"Oh.. eric! your timing is bad. you have a lot to work on your timing"
"Equal volume on your down and upstroke"
"Watch your wrist"
"timing! timing! timing!"
"you're... rushing!....(pause) rushing again!"
So on week 2, I discover that my wrist is getting better acquianted to the down/up motion. But I have trouble with my uniformity on my downstroke/upstroke picking.
I think it's because I have always used my the 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 as my mark, as a result, I tend to accent on the downstroke. When I need try to play it uniformly, I loose my anchor on the timing and hence can't 'lock' on the tempo. My fingers are esp 'lost' during the upbeats. With all things combine, it sounds horrible to be unable to keep time on the upbeats and the uneven picking volume.
So my task this week is to practice all the major scales starting from G major and rotate around the fretboard in circles of 4th. ie. G - C - F - Bb....etc over and over and over and over and over again.
Its frustrating for me to work on this. because 2 weeks I ago, I was pretty confident that I can pick. run scales. and I thought I had good tones.
Now, I'm brought back to school first by changing my entire picking style and honing on my timing. Which reminded me that
1. guitar playing like any part of life- it's all about fundamental, which really are the building blocks of fun. (I heard this from Edmund Chan tape, people use to go to him expecting something profound, but he said he has nothing profound... just go back to basics. Seems like I'm experiencign the same thing with Jose)
2. choose our mentors carefully - I think most of the people who influenced me in the past paid more attentions to chords, voicings and rhythm comping. Hence I never found any problem with my picking. I urge all new players out there... choose your teachers carefully and learn solid basics.
I
3. It's never too late to break a habit. Change is a pathway to maturity. It's essential to growth. Discipline is need to bring about the transformation.
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