Growth Spurt

I talk a lot about the struggles but you'd expect that it's a lot I've taken on but I don't want to seem like a sour puss because I'm not.  Yes I do find it hard, and ok yes a lot of that is because a) I've taken on a lot and b) I push myself ridiculously hard but I also find a lot of joy in the tiniest move forwards although I don't show it enough.

I think at the moment I'm experiencing a growth spurt and I'm confident in saying I do think it's down to the decision to revisit the guitar with Tom and soloing with both teachers.  My confidence still has a long way to go but it's ebbing bit by bit which is what we all wanted and hoped for.  I think though the key to this bigger than normal step forward is understanding rhythm a bit more and applying it.  The key to that is my being more open and giving things a try even though they're outside my comfort zone and my teachers understanding me better and applying that to their brilliant teaching.  

I've added a vid of me playing yesterday, it's a longer version of yesterdays Instagram post and while there is a lot of room for more work 'hopefully' you'll notice a big improvement from when I first started with double stops (none used in this particular version although I am adding them in regularly now).  I think a few of the lessons I've had lately have finally hit home.  Here my very first solo vid (still upside down!) from when I started this blog too - big improvement on that and that was just over 3 months ago.

What's Helped Specifically?

Double stops, taking away the option to endlessly noodle meant I had to focus on timing and also really focus on the scale and intervals.

Working on rhythms and starting on different beats (still working on this big time!).  This helped me think in terms of singing lines rather than just melody melody melody endless melody.  Both of them have been on about this for a long time and I think playing over Toms style of strumming actually was the thing that helped because I can't do my melodic smooth playing over it, as soon as he got me playing in a more short, sharp funky way it (I'd say clicked but we're not there yet) made more sense.

Call & response.  Once I'd made progress on the other two then Zak's lesson on call and response suddenly popped into my mind and I found myself moving more between the higher notes and lower in a kind of 'singing to each other' kind of way.

Strumming finger style.  My hand has finally begun to relax and it's making a big difference to my strumming but I've also been working on a more funky plucking style too with slaps and added notes and moving within the chord which is coming on and helps.  That's me doing the rhythm 'strumming' - it's not as good as Tom but wayyyyyy better than my normal backing rhythms!

Vibrato - finally I'm using it although I still feel uncomfortable doing it in front of my teachers it is coming more naturally.  Not always but it's a step forwards.  Technically there is a LOT to work on but I want to get comfortable using it all the time before I start worrying about that. 

To conlcude

I've noticed all this has started to creep in to my piano playing too instead of just writing melody on this latest song or focusing on rhythm like I tend to do when piano comes into my other songs this time I'm thinking about both.  So there you go proof all this hard work and headbanging does make a difference - it's just a matter of time.    And more than that I think it's important to realise that looking at things in a different way can often be the catalyst.  It's often not enough sometimes just to keep trying, you also need to try to discover a new method or way of looking at the problem to finally understand.  Hopefully there is more to this spurt but if not then I'll start working on getting towards the next one. :)