Weekly Warm Up No. 33
Hi Folks, Welcome back!
I found all of these tape measures while cleaning my house this week which leads me to a question for you:
Do you set specific, small, or measurable goals for your practice each week?
I find that when I set incredibly specific goals, my practice sessions are both productive and fulfilling. My work this week broke down as follows:
- Learn section of new piece
- Scale practice: string crossing (ascending/descending 2-strings)
- Right Hand Velocity
- Relearn one old piece for recording
- Tremolo passage practice for new piece
The next step was to break down these five areas into specific small goals and by small I mean really small goals and spread them across the week. This allows me to know exactly what I’m doing each time I plop down in the chair to work.
I find most people (and I’m including myself in this category) over program their practice sessions. To combat this, I think about how much time I have to practice each day and acknowledge that I can’t hit everything on my list in a given session.
What helps me stay on target is to prioritize which items need daily work for the week and which areas can be placed on rotation (this requires that you know your strengths and weaknesses). If you don’t know your strengths/weaknesses, ask your teacher. If you don’t want to ask your teacher, record yourself and listen back with the score. A recording is the most honest feedback regarding what’s working and what is not working.
One other helpful technique I use is to have a specific day each week that I “program” my practice goals. I also setup a mid-week check in with myself (this takes all of 5-10 minutes) to evaluate my progress and make any adjustments to my plan. BTW, this plan is not etched in stone, it’s carved in Play-Doh. It’s malleable, flexible, and can be reshaped.
So, what do you do? Do you wing it each time you pick up the guitar? Do you over program your practice sessions? Do you just do the same things week after week without changing things up? Maybe you have a totally unique approach that works for you and want to share it with the world! If you’re up for sharing, send me a message about your practice successes or woes.
This week we’re continuing with a few familiar three-note and four-note arpeggio patterns. We will also continue to explore these new left hand slur patterns in preparation for scales.
Tempo:
Quarter note set @ 100 BPM.
Right Hand Arpeggios:
(Based on this A Major Chord Progression )
- Pima
- Pami
- Pim
- Pmi
- Pma
- Pam
- Pa-imi
Tremolo:
- Pami (ami on 2)
Tempo:
Quarter note set @ 80 BPM.
Left Hand Slurs: (ascending & descending)
- 12-23-34
- 43-32-21
- 24-1 (across strings)
- 4-13 (across strings)
- 31-4 (across strings)
- 1-42 (across strings
Synchronization Drills: Single String
1234 | 4321 | 1434 | 2434
Tutorials:
I’m also including some tutorials I’ve created around Arpeggios, Ascending Slurs (Hammer On’s), and Descending Slurs (Pull-Off’s).
Say Hello:
