Getting through June was the rough seas - we're in the midst of getting out of our home in preparation for renovations and I'm totally smashed by the packing and clearing. That coupled with a rather busy work month meant coming home too tired to maintain the 2+ hours practice on weekdays and long 3-4 hour sessions on the weekends, though I try to fight the fatigue.
Double bass
I made a leap of progress with the Tao book this month - it's been a fixture in my daily practice and now occupies 20 to 25 minutes, where I go from exercise 1.2 all the way to 1.11 with a metronome, tracking my progress for each exercise. I also made more progress with my Bb major scale, and now I'm actually slurring all the way through the ascent and descent, which leaves the last goal on the list where I actually slur through the ascent and descent in one bow. I've also gotten accustomed to the new grip and handling of the bow, so that's been great. Finally, I worked my way through all sections of the Norwegian Dance, even though it's still rough and I largely sound terrible - section 2 with the staccatos are where I need to work a lot more on.
With the pizz, I finally developed callouses on my right index finger, which has allowed me to finally play through Bb blues over a full backing track (spanning 5 minutes) at 120BPM. My form goes to the drain when I hit the 4th minute mark, so I have a long way to go with building endurance. Finally, I've started on minor scales, and also F blues, which has a triplet part (F-E-C to F) that I have to try and speed up. With Footprints, I'm at 85BPM, which I can't speed up further without the F chord sounding bad.
Goals for July
- Continue working through the Tao exercises, speeding up where possible
- Continue working through all scale variations in Bb major, and reach the last exercise (complete slur)
- Emphasize (staccato) work on section 2 of Norwegian Dance
Electric bass
Practice time was inconsistent with the electric bass, but I'm finally 3/4 through memorizing the walking bass part of So What, along with practicing scales through all modes every other day for a few minutes. I've also started looking at Autumn Leaves in C minor this last week, so that's an additional piece to work on.
Goals for July
- Memorize last few lines of So What walking bass sheet
- Work through first few lines of Autumn Leaves
- Memorize modal templates (e.g. Lydian is sharp 4th)
Guitar
I stuck to my goals for guitar practice more or less as intended, even though some days felt really "boring" because of the repetition.
I managed to get to page 6 of Grace, and working through the heavy harmonics section has been challenging and fun. With Carcassi's Op 60, No 7 I've finally gotten myself to 70BPM, with certain sections breaking at 75-80BPM and others holding well. I expect to stay here for a while, and have added tremolo drills from watching Steph's videos on the topic on Tonebase to my practice.
I didn't get to anywhere near 60BPM on the right hand studies, but I've actually gone all the way to exercise 39, but at slower pace on the metronome. I intend to stay here for a while as well, to focus more on my technique when working on these exercises (e.g. my thumb articulation).
To break the monotony, I've worked in 5 to 10 minutes for Philip Houghton's Prelude....lullaby for Beau and Ben (from his 7 short solos for classical guitar) as well as playful improvisation with Aebersold Play-A-Long.
Goals for July
- Catch up on the 2nd page of Carcassi, and try to improve accuracy on 1st page when playing above 65BPM
- Improve articulation and technique on right hand exercises
- Continue working through Steph's exercises for building up tremolo
That sums up June, and I hope by the 2nd week of July my move/clearing of the house should be wrapped up so I can get more time to focus on my practice again!