job! 努力の継続と工夫が大事です！

Tomo

頑張っています

That's an interesting observation.
I have not investigated but just thinking about it, D has the least mass of the wound strings so it makes sense that it would stop moving first given the same force. G is not directly comparable unless it's a wound G.

Might be a dead fretted or dead spot string caused by several things. There is tons of info out there on how to do a quick check on string height up the neck. Try it on a on a different guitar for a quick check? :) Best of luck.

thanks for the advice, Sunil and Cruz. not a wound g string. i will have a check on another guitar. although i don't have one with the staggered pole pieces on the pickups.
i did find this, which is interesting, although no idea if this could be the cause:
"The D and G Height: On the Fat '50s set, the pole pieces under the D and G strings are notably taller. Historically, this compensates for the curvature of the 7.25" radius fretboard and balances the volume of vintage wound G-strings. Modern Considerations: Since the 2014 American Standard has a flatter 9.5" fingerboard radius and generally utilizes unwound G-strings, some players find the G-string pole piece sits noticeably higher than the rest of the string paths."

Very interesting Jh.
So many practical variables to this.

Are you watching these strings on a Strat/"s-style" guitar with 9.5 inch radius and Fat 50's pickups? Sounds like a nice guitar! Dead frets I am not too familiar with, is this an issue on more affordable guitars?

I was not aware that earlier pickups were designed for 7.25 inch radius fretboards. I have read that pu's (lollar, and prs sites) with flat pole pieces provide more of an "even" magnetic field...I always want "to see" a picture or movie of how the strings are moving through these specific magnetic fields, to think about issues like this....

I am wondering if your pickups are set too high? Any warbling sounds when notes are fretted around 14th, 15th fret?

My pu's are usually on the lower side (I like clean, acoustic as much as possible sound), but I think this can effect your volume negatively...

Oh! Also I know Tomo reduces pickup height slightly lower on lower (bass/thicker) strings than the higher strings on strats.

Thank you Sunil! 11-49 set sounds good. I wish I can do that! I stay with 10-46

Good job! So great to hear that!

Tomo