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Here’s where I am after about 1 week. I am trying to play Ashokan Farewell at a tempo of 80bpm while still reading the tab. Music by Jay Unger and arranged by Spencer Gay.
Background: I had never heard this song before and was given the music and asked to teach to a couple friends. I have spent hours listening to different recordings. Tempo of the selections have ranged from approximately 55 bpm to a little over 80bpm. I decided I preferred the faster tempo.
My initial recording is working on that tempo using the original tab I was given. I plan on making some changes as I proceed, inspired by some of the recordings I have heard.This recording is just the first half of the song. The second half is very similar with modified ending.
@nelsonlin2021 your doing great on Crossing Hemispheres. It’s one of my favorite songs of Matt.
I learned this when it first came out and had the same struggles with the tempo up the neck. After enough practice it finally came to me. You may want to try slowing it down a lot until it becomes more natural and then pick up the tempo. Have fun with it!@mark1256 I like it. The strum/ picking combination is pretty. Sounds like your pup enjoyed it too 😆
@andrew really liked your “chuck” demo on the two styles. I know slap method wont work on ML 019 but hearing both with a count helped clarify the styles. Thanks for demo Louisa
@mark1256 thanks for the words of encouragement. This piece is really challenging but I love the high energy aspects of this tune. I’m going to slow down to 60bpm and work on getting consistency.
@leb Thanks but I have a long way to go. Especially if I’m going to memorize it. Yes the dog is a fan but it’s hard to play with him on my lap lol.
Goals progress Jan 20.
Playing Summertime from memory, one goal met.
Purple Haze riff? well that needs a tiny bit more work. I’m trying a “interleaved” practice routine where I work on parts from different songs in the same practice session. In my practice, I’ll now be interleaving “Stranger Things” with “Purple Haze”. I didn’t want to include that in this challenge, as that arrangement was already a monthly challenge from a few years ago.Hi all-
Here is my practice of St. James Infirmary today after increasing my practice speed to 75 BPM. Getting stuck on the A5 to F up the neck transition towards the end and hope to smooth that out, and get up to 80 bpm by the end of the month. It’s been a big challenge but so much fun to play.
It’s been great seeing all the different things people chose to work on, and watching everyone’s struggles and progress. You all are so inspiring.
Warmly,
JodyEveryone is doing an amazing job, but I just wanted to specifically comment on a couple:
@nelsonlin2021, your take on Crossing Hemispheres is sounding really good! I love that song; I’d like to learn it at some point, too. I actually think it also sounds nice played a bit slower. Looking forward to your final take! 😊
@mark1256, that sounds so beautiful! Really lovely to listen to. NGL, when your doggo barked near the end, it made my heart stop for a second–because I was so caught up in the peacefulness of the tune. 😅@TBB, thank you so much that means lot to me 🙂 In the remaining month, I’m hoping to hone in and practice each of the rough sections with a much slower tempo to help improve my consistency and accuracy before doing another take. As Matt often says, slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
So, here are two pieces and there are no other chords except Cm, Gm, D 😉
Pay attention to the key signature. And I’m also interested in what key we are in (from the point of view of music theory).
Jmate li vino (Mazedonien)
Ps: Just a quick clarification about my arranging. Only needed 26 chords because I changed the remainder. My daughter said something which made me think this could have been misunderstood. Thanks!
Enjoying reading and hearing everyone’s progress and results by the way. This has been a fascinating challenge.@nelsonlin2021, sigh I know what you mean so much. It’s so hard to slow down a song you’re working on that you know should be faster. I’m extremely bad at that, in fact. So bad at it, that I just don’t slow down and continue to plow along at full speed. 😅 Nonetheless, it’s a way better strategy to heed that maxim of Matt’s. Mattxim?
@katazumiri, those were both so amazing! Oh my, so great. Those are beautiful examples of that chord progression. Thank you for sharing that. (I think these are the two songs you were talking about sharing with me at the beginning of the month. If not, sorry to be so awkward again, sigh.) I tried so hard to understand what was happening with the key signatures. One has one flat and the other two. I… I noticed that. 😂😳 I straight up didn’t realize that g minor has two flats (still, not 100% sure that’s correct). I “know” that F major has one flat. I think what makes that interesting is that it’s the same chord progression in two different key signatures. Is that right? Either way, those were lovely to listen to and good inspiration indeed! 😊
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