Born Again: Cyg relearning the guitar

[Spivonious]

The finger is probably just a little overused from all of your playing. Take a day off and see if it gets better.

[Cygnus X1]

Day 10:
Wow. I am noticing a lot of difference.
I mentioned having to relearn the picking technique Kevin Dillard was speaking of, going through modal scale exercises going up the neck (actually the exercise is from HM Lead Guitar 2). So, I am using all of the initial warmups in Intellishred, then applying it to the modal runs I already knew.
So, my picking technique has improved enough to get me over the hump. I have to pull the metronome out and "time" myself, but for now I warm up, do the scales, and go off for a bit with my newfound toys. So, I have stumbled onto riffs I would have never thought of playing before. I was saying I need to tab out some things I've wanted to learn, but being able to create and write some riffs is too good to ignore.
And, with this, some more seat time is in order. I expect it will take another couple of weeks to really set things in. I can see the wall that will frustrate me, and I will face it, in due time. I have to promise to myself to move forward, and not give up.

[KevinDguitar]

Cyg, VERY COOL stuff! Glad that you're posting and tracking your progress. Glad you're progressing too! ANYTIME you got a question or whatever.. don't EVER hesistate to pm me or e-mail me. Just let me know what I can do and I'll do my best to help.
Your commitment level is inspiring.

[Cygnus X1]

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=6367706&q=hi

I finally found a way to host my stuff.
This is a rambling first hack at the exercizes a couple of weeks ago.

[jacksoncsplayer]

Very cool Kev, i'm glad to see your'e making the changes you've allways wanted to. It's painful sometimes but the payoff is huge.

[Cygnus X1]

Very cool Kev, i'm glad to see your'e making the changes you've allways wanted to. It's painful sometimes but the payoff is huge.

That clip was made the day after I got the two books. So, I put it up there as a first reference. My timing is much better than that. I just went with it, worts and all.

[KevinDguitar]

Cool to you hang it out there in the wind..worts and all!

[Cygnus X1]

I still insist the Stylus pick works.
I have seen a lot of people trash them, but it is teaching me how to stay close to the string, how to not pick too hard, and it rarely hangs up on me anymore.
I thought it would be impossible, the first few times I tried it.
Now, when I "feel" I'm going back to picking too hard, and losing accuracy (and speed), I go back to the Stylus, play a while, then go back to a standard tortex jazz.

[Cygnus X1]

Left hand: How do I control my Flyaway Pinky?
I have a lot of trouble keeping it close to the fingerboard, it "flies up"
when I am using the other fingers. I presume this is a weakness.
Any suggestions to cure this oddity?

[sonicsamurai]

i have a bit of trouble moving my pinky accurately at all sometimes...its very weak. i always seem to get my fingers in a tangle when i put my pinky ino play ...

[Cygnus X1]

i have a bit of trouble moving my pinky accurately at all sometimes...its very weak. i always seem to get my fingers in a tangle when i put my pinky ino play ...

Fortunately, the fretting strength is sufficient.
But it is a problem with dexterity of placement, and I know that moving it away from the FB has to be slowing me down a bit.

[sonicsamurai]

perhaps change ur hand position a bit? rather than have ur hand flat keep the back of ur [palm more horizontal to the fret board so ur fingers are essentially pointing down to it? if u get what i mean. i find sometimes that helps with picking accuracy at speed, but it makes bending more difficult. so u end up having several hand positions

[KevinDguitar]

Left hand: How do I control my Flyaway Pinky?
I have a lot of trouble keeping it close to the fingerboard, it "flies up"
when I am using the other fingers. I presume this is a weakness.
Any suggestions to cure this oddity?

Concentrating on staying as relaxed as possible.. keeping both hands as close to the strings as possible at all times.. helps with control/muting and with speed/fluidity.. the closer the hands are the less transition time string to string and position to position..
if I asked you to jump up and down as many times as you could in 60 seconds, you'd be making little skips like a boxer jumping rope.. not like Shaq trying to dunk.. less transition time..
when I was younger, I used to pretend that there was a very narrow glass box/tube encasing the the neck and not allowing my hand to flare away from the fingerboard.. sometimes I'd imagine a sharp blade hovering just above my hand and if my fingers flared away from the neck, it'd lop off a finger..lol.. I know.. I got issues..lol.. think lazy and minimalistic in your movements.. economy of motion.. another things is that you don't always have to be perfectly on your finger tips..especially when dealing with lots of gain/distortion. You mute the strings higher than where you're playing with the backs of your fretting fingers and the lower strings with the inside of your palm/wrist/inside forearm. This only allows the strings you're playing to be heard and the others stay quiet. This allows you to sound/stay clean and in control.

[Cygnus X1]

Yikes.
I'll work on it, and try not to cut off my pinky in the process.
Actually, watching a few videos of Satriani, and some others, they kind of
extend their pinkys when in transition, but are able to keep it close during runs.

[anuske9]

I had a bad problem with muting going up the strings, but I'm getting it. It's a shame you didn't figure some of this out on your own, cyg ..probably would have saved you some time. Be slow, steady, precise. I usually keep my fingers relatively tense to keep them in control (the pinky), but like you said a lot of good players don't pay attention to their pinky unless their using it in a run.