Looking For Some Advice On My Lesson Take Options

[liveOASISforever]

Hi

Before I took a break from guitar a few months back. I was working on https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/beginner-rock-rhythm/ with Cosmin. Thanks for your help mate I am aiming to post this in the REC section when I have it all under control.

I really struggle with playing on time. I feel when I record myself playing a lesson it sounds like my timing is all over the place. I have spent so much time on this lesson that I should have no problem with it. No matter how much I practice something it never really feels natural to me.

I will not give up on this though.I want to get a pass on this lesson in the REC section


Please can you give me some advice on the take please

https://soundcloud.com/sean-agnew-1990/beginnere-rock

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[Kristofer Dahl]

Thanks for sharing this.

I can hear some timing issues and this made me react:

I have spent so much time on this lesson that I should have no problem with it. No matter how much I practice something it never really feels natural to me.

This is a common problem, and it's usually the result of practicing things that are too difficult.

Now you probably think: 'but this is not difficult at all, it's just the timing I'm having problem with'

And if so, yes you are right - but focusing on fretting/picking while worrying about timing, is too much for you here. This is why we are hearing these issues.

Since you say "No matter how much I practice something it never really feels natural to me." - our troubleshooting mission is easy: Let's find a lesson which you can play in time and feel natural about it.

Would you agree to pause your work with this lesson and start a new one that is simpler? I would then want to see you record a video where I can see you tap your foot to the beat.

When students manage get a bit of technique before they start to worry about playing to a steady pulse (backing track or metronome) - it can lead to a negative spiral. The student will choose material which is stimulating their fingers technically, and therefore they never get a chance to address the timing issues.

Consequently - the feeling of "not mastering timing" will be reinforced for every new piece they learn. And eventually it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy - the student expects to have timing problems for every new piece they learn.

But we should be able to break this negative spiral. Please let me know what you think?

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[liveOASISforever]

Thanks for sharing this.

I can hear some timing issues and this made me react:



This is a common problem, and it's usually the result of practicing things that are too difficult.

Now you probably think: 'but this is not difficult at all, it's just the timing I'm having problem with'

And if so, yes you are right - but focusing on fretting/picking while worrying about timing, is too much for you here. This is why we are hearing these issues.

Since you say "No matter how much I practice something it never really feels natural to me." - our troubleshooting mission is easy: Let's find a lesson which you can play in time and feel natural about it.

Would you agree to pause your work with this lesson and start a new one that is simpler? I would then want to see you record a video where I can see you tap your foot to the beat.

When students manage get a bit of technique before they start to worry about playing to a steady pulse (backing track or metronome) - it can lead to a negative spiral. The student will choose material which is stimulating their fingers technically, and therefore they never get a chance to address the timing issues.

Consequently - the feeling of "not mastering timing" will be reinforced for every new piece they learn. And eventually it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy - the student expects to have timing problems for every new piece they learn.

But we should be able to break this negative spiral. Please let me know what you think?

Hi Kris thanks for your feedback

Yeah sure I will try anything to help with my timing. What lesson do you have in mind

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This post has been edited by liveOASISforever: Feb 14 2015, 09:53 PM

[Kristofer Dahl]

I suggest this lesson:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Indie-Rock-III-Pixies/

The idea is to start with something straightforward so we can effectively troubleshoot your problems. Having said this, this lesson still has some rhythmical challenges.

The goal is for you to video record yourself playing this lesson at 90 bpm, and I want to see you tap your foot.

But first a question: Are you comfortable tapping your foot to this backing track in quarter notes? Listen to the high-hat count-in, those are quarter notes.

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[liveOASISforever]

I suggest this lesson:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Indie-Rock-III-Pixies/

The idea is to start with something straightforward so we can effectively troubleshoot your problems. Having said this, this lesson still has some rhythmical challenges.

The goal is for you to video record yourself playing this lesson at 90 bpm, and I want to see you tap your foot.

But first a question: Are you comfortable tapping your foot to this backing track in quarter notes? Listen to the high-hat count-in, those are quarter notes.

I am comfortable tapping my foot to the backing track Kris. I had a little practice there and it seems like a fun lesson I will get to work on it tomorrow and hopefully be able to get a video for you. In the meantime here is a video of me tapping my foot to https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Picking-Hand-Basics/ at 90 BPM.

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[Kristofer Dahl]

In the meantime here is a video of me tapping my foot to https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Picking-Hand-Basics/ at 90 BPM.

Thanks. Now please promise me that from now on, you will never ever play anything which you can't tap you foot steadily to, ok?

I am comfortable tapping my foot to the backing track Kris. I had a little practice there and it seems like a fun lesson I will get to work on it tomorrow and hopefully be able to get a video for you.

Great! You don't need to learn the whole lesson right away though, a good first step would be if you could just record video of the sections until 00:55.

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[liveOASISforever]

Thanks. Now please promise me that from now on, you will never ever play anything which you can't tap you foot steadily to, ok?




Great! You don't need to learn the whole lesson right away though, a good first step would be if you could just record video of the sections until 00:55.

Yeah I promise that I won't play anything that I can't tap my foot to. It won't get me anywhere if I can not feel the beat.

Here is a rough play through of the Pixies Style lesson with the camera angle videoing my foot. My iPhone camera decided to not work properly tonight so I had to use my Dads older iPhone. The quality is extremely poor but I hope it is enough for you to see what your looking for

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[Kristofer Dahl]

Thanks a lot for the video, I think we might have found the problem.

If you count:

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and etc

Your foot should tap on 1,2,3,4 - the quarter notes.

This is what you are doing most of the time, but not always. Can you watch your video and determine when you stray from this, and why you do it?

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[liveOASISforever]

Thanks a lot for the video, I think we might have found the problem.

If you count:

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and etc

Your foot should tap on 1,2,3,4 - the quarter notes.

This is what you are doing most of the time, but not always. Can you watch your video and determine when you stray from this, and why you do it?

Hi Kris

It looks to me as if my foot speeds up a couple of times in the intro of the song and also was slightly behind the beat a couple of times through the song.

When I listen through the lesson without my guitar in hand and just tap my foot and clap my hands I can feel the beat and keep on time with it.

I think when I am playing my guitar. There are moments of hesitation or rushing a chord change. When this happens I adjust my foot to tap on time with the change I am playing on the guitar instead of keeping with the beat of the lesson. Which in turn is why my timing is all over the place

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[Kristofer Dahl]

Yes, your foot is simply not used to keeping a steady pulse while your hands are doing something else.

And this is most evident in the first section of the lesson (the section covered in part 1), because some notes should be played on the upbeat (the upbeat happens in between the foot taps). This is when your foot messes up the first time, and after that it needs to compensate for the first mistake - and you get irregular tapping.

You should solve this by analysing exactly when to play. Here is the first section broken down into rhythm only, I have marked in red where the guitar is playing:

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

As you know, the foot should tapping on 1,2,3,4.

So the tricky part is when you play on the "and", because your foot should be in the air at that time (it's an upbeat).

Please let me know if this makes sense, so far?

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[liveOASISforever]

Yes, your foot is simply not used to keeping a steady pulse while your hands are doing something else.

And this is most evident in the first section of the lesson (the section covered in part 1), because some notes should be played on the upbeat (the upbeat happens in between the foot taps). This is when your foot messes up the first time, and after that it needs to compensate for the first mistake - and you get irregular tapping.

You should solve this by analysing exactly when to play. Here is the first section broken down into rhythm only, I have marked in red where the guitar is playing:

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

As you know, the foot should tapping on 1,2,3,4.

So the tricky part is when you play on the "and", because your foot should be in the air at that time (it's an upbeat).

Please let me know if this makes sense, so far?

Yes this makes complete sense Kris.

I struggle to understand why I can not make all the connections needed to play something on time that is pretty simple.

When I practice variations of 16th , 8th and quarter notes with the metronome everything seems to click into place. As soon as I play something against a backing track I just completely loose all sense of timing that I had worked on with the metronome. It is very frustrating but I will not give up on it

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[Kristofer Dahl]

If you can play on the upbeat without "loosing" your foot, I'd say at least half the battle is won. So let's do just that!

The first four bars of this lesson is an excellent exercise for this.

* Open the guitar pro file, turn on the metronome (in guitar pro), set the bpm to 80

* Now count 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

It's important that you don't continue until you can truly hear how the notes are played on "1" and "and" (marked in red).

* Don't take up the guitar yet, instead tap your foot and hum the notes you're going to play. You should play the guitar pro file as your support/backing (set it to loop the region, like this). Is your foot keeping a steady tempo without loosing it self? If not - give this some time, don't proceed until it feels comfortable.

* Now play your guitar with the guitar pro file and see if you can tap your foot and play at the same time. This might take you quite some time to get down. When this feels ok or when you need feedback, video record yourself playing to the guitar pro file.

-------

A common trick is to constantly whisper...
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
...and say the red marked words out loud (accent them).

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[liveOASISforever]

If you can play on the upbeat without "loosing" your foot, I'd say at least half the battle is won. So let's do just that!

The first four bars of this lesson is an excellent exercise for this.

* Open the guitar pro file, turn on the metronome (in guitar pro), set the bpm to 80

* Now count 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

It's important that you don't continue until you can truly hear how the notes are played on "1" and "and" (marked in red).

* Don't take up the guitar yet, instead tap your foot and hum the notes you're going to play. You should play the guitar pro file as your support/backing (set it to loop the region, like this). Is your foot keeping a steady tempo without loosing it self? If not - give this some time, don't proceed until it feels comfortable.

* Now play your guitar with the guitar pro file and see if you can tap your foot and play at the same time. This might take you quite some time to get down. When this feels ok or when you need feedback, video record yourself playing to the guitar pro file.

-------

A common trick is to constantly whisper...
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
...and say the red marked words out loud (accent them).

This sounds like a good idea. I will get working on this and will sure to video my progress.

Thanks again for your help Kris

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[Tommy M]

Havent read everything but i myself forgot when i reinstalled windows and everything else i didnt set samples to a proper number so latency when recording and monitoring on a single pc makes it record bit after the music even though you play it perfect.

If that is the case google how to fix latency, lower samples to like 128 (mine was at 256 default) and it might be better, helped me a lot.

Thought 100 times, god damn, i nailed it. listened to the recording and it sounded like shit.

reduced samples in soundcard settings and booya, perfect timing recordings.

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This post has been edited by Tommy M: Feb 18 2015, 11:51 PM