Great post and excellent exercises. Thank you. Topher
On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 8:27 PM, erik berry <[email protected]> wrote: > > The metronome...ah. > > Here are two exercises I learned as a teenaged guitarist who actually > paid attention to his lessons. When you first learn them they are > definitely dull but they really do teach a specific skill. A few > months into practicing them, you do see improvement. When I picked up > the mandolin in my late 20s I applied these exericses to the mando to > bring me up to speed. > > One teaches the notes on the fret board. Start your metronome at 60 > beats per minute. Play every G from low to high, low string to high > string. IF you miss one with the click, you start over. After playing > all the Gs you move through the cycle of fifths to D. Then to A. Then > E etc. If you miss one, you start over. At G. After you can go through > the whole cycle of fifths, you move the metronome up to 65 bpm and > start again. If you miss one you start over. At G. At 60 bpm. You keep > doing this and see how quick you can get. But even if you're up at 100 > bpm if you miss one you gotta start over at the begining. This > exercise really teaches the notes and instead of thinking this finger > goes here after this finger goes here," you think, "E comes after C" > or whatever it is you're doing. > > the other is to play an ascending chromatic scale from your lowest > open string while fretting that notes octave. You are also to keep > your hand in one position. On the guitar this is easier because your > 1st finger equals first fret, 2=2. 3=3 and 4=4. On the guitar, you can > play chromatic octaves from E up to G# without moving your hand. You > do do some octaves with the low note being played by your pinky and > the high note by your index finger. On mandolin you gotta spread out > to cover 7 frets and there's some sliding of positions. In both cases, > use your metronome and increase tempo as you keep playing it > successfully. This exercise teaches creative fretting, which isn't > necessarily practical, but I think good for your hand to do now and > again. Being able to play this scale well does give me at least a > sense of satisfaction not dissimilar to playing a tune well. > > Both of these are pretty dull to do, especially when you can't do them > very well and you're thinking "why do I do this." But for myself, at > least, the were indispensable to my musicianship. As a guitarist the > first exericise busted me out of pattern thinking when I was 14 years > old and the second is still a great way to warm up my left hand. As a > mandolinist they both taught me the fretboard and sort of jumpstarted > my mandolin life. > > And I know this post is pretty wordy, but I have to add on the subject > of speed and playing lots of notes really fast, I definitely got into > that trip as a teenaged metal guitarist and I still fall victim to it > as a mandolinist, but i was struck by one of my teachers saying to me, > "you can play pretty quick, but I bet I can play slower than you." And > a quick tune > we both could play well together was performed at 40 bpm. I missed > most of the notes; my teacher nailed it. I was pretty impressed at > that trick. It's hard to play slow, too, and you need to work at it as > much. Because it sure sounds cool when a slow song is played well. > > Anyways, that's enough. I feel like I'm teaching. > > erik > > On Nov 8, 8:32 pm, Don Grieser <[email protected]> wrote: >> My tech assistant at school coaches basketball. He gave me this quote from >> Bobby Knight the other day that could easily be adapted to playing music. >> "The will to prepare to win is more important than the will to win." >> >> I've been spending time with the metronome again lately while working on >> some tunes on the octave mandolin. That metronome can't keep time worth a >> damn. >> >> >> >> On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 6:04 PM, Terry Bullin <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Good luck with the kit. I'm about to retire and have tinkered with the >> > notion of trying one of those. Is the kit from Stewmac? Post some pics >> > when you get it done, love to see it. >> >> > --- On *Sun, 11/8/09, [email protected] >> > <[email protected]>*wrote: >> >> > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> >> > Subject: Re: Practicing ect... >> > To: [email protected] >> > Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009, 7:00 PM >> >> > Okay, the truth about why I've posted more today than I have all the rest >> > of the time I've been on the group. >> > I'm building an F-5 from an IV kit for my son for Christmas, it's time for >> > binding and it scares the hell out of me. >> > I've been practicing (not the mandolin, but binding) I've bound two old >> > Army Navy style mandos and an old >> > guitar and I'm getting better, but none of these are anything like an F-5 >> > and I really want it to look good, it's for my son. >> > Creative avoidance, I'm good at that. >> >> > Clyde Clevenger >> > Just My Opinion, But It's Right >> > Salem, Oregon >> > Old Circle <http://www.myspace.com/oldcircle>- Hide quoted text - >> >> - Show quoted text - > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. 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