I managed to work on a few new pieces in January, including The GodFather and Tabula Rasa along with some fingerpicking exercises. I also completed the member challenge at CGC, which for me was working with scales that include left hand extension and contraction, and some shifting. I also decided to start tracking the material at CGC from grade 3 onwards, just to recap on fundamentals.
I also started some flamenco guitar basics, including strumming the rumba rhythm over Am-G-F-E with right hand techniques such as 1-finger rasgueado, and a upstrum with the thumb. This includes paying attention to how I rest my thumb onto the next bass string, and pointing the thumb inwards facing the soundboard.
Scales
- Added A harmonic minor (1st position)
- Added A major (4 position)
- Added D major (2 octave, 1st position, with shift)
Areas of focus
- Nailing down a couple of chords...
- Learning to slap and pluck bass notes with my thumb
- Analysing new songs and figuring out the harmonic rhythm
- Memorizing more parts of What I Thought I Heard (bridge section)
- Working on Tabula Rasa first few lines (harmonics, tap-strums)
- Playing songs previously using open strings in the 1st position
Songs worked on
- What I Thought I Heard by Tom Anello
- Tabula Rasa by Callum Graham
- Various grade 4 material from my classical guitar teacher