10/28/07 – Sunday Afternoon Practice

It was a beautiful weekend here in Dallas. Mid to upper 70’s with full sunshine and a light breeze. My son went down for a nap and so I went outside to my backyard to practice. Here is what I did…

Improvising Exercise:

• pattern #1 @ 60…TOO SLOW
• patt #1 & 2 @ 80…juicing the tone…nice
• patt #1&2 @ 100..easy…nice tone…liking the strings
• same @ 112 no problem….like the g and d strings
• same @ 120
• same @ 138
• too fast @ 168

Next I went on to practice the fiddle tunes. Ark Trav is definitely getting more consistent at the fast bluegrass speeds. I could also notice some improvement on Turk in the Straw at fast speeds…things just seem to slow down….very “Matrix” like.

Filed under: My Journal, Practice Session Notes

Fox On The Run

Fox On The Run

written by Tony Hazzard

(Chorus)
G                 D           Am           C
She walks through the corn leading down to the river
    Am              D           C           G
Her hair shone like gold in the hot mornin' sun
    G            D           Am             C
She took all the love that a poor boy could give her
    Am         D          C          G
And left me to die like a fox on the run
       C                                    G
Like a fox, (like a fox, like a fox) on the run

C                  G         D              G
Out here everybody knows the reason for the fall
     C             G          A7        D
When woman tempted me down in paradise hall
     C             G           D             G
This woman tempted me then she took me for a ride
    C             G           D               G
But like a lonely fox, boys I need a place to hide

(repeat chorus)

C                      G            D            G
We'll drink a glass of wine boys to fortify our souls
      C              G          A7                 D
We'll talk about the world and friends we used to know
C                 G              D             G
I see a string of girls who have put me on the floor
    C              G            D                G
The game is nearly over and the hounds are at my door

(repeat chorus)

Filed under: Fox On The Run, Show Notes & Song References

10/25/07 – New Strings…Looking for the Chop

I put on GHS A270’s last night. These are medium phosphor bronze strings (11-16-26-40). I am looking to get a more traditional bluegrass sound out of my mandolin, especially in the chop.

Filed under: My Journal

10/24/07 – 10pm Practice Session

I got in a solid hour of practice last night. I could have played a little bit longer, but my fingers are still sore from this past weekend!

I got warmed up with the G improvising exercise I found on MandoZine. This is a GREAT exercise. It is 10 walkups and walkdowns that increase in complexity. It’s challenging and allot of fun.

• First I hit patterns #1-6 @ 80bpm
• Then I focused on pattern #1 @ 100bpm

Next I took a break from the exercises and practiced some triplets on open stings. Then, I went back to pattern #1 and increased to 112bpm but it was a little too fast.

I opened up BUTN and went through some of the exercises on notes in the chop position. I played all around the neck and found some real nice licks. I need to stay on this exercise for a while though.Then I fired up the CD and played ArkTrav at full speed…part b difficult to keep up with. I also practiced play Turk in the Straw at full speed by ear. I got better at this and practiced playing simpler but faster.

I wrapped things up with more ArkTrav, some Billy in the Lowground and some more Turk.

Filed under: My Journal, Practice Session Notes

My Review of Firewire Strings

I put a set of Firewire strings on my mando a little over a month ago. It took them a long time to settle down – about a week and a half. I feel that they found their voice about 2 weeks ago, and they have held it well. I could see these strings lasting a bit longer if I wanted to keep them. Unfortunately, I don’t like their voice too much. I feel that they sound raspy and one dimensional. They are plenty loud, and they boom, but I just don’t think they bring out the special character in my mando. I’m not sure what strings I will put on next…maybe the Bill Monroe strings.

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal

10/20-21/07 – Weekend Jams

Well I had a great weekend full of jamming and bluegrass. Today (Monday) and my pinky is sore. The tip of the finger is rubbed raw and the muscle in the finger is sore. It’s a good sore.

Saturday night I went to Garland and picked with the Garland Square Pickers. I just love attending this. The weather was perfect, but there were not as many people out as I had anticipated.

There were two main picking groups…one playing fast-ass bluegrass and the other playing old timey country. I started out with the old timey country. As soon as I walked up to the group one guy said, “all right mandolin player…I’m gonna cut you loose on this one!” He broke into a very fast paced rendition of “Get Rhythm” and tossed me the first lead. I was kept in time and stayed with the chords and some very basic double stops, with a couple of blues notes. It turned out well, and I was complimented afterwards.

I stuck with that group for a while, and then meandered over to the bluegrass group. I took a break on one song, and it didn’t turn out as well as I was pretty nervous.

There was a great banjo player present and I put my instrument up just to listen to him for a while.

Sunday I was able to attend the Southwest Bluegrass Club meeting. The band Copper Canyon played, and they put on a pretty decent show. The highlights for me was their rendition of Catfish John and Mules Skinner Blues (or Blue Skinner Mules, as Dennis put it). I jammed outside for a bit, and then went inside for the slow jam. There was a great cowboy guitar player present, and I really enjoyed yodeling to one of his numbers. I also sang Long Black Veil in A and I think it was the best I have ever sung it. At the end I got a compliment on my playing from a spectator.

So, looking back on the weekend…it’s just SO much fun to play and jam. God it’s fun. I have a clearer picture of what I need to work on.

I need to work on playing the melodies and train my ear. I really like using the fiddle tunes for this, but I’m not totally convinced that this is the best method.  I also need to work on loosening up.  I think my double stops and tremelos would sound much better with a looser wrist.

I also need to work on learning where the notes are around the chord structure. I think that I get this from BUTN, and I plan on focusing on this this week. I noticed that my improvements in speed did not really help out too much this weekend. I also need to learn more songs to bring to the table. I am already scheming of ways to play again soon.

Filed under: Jam Reflections, My Journal

10/18/07 – Practice Session

Tonight I sat down for a concentrated practice session. After some warmup exercises I did the following…

• Ark Trav 100bpm…too slow
• 120…nice
• 138…very nice!
• 152…nailed it
• 160…nailed it!
• 168…was able to keep up.
• played along with CD…played just fine.

It’s crazy how fast you see improvement sometimes. It’s also crazy how differently you can play from day to day. Tonight, everything just seemed to slow down some. I kept on jacking up the speeds and it didn’t matter. I could really feel the benefits of practicing slowly and accurately. My play in part B on the E string was very nice in particular. Fun.

Filed under: My Journal, Practice Session Notes

10/17/07 – Lubbock Practice Session

I brought my mandolin along with me on a business trip to Lubbock, and I got a good 1hour+ practice session in.

• I played Arkansas Traveler at a steady and precise 100bpm
• then at 118bpm…still good
• then at 144bpm…this was too fast.  I got through the A part just fine but then got messed up in the B part.
• so, I took it down to 138…I played better at this speed, but it was still too fast for me to play perfectly.

This was very productive in narrowing down the speed I should be practicing at right now.  I think I should be warming up at 100 bpm, and playing at 120 – 130bpm should be enough of a challenge.

Next I played some songs by ear with a CD backup: OJC>ArkTrav>Turk>Billy

I wrapped things up with a nice jam in Dm.

Filed under: My Journal, Practice Session Notes

10/15/07 – Fast and Low to the Ground Practice

Tonight I had a nice hour long practice session.   As happy as I am about hitting my new plateau, it didn’t take long for me to realize what the next plateau actually will be.  I still don’t have my speeds up yet.  I can play great at around 100 bpm or even 120 bpm…but at typical bluegrass speeds of 160 or 180 bpm my fingers just get tied up.

The good news is that I can see myself getting faster and better, and so I know that playing at bluegrass speeds is an attainable goal.

The song Arkansas Traveler has always been a real challenge for me for some reason.  I really want to get this song nailed at 160bpm.  Tonight I play the song twice very slowly at 100bpm, then twice at 120.  I tried playing at 140 and got messed up.

I also messed with Turkey in the Straw a little bit.  I really want to train my ear, and I think that great practice for this is listening to these fiddle tunes and then figuring them out by ear.  After a few listens I got to where I could play it at 100bpm very well.  When I tried to play at 160bpm I got completely lost.

Filed under: My Journal, Practice Session Notes

10/16/07 – New Plateau = New Goals

I believe that I have arrived a new plateau…and it’s a wonderful plateau at that. I have reached the point where I do not (even cannot) play a break or song note by note as laid out in a instruction book. Instead, I learn the melody, and add my own flavor from there.

This is the final plateau. I believe this means that I have really learned how to play the instrument.

Case in point- Lonesome Road Blues from BUTN. This exercise has been on my to-do list for weeks. I have run through it many times, learned some licks, and learned the song. But I didn’t want to cross it off my list until I could play the break note for note. I have realized the futility in this. Why should I force myself to learn someone else’s style of play? And it turns out I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to…it’s too boring!

So, going forward I need to approach my goals differently. My main focus now should be in finding my voice, and learning how to bring it out. Playing RAW. In instructional books I should search for flavors and techniques that I like and then practice how to employ them.

It’s been a long road to get here, but the view from this plateau is endless. It seems now that this is the final plateau…where would one go from here? Hopefully I will be able to look back on this post someday and laugh at what a naive statement that is. Hopefully I will be able to look back at this post and be amazed at how little I actually knew at this point.

So, I think it will be useful to readjust my goals going forward. As I said, I need to find my voice, my own unique style. I have a good idea as to what I want to sound like, but I don’t know how to actualize it.

One way to actualize my style is to listen to other styles that I like and figure out how it is done. I also need to continue to build speed and runs. I need to be fluent in many keys and comfortable in many positions.

But at this moment, it seems to me that the best way is to should learn songs and practice applying my style to them.

Right now I really like two different songs…Shady Grove for it minor sounds, and In the Pines for its hardcore blues. For fiddle tunes I also like Red Haired Boy.

Now it’s time to MAKE THEM MY OWN.

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal