Interval Review:

Reviewed and added remaining 2nd to 3rd string descending intervals. Tomorrow start adding 5th string intervals (5th to 4th ascending, etc.)

Sight-Reading:
Leavitt's sight-reading book - p. 96

Thoughts:
After practicing the large string jumps, I played the etude I made up at 65 bpm. So far so good. I wrote in the past that I have trouble making lines descending from the 1st string to the 6th. So, I played the etude in that way - and it was really difficult - my brain was freezing up. Good to know, because this is obviously something I need to work on.

Warm-up/Technique:

Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 75 bpm
String-Jumping 1st string to 5th string, 2nd string to 6th string @ 65 bpm (used in the little position jump etude I made up

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free.
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free


Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes -
80 bpm

l, m @ bpm.

Putting it all together p. 67 Exercise - @ 100 bpm

Thumb Exercise @ 72 bpm


Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Played @ 85.

Estrellita
Focused on Klickstein's pre-performance checklist

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Part D first two measures.

Samba Caribe
Part A - jump between measures 12-13 is quite hard. Practiced at 60 bpm.

Bart B measure 7 chord jump - hard to get it clean. Practiced at 65 bpm.
The problem can be broken down into 2 components:
1. the actual speed with which my wrist changes position
In order to improve this, I can keep my fingers as close as possible to the fretboard as I'm changing the position), and just practice the actual position change

2. change in the position of the thumb on the neck

Interval Review:

Added couple of 2-3rd string descending cards.
Also, reviewed Anki Fretboard deck (haven't done in almost a year) - another thing I need to keep reviewing.

Sight-Reading:

Major sight-reading session of 7th position - played a couple of pages from Leavitt's sight-reading book.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Yesterday didn't actually finish transcribing C - did today.

Samba Caribe
65 bpm.
Took apart the arpeggio - finally all that time spent on the anki interval flashcards is coming in handy. I can see what the arpgeggio make-up is from this chord.

Interval Review:

Reviewed and added additional 3rd string - 2nd string.
Also, reviewed Anki Fretboard deck (haven't done in almost a year) - another thing I need to keep reviewing.

Sight-Reading:

Major sight-reading session of 7th position - played a couple of pages from Leavitt's sight-reading book.
Warm-up/Technique:

Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 65 bpm
String-Jumping 1st string to 5th string, 2nd string to 6th string @ 65 bpm (used in

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free.
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free


Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes -
80 bpm

Hard with l, m - decreased to 61 bpm. Still hard

Putting it all together p. 67 Exercise - @ 65 bpm

Thumb Exercise @ 65 bpm


Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Played with and w/o metronome @ 90. Getting better but still speeding up.
Experimented with different tempos - 2nd time around of Part B can be played much faster for a cheap showman effect

Estrellita
The chord jump in Part B is the hardest, but it's all about confidence, like so many things in life

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Finally transcribed rest of part C.

Samba Caribe
65 bpm.
Part A measure 3 end - need to mute chord immediately after hitting it
Bart B measures 9 - 14 : easy to just memorize with muscle memory, but real memorization requires knowing the scale degrees - need to keep reviewing this

Anki:

Reviewed yesterday's .

Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Played @ 85 bpm, focusing on measures 14 - 15.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Went on just a bit into the next section.

Samba Caribe
Wrote out notes for 7th position in different scales and practiced sight-reading.

Anki:

Reviewed yesterday's and added a couple of 3rd string - 2nd string cards.

Warm-up/Technique:

Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 100 bpm
m, l with eight notes @ 65 bpm


Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free.
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes -
80 bpm. Above 80 and the pinky starts to go up :(

Hard with l, m - decreased to 60 bpm. Still hard

p. 67 Exercise - Putting it all together @ 62 bpm

Thumb Exercise (pg. 41) @ 65 bpm



Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Played @ 80 bpm, focusing on measures 14 - 15.

Estrellita
Noticed that I need to mut the B note in measure 4 of part C

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Reviewed yesterday's.

Samba Caribe
Wrote out notes on first 3 strings for 7th position (in order to get the last 5 measures of the piece down well).

Gig Feedback:
Played at an open mic on my way home from the sound-recording center.
Pica-Pica arpeggios were a bit off, but I nailed Estrellita. Still hard to get into the actual groove of the song, but had more success with the latter.

There were things to learn from the other participants in the jam. There was one rock-star type dude who really carried the whole band and created a certain rock energy. He good showmanship - besides the guitar licks, he also used lots of hand gestures. Also, I noticed how much of a difference an in-the-pocket drummer makes. This is the kind of stuff I need to strive for in my guitar playing....

Made-up a little practice lick. Here's the video

Anki:

Added a couple of 3rd string - 2nd string cards.

Warm-up/Technique:

Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 65 bpm


Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free.
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes -
80 bpm

Hard with l, m - decreased to 60 bpm. Still hard

p. 67 Exercise - Putting it all together @ 62 bpm


Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Played @ 80 bpm, focusing on measures 14 - 15.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Reviewed yesterday's.

Samba Caribe
Part B measures 9-12 reviewed. Last part has a run in 7/8th position with string crossings, etc. I can just memorize it, but it's better if I take this opportunity to learn/review the notes in those positions. Use the Reading Studies for Guitar book.

Anki:

A lot of reviews - didn't add new cards

Repertoire:

Pica Pica & Estrellita
Played back-to-back for Shane. Pica Pica - measures 14-15 were awful, too fast for me.
Went back and played with metronome at 80. Repeat tomorrow!

Samba Caribe
Reviewed - ready to learn the last 5 measures, I believe.

Gafieira Do Vidigal
Reviewed Part B

Thoughts

I played my tunes for Shane, and before he left, I played him a little bit of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". He gave me some good advice - even though this piece is out of my league, I should work on it ocassionally, so that it stays in my memory and so that I won't have to relearn it from scratch when my technique improves.....

Anki:

A lot of reviews so didn't add new cards.

Warm-up/Technique:

Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 65 bpm


Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 100 bpm rest & free. Fingers too cold for 105
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes -
As per what I re-discovered in Pumping Nylon 2 days ago (about limiting height of relaxed left-hand fingers above fretboard) - could do this well only @ max of 75 bpm rest and free (fee is harder).

Hard with l, m - decreased to 55 bpm. Still hard

p. 67 Exercise - Putting it all together @ 62 bpm


Repertoire:

Pica Pica & Estrellita
Played back-to-back concert style in prep for tonight's open-mic.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Noticed a lot of subtle notes I missed in part C while listening casually to the tune in the train. Went back to Transcribe and noticed that I missed a lot of such notes in part B, as well. Namely, part B has IV in the bass, which makes for a funky, unusual vibe (the thing that adds a tribal element to this piece, I think).

Because of this 4th, I had to change the fingering for the double stops. Review and keep at it tomorrow.

Samba Caribe
Part B measure 9-12 reviewed/learned. Sounding good!

Gig Feedback:
Played at a jam session at Coyote's, a bar/pub not too far away from my pad. Got there at around 6:40 and signed up. A gentleman started the set. I was eating a burger when he started playing (around 7:20). The food definitely helped me relax, but I got nervous after I finished and he was still playing.

I was up after he finished. The audience (around 30 people total) was quite enthusiastic and welcoming. The sound guy and the audience reassured me that the sound was okay, but I couldn't hear myself well, despite a bunch of monitors. To me, I sounded quite muffled.

I did Klickstein's pre-tune routine, but I think I sped up the tempo on Pica-Pica. My body was feeling it, but I wasn't imagining the meaning of the music. Neither was I imaging ahead.

People seemed to have gotten a kick out of Pica-Pica. Estrellita to me sounded better when I started it. However, as if there was nothing else to mess up, my brain forgot measure 15 of part A (the tonic chord right before the V turnaround). I had to skip the measure. This chord couldn't be more obvious (though of course neither the rhythm nor the scale notes were as easy as a power chord). Knowing this, I started to panic a bit, but continued the piece. I ended well.

I still had some time, so decided to go for it and play Nothin on You. I played it cold, so forgot the lyrics here and there and the rhythm part wasn't in the pocket, either. But that's all okay. What I didn't like was the reverb - there was too much.

After I finished, I talked to a guy waiting to play after me, and he said that it sounded good. Go figure! :)

I thanked Jimmy (the sound engineer) when I was leaving and he said he really loved the nylon guitar sound and encouraged me to come next week. I said that I could only play the same pieces, but he said no worries. As I was walking out a guy named John shook my hand and thanked me for the performance.

"During the early phases of learning performance skills, it may take time at the onset of a show for you to compose yourself. No matter how rough things get, though, stay occupied with the moment. Do what's necessary to perform each phrase the best that you can, irrspective of how previous phrases turned out. And be optimistic. Budding performers often batter themselves with critical self-talk on stage, not realizing that self-ridicule blocks creativity. Keep up an accepting attitute as you play or sing. Whether things go well or not, each performance gives you information that adds to your expertise."
Gerald Klickstein, The Musician's Way, pg. 187

Thoughts:
Lately I've been thinking that despite working through Pumping Nylon's speed exercises, my speed hasn't increased as much as I want it to. Then again, maybe just I'm just rushing.

I was rereading a bit of Pumping Nylon. One of the first things Tennant talks about is the distance between the left-hand fingers and the string when the fingers are off the string. I practiced this years ago, but indeed this may be something that is hindering progress.

I played the synchronization exercise on one string and paid attention to the height at which I keep the fingers. Generally good, but I noticed that the pinky tends to wander to around an inch from the string at times. I noticed that as I increased the speed, I became more nervous and the fingers actually tended to venture further away from the string (achieving exactly the opposite of the intended effect). Need to keep working on this.

Also, mentally reviewed my repertoire while riding the Max. Very useful to refresh ocassionally. Also, goes to show that one can practice music anywhere - it just takes brainpower.

Anki:
Reviewed and added 1st string - 2nd string cards.

Warm-up/Technique:

Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 90 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 60 bpm


Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 100 bpm rest & free. Fingers too cold for 105
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 95 bpm rest and free (fee is harder). Tried increasing to 98, but too many mistakes

Hard with l, m - decreased to 55 bpm. Still hard

p. 67 Exercise - Putting it all together @ 65 bpm

Thumb Exercise (pg. 41) @ 65 bpm


Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Sped up to 90 bpm on metronome.

Estrellita
Played once through.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Want to get the part that I've learned down perfectly - the sliding double stops are deceptively hard.

In transcribing this piece, it's becoming evident that I learn better when I learn from the music than from the notes. When I learn from the music (by transcribing), I anticipate the music automatically, whereas I think about the musical structure of the next bar when I play a piece I learned from notes....

Samba Caribe
Part B measure 9 - 10. Good vibe.

Chopped skin off of thumbprint area of thumb yesterday while cutting veggies. Doesn't really affect playing, but it still keeps bleeding ocassionally, so will have to go light on the playing it looks like.....

Anki:
Reviewed cards

Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Reviewed at 90

Estrellita
Played once through.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Played yesterday's material, didn't add.

Samba Caribe
In part B, need to make sure that bass line is articulate as heck. This is what makes the samba danceable.

Anki:
Reviewed and added remaining 2nd string - 1st string cards

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 85 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 60 bpm


Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 95 bpm rest and free (fee is harder)

p. 67 Exercise - Putting it all together @ 65 bpm

Thumb Exercise (pg. 41) @ 65 bpm - free only


Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Sped up to 90 bpm on metronome.

Estrellita
Played once through.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Played yesterday's material, didn't add.

Samba Caribe
Got the part I learned yesterday down, although position jump from measure 6 to 7 of part B is hard.

Anki:
Reviewed and added 2nd string - 1st string

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm. Shifted to 4th position from 5th - getting back the finger flexibility slowly

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 85 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 60 bpm


Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free - very hard for some reason (!!???)

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 95 bpm rest and free (fee is harder)

p. 67 Exercise - Putting it all together @ 65 bpm

Thumb Exercise (pg. 41) @ 65 bpm - rest stroke only


Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Played @ 85bpm on silent - occassionally checking metronome. Isolating parts where I speed up.

Estrellita
Good feel, fun to play. But no imaging - I wonder if that's a danger.....

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Practiced part B @ 75 bpm. Learned up to Part B measure 4.

Samba Caribe
Totally forgot the 1 bar I learned yesterday - should have reviewed it earlier in the day.

Arigatou song:
I keep forgetting the lyrics.

Anki:
Reviews went pretty well - info is definitely solidifying. For sure, I would have given up already on this interval stuff (as I have many times before) were it not for the Anki.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm. Shifted to 4th position from 5th - getting back the finger flexibility slowly

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 83 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 65 bpm


Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free
l, m @ 90 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 95 bpm rest and free (fee is harder)

Thumb Exercise (pg. 41) @ 65 bpm


Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Measure 15 - played at 70 bpm. Increased to 75, and then to 85 bpm. No problems with tempo, but once again, hard to maintain steady tempo when I play without metronome. Daily, I need to establish the tempo and then play while counting to myself. Of course, I won't be able to concentrate on the feel of the music as I'm doing this, but theoretically I should incorporate this good rhythm into the piece so that I won't have to count anymore.

Estrellita
Played back-to-back with Pica Pica in order to time for show. ~6 minutes.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Practiced part B @ 75 bpm.

Samba Caribe
Studied measure 5 of Part B - very confusing rhythm.

Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol. II pg. 55

Anki:
Reviews went pretty well - info is definitely solidifying. For sure, I would have given up already on this interval stuff (as I have many times before) were it not for the Anki.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight @ 80 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 60 bpm

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 95 bpm rest


Repertoire:

Pica Pica
Measure 15 - played at 70 bpm.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Practiced Part B - getting the slide just right is not so easy. It only sounds good when it's perfect, and I can only get it when its perfect slowly @ 75 bpm.

Thoughts:
Reviewed Arigatou sequence.

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards (chord sequence deck also). Everything's becoming jumbled up in my brain (the descending intervals are particularly hard), so didn't add new cards

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 160 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 120 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free
l, m @ 92 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 95 bpm rest


Repertoire:

Samba Caribe
Practiced @ 50bpm
Sounds good - played up to Part B measure 5.

Estrellita
Good feel.

Pica Pica
Noticed that I keep messing up Part A measures 10-15. Analyzed the fingerings and realized that I didn't think about this enough enough during the initial learning stages. Went back. Changed alot of the arpeggios to free stroke.

Focus on measure 15 tomorrow - this is one that I've been playing without thinking and the altered fingering in order to mute the E7 chord properly will take some time to get used to.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Practiced Part B - getting the slide just right is not so easy.

Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol. II pg. 48

Thoughts:
Reviewed Arigato sequence. As well as a couple of the verses.

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards (chord sequence deck also). Everything's becoming jumbled up in my brain (the descending intervals are particularly hard), so didn't add new cards

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 160 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 120 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free YEAH!
l, m @ 90 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 95 bpm rest


Repertoire:

Samba Caribe
Practiced @ 50bpm
Lots of mistakes all over the place. Can't concentrate so well.

Part B - thumbnail is still too short, the thumb not getting the bass notes at all today for some reason

Estrellita
Good feel.

Pica Pica
Once again, hard to play at 75 bpm - feels too slow.

My target concert speed is 85 bpm.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Transcribed Section B measures 1-8. So enjoyable! Really got the groove of the piece.

Thoughts:
Reviewed Arigato sequence. As well as a couple of the verses.

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards (chord sequence deck also). Added 6th - 2nd ascending tomorrow. Add 2nd - 6th descending.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 160 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 114 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest & free YEAH!
l, m @ 90 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 95 bpm rest

Rhythm Played Freddie Green lick to 100 bpm metronome on silent

Repertoire:

Samba Caribe
Practiced @ 50bpm
Section A sounds good ! :)

Learned Section Bars 1-4. As the composer of this piece warns in the intro, the syncopation is actually hard to get down. I love the groove, and also the way that the bass invariable goes V-I-V-I on the beats

Failed miserably on the Dm - Am chord change in bar 4 of section B when played the piece from the beginning. Fingers still not used to this tight chord position.

Estrellita
Minor mistakes but feel is there. Hard to image chord progressions ahead - gets in the way of feeling the meaning of the piece.

Pica Pica
Played w/ metronome @ 76 bpm on silent. Very hard to keep to it if I take my eyes off of the light for a couple of bars. Certain sections tend to speed up as well.

My target concert speed is 85 bpm.

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
This is the Baden Powell piece that I've wanted to play for some years now. It really is in the spirit of a jam samba, but it's also contemplative. Definitely, it should appeal to the mass audience (as opposed to Pica-Pica and Estrellita, which are a bit too old-fashioned for modern tastes). I want to find more pieces like this one that highlight the guitar sound but that can be played at festive occasions (danceable).

It is one of my mediumn-term goals. As I work on the other 3 pieces, I figured that I should start working on this little-by-little so that I will have a longer term goal.

Loaded this baby up into Transcribe and transcribed the first 8 bars - piece of a cake. I've got a feeling the hard part here is not gonna be the notes themselves, but the rhythm. Just keep on chugging.

Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol II. p. 41
Waltz on page 40 is reminiscent of an old wedding dance song. I can just picture it. I wonder if there's demand for such guitar arrangements at real weddings.....

Thoughts:
While reviewing Anki, one of the examples given for the I-vi-IV-V sequence was I'll Be Missing You. It was really fun and convenient to go into YouTube, record the song and then break down the sequence using Transcribe.

After that, I worked a bit on the chord sequence of Arigato, a currently-popular (in Japan) song by Ikimono Gakari. Though it's pop, the chord sequence has substitutions and is quite long.
I-vii - vi - V - V/IV - tritone sub of IV - iii - vi - maj 3 - min 3 - IV - V

And that's just the A section :)

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards. Added 3-6th descending. Add 6th - 2nd ascending tomorrow

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 150 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 95 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest
Can't do freestroke at this speed
l, m @ 85 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 90 bpm.

Rhythm Played Freddie Green lick to 100 bpm metronome on silent

Repertoire:

Samba Caribe
Practiced @ 50bpm
Problem sectionsm (measures 3 & 14) getting better.
Videod Intro & A Section






B Section: memorized chord progression
iv - i - II7 - #V7 - V7

Estrellita
Took break from it

Pica Pica
Wanted to play without metronome but at 70 bpm, but speeded up so much. Put metronome on silent and played with it. Though it's challenging, need to stick to Glickstein's advice of counting before beginning

Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol II. p. 36
It's quite rewarding to sight-read because of the exposure to different kinds of music. Things that caught my eye (ear) this session:
Andantino by Carulli (nice melodic classical piece, highlights beautiful guitar sounds)
Pavane by Argbeau - large intervals are unique to guitar (well maybe harp, too) and are beautiful
Anonymous Irish tune - upbeat, 6/8 time, major

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards. Added additional 6th-3th string ascending cards. Add 3-6th descending tomorrow.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 145 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 90 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest (! finally got it back to October level! :) & freestroke
l, m @ 80 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 90 bpm.

Rhythm Played Freddie Green lick to 100 bpm metronome on silent

Repertoire:

Samba Caribe
Practiced @ 50bpm
Measure 3 - getting a bit better it seems (hopefully it's not in my mind)
14 - thumb nail is still too short to get the bass down well, so that keeps messing me up a bit. I keep making mistakes in the jump and the chords in measure 15
Played 3 times with no mistakes in the above measures (just minor notes ommitted here and there, but there's nothing I can do about that)

Vocalized part B measures 1-4.

Recorded Pica Pica & Estrellita
(it's been a while)


Estrellita
Played with metronome @ 40.
Then played freely - mind wandering - made many small errors that would have made me really self-conscious in a concert environment
Chord jump in measure 10, etc. still problematic sometimes. Part B measure 12 also get the wrong fret sometimes.

Pica Pica
Practiced with metronome @ 70 bpm.




Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol II. p. 29

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 140 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 90 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm rest (! finally got it back to October level! :) & freestroke
l, m @ 80 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 85 bpm.

Repertoire:

Estrellita
Played with metronome @ 40.
Then played freely - mind wandering - made many small errors that would have made me really self-conscious in a concert environment
Chord jump in measure 10, etc. still problematic sometimes. Part B measure 12 also get the wrong fret sometimes.

Pica Pica
Practiced with metronome @ 70 bpm.

Samba Caribe
Studied Intro and Part A as per p. 42 of The Musician's Way. On pg. 49, Klickstein directs the player to execute the given section 3 times at the preliminary tempo without mistakes. This is real difficult! There are a couple of difficulties in Section A:
Measure 3 - it's hard to get this chord to sound good without getting other strings so fast after the arpeggio run-through
Measure 14 - I keep making mistakes in the jump and the chords in measure 15

I decreased the preliminary tempo to 50 bpm.
Though it's quite discouraging not being able to play this section perfectly 3 times, I can really feel that I'm attaining a certain level of musicianship as I'm practicing in the way Glickstein suggests. I think the key is to make this a marathon, not a spring, and maintain the practice schedule.

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 30 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 90 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 100 bpm rest
l, m @ 80 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 80 bpm.

Repertoire:

Estrellita
Played with metronome @ 40.
Need to pay attention to chord jump in measure 10, etc. still problematic sometimes. Part B measure 12 also get the wrong fret sometimes.

Pica Pica
Practiced with metronome @ 65 bpm.

Samba Caribe
Reviewed Part A.

Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol II. p. 24

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards and entered 6-4th string ascending intervals. Thinking about notes and the guitar fretboard in this way opens up new possibilities in making music, because it helps to get away from being limited by chord structures.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 120 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 75 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 95 bpm rest stroke
@95 bpm free stroke
l, m @ 75 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @85 bpm.

Repertoire:

Estrellita
Played with metronome @ 40. Still challenging, so decided to search online for resources to improve rhythm. Didn't find anything new, so just practiced Freddie Green-style chord progression from All Blues for Jazz Guitar (Jim Ferguson) with metronome on silent.

Pica Pica
Practiced with metronome @ 55 bpm. Rhythm was way off in measure 29-31, so need to keep at that.

Samba Caribe
Played part at 55 bpm. Speed on sheet music is 85 bpm, but that's way too fast for me at this point. I'll shoot for 75 bpm.

Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol II. p. 14

Anki:
Reviewed yesterday's cards and entered 5-6th string descending intervals. Let's see how this keeps up. Right now, I feel like I'm on top of this.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 115 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 75 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 95 bpm rest stroke
@90 bpm free stroke
l, m @ 70 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 75 bpm.

Repertoire:

Estrellita
Many minor mistakes and rhythm problems. Played with metronome @ 40. Challenging, but a good exercise, especially to try to

Pica Pica
Practiced with metronome @ 55 bpm. Rhythm was way off in measure 29-31, so need to keep at that.

Samba Caribe
Practiced mental imaging. Section A Bar 3 - chord is difficult to nail down.

Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol II. p. 11 - tune with nice simple melody. My mistakes with hitting the notes with free stroke highlight problem (perhaps nails are still too short)

Thoughts:
I've been meaning to get back to chord-study for some time - there needs to be progress. Really, I was a bit scared because I didn't know what to start with. And I've started and stopped this endeavor so many times that I didn't want to let myself down again. Obviously, there must have been something wrong with my methods.

I've been thinking that Anki (a space repetition software I use to study and review Japanese) is really quite efficient in balancing all the information that I have to review, so I wanted to make a music Anki deck. Incidentally, someone already created a chord progression deck that's I downloaded straight from Anki. The user has to identify common chord sequences that the computer plays. Very useful. Doing this highlights the fact that in order to venture in a prepared state into jazz, samba, etc, I really should be very familiar with simple chord progressions first. That's because everything builds upon itself and all of the added notes in jazz & samba make it very hairy and a bit overwhelming if one doesn't recognize the basics.

In addition to this deck, I also started creating cards for a deck in which the front side of the card lists the starting string, then the interval and then the ending string. In my mind, I have to imagine how I would position my fingers. For example:
6th string ascending maj. 3 to 5th string

Once I create ascending and descending cards for many of the intervals (skipping strings as well), I should be prepared to understand chords straight off the bat.

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 110 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 75 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 90 bpm rest stroke
@80 bpm free stroke
l, m @ 70 bpm rest & free

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 75 bpm.

Repertoire:

Estrellita
Played through. Sounded very good.

Pica Pica
Had to stop mid-play because I kept losing the rhythm. Practiced with metronome @ 55 bpm.

Samba Caribe
Part A 1st 4 bars chord progression (v-V-I-IV - Autumn Leave progression)
Mental imaging exercise (p. 48) - need to keep at this, but generally very good feel

Samba exercises from Nelson Faria's book
Studied chord progression in Part A.

Sightreading:
Delcamp Vol II. p. 8

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 100 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 75 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 90 bpm
l, m @ 70 bpm

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 75 bpm.

Repertoire:

Estrellita & Pica Pica
Played both through. Sounded pretty good, but nails are still too short.

Samba Caribe
Part A 1st 4 bars chord progression (v-V-I-IV - Autumn Leave progression)

Samba exercises from Nelson Faria's book
On hold

Warm-up/Technique:
Finger-stretching exercise @ 100 bpm

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m quarter notes @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with quarter@ 70 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 90 bpm
l, m @ 70 bpm

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 75 bpm.

Repertoire:

Estrellita
Started playing with Glickstein's practice routines. Centered, connected, counted fine, but the actual playing was so ridden with minor inaccuracies and omissions that the tune as a whole sounded awful. Well, my nails are still short.....

Pica Pica
Reviewed chord progression. Dwiddled it a little bit.
Samba exercises
Track 2 - totally forgot the pattern
Track 3 - reviewed D69/A
Analyzed A diminished