master the guitar

Noticed some tension in wrist and picking-hand when working on fast alternate picking section. I then focused on this and subsequently changed my picking until it was free of tension, relaxed, and smooth. Keep in mind not to tense on this.

I can play this alternate picking up to speed if broken into sections. More consistency is needed, still. Nice progress.

While practicing “West Coast Blues”, a thought occured to me. I remember watching on TV about maybe two years ago of a father counseling to his son on a skiing competition he was about to enter. He told him to remember to race with “controlled aggression” and that stuck with me because I was relating it to guitar practice and other goals. I am very aggressive in regards to approaching my goals, but I can be equally just as much focused. The two qualities don’t seem to have a tendency to want to mix, unless you force it. A very careful balance between the two is required to make superlative progress; thus, “controlled aggression”.

Upon breaking down the harmonic minor lick further at higher speeds, I now ascertain that I will be able to eventually get both the harmonic minor lick and the Michael Romeo lick up to at least speeds of 300bpm. That’s all the speed I could need.

Don’t angle chord shapes too much.

Use new fingering for Dm6 chord, etc. Much easier.

Classical Gas… hmm. Practicing with my nails as they are just gets them often caught on the strings. Add to that, practicing on my rather disagreeable electro-acoustic guitar makes it all the more difficult. Maybe I should wait until I can ameliorate the condition of my nails and get a Classical guitar before I work further on it. There are still improvements I could currently make and HAVE been making, but it doesn’t feel efficacious, and ultimately feels like an exercise in futility. I think I might put more time into “Djangology”.

Tension in hand experienced the other day did turn out to be from practicing Classical Gas much too fast, as I had thought was the case. Don’t go too fast too soon. Relax. Slow down. Analyse.

“I’m now in a position where hopefully I’ll be able to afford to stop travelling so much and put my energy into the younger generation of guitar players and help them out. How do you get anywhere in life? You get to work! I’ve got to blaze a trail for the next generation. I’ve got to give them something real. And there are young people out there who can see, “Well, he’s done it. I think I can do it. Anything’s possible.” ~ Tommy Emannuel.

Once all arpeggios from Rock School Guitar are internalised in all positions on the guitar, make a composition utilising all of them. Should be fun.

Minor pentatonic tapping lick I made works good from the 8th fret upward, and possibly 7th fret, too.