Thanks Monkey for your consideration in my problem.
Thanks Todd, when I said about the extra 5bpm, I'm trying to improve my alternate picking with
THIS lesson because there is an alternate picked ascending run in
THIS lesson that I just can't crack. So we, (Gab and I) decided to take a break from the Jack White lesson and try to improve my alternate picking.
I'm supposed to do other stuff including some improvisation over backing or my Trio+ at the end but I end up getting so fixated on the alternate picking lesson I do it for an hour and a half, sometimes two hours solid because I now can't break through the 70% speed of the lesson. I was really enjoying that lesson, it's not musical but I do like a challenge, I tend to get a bit obsessive with things. I always have that "arcade fever" of, "just one more go and I'll stop" but I can't stop, that "one more go" ends up being 50 more goes until I am really out of time and feel bad for leaving my wife downstairs on her own, even though she never moans.
Maybe it's overkill, at the moment I'm still practising but it's like the addict that doesn't want to shoot up any more but has to, to stay "normal", that's how my practise feels, I'm currently doing it to stop regressing, like the addict carries on to stay normal, not even get a high any more, I am practising to keep what level I have, and nothing more, just waiting for this to pass.
I apologise for using a drug analogy but I can't think of another parallel where people do what they don't want to do.
What's weird, I still love music, my guitars, my gear. I still keep thinking of ideas for my playing, man I'm even thinking of creating something about this, called "Into The Darkness". It just the process of learning that is the issue causing this funk, I think. I almost approach my guitar with the same feeling of going to a funeral, that tight stomach but as I said, I do it anyway.
Sorry to waffle on.
Thanks
Phil