Hey Birgit, glad to hear you are working on this. I think the strums could be a tighter here. Strum up and down and focus on the rhythm first, chords second. The downstrokes need to happen right ON the beat. Try different tempos. Slower is MORE DIFFICULT. Faster is EASIER. In my case anyway. 🙂

It's a bit awkward to give instruction on this via text. Maybe I can help with the next live stream being on strumming. The next live stream will be happening next week.

Practice log 09-29-2021

@robert, I’m still working on your lesson, „Learn enclosure & chromatic passing tones in blues-YL21“. According to your tips I’m trying to « make the notes longer by releasing the pressure of the fretting fingers slighty longer ». And I’m still working with your live stream video from Monday, Feb. 22, 2021 „Swing vs even feel and technique discussion“.

My first trial was in practice log 08-08-2021. This is my second trial:

I think there is still a lot to do to improve my technique.

Birgit

It's getting better! Your practice is certainly paying off. I have an idea for exercises. I'll show you in the live stream tomorrow.

@bluesiline Wow Birgit that's sounds good to me, you make my feets dancing! I think there is a new Kenny Burrell artist born. He is 90 years old now, so time for a new one Kenny Burrell! 😀 👍  

@blues-lover 

André, Kenny is such an amazing jazz guitarist. „Midnight blue“ was the first song I heard from him. Amazing!

If I read correctly, Kenny began playing the guitar at the age of 12. I started when I was almost 61 years old.

So in my second life I’ll start learning the guitar at the age of 2 to get even more head start than Kenny, and then we'll see what is possible  …. 😉. 

Birgit

Practice log 10-16-2021

I try to expand my chord vocabulary learning the chord voicings E7 (root on A string 7th fret), A7 (root on D string 7th fret) and B7 (root on D string 9th fret) from Robert's lesson «Voicing&Comping – Comping Blues 4 – Texas Blues Strumming".

I’m learning to mute the low E string with the thumb and to mute the A string (for A7 and B7) with the tip of my middle finger and to mute the B and high E string with the lower part of my index finger (for E7).

It’s quite a big challenge for my brain and my fingers to learn these voicings. But it’s a lot of fun too.

This is my first rudimentary recording, just to get a first impression of my playing:

Muting the B string and high E string with the lower part of my index finger works quite well for the E7.

But I can see that I have to bend my thumb even more. And I have to be more precise in playing and to get more energy on the strings during beat 2. I stay tuned to improve my playing.

Birgit

Posted by: @bluesiline

I’m learning to mute the low E string with the thumb and to mute the A string (for A7 and B7) with the tip of my middle finger and to mute the B and high E string with the lower part of my index finger (for E7).

It’s quite a big challenge for my brain and my fingers to learn these voicings. But it’s a lot of fun too.

Impressive 👍

@bluesiline 

That was really some fine playing. I like how you accented some of the notes in kind of the "right" syllable of a lyrical thought.

@hillbilly_joe, it’s so nice to hear from you again 😊. I hope that you  - and your guitar(s) -  are doing well and greetings to Japan.

Thank you so much for your nice comment. Learning to play three string voicings and muting all the unwanted strings is a matter of heart for me and these are now the very first and tiny little steps.

Robert has so many beautiful lessons I can work with. And as soon as the muting has become second nature to me, I will be able to bring more energy onto the strings.

And there are a lot of incredibly beautiful sounding voicings to learn…..

Birgit

Good to see you sharing your practice - thank you! Try to sync the down beats with your right hand. I do think it will work better if you have a more distinct motion like I showed in the live stream. Maybe you can do this again, but do only steady 1/8th notes, and focus on locking in with the groove.

Listen to the backing track more than your guitar! Think of yourself as a percussionist and your job is to be in perfect time with the band.

Posted by: @robert

Think of yourself as a percussionist

Great insight, Robert.

Practice Log 31-10-2021

Thank you for your tips, @robert. I always appreciate that very much.

I’ll record  the „Comping Blues 4 – Texas Blues Strumming“ again and present it in my next practice log.

Since I’m working with the lesson « Swing Blues Rhythm in E »  right now I thought I could show my practice progress in advance.

It’s the first time that I practice a repeating figure in combination with chords and it felt like an eternity before I could switch from the figure line to the chords and backwards. A lot of practice, a lot of recordings.  And it wasn’t easy to have a swinging picking hand. Instead of the triplet on beat 4 of each bar I play two 8th notes.

As you recommended in the lesson, I skipped that last note, the root note B, before going to the Five chord. Gives me a bit of a head start and helps a lot in the beginning!

To get all the moves done, it‘s good for me playing at 95 bpm, but I hope that I can get even faster!

According to your recommendations I wanted to focus on the following points :

•   To sync the downbeats with my right hand,
•   listen to the backing track more than my guitar,
•   to have a more distinct motion with my right hand
•   keep on swinging

What I can see from my video is :

I haven’t yet managed to play in perfect time and the motion of my right hand is not strong enough. I have to keep the swinging rhythm constant and I mustn’t forget to use my thumb for muting the low E string.

But, during playing, I listened to the backing track more than my guitar 😊. I realize that this is very important and I can still improve it.

Birgit

@bluesiline, your post had me revisit Swing Blues.  Not a simple exercise to perform switching between single note riffs and chords.  I had to practice each separately and then execute them together. 

Capturing the swing feel is an exercise that requires a lot of focus on the feel first, and notes later.  I remember spending many hours working on a few crucial bass lines.  Later, when the time came to play other songs, the fundamental rhythm feel was there, in my skin and bones, ready to play over whatever notes were needed.

@bluesiline Always great to see the practice videos you share with us. It so great to see how much patience you have, and nice to see how you growing. 👍 

@blues-lover 

André, you are always so positive and supporting. Helps a lot 😊. Thank you.

Birgit