Double bass
After a few days break due to vacation, I came back and feel like I lost a fair bit of progress on the instrument! It was mortifying and demoralising, but I started back with exercises again from the Tao of Bass and scales. I continue to revise my slurs and Bb study on arco, and the major arpeggios on pizz. I added the minor arpeggios to my daily practice, and right now, it feels like I'm just going through the motions and clocking in just so I don't go into a downward spiral of missing practice due to lack of motivation due to struggling on the instrument due to missing practice...
I am at least happy when I'm working through a Bb blues over a backing track that I've been given by my teacher, and actually surviving 120 BPM, the fastest I've been at. I have another travel (to Zurich) coming up in 2 weeks, and at least this time I will be taking lessons over there almost daily, so that should ensure I don't have big gaps in May.
No changes to my goals, I know I'm treading water here.
Goals for May
- Walk on getting my slurs exercises up to speed on the metronome
- Continue with the usual drills (scales, shifting, good consistent bowing)
- Practice and dial down the minor arpeggios
- Practice accenting the 2nd and 4th beats of the arpeggios (to get that swing feel)
- Get acquainted with Wayne Shorter's Footprints
Guitar
The bright spot during my vacation was that I managed to bring my guitar along with me, and I ended up getting a lot of time with Kinkachoo; I worked through the whole song and can play the parts memorized at a decent BPM now. I also started working on Calum Graham's Grace, and have the first (of twelve) pages memorized, and I can definitely see all the work with arpeggios starting to pay off, along with more assertiveness when hitting the harmonics. I also finally worked through the first page of Carcassi's etude, still snail-like at a mere 35 to 40 BPM. Finally, I am at right hand study 17, so that puts me firmly out of the 1st 15 and I hope to be on my way to study 25 by end of May. I've also been given 2 more songs to work on:
- Sonando (Dreaming) by Jaime Mirtenbaum Zenamon
- Feierabend Blues by Maria Linnemann
Both pieces are nice and not out of my skill level so I am able to work through them on top of my daily practice.
Goals for May
- Work through and memorise first 6 pages of Grace, and consistently at 80 BPM
- Complete working through Carcassi's etude and consistently at 50 BPM
- Reach study 25 of Giuliani's 120 right hand studies