(no subject)

[catsittingstill]

Good news! Such as it is. I called support for iRiver (the maker of that mp3 player/recorder I've been trying out) this morning, got a live human on the phone with admirable promptness and discovered that the reason the player software can't tell when the player is hooked up is probably a bad usb port on the player. It means driving all the way back into/through Knoxville, but I can swap the player for another one and that one will probalby work. Think I'll bring my computer along so I can try it right there in the store.

Also my back is definitely getting better. I'm still eating ibuprofen, but I'm down to 2 every eight hours, and going to my mando lesson today was no big deal back-wise.

The mando lesson was...interesting. I've been practicing every day, usually twice a day, but I'm still having real trouble getting up to speed. Roy (my teacher) thinks that pick control is the real issue for me--apparently it's important to pick with small motions, so the pick doesn't move very far from the string it's supposed to strike. The pick should kind of dance or bounce over the strings. Me, especially when I'm trying to play fast, I keep dragging it through the strings and waving it around. Sometimes I miss the string altogether--sometimes I can't get it across the string fast enough to get to the next place I need to go. I haven't actually thrown it away yet. But I'm sure it will come.

So Roy suggested I spend the week working on tremolo, try to get that fast and even and so I can change strings without missing a beat, and then work on matching the left hand to the right hand. I'll try it--I'm desperate.

Comments

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the replacement MP3 player.

Sometimes doing finger picking right is like learning to ride a bicycle: It doesn't work. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. Oh, it works. And then like trying to unlearn to ride a bicycle, you'll then have problems making it not work. Have patience Cat.

[braider.livejournal.com]

The real secret to that - relax. Which is annoying to tell someone, because it's impossible to force yourself to relax. It doesn't work. Just practice not caring what you sound like (yes, I'm serious) and relaxing will be easier.

Also, I /still/ find two and three-note tremolos easier than staying on a single note. I'm told this is weird, but try it - you might be the same.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Well, this is flat picking actually. But maybe it will work the same way :-) I have been trying this since I got home. I have my doubts--it seems to me that I can already tremolo faster than I can change notes with the other hand--but I'll keep trying.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I try to relax. I can feel all the muscles in my right arm tensing up as I play and I know that slows me down (a friend of mine who is very into martial arts once demonstrated to me that I was *much* faster at blocking if I started completely relaxed) but I can't relax the muscles without stopping. Sometimes they tense up so much they start to hurt, though I usually don't play that long in one go.

I'm not sure what you mean by two and three note tremolos--do you mean playing one pitch on the downstroke and a different pitch on the upstroke? I have been trying that--it's hard to get both hands coordinated so I get just one strike on each note, and they're not muffled or thumpy because my finger was on the string but not pressing it down all the way. But I'm working on that too.

Also I found out last week that I can end up with little gouges in the edge of my pick, which make for kind of a gritty feel when I try to play, which probably isn't helping. Roy said I could smooth them out with an Arkansas stone, which is apparently a really fine-grained white whetstone, but since a new pick is 25 cents, I just bought a new pick before I went home :-)

I never understood before why people would want flatpicks of different thicknesses and materials, but my .5 mm flatpick really does have a springiness that my thicker picks don't. It feels different.

[braider.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem when I first started. If your back weren't injured, I'd suggest strenuous exercise before starting. Your playing would suck, but you'd be forced to relax, and the suckage would stop in time.

2-3 note tremolos: you got it. Runs like A-B-A or B-C#-D are always fun. Remember: tremolos aren't necessarily supposed to be crystal clear. They do grow more clear with practice, but my banjo teacher actually suggested that I play deliberately lightly (left hand) on the strings for tremolos, fudging the notes a bit. The spirit is more important than the quality.

I grind my picks on the cement of the back porch, actually.....if I can't get it smooth enough that way (fairly smooth concrete), I use a bit of sand paper to touch it up. I actually prefer pointier picks that what they sell, I find it easier to....hm. To do tremolos, come to think of it. You might want to try grinding down your pick a bit.

Yes, thickness makes a BIG difference when you're playing fast!

Good luck!

[delennara.livejournal.com]

Giving up would be a shame...you play nice. I don't know much about this technique, but I am sure you can make it work. Maybe if you try less hard...concentrate on something else, just do 5 minutes of it every now and then - preferrably with a song you need it for, one you have in oyur ear with this kind of picking...
Playing from the ear often makes it easier to get things right.
Worked for me with the shuffle, and the picking used for "dust in teh wind" (on guitar I admit).
Glad oyur back is better. What happened with it in the first place?

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

If your back weren't injured, I'd suggest strenuous exercise before starting. Your playing would suck, but you'd be forced to relax, and the suckage would stop in time.

Maybe one of the simpler back-strengthening things like the farmer's stretch? (I say not knowing the extent of Cat's back problems...)

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

Getting the technique down can be summed up in three words. Practice, practice, practice. And don't play any faster than you are capable of playing. In learning banjo, and I've applied it to guitar as well, work on being solid first and increase your s peed as it becomes more comfortable. Eventually once your fingers get the idea, it just comes naturally. Above all, give yourself a break. It doesn't come over night. Ultimately, patience and persistence will out. :-)Â

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I've had back problems for years but 2 1/2 years ago I had a herniated disk and had to have surgery. My back has never been the same since, in terms of flexibility or comfort. On a good day, I'm nearly normal but there haven't been very many good days lately. On a bad day it hurts to sit or stand up for very long and I have to lie down now and then. Regular gentle exercise (walking, right now, but biking if my back is good) and a set of post-surgery back exercises my physical therapist gave me seem to help in the long term. In the short term I eat a lot of ibuprofen.

I'm not familiar with the farmer's stretch, but several stretches are part of the back exercises the physical therapist taught me.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I could try practicing right after my walk but I'm not sure that would be strenuous enough. I assume the object is to tire the arms out so they'll tend to relax, right?

Interesting suggestion about grinding down the pick. I do find the thinner pick easier to use for playing fast; maybe I'll give it a try :-) Right now it's hard to bend down enough to use the back patio, but the front porch has steps up to it; I could try that.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) I may have given the wrong impression. I'm not seriously considering *quitting*--just kind of frustrated that I'm not learning as fast as I would like. I'm glad you like my playing :-).

I started (yesterday) trying to play some of my other songs with this kind of picking (just playing along on the melody).

Regarding what happened to my back--most of it is in my reply to Sherman's comment (sdorn) just above. I think I actually caused the original injury by sitting with my back flat against the back of a very hard couch, which tended to flatten the lumbar curve of my spine. I was writing a science article at the time, which meant reading a lot of papers, which meant I was using the couch much more than usual. The episode that led to the herniated disc came on gradually during this time--if I'd realized that the gradually increasing pain whenever I stood and the flashes of pain down my leg as I walked were warning signs of a bulging disk I might have been able to head the whole thing off.

Sigh. If only. Anyway, the operation made things a lot better, which meant I could actually stand up for my wedding a week later, rather than be carried in on a litter. (For a while we were actually thinking about who in the wedding party was strong enough to carry me and which ones were about the same height--and what flowers would be appropriate for a litter. I drew the line at lilies :-)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

"And don't play any faster than you are capable of playing."

Interesting--this accords pretty much with my own instincts on the matter. But Roy wants me to deliberately push the speed to where I *can't* play it accurately, work on it there, then slow it down a bit for accuracy--but not as slow as it was before. I've been trying, but I'm a little concerned about picking up the habit of playing sloppily as a result. Perhaps Roy is just trying to push me out of my comfort zone.

But stuff that's played at 120 (bpm) on the CD I can only play at about 80 or so. And strangely enough--stuff I knew perfectly well at 70 I can't play at 80, not because I can't make the speed but because I don't remember what comes next in time. How strange.

[braider.livejournal.com]

Interesting suggestion about grinding down the pick. I do find the thinner pick easier to use for playing fast; maybe I'll give it a try

Just to make sure we're talking about the same thing....I'm talking about grinding the edges, to make a sharper point, not the flats to try to make it thinner. Is that what you originally understood me to say? (If so, good!)

Yes, the idea is to tire your arms out so they're a bit jelly-like.

Mary

[braider.livejournal.com]

It may be that you play too deliberately, and that's what he's trying to break you out of. (Note: unless you're already comfortable, playing with a deliberate sound tends to be linked to being too stiff...)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Yes, I figured you were talking about grinding down the edges to get a more spike-shaped, less equilateral pick.

I could try doing pushups, I suppose (to get jelly-like arms) :-)

[braider.livejournal.com]

Push-ups are really pretty darn hard on the body. If your body is up to it, get a couple of three-pound weights and work out with them for about 10 minutes. If your local library has Denise Austin's Hit the Spot: Arms & Bust, work with that video, doing the first 10-minute workout.

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

I concur with Mary.

In a sense, your instructor may be saying, "Cat, your brain thinks too much. Let the muscles of your fingers, hands and arms do the thinking. So do your exercise at a speed that you can't do it while thinking about it."

Use the Force, Cat. ;-)

[(Anonymous)]

Perhaps what your instructor is talking about is kinesthetic programming. My fingers know where pretty much any note is on the flute, without my consciously having to think about it, and even how to do patterns (arpeggios or tremolos or other ornamentations) in most keys; spending a year at University working on the latter helped my improvisational ability greatly.

So, yes ... gotta get the old trying-to-control brain to take a back seat, and let the reflexes that you're developing, take over. -- Callie

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

I can see the merit in what he is saying, however I have followed the advice of Eric Weissberg, (who played banjo on the 'Deliverance' sound track); "Practicing slowly and evenly leads to playing evenly at all tempos." Trust me, it works. Since you are noting your tempos, I presume you're playing with a metronome. I'm a big advocate of metronomes and click tracks. I don't believe I have actually met you, nor have I had the pleasure of seeing/hearing you play but I have certainly heard of you. Please forgive me for being a bit pedantic but the "strange" you point out may be made even stranger by the fact that I suffer the same affliction. It just takes time for your fingers to start listen to your head saying, "if you do it this way, it will sound good. Trust me.""

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

"Practicing slowly and evenly leads to playing evenly at all tempos." Yes, this is my instinct too--and playing with the metronome sometimes disturbs me because I'll fall off the beat and then hurry to get back on again, which can't be good for learning to play evenly. On the other hand I've only had a metronome for a few weeks, and maybe it just takes time to learn to play with it instead of racing ahead and dropping behind :-)

I don't think we've actually met either, but it's a pleasure to hear from you, and I've heard of you too :-) Maybe now that I live on the east coast I'll get a chance to meet you face-to-face sometime.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who forgets what notes come next :-)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Hi Callie!

Hmm. Well, I'm working on it, but so far it doesn't seem to be happening very fast. Joe Bethancourt recommended practicing while watching TV to distract your brain. I don't have a TV at the moment but I might try practicing while watching a video.

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

"...playing with the metronome sometimes disturbs me because I'll fall off the beat and then hurry to get back on again..."

Heh, heh. This is what is known as tripping over your crutch. :-) What works for me again, is starting off slowly and focus on staying on the beat. It gets easier, and then as you increase the speed the metronome really becomes your friend.

I'm sure we will meet one day, and I look forward to that. I have had invites to visit Baltimore and Boston so getting down that way is certainly on my "to go" list. Maybe you could go all out and get to FKO this year. Just a thought. ;-))

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I tried it yesterday--my back has been pretty good, almost back to normal, so yesterday I took a couple of 3 pound weights and worked out with them for a bit, until my arms felt kind of rubbery, and then tried to play.

It seemed like it helped. It felt like I was faster and not as tense. If my back's okay today I'll try it again this afternoon.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed FKO the last time I went and would love to go again. Dunno if I can afford it though.

[braider.livejournal.com]

Go, you!

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

Post-surgery issues can be really nasty—ouch. I've been reading The Athletic Musician when I've had a chance in the last few weeks, and there's a good picture of a —oops, it's not called a farmer's stretch, but a weight lifter's stretch on p. 69. Mea culpa. In any case, I've been enjoying the book, though your mileage may vary.