Pamparo in Toronto

The Background …
For the past 2-3 years, I have been collecting different gears to complement the style of music/playing that I usually do in a worship team context. However, I realized that since I picked up the guitar so long ago, I never really had any systematic training or methodological practice regiment that I adhere to.

I really didn’t have any Goal and goals …

The Goal …
“The Goal” is to be the best guitar player that I can be. Now I didn’t say, the best guitar player in the world cause that is simply not happening. But I want to be able to push myself higher and higher. Of course, this is a moving target and could take me a lifetime to fulfill. So be it …

The immediate goals …
To achieve “The Goal”, I have start looking more closely to the little things that I am struggling with. You would not believe how the list just kept growing and growing! So, I have decided to break it down and work on immediate goals where I can measure my progress. For now, I want to work on some very important things.

1. Play with strict and precise tempo
2. Improve my legato runs (especially descending)

The baby steps …
I will be taking baby steps in trying to achieve my immediate goals by …

1. Getting a metronome and using it!
I bought a metronome about 2 weeks ago (Boss DB-30) so I can start working on my tempo. So far I have used it twice and let me just say, its not the easiest thing to do! But I have to push myself and not back down from this challenge. I started doing 4-finger chromatic runs across the fingerboard, both ascending and descending, at 65 bpm. I tried quarter, eight notes and triplets. Being the impatient guy that I am, I hastily sped up to 80 bpm. It seems to work, until I noticed the inconsistencies on my tone. So back to 65 bpm for me!

2. Recording and Jamming
Music will boring if we would only play chromatic runs across the fingerboard. To supplement my metronome practice, I also indulge myself with jamming with a backing track (or with other people) and recording some ideas along the way. I am also starting to lay down tracks for songs that I have written previously. So far I have started two songs, 1 is halfway through. Sorry, I won’t be posting publicly until I find someone to sing for me. Ok, maybe a soundbite on the next post

I am having a blast and it really is challenging my creative process …

The Conclusion …
There’s a time that you just have to forget about gear and concentrate on systematic and methodical ways to get better. After all, there’s no point in buying expensive guitars, amps and pedals if you don’t know how to play the guitar properly!

P.S.
A couple of blogs that I follow also touched on some of the topics here recently:
- Stop Reading and Play @ Guitar For Worship
- Practicing with a Metronome @ Guitar Praise

I was working on an idea for some string-skipping exercise that goes like the one below. Please pardon the “text-based” tab, I should find a better way of representing this!

Guitar Tab Idea:

———12——————————– e
—————-15sl17———–15—- B
——————————————– G
–sl14——————–17————– D
——————————————— A
——————————————— E

I wanted to practice it with a metronome so I plugged in to my Garageband software to just jam along a drum track. And just like that, I had a musical idea. It just snow-balled from there and I am liking the groove on this thing. Hopefully, I get the chance to finish this idea and make it into a full-blown 3-minute track. We shall see …

For now, enjoy this short version of it. The progression is Em-G-C-D and it just loops for about 8 bars.

E Aeolian Vamp

Enjoy and God bless!