Today was our first session and we are going to be performing a gig in six weeks time as part of the main unit which is entitled 'The Oxjam Gig.' However for this unit we will be focusing on a solo performance we will be performing at the gig. For each of our solo pieces were allowed to have someone accompany us for example if i was playing guitar then i could have someone sing for me. For my solo i have decided to perform "Babe i'm going to leave you" by Led Zepplin. I wanted to just play guitar on stage and i feel with this song its engaging to perform as an instrumental song.
What is an effective practice routine?
if you want to become a better guitarist it is important to set yourself a practice routine that fits your style. However there is a basic guide when it comes to warming up. First of all its important to get your fingers warmed up because you are constantly using your fingers and hands when playing the guitar and if the muscles are cold you are more likely going to muck up and not be able to play smoothly. Once you have warmed up your hand muscles then you should try and focus on technique skills e.g a new finger picking style, Learning these will vastly improve your guitar playing. Once you have learned some new skills try applying them to songs you already know or apply them to the song in which they are used. Doing this is good because you need to be able to apply different techniques when playing. Finally allow yourself some free time to play what you want.
Below is a link is to another guitarist's recommended practice routine and talks about what i've explained above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQwo2Y_q8yc
For me whenever i have been practicing my guitar i always tend to just go straight into either learning a new song/chords and i then practice whatever i have learnt to get better at it or i mess around with chords and try to come up with my own thing. However now i have realized its important to warm up my hands as by doing so it will allow me to play chords i would have otherwise not been able to play because when you warm up your hands as with any muscle they become more pliable.
What are my personal
targets SMART for the next two months?
- Learn how to do the finger picking style of "Babe i'm going to leave you" by Led Zepplin
- Improve my ability to change from chords, specifically ones i find hard
- Make sure i'm fully pressing the chord down to produce the fullest sound
How am I going to
achieve my SMART targets?
Everyday for an hour I will make sure I complete my targets here is a layout and on Sunday I shall blog how i'm getting on:
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY (Blog day) |
|
| 5 minutes | Warm up hands |
Warm up hands | Warm up hands |
Warm up hands | Warm up hands | Warm up hands | - |
| 20 minutes | Practicing from swapping the chords in the song "Babe i'm going to leave you" so that i know it more confidently and learning the finger picking pattern |
Practicing from swapping the chords in the song "Babe i'm going to leave you" so that i know it more confidently and learning the finger picking pattern |
Practicing from swapping the chords in the song "Babe i'm going to leave you" so that i know it more confidently and learning the finger picking pattern |
Practice Jolene chords | Practice Jolene chords | Practice playing the song at a slowed tempo to become increase technique when playing it faster | - |
| 20 minutes | Practice playing the song making sure i'm pressing the chords down so that there's not muted strings for example. | Practice playing the song making sure i'm pressing the chords down so that there's not muted strings for example. |
Practice playing the song making sure i'm pressing the chords down so that there's not muted strings for example. | Personal Jam | Personal Jam |
Practice playing the song making sure i'm pressing the chords down so that there's not muted strings for example. | - |
| 25 minutes | Practice the song |
Practice the song |
Practice the song |
Practice the song |
Practice the song | Practice the song |
- |
Sunday 22nd of September
Over the week i have been learning how to play "Babe i'm going to leave you" by starting with the finger picking pattern and also the chord progression. To learn the song i found a video on youtube of another guitarist teaching the song. I find learning songs from tutorials on youtube a lot easier for me because i can see the way they position their hands and fingers. Below is a video of me doing my first attempt of playing the first part of the song properly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxWXyf9mcyk
Sunday 29th of September
Below is a video of me going through the chords used in "Babe i'm going to leave you" one to practice them and two to make sure i'm getting the fullest sound of the chords.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak5mcgVbBF4
I will continue to do this until I can play through the chords without making a mistake for example playing the wrong note or muting strings.
Sunday 6th of October
Below is a video of me practicing my solo piece. I still need to keep practicing it a lot more so that i'm confident performing it. A couple of things i need to work on are making sure i'm fully pressing my fingers down in the chords so that the sound is clean and not muted. Also i need to work on the transition between the strumming part and the finger picking because at the moment its quite sloppy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47qlSgwHMBA
Also in this week i have been doing an exercise where I switch from chord to chord repeatedly so that i'm more confident switching between the two chords when I play through the song.
Sunday 13th of October
This week i have been continuing to practice the song and i feel now i'm starting to be able to play it more confidently however i'm still not feeling confident enough to play it on stage so I've been playing the song but putting my own twist on it because i find when i do that to songs i find i can play the song better. This has helped however i am still occasionally not getting the fullest sound out the strings so i shall continue to practice playing the chords slowly and making sure i'm fully pressing down.
Below is a video of me playing a brief part of the song and i feel i can now play it at the correct pace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IcI6jB6LoA
Sunday 20th October
This week i decided to change my solo as i feel that i'm not confident enough to play "Babe i'm going to leave you" at the gig. I would rather play it safe and play a song i feel confident playing and not mess up rather than messing up whilst playing a song which is more challenging for me yet i'm not as confident with. So i have decided to play "Jolene" by Dolly Parton instead as i already know it so i'm confident playing it. I asked Natalie if she would like to sing for me because i feel her voice suits the song and she said yes so i will be playing and she will be singing. We have only been able to practice the song a couple of times as the gig is next week.
Below is a video of me practicing Jolene by myself at home. i feel this was a good practice but i need to make sure i differentiate the verse section to the chorus section to keep it interesting as the chord pattern remains the same throughout. I can do this by playing the chorus more firmly and louder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEJ3RHxS2kc
Sunday 27th October
Below is a video me doing an exercise i made up using the chords from 'Babe I'm Going to leave you.' The exercise involves me playing the same finger pattern for every chord and basically what i do is simply run through the chords. I feel this exercise helps me because it means i can now play through the chords without messing up the transition from one to the other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uen6IRf_rBY
Sunday 3rd November
Below is a video of me playing through Jolene again however this time i can play it without making mistakes as before i occasionally fluffed up the timing between one chord to the next.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvxJM9oFZC4
Sunday 10th November
Below is a video of me doing the same exercise i made up the other week using the chords from 'Babe I'm going to leave you.' However in this one i have vastly improved on it as i have been practicing it during the week, as you can see in the video i can now play it a lot more smoothly without messing up transitions. To further improve what i have done i could continue to play through the chords but instead of then going back to the first chord i could play it backwards. This would further increase my ability to play the song without hesitating changing from one chord to the next.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg66uEI9Pvw
Evaluation
Below are the videos of my two ensembles at the gig:
This one is of me and Natalie performing 'Jolene:'
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1722572
This one is of me and Louis performing 'Haven't Met You Yet:'
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1722634
Below these are my two solo pieces:
The first one is 'Babe I'm Going To Leave You' by Led Zepplin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aftwg28CzrY
The second one is 'Send Me On My Way' by Rusted Roots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goUC-mrRYdA
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