Torture

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
I am starting to think the first 35 pages of PTSM is what was used at gitmo to get people to talk

Its one of those things,I know I need to do it, I have to do it.............but this one is going to be rough. I can see how when its done, I should be able to work all over the fretboard, even though it appears to focus on AM, I am guessing the muscle memory the key wont matter

I get that I struggle connecting the frets.............but damn, I am not sure finishing this will feel like a victory or relief
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
I did the PSTM course early on with BGU and I'm very glad I did. I have been amazed that it isn't referred to more often here on the forum. As you suggest you will have a much better handle of the fret board and it does directly transfer to the other keys for both Major and minor. It also helps when you start combining the Major and minor as to which note comes from which and then lend more understanding to what you are doing. One of the things that it helped me with is breaking the habit of every solo sounding like a scale. All of those exercises are great for speed, coordination and sequencing notes. I probably spent close to 6 months working on that course after work as often as I could. At that time with my work travel and other commitments I was not able to play everyday. If I were to do it over again I would probably go further with the course and speed things up using the metronome as Griff suggests. Keep up with it, it'll pay off in the long run! :Beer:
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
I have gotten it down to where I can do each warm up exercise twice fully through within 15 minutes, with very focused concentration, I mean egg timer going, no sounds around me, just staring and playing, that finger 1-2-4 is tough, the 1-3-4 isnt so bad

I am working for at least another week on the slurs section where you hammer on then a note on the string below then back up ( like first 35 pages)

What I am wondering, instead of moving on, should I start practicing all the boxes in each key, as the book seems to stay pretty much in AM, or will that really matter later on that muscle memory should set in ?

Do you know if @Griff suggests practicing in each key or not worrying about it ?
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
@sdbrit68 , It's been several years since I've done this course so I don't recall what Griff said about practicing in all of the keys. It makes sense tho. I do remember him mentioning that the time it takes to do these exercises is enough. I think that I ended up doing them in G, B, C, F and E off of the nut. I think it is good to know how to handle the blocks off of the nut for the different keys.
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
thanks, I was kind of thinking the same thing, but I didnt think about working with blocks of 2 to 3 boxes, thats a good idea
 

JestMe

Student Of The Blues
When it comes to disciplined practice, I don't do nearly enough. Having said that when it comes to thinking of practicing using different keys, I like the idea of 'the key of the day'...

There are 7 natural keys ... there are 7 days of the week... Coincidence... I think not! ;-)

Consider something along the lines of...
  • Sunday - C
  • Monday - D
  • Tuesday - E
  • Wednesday - F
  • Thursday - G
  • Friday - A
  • Saturday - B
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
When it comes to disciplined practice, I don't do nearly enough. Having said that when it comes to thinking of practicing using different keys, I like the idea of 'the key of the day'...

There are 7 natural keys ... there are 7 days of the week... Coincidence... I think not! ;-)

Consider something along the lines of...
  • Sunday - C
  • Monday - D
  • Tuesday - E
  • Wednesday - F
  • Thursday - G
  • Friday - A
  • Saturday - B
holy hell, that is brilliant mate.......absolutely birlliant, and such a simple idea........my only change, the was we write our work schedules, its monday to sunday, so maybe start that day with CAGEDBF

And since F starts at the nut, it confuses things a little, bang up idea
 

JestMe

Student Of The Blues
holy hell, that is brilliant mate.......absolutely birlliant, and such a simple idea........my only change, the was we write our work schedules, its monday to sunday, so maybe start that day with CAGEDBF

And since F starts at the nut, it confuses things a little, bang up idea

Glad you found the idea helpful You can choose whatever key order you find intriguing.

One time I was going by the order of sharps... kind of like the Circle of 5ths...

Day 1 - 1 Sharp - Key of G
Day 2 - 2 sharps - Key of D
Day 3 - 3 Sharps - Key of A
ETC...

With just a little bit of extra focus this can help with learning the key signatures and order or sharps...

Next week go with the flats....

There are 7 sharps... there are 7 flats... there are 7 days... Coincidence... Maybe not!!! ;-)
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
I've been known to do things like sharp keys on even days and flat keys on odd days... whatever works with your schedule.

Keep warmups to just that - they are warmups so limit the time on them. Things like the scale pattern practicing are improving your technique as well, but they are also improving your skills and mental model of the fretboard so they are "real" practicing and should never be sacrificed for the sake of a warmup drill.

You don't have to worry about changing keys on what you're practicing until you've really got it down. So if you're working on something like the sequences of 3 in box 2, and you struggle, then just work on the one pattern until you can look away and still do it. Then you can start worrying about changing the keys and it should be easy at that point.

I used to do basically the PSTM course, front to back, every day. And then I did the same thing with modes in 2 octave and 3 note per string patterns. I did all that in just shy of 2 hours. I was a teenager with little else to do (or, rather, little else I cared to do) and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone anymore. But it worked at the time.

I've come to find, though, that it was WAY past the point of diminishing returns. I think anything past about 45 minutes a day on technique is probably past that point.
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
Thanks @Griff , unfortunately, some of the guys I play with near home, are all rhythm players, and someone has to start trying lead stuff, which I am extremely uncomfortable with, but, I will take one for the team. Thats why I jumped into this course hard, hoping I can learn the sounds of the fretboard to get the things in my head out
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
@sdbrit68 that's great that you're going for it and I have little doubt it will serve you well. Technique practice NEVER goes to waste. But I would encourage you to stick to the first couple of boxes to save time if you have to. Remember that there's an enormous amount of music to be played there and most people don't get much further. So if you need to save some minutes, do fewer boxes on more keys instead of fewer keys on more boxes.
 

MinorT

Got My Mojo Working???
@sdbrit68 that's great that you're going for it and I have little doubt it will serve you well. Technique practice NEVER goes to waste. But I would encourage you to stick to the first couple of boxes to save time if you have to. Remember that there's an enormous amount of music to be played there and most people don't get much further. So if you need to save some minutes, do fewer boxes on more keys instead of fewer keys on more boxes.
“Never goes to waste”, truer words have never been said.
 
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