Blues I Can Use?

Help

I am glad everyone is having a good time with Blues You Can Use. I am practising Getting Funky. This song is kicking my behind. I am having trouble playing it as fast as the CD included with the book. I am thinking I will continue to practice this song, but still move on to the next song.

I am having trouble with two of the sixteenth note runs. I just don't have the speed to play them yet.

Any suggestions. My teacher still thinks I am doing well, I just have hit a brick wall at this song.
I'm not up to Getting Funky yet, but you can spot-practice the runs, pushing yourself bit by bit to increase the speed while maintaining your accuracy, and eventually it will come, given enough time and practice.

Have you tried slowing the track down using Windows Media Player, as discussed earlier in this thread and others, as well?
And here's a tip for those who aren't aware. You can rip the tracks from the CD and slow the tempo down in Windows Media Player without changing the key, and practice until you can bring it up to speed. You must have version 10 of WMP (I think), then click View, Enhancements, Play Speed Settings. Then use the slider to adjust the speed.

Also, there is no reason you can't move on and start working on the next lesson while you continue to practice Getting Funky to get it up to speed.

Margaret

After reading the posts on this thread and looking it up on Amazon, I decided to get the book. I have been taking lessons for about a year and a half and am just finishing up the book we have been working through (It was a bitch of a book to get through!), so anyhow I was looking for something to move on to. My teacher was familiar with the title.

I put it on my Christmas list but didn't get it (the person who drew my name wasn't sure which of the books in the series I wanted, so instead she gave me some DVD's I wanted, which was cool.) So I ordered BYCY from Amazon myself. It arrived less than a week ago, and I tell you I haven't been able to put the thing down! I just love the studies, I have pretty much worked through the first two,alr=though the second one still has some rough spots. the main problem with that one has been the new chord fingerings (for me at least) and switching to them from the single note riffs. But now I can do it almost cleanly, sometimes with no mistakes. My goal is to master these cleanly and with no mistakes on a consistent basis.

The next study looks like one I'll be able to handle quite easily, as it's a slow tempo and is all single notes. It's not anything I haven't worked through in that first bool with my lessons. I already started on the first four measures or so and it's no sweat so far.

I can see how this book would be a challenge for a beginner. I believe I've gotten where I am now only because of the lessons I've had over the past 18 months. Still, I've come across things in the first two lessons that I needed to work on, because those chord voicings I hadn't really practiced before.

Anyhow, thanks for the suggestion for a great book. Playing those studies I really feel like I am making music. I'll keep you posted on progress. great suggetions about the forum, the BT CD, and the slowing down of the tracks on the computer. I have no doubt that will come in handy as I move along. Tomorrow I will show my teacher how I have hanlded those first two studies.

Mike

Help
I am practising Getting Funky. This song is kicking my behind. I am having trouble playing it as fast as the CD included with the book. I am thinking I will continue to practice this song, but still move on to the next song.

I am having trouble with two of the sixteenth note runs. I just don't have the speed to play them yet.

Any suggestions. My teacher still thinks I am doing well, I just have hit a brick wall at this song.
John Ganapes, the author, has suggested fingerings for that song on the BYCU forum. That might help. He also confirms that it's one of the more difficult songs in the book.

I moved on the the next song which I am picking up quite well. I am still practicing getting funky, just not as much. When I have had trouble in the past and moved on to something else, I have always been able to go back and play the song. Maybe the same thing will happen here.

Technically, I can play the song almost at the recommended tempo. I just have to go a little slower. I have used Media Player to slow songs down before. That is excellent advice.

Getting Funky is included on the BYCU cd in fast and slow versions. I can easily play the slow version.

For anyone considering the book, the stuff is just flat out fun to play!
I think the author put a lot of thought into making each exercise something in and of itself. You get to enjoy every step of the way.
For example, I'm further along than lesson 4, Swinging the Blues, but I come back to it time and again, just to play for fun's sake. 8)

So, I took BYCY to my lesson today and discussed it with my teacher. He said he was familiar with the book, as he had worked through it with some other students of hid, although it had been some time. He had a very favorable opinion of it.

He believed that at the level I am at that I should be able to work through it rather quickly, at least at first. I played the first two studies for him. He passed me on Texas Blues but said I needed to work a little more on Blues Rock Tune, which I already knew I didn't quite have down pat. I think with a little more work he'll pass me on it next week..

Then he worked with me through the next two studies and we discussed some of the other notes that were thrown in outside of the pentatonic minor scale and how those notes really affected the color of the piece. The third one, True Blue I believe it is called, should be a slam dunk as it's all single notes and kind of slow. The thing that was giving me fits on number two was new chord voicings I'm not used to and shifting between them and the single note riffs.

I'm going to set a goal to average one a week. So far it's been one week and I've got one plus done. We'll see how it goes.