Term 2 - Lesson 9

The lesson today was all about documenting our home practise so we filmed videos to show what we have been working on. I played a couple scales I have been working on using the five steps technique which has really been helping me to learn positions of pentatonic scales. The next step for me is to move away from using scales with a root note on a dotted fret so that I can use the patterns anywhere on the neck. I am going to continue practising this at home so that in the future I will be able to solo using all five positions of a pentatonic scale.

I have also been working a song called The Longest Wave by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is a riff that uses arpeggios and chords and I have been practising it since I first heard it. The recording is played very fast so I am mainly practising with a metronome but today I videoed it so that when I do get it up to speed I can visibly see improvements. This is the first part of the song I have learned:

     Eb              Gm              Bbmaj7          Eb

e|-----------3-----------5h6-----------------------5---------------------------------|
B|-------3h4---4-------------8-------------6-------------8--------(8)--------------|
G|---------------3-----7-------7-------7-------7-------8--------8--8h10p8-8-----|
D|-----5-----------5-5-----------5-0-----7-------7-----8--------8---------10\8---|
A|---6-----------------------------------------------6-----9/10---------------------|
E|-----------------------------------6-------------------------------------------------|

 And the next step will be learning the verse parts which is a lot simpler but I want to be able to play the whole song. The chorus has a lot of bends in so this song is a good opportunity to practise those and get better at them.

I am also trying to improve my technique with my right hand to make my picking better in terms of not letting other strings ring out in sympathy of the ones I'm playing. It is going to take a while to get used to this new way of picking as I've learned the wrong way for so long and I am very conscious of muting the wrong strings when playing because I'm putting my hand in a whole different position and keeping it straight by only moving my wrist.                                                                                                       

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