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