Posted by laertes22 on Monday, May 12, 2014
Although it has only been a week since I started back playing, I feel like I am making good progress with my banjo, fiddle, and mandolin practice.
I started getting up at 5AM, so that I could cook myself a healthy breakfast (instead of stopping somewhere for fast food breakfast on the way to work) and also to give me an extra hour to hour and a half of practice time before I go to work. Then, I can go to work, go walking/running, and still have plenty of free time in the evening to practice some more. To be honest, it can be kind of rough getting up so early, but the extra practice has definitely been beneficial, and it helps get my mind right for work. It's also kind of weird that, although practice can sometimes be boring, I find myself looking forward to my morning practices. This motivates me to get myself out of bed instead of sleeping in.
One thing that I have noticed is that there were things that I struggled with figuring out or hit a road block with before my hiatus that have suddenly somehow clicked. I often find that when I divorce myself from the situation and come back, my brain is able to process things better and connect some dot. I do regret the time that I lost not practicing for those months, and I hate that my playing ability suffered for it, but at least there was a silver lining.
Although I hate using the metronome, and it is a pain, the proof is in the pudding. My rhythm is getting better and is definitely more consistent. The Old time Jam app also helped immensely with this. Since I don't have any Old time players in my area (that I know of ), that thing is a life saver.
My clawhammer stroke is about on par to what it was before-maybe even a little better as I can easily and interchangeably use either my index or middle finger now. I still have to work on my muscle memory in regards to fret distance. I've been going out of my Double C safety zone and experimenting with some G songs, mainly from Dan Levenson's Old Time Festival book (most notably Colored Aristocracy). I have also been playing with a drop thumb version of Cripple Creek.
The bulk of my efforts are on perfecting Angelina Baker and memorizing Soldier's Joy.
Fiddle is going way better than I thought. I didn't lose much in the intonation department, but my bowing was wretched. It is still really bad, but it is getting better (smoother, straighter). I worked on double stops a bit. Double stops was the last thing we covered in my last lesson before the hiatus. They are far from perfect, but they are "getting there".
I've also been concentrating on Angelina Baker and Soldier's Joy on Fiddle. Dan's "from Scratch" books present different iterations of a set of common Old Time tunes, with each new version being more complicated than the last. The first 2 versions seem like pieces of cake to me, but the 3rd (melodic) versions kick my butt.
I feel like I am in a good place with my practices. They are everyday, they are consistent, and I am at a place where I look forward to practice, as opposed to viewing it as a chore.
1 comment on “Week 2: It's Five O'Clock in the Morning (blatant T-Pain reference)...”
Zischkale Says:
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 @2:43:03 PM
Keep up the good work! Intonation on fiddle is definitely a work in progress for me. I've still got my training wheels on--those three pieces of tape--and they're a huge help in getting my hand in position. Last night I didn't make my banjo practice but got in 30 minutes of fiddle.
No 5 am for me (yet...), though!!
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