D01 Classical guitar lesson 05

[Mike Cook]

Jono,

Excellent work! Your right hand form looks perfect to me. I’m looking forward to seeing how you progress. Great submissions.

[Staffan Strömberg]

Jono, you're playing the alternations really well too. Very consistent rhythm even when doing the a m a m alternations, which I find diffcult myself.

Chris, your alternations are also very consistent and with great speed too. Good job.

[Ian Howe]

@Chris,
Great submission mate, you completely nailed both the exercises and the musical piece.
It's clear you have spent a good amount of time working throught these, fair play to you and i'm sure you are working through lesson 6 at this stage

@Judy
Judy, as already stated, you are now starting to sound a lot more musical in your playing. I'm sure you can recognise this yourself.
The tempo and timing is coming on great, keep it going

@jono
on the PolyPhony Exercise, i think you are playing around 90BPM..Try bring it up to the 132BPM. you technique is good, you should have no problem. just count every click..1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4, and

The musical piece was good. Dont worry about background noise. most of us struggle to find a time and
place when everything is dead silent for recording, nd just when you are 90% through a piece..the door bell
rings or something

The Alteration : i would suggest , try keep the pinky closer to the strings during the exercise. It has a tendancy to wander

@james

On the polyphony & Aternate exercise. They sound good. There is defo a big improvement in tempo. In previous posts there were some pauses but you seem to have the notes much more evenly spaced and sounding a lot more balanced.
There is still more tempo work you need to work on though.
Are you using a metronome to practice with? If you are not practicing with motronome you will improve tempo feel for sure but using one will speed up this process. you will hear the difference in 2 / 3 weeks constantly practicing with the Metronome

[James A. Showalter]

Ian,
I've tried using a metronome and integrating it into my practice. Alas, my mind does not appreciate its monotony. I use it to get a perception of the speed but for me it's about staying even and consistent. I just keep at it and let the more competent players show me the way forward.
James

[Mike Cook]

Why do they always seem better while playing than the actual recording? LOL

Polyphonie Number 2
This one really annoys me!


Leccion 1


Exercises di simple alternation

[James A. Showalter]

Mike,
Excellent submission. I would in no way want to imply that your technique, tonal quality or rhythm was in any way lacking. However, by my count of the alternation exercise you are missing the 1st im sequence (you start with the mi sequence) and each sequence is short by one measure.

Each sequence should follow this pattern:
[1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +][ 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +][ 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +][ 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ] 1

You are also missing one measure of the chromatic scale on alternation #2. The same pattern should prevail.

I agree with you that there is something mysterious happens between playing and recording. I believe there is a gremlin in the microphone.

Other than the irritating but minor omissions it sounded great. Well done.
James

[Christopher Langley]

To those of you unhappy with your recordings, I ask what are you using to listen back to your recordings?

If the answer is anything but a decent set of headphones or speakers you might not be hearing just how nice your recordings sound.

I play my recordings back over a modest set of floorstanding home theater speakers.. or else a cheap but decent set of headphones. My guitar sounds better in my recordings than it does when I'm holding it, because the guitar is projecting at the microphone, I'm behind it during the recording.

Many times I am unsure of my tone from behind the guitar, but when I play my recording back over my speakers I'm pleasantly delighted.

Another option nowadays are bluetooth speakers, they are surprisingly good. Basically, anything but the cheap built in speakers on a cellphone or laptop.. No recording sounds very good through those. They typically lack bass. (They are getting better though).

This is actually pretty important, some of you might not know just how nice your guitars sound out in front. I'm lucky enough to live with another guitar player, so I'm very aware of the phenomena.. Guitars throw the sound forward. The guitarist doesn't really have the best seat in the house.


If you guys are unhappy with mistakes, well.. Only one answer to that, more practice

[James A. Showalter]

Chris,
Your last line summed it up for me exactly. No amount of audio equipment will improve on my inability to carry the tune. Now if you can recommend a buzzing filter that would be a piece of equipment that I could appreciate.
James

[Christopher Langley]

Chris,
Your last line summed it up for me exactly. No amount of audio equipment will improve on my inability to carry the tune. Now if you can recommend a buzzing filter that would be a piece of equipment that I could appreciate.
James

Slow practice

If I'm buzzing, I watch the left hand. I'll just come right out and admit it

[Mike Cook]

Chris - Thank you for your insight on recording playback. I've inspired me to explore Bluetooth monitoring during the recording session to help with my playing quality.

Mike

[Robert Drechsler]

Hi all here are my submissions
"the first tries are truly discouraging, particularly for adults" so true

By the way, is there a reason why nobody post Polyhonie n1? I think we have to do.

Exam Qualifying submissions:
Polyphonie
Leccion I
Exercices de simple alternation


D01 - 05 Polyphonie n1


D01 - 05 Polyphonie n2


D01- 05 Simple Alternation I


D01- 05 Simple Alternation 2


D01- 05 Leccion I

[Christopher Langley]

Hi all here are my submissions
"the first tries are truly discouraging, particularly for adults" so true

Good submissions Robert! Slow and steady is good and mistakes happen.

Try to watch cutting your notes short.. just keep playing buddy.

[/quote]

Chris - Thank you for your insight on recording playback. I've inspired me to explore Bluetooth monitoring during the recording session to help with my playing quality.

Mike

OH wow, monitoring during the recording session? Now that is a pretty neat idea..

I meant just using a decent speaker when listening to the recording after it was all said and done..

Monitoring the recording live would be interesting... Let me know if you figure out a way to do this! Neat idea man.

I know I sing a lot better if I can live monitor myself, guitar it might not make as big of a difference, because we can hear ourselves decently to begin with, but maybe!

[Staffan Strömberg]

Good effort Mike! Leccion 1 sounded very good as well as the other pieces. To improve Leccion 1 even more you could try to dampen the bass strings with your thumb. For example on measure five, immediately after you have played the open A you place your thumb on E to dampen it since it's still ringing from the note you played in measure four.

[Staffan Strömberg]

Nice playing Robert.
I few remarks from me; I think you should turn your left hand inwards so that the palm of your hand faces the fingerboard more. Now it looks like the palm is almost facing the ceiling, if you see what I mean.
When playing the triplets in the second part of the alternations you make a small pause before repeating the section, perhaps you could try to play it more fluid?

[William Byrd]

Hi all here are my submissions
"the first tries are truly discouraging, particularly for adults" so true

By the way, is there a reason why nobody post Polyhonie n1? I think we have to do.

Good effort Robert. Only Polyhonie No 2 is required to meet the exam submission requirement, but it never hurts to post additional exercises for feedback purposes. I like that you do not attack with your right hand until your left hand fingers are ready and in place. I would mention however that to my ear, your guitar sounded a bit out of tune. Something to be aware of, especially when we do our final exam submissions. Good job overall.

Bill