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

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight notes @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight @ 60 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 100 bpm
l, m @ 85 bpm

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

Thumb Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 41) @ 75 bpm.

Rythm Exercise Played blues block chord progression (All Blues for Jazz Guitar pg. 18) @100 silent

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

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight notes @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight @ 60 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm
l, m @ 85 bpm

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

Thumb Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 41) @ 70 bpm.

Rythm Exercise Played blues block chord progression (All Blues for Jazz Guitar pg. 18) @100 silent

Repertoire:
Pica-Pica and Estrellita
Played back-to-back . Felt a bit rusty after not playing for more than a week. Yesterday I played in front of some people and I was very nervous. It was very hard for me to get my mind off of trying to sound good and not make mistakes.

Samba exercises
Played Track 2 from Nelson Faria's Brazilian Guitar Book. Played at 90% of its speed in Transcribe. Very good rhythm practice.

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

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight notes @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight @ 60 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm
l, m @ 85 bpm

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

Thumb Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 41) @ 70 bpm.

Arpeggio Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 38) Various drills @ 75 bpm (thumb free stroke is harder than thumb rest stroke)

Rythm Exercise Played blues block chord progression (All Blues for Jazz Guitar pg. 18) @100 silent

Repertoire:
Pica-Pica and Estrellita
Played back-to-back . Every day I'm realizing more and more that this is a test in concentration. As soon as my mind wanders off of the piece, musicianship wanes and I stumble.

Samba exercises
Played Track 2 from Nelson Faria's Brazilian Guitar Book. It is very fast, so I slowed it down to 72% of its speed in Transcribe. Very good rhythm practice. I find that one difficult thing about samba is the confusing point in which the guitar comes in. I was able to isolate this with Transcribe and practice it well.

Thoughts:
I realized that I really want to play samba already - Penderblast Blues is okay, but I really felt like learning more because I thought I had to. I think the solution to new repertoire is just to learn simple samba pieces I like. Don't know, to be honest, whether they exist. Otherwise I'll just be playing chord progressions, which aren't bad, but I can't showcase them to anyone...

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

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight notes @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight @ 60 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm
l, m @ 85 bpm

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

Thumb Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 41) @ 70 bpm.

Arpeggio Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 38) Various drills @ 75 bpm (thumb free stroke is harder than thumb rest stroke)

Rythm Exercise Played blues block chord progression (All Blues for Jazz Guitar pg. 18) @100 silent

Repertoire:
Pica-Pica and Estrellita
Played back-to-back . First take was no problem (and I didn't record). Of course, when I recorded I made multiple mistakes that I couldn't get out of my mind as I continued playing.

Take a look at the video.




Penderblast Blues
Started dissecting the chord structure

Thoughts:
Played the repertoire for my aunt today without planning. I consider her an experienced listener (she likes classical music) and therefore I was worried. It was really hard for me to get into the zone of thinking about the artistic qualities of the piece. Mostly, I fretted about not making a mistake. She listened intently and said she enjoyed the pieces. Her major feedback was that for both pieces, my erratic rhythm interferes with the flow of the compositions. Also, she thought that Estrellita was technically challenging.

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

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight notes @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight @ 60 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm (slower than yesterday, but I can't go any faster)
l, m @ 85 bpm

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

Thumb Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 41) @ 65 bpm.

Arpeggio Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 38) Various drills @ 75 bpm (thumb free stroke is harder than thumb rest stroke)

Rythm Exercise Played blues block chord progression (All Blues for Jazz Guitar pg. 18) @100 silent

Repertoire:
Pica-Pica and Estrellita
Played back-to-back.

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

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight notes @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight @ 60 bpm
Harder today for some reason.....

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 105 bpm (slower than yesterday, but I can't go any faster)

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes - @ 75 bpm. (Also slower than yesterday. When I played at 85 bpm like yesterday, it was hard maintaining 16th-notes only)

Thumb Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 41) @ 65 bpm. Alternated betweeen rest and free strokes. Quite challenging.

Arpeggio Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 38) Various drills @ 85 bpm

Rythm Exercise Played blues block chord progression (All Blues for Jazz Guitar pg. 18) @100 silent

Repertoire:
Pica-Pica and Estrellita
Played back-to-back. Sounds very good. A couple of minor errors. I noticed that I'm beginning to get comfortable with letting go of the technique and imaging and focusing on the story behind the composition. This is when the music comes out. Of course, there's still a dilemma, because it's hard for my brain to both image and focus on the meaning, which means there's a risk of an unexpected error.

Here's a video of take 2.


Penderblast Blues
Twiddled E scale open and 2nd positions

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

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) with i,m eight notes @ 95 bpm
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight @ 60 bpm
Harder today for some reason.....

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 110 bpm. This is my maximum for now. I could feel myself barely able to make it. Need to keep at this.

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

Thumb Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 41) @ 65 bpm. Alternated betweeen rest and free strokes. Quite challenging.

Arpeggio Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 38) Various drills @ 85 bpm

Rythm Exercise Played blues block chord progression (All Blues for Jazz Guitar pg. 18) @100 silent

Repertoire:
Pica-Pica and Estrellita
I'm beginning to play the two pieces back-to-back. Still errors present, but now I'm practicing maintaining relaxation despite the errors.

Penderblast Blues
Twiddled E scale open and 2nd positions

Thoughts:
Need to find new easy pieces to add to my repertoire.