A Modern Method For Guitar Volume 1 Pages 70 to 72

[fep]

2nd position key of F, Some new chord forms, and a Chord Study.

Don't forget to review.

[a_small_coyote]

Posting in this thread to grab the attention of everyone on these pages. I posted in the pages 1-8 to thread because that's where I'm at right now, but I was just curious.

What do you all feel like has improved so far in your study of this book? Is it just dexterity and sight reading, or have you noticed an improvement in knowledge of theory/improvisation/jazz related stuff?

I'm always up for getting better in any area but it would be cool if this gave me a good start on composing jazz for guitar.

[ten left thumbs]

Hi coyote, I think you'll find we're all quite different in our starting points. For myself, what has improved:

left hand
right hand
knowledge of fretboard

However the main thing for me has been that I love the music that Leavitt wrote. I appreciate that he has laid out a strategy for me and I'm happy to see it through. I now play jazzy-sounding music. On guitar, not jazz.

Theory/improv - hasn't made much difference for me. With my background I really need basic competence at what I'm doing before I can improvise. I can't just take a shape and let my ear guide me through it. So I have not been expecting Leavitt to help with improvising, but I do expect it to get me to a level where I can follow another improv course I am familiar with.

Will Leavitt help if your ultimate aim is composing for jazz guitar? Yes, but by itself it will not be enough. You will need jazz too. Leavitt gives you the basics without which jazz will seem complicated and difficult.

[fep]

For me I think I'm improving on:

Dexterity

Sight Reading

Mental Focus - all this recording has made me realize how when I practice I had often not been that focused, to the extent that I didn't give mistakes much attention. Once I'm recording that completely changes.

Picking technique - in particular playing with rest strokes on chords on the inside strings.

[fep]

Regarding Composing - Did you see the little compositions that some of us did early in the course. I believe it was one of the first few threads.

I think if you tried to use the same material that Leavitt used and compose your way through the book you could learn a lot about composing. See if you can find those posts and compositions, it was in one of the first few threads.

[fep]

Made a little mistake at the end. What are you going to do?

[ten left thumbs]

What are you going to do?

Naughty, naughty, you'll need to do it all again now!

I'm hoping to record today. I find this shape particularly challenging with all the stretches, but the arps are worse than anything. And the chord etude slays me.

[ten left thumbs]

More to follow.

Scales:

I am quite disappointed to see how little I stretch to get to the first fret notes. It feels like I stretch, but you wouldn't know it from looking at my hand.

[Dana]

Great job folks!

[fep]

More to follow.

Scales:

I am quite disappointed to see how little I stretch to get to the first fret notes. It feels like I stretch, but you wouldn't know it from looking at my hand.

Kudos to you, that chord etude is a ... well let's just say it's hard.

And good job on the scales.

I'm not sure I've seen a tune to be played Rubato that has A tempo markings on it. Oh well, I know what they mean. I tried the chord etude this morning thinking I'd record, and I realize perhaps not. I need to work on this one.

[ten left thumbs]

Thanks. The chord etude is challenging. Very challenging. They only get harder.

You may remember some time ago I posted I was finding the book too hard and quite demoralizing. This is where I was. For 2 months I woke every morning to feel my left hand had been put through a mangle. I couldn't make progress. I had to use other books and materials to distract myself, while still plodding through.

I moved on when I got to a certain level of imperfection I thought was OK.

So, now I'm curious, what do you find difficult about this? Working out the notes? Fingers in the right places? Making it musical? I ask because you're a much better player and I have trouble imagining what would be difficult for you.

For me the difficulty is 99% getting the lh fingers in the right places, also the picking accuracy (though that is coming). Just getting them there and holding them is so physically demanding.

[fep]

For me the difficulty is 99% getting the lh fingers in the right places, also the picking accuracy (though that is coming).

That's it for me too. The chord picking has always been challenging as I had used either fingerpicking or hybrid picking for certain situations in the past. And as long as I've been playing, a lot of these chord changes are new to me. For instance B.2 of M.2 of S.2 and M.2 if S.3 etc.

And reading chords written in notation is a challenge too as I haven't memorized any of these pieces.

[fep]

My attempt

Critique, I'm still not strumming fast enough. A technique thing I still need to improve on when doing chords on inside strings with a rest stroke.

[ten left thumbs]

You made a good job of it Frank, if it was difficult, it didn't sound so.

I have two quite distinct phases in learning this type of piece. There is reading the notation and working out how it all fits on the fretboard, making decisions about which finger to use, and writing that in, plus any other wee reminders I need. I quite enjoy the 'reading and working out' part, it's almost like a cross-word puzzle.

Then there's the phase of 'now that I accept this is what my fingers must do, training them to actually do it' - and that's what takes time.

I suppose that last phase, playing it according to my own interpretation, and making it musical, I rarely get to.

[fep]

You made a good job of it Frank, if it was difficult, it didn't sound so.

I have two quite distinct phases in learning this type of piece. There is reading the notation and working out how it all fits on the fretboard, making decisions about which finger to use, and writing that in, plus any other wee reminders I need. I quite enjoy the 'reading and working out' part, it's almost like a cross-word puzzle.

Then there's the phase of 'now that I accept this is what my fingers must do, training them to actually do it' - and that's what takes time.

I suppose that last phase, playing it according to my own interpretation, and making it musical, I rarely get to.

Thanks Lauren,

Writing on the music is a good practice. I'm not doing it, as I'm really focused on improving my reading.

All those steps make sense and it is a matter of how difficult a piece is. This chord etude and the previous chord etude, those are the ones I had to put work on. Some of the others, I read through once or twice and then hit record. Sometimes one take, other times several takes. I've gotten to were I just take the attitude that I'm practicing while I'm recording, kind of takes the pressure off and I don't care if I have do multiple takes.

I think on this chord etude I never got to that "musical" stage.

What are your thoughts on how to proceed.

I just did the calculation - 52 pages left, about 28 weeks left in the year, that's about 2 pages a week.

Of course if you want we could try to finish sooner than the end of the year.

And, what about doing more pages per thread but let the threads run two weeks? There aren't as many posts per thread any more.

If you leave it up to me, I might proceed to fast.

[ten left thumbs]

Writing on the music is a good practice. I'm not doing it, as I'm really focused on improving my reading.

My book is full of scribbles in pencil. First off, I need to put treble clefs and key signatures in. Second, the fingering (as I absolutely cannot deal with guitar fingering, so I pencil in index does this, ring does that, when needed). Then when I come across a chord I know and recognise, I put in the chord symbol. Call it cheating, but I think he wants us to notice these chord fragments he gives, and it helps me piece the puzzle together.

What are your thoughts on how to proceed.

I just did the calculation - 52 pages left, about 28 weeks left in the year, that's about 2 pages a week.

Of course if you want we could try to finish sooner than the end of the year.

And, what about doing more pages per thread but let the threads run two weeks? There aren't as many posts per thread any more.

If you leave it up to me, I might proceed to fast.

I think we can probably finish before the end of the year. Some of those pages are reading studies, and they really don't count! Right now I'm working around page 90, so happy to go faster till you catch up with me.

We could do a thread per lesson, so a thread for the rest of F major (up to page 79), then:
lesson 10 (G major p 80ff)
lesson 11 (D major, p 90ff)
lesson 12 (A major p 100 ff)
lesson 13 (3rd pos, p 112ff)
lesson 14 (4th pos , p 117)

There are no chord or picking etudes in lessons 13 or 14. Perhaps allot a fortnight per thread?

[fep]

We could do a thread per lesson, so a thread for the rest of F major (up to page 79), then:
lesson 10 (G major p 80ff)
lesson 11 (D major, p 90ff)
lesson 12 (A major p 100 ff)
lesson 13 (3rd pos, p 112ff)
lesson 14 (4th pos , p 117)

There are no chord or picking etudes in lessons 13 or 14. Perhaps allot a fortnight per thread?

Good idea. I haven't seen the lessons listed like this. We'll see if a fornight works out. It's easy enough to touch base and see how it's going and adjust the speed accordingly.

Thanks

[ten left thumbs]

It's all in the CD (the organisation by lesson). It just gives me that feeling of accomplishment when I can tick a lesson off. Somehow that feels more than just moving on a page.

There's no way those could be real, weekly lessons, they cover far too much.

[oldhead]

Page 71, Eighth Note Study
https://www.box.com/s/0d711228b7a986bf5ae9

[ten left thumbs]

Nicely done, Oldhead. Good to have you back!

[oldhead]

Page 70. I should have slowed it down.

https://www.box.com/s/b6cf835bd0dabe7e6e97

[ten left thumbs]

Hi Dave, good to see you here again. Well done on the recording, you were brave to take it at such a speed and still do the repeats.

[Cemil]

I'm going through this (chord etude 2) now - some of these chords are real hard to play fast. The second half of the first bar is a pig to play as written - unless you want to cheat and hit the open B string ... Will take a few weeks to get through that one !

[Langs]

Still wanting to be of the people who finish the book. Been busy at it.

p70 - F Major.


Very intense I found it to be. Spent too much time on it. This is the main critique for myself.

p71 - Eighth-note Study


This study made me realize that I was avoiding learning to read the notes in the IInd and IIIrd position. Instaed, I read the notes to help me memorize the patterns and then try to play them right long enough hoping for the best and trying to get to the end of the study.

It really hit me once I realized how bad this is is. Not only does it need longer before anything semi-decent comes out. Also the frustration was huge and I wasn't doing what the book was intended for in the first place being: learning to read notes!

p71 - Chord Forms

Went over this one a little quick. Making these sound good I find to be very hard. I feel like they're quite telling of where you really stand with the guitar more than playing melodies or leads.

p71 - Arpeggio's


Nothing feels more like you are training everything than the Arpeggio Studies. I like them in the sense that they make you feel like you're working hard haha.

p72 - Chord Etude


Getting the hang of going through a piece more quickly the first time. Very rough, also recording gear wise. It'll get musical someday

[znerken]

Is the point of the chord etude to understand all of the chords? With some analysis I can get some/most of them, but not everyone is easy to get. Strange that the book focuses so little on reading chords from sheet music really.