04/18 – 04/20 Weekend Jams and Practice

This past weekend had all the makings of 3 days chalker-blocked full of bluegrass. I did pretty good and was able to make it to 2 out of 4 events.

Friday we loaded the family in the car and headed out to Glen Rose to spend the night with my father-in-law. I had come up with a scheme that would allow me to attend the 3rd Friday Bluegrass Show and Jam in Cleburne. Unfortunately Dallas traffic delayed us and I got there a little late. I was able to poke me head and check out the scene. It was overwhelmingly geriatric and there were not a lot of instruments lying around – a sign that there is not going to be some good jamming. So, I decided to skip in favor of a nice dinner with family.

Saturday morning I got some free time to myself. My father-in-law lives in a house on the banks of the Brazos River. All day Friday I was thinking about different songs that talk about rivers. How does the river speak to you? How do you listen? I decided to try and find out for myself. I set up a little practice area and played some mandolin. Well, I didn’t really play so much as practiced. I practiced attacking the strings and listening for tone. Then I spent some time on scales.

The river liked the slow, methodical movement of the scales, so I stayed on that for a while. I played through the scales in all sorts of different positions and keys. I went through different scale patterns, such as 3 steps up and 2 down. The river really liked the sound of that in D, and so I stayed there for a while. The practice came to a climax in D as I played as loud and fast as I could. The river played with me by providing reverb off its banks.

As the sun started to rise in the sky and get hotter, the river started to slow down to a lumbering pace. I was slowing down also – I had been playing for 2 hours! So I bid the river farewell and went inside.

That night I was able to go to Garland to pick. Unfortunately, there still were not a lot of people there, so I didn’t stick around very long.

Sunday, I was unable to make the Southwest Bluegrass Club meeting, but I got in some good time with my guitar and Mississippi John Hurt songs.

So, more practice = more progress. Its nice to be focused in my practice sessions. I still can’t wait for April to be over and done with, but May and June are going to be heavy travel months.

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal, Practice Session Notes , Brazos River, Garland, practice, scales

The Story Of A Mistaken Mandolin

For anyone who missed it on mandolincafe.com, check out this amusing ebay listing.

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal , ebay

04/11 – 04/13 Weekend Jams and Practice Sessions

All of this week I have been focusing on my string attack. Per the Peter O exercise, I simply play the upstroke and downstroke on an open string and concentrate on making the two sound exactly alike. This exercise is quite pleasant. At night, I will lay in bed with the lights off and attack the strings. I try to visualize the sounds coming from the mandolin, and how they are different. This turns into a wonderful meditation of tone and rhythm. It is very relaxing.

On Saturday I was able to get in a nice practice session. I warmed up with the open string exercise, and then played some scales. I started off trying my hand at the 220bpm version of Arkansas Traveler…this was a mistake as I was still not warmed up.

I opened the tabedit version of the song and went through it at several different speeds, starting at 160bpm. I practiced the song in my typical “two steps up, one step down” fashion – I played it at 160bpm, then kicked it up to 190bpm, then back down to 170bpm, and then up to 200bpm, then back down to 160bpm, and so on.

I found that my threshold is currently at 200bpm – the Steve Kaufman version is at 220bpm.

I practiced my attack on the strings. With the Arkansas Traveler playing in the background I simply attacked the open strings along with the song. I felt that this was a good exercise so I stuck with it for a while – once at 160bpm concentrating on tone, then at 180, then a couple of times at 220bpm. I was focusing on getting my right hand used to the rhythm and attacking the strings consistently.

Before I knew it I had been practicing for 2.5 hours. My left hand and forearm where completely sore. My fingertips were worn down and sensitive. It’s practice sessions like that – except done everyday – that make a musician.

That night I was able to go to Garland to pick. Unfortunately it was cold and there weren’t many folks out, so I didn’t stick around for very long.

Instead I went home and checked out a recording I have been meaning to edit and post for some time. So here it is – this is a jam with me and Larry recorded a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those things were he just started playing something random and we jammed it out. He is such a great guitar player…you can hear him doing some really interesting stuff in this recording.

Clip – Jam with Larry

Filed under: Jam Reflections, Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal, Practice Session Notes , attack, Garland, Larry Jam, practice

Making Lemonade Out Of Lemons

I was able to get in a whisper of a practice session in on Saturday evening. I worked with the Arkansas Traveler on Steve Kaufman’s Workout CD’s that I have been having so much trouble keeping up with. I warmed up, played a couple of times with the slow version, and then hit the fast version. I was really surprised to find that I had made good progress! For the first time ever, I was able to play the ending lick in the first section of the song up to speed! Honestly I couldn’t believe it. The progress was a warming ray of optimism.

I have been meditating long and hard about what my problem is with playing at such a speed. Where exactly is the disconnect and what is the best way to attack it?

Before Argyle I spent a week working on speed. I played scales and arpeggios in a ladder workout method…almost like a weigh lifting program.

This did help. It strengthened and stretched out my left hand. My fingers became more efficient in moving up and down the neck. I learned the notes and patterns of the scales.

But after all this I still made very little improvement with Steve Kaufman. My left hand was able to play along, but my right hand could not keep up.

What did I do differently on Saturday that brought immediate improvement?
I started focusing on the movement of my left hand. I noticed that when I failed at keeping up, I would play the downward strokes, but skip the upstrokes.

I think I have come to a big realization about my playing, and I think I have hit upon my main disconnect. I have been playing the mandolin like a guitar, or at least not like a mandolin. When I think about the notes in Arkansas Traveler, I think about the downstrokes. The upstrokes are secondary. This is wrong – they should be independent. My right hand is not up to playing par.

About this time the latest edition of Mel Bay’s Mandolin Session came out. There is an article with videos of a lesson by Peter Ostroushko.

The videos focus on training the right hand. Peter gives an exercise that he states very certainly with improve one’s playing 100%.

The exercise is simply playing a string, unfretted, and focusing on making the upstroke sound exactly the same as the downstroke. A very simple exercise.

Now, seeing how I am so tired all the time this month, and seeing how I think that I need to work on my right hand, I think that this month is a perfect opportunity to focus on the right hand. What better month to stick with a no-brainer exercise?

So I worked on the exercise before I went to sleep last night. I definitely need to work on this. My upstroke is very, very sloppy. When I focus and pay attention to my upstroke I realize how untrained it is. It feels like the trying to throw a ball with your left hand when you are right handed.

So, long story short, I am kind of excited about this. Who knows, maybe this crappy month of April, which I had assumed was going to be a complete wash, will end up being one of my best months ever? “Keep on the sunny side,” right?

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal , attack, progress, upstroke

Not Having Fun With April

This is going to be a tough month for me, and everyone in my family.   My wife has a rotation at the hospital this month that requires her to leave the house at 5am.  This means that I too am up at 5am.  And since the 3 year old and 4 month old are up as well, I do not go back to sleep.

Last month I had discovered the 9pm practice window. That window is closed for the month as 9pm is now bed time.

So, I’ll just be taking it one day at a time, you know?  Hopefully I’ll be able to get some jams in over the weekend.  I haven’t been to a bluegrass jam since Argyle, and I am really itching.

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal

Marley the Giant Crawdad

I met the most interesting man on the airplane coming back form New Orleans yesterday. His name is Victor Thibodeaux and he owns the largest Crawdad in the world. The crawdad’s name is Marley and he will be traveling with Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Victor is a very nice man and he offered to bring Marley to our next family get together so that everyone can meet him. Marley even does some tricks! Check out the you tube video of Marley the Giant Crawdad!

Filed under: My Journal, Traveling Man , Crawdad