How Slow Is Too Slow

[guitarchris]

Gang....I'm still on DVD 2 in the BBG course....Im up to learning the Deep Sea Blues....I guess it's been about a month now since I started.....just wondering if I'm moving at a good pace or if I should be further along than I am....  That's my biggest difficulty with online/dvd instruction....I never know when to move on....

Thanks for Your thoughts!

 

[samwell]

no such thing as "Too Slow", if you come to the point of "got it down & questioning progression" in a lesson/licks/riffs/whatever: It's time to go forward  :-?    Just a thought.... [smiley=beer.gif]

 

[SlowBlues]

Don't feel bad.  It has been two months for me and I can not comfortably do Muddy "A" or Deep Seas Blues.    :-/

 

[Elio]

I'm just getting through big world after about five months. I have to admit though that I have a tendency to sometimes get frustrated with an excercise so I take axweek or so off to work on one of Griff's online lessons or something else I want to learn and then come back to it.  Everyone is different, so it's really up to you as to whether you are going to fast or slow. My approach is to work on a lesson to the point that I can get a pretty good but not necessarily perfect recording posted and then I move on, but continue to work it into my practice.

 

[GeeDub]

I've been at it a while and like Elio, am on Big World.  My biggest obstacle is time.  After work and honey do's and items that need to be done at home, many days wind up leaving me very limited time to practice.  I don't sacrifice what sleep I get to try and practice since by that time of the day my concentration suffers and I find it detrimental to good practice.  I practice when I can, and most importantly, have fun doing so.  I really enjoy BBG and am looking forward to BGU, next!. 

 

[Rockybottom]

Don't get worried about pace as all the others say.  I started just before christmas and have just got to Big World but I too get frustrated if I can't get a piece perfect.  I find the best thing is to not worry about perfection at this stage.  If you can get through the piece but the chords are not perfect, or you miss the odd change, do something else or move to the next lesson for a change and then go back to it later, you usually find it's got easier.  I personally plan to go back through the entire book once I have finished it to reinforce the fact that what I once foubd difficult is now easy.  I already have the BGU course as well and have bought a book on scales and chords, so I do a bit of routine pentatonic scales each day to warm up or have a break from lessons.

We all go through the stage you are at.  Just do your bit each day even if it's only half an hour and you will get there.  I also find that for a chord piece the change is poor because the shape isn't truely burned into memory so I just practice chord shapes, not to a beat, slow and accurate to get them in the muscle memory and when I get back to a piece there is an improvement.

Cheers

 

[panther]

You gotta to pay your dues, if you wanna play the blues, and you know it don't come easy.

Dan

 

[Bluesgrass]

Great post by Rocky!  My learning process isn't always linear.  It moves in fits and starts, backups and jump ahead's.  I'll move on to something new when what I'm working on feels about 80% right; but I keep coming back to the past lessons and practicing them as part of my warm up or jam track work.  Pretty soon you'll wonder why you ever thought it was hard.  Now, the next new thing will seem hard....and on it goes, as far as you want to push it.    

 

[panther]

That's me also. Slam into a wall, then climb over it, take off until the next wall.
Dan

 

[steve o]

Chris, I kind of copied my answer to another question on the forum, but I think it fits your question as well.

What I have also found that has been helping me move through the course is once I get something down fairly well but slower than the courses "full speed", I move on. That doesn't mean I forget about it though. I move on to keep my slow progress moving forward and keep me mentally involved in the course. But I always start my practice session with the section that I couldn't play correctly up to speed. I spend very little time with it though. I play it once at the slow speed that I have it down one time, then I bump the speed up a little where I may make a couple mistakes. If I do, that is o.k, I will try it again at that speed tomorrow. Tomorrow I may or may not nail it at that speed. If I don't, I repeat the next day. If I do nail it at the higher speed, I feel great and will increase the speed a little more the next day, and then repeat the whole process.
As long as I can play something correctly most of the time at a slow speed, I don't dwell on it for weeks on end. I have been amazed at how quickly the speed improves as I work the courses this way. My biggest struggle is getting something down at a slow speed correctly. For me the speed comes almost naturally (and most importantly, without stress) with repetition.
I am a relative newbie, just finishing up the end of BBG. I still can't play the 5th string barre chords correctly at full speed (my pinky and ring fingers just don't cooperate doing the 7th chord shaping), but I have started working on BGU and ABGU. But my practice session always starts with "Pleading the 5th" and "5th and Main" from BBG and will continue doing that until I have them down at full speed.
I hope this helps you out. remeber though; there is no "right speed" to do these courses. Just make sure you are having fun; that's what it is all about!!!

 

[panther]

I agree with Steve, and might add, it is better to move on to a new challemge then to fight an old one until you become discouraged. Asa you move on the new challenges will actually make the older ones easier.

Dan

 

[MikeS]

I always use Griff's 80/20 rule. If you can play it to 80% of where it should be, then move on. Just be sure to keep playing it in your warm ups so that you eventually get it to where you'd like it to be.
Also, remember that you are not in a race. Try to enjoy the process.

 

[guitarchris]

Thanks guys.  I'm still on DVD 2 but I'm progressing.  I just don't like to move on until I can play something pretty close to musical....I know this is probably going to slow down my progress so...I'm trying to move on when I have it 80% of the way...I sure wish I could memorize the songs faster...it would make practicing on the front porch much easier.....Maybe in another 5 years or so...i'll have the BBG course down and ready to start the BGU course....