After the weekend – Halloween without the costumes

Here we are – Halloween. No costumes this year, unless you consider cycling kit to be a costume – I don’t, but I’ve done that at work in the past, though not this year. Just going to ride in the hills north of Glendale after work in the twilight.

This weekend was a busy one – didn’t get my ass in the chair, but did get it into the saddle for a little extracurricular riding. The weekly Sunday ride went off without a hitch, and the group did well – somewhat faster than usual for those that came out, even with all the climbing. It’s getting chillier in the mornings, so time to break out the sleeves.

I’ve realized that the weekends are going to be the days for breaks from practicing, if I need them. Working at the shop puts decent strain on my wrists, given that I’m working with my hands all shift, from typing, to tightening bolts, to putting tires on rims with brute force. I’m certainly not as young as I used to be, and I need to be able to actually use my hands, both for work and play, so I’m keeping a closer eye on them. So weekends might be the days I don’t practice as regularly. Doesn’t help that practicing after a couple Modelos isn’t quite as easy, and that’s a regular part of work at the shop.

At least the Kings got their first win of the 2022 season, albeit a bit of a mediocre one. Up 22 in the second, up 1 by the end of the third, and scrapping all of the fourth to squeak out a win. Tough calls, too. But gotta start somewhere. And damn, if the 1-5 Lakers are still considered slightly better than us going into this third week of the season, 27th of 30 vs us at 28th. I’m not totally sure I agree, but this year’s team is supposed to be defense oriented, and we’re 25th in the league in Defensive Rating. Not good.

Getting back on track, Friday was lesson day, and it went pretty well. “Hello, Shooting Star” is the focus, as it’s mostly chords I know, and the tempo and strumming pattern is definitely feasible. Did passably playing alongside the track, at 75% speed, even with the Bm chords, though those are still a bit on the weak side. Now, it’s time to work in the Gadd9 chord – one a little bit more difficult, as it’s higher on the fretboard than the open chords – and try to work the section with it. Second, going to focus on learning the lyrics and singing along while playing – both to make chord changes a bit more automatic, and to keep place within the song better.

Interestingly enough, I was told to hold off on “Houkiboshi”, at least using the open chords, as it’s too similar to “Hello, Shooting Star” in the chords it uses. My instructor says that it causes confusion and can set back work on both songs, so until I’ve got “Hello, Shooting Star” down pat, I’m not to work on any song with similar chords and chord progressions. On the bright side, I’ve got a power chord exercise for “Houkiboshi” that sounds pretty good, so I’ll keep working on that.

Next, it’s time to advance further on in the Justinguitar lessons, adding in the next chords – I think they’re E, Em, and Am. I’m still not as good when playing to a song, even when it’s just A-D changes, but that’ll come with time. Still working on it.

And last, I’m going to bring “Louder” by Roselia back into my practice rotation, though not as the primary focus. I don’t want to let the Roselia stuff get too backburnered, as Roselia’s music is the primary reason I picked up music again in the first place.

Well, to be honest, it was their music and my fixation on the ESP Lisa Imai model bass, but that part is way down the road. I’m going to pick up my bass again and get back to practicing on that, too – so at least one day a week will be bass practice. I’ll need to experiment, though, to see if I should do a bit shorter guitar practice and do guitar and bass practice in a single session, and see if it helps or hurts progress on both sides.

And damn, I still need to finish getting my drum pad set up so I can work with that on rhythm. So, my current schedule – three days guitar, one day bass, and one day drums (or another guitar day, depending on how the week’s going).

And still going to ride and play racquetball. Keeping myself busy like this seems to be good for the soul, if not the body.

“What’s the good of living if you don’t try a few things?” – Charlie Brown (Peanuts)

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

Day One – It’s a Start.

Here we go… 1, 2, 3, 4…

So for the first day in this new project, I’ve been successful. I got my ass in the chair and put in a half hour of practice. And I’m seeing some improvement – barre chords are a right bitch, especially when trying to change to them in an actual chord progression, rather than just practicing the chord itself.

So, the chord progression goes G – D – Bm – A, with a small change to G – D – Bm – A – D during the chorus. The song is “Hello, Shooting Star” by moumoon, which you might know if you’ve watched Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom). It’s a slow piece with a steady quarter-beat strum pattern, alternating from a full-bar per chord during the verse 1 sections, and changing to a half-bar per chord during the verse 2 sections and chorus. Pretty easy strumming, so I can concentrate on the chords.

My fingers are still a bit sloppy. I miss the B string sometimes on my D chord, which you’d think I’d have down pat by now, as it’s the first chord I learned. The barre on the Bm is getting better, but I find my non-barre fingers coming down in the right places, though next to the strings, rather than on the strings. And when I think too hard about getting the chords played right, I sometimes forget which chord is next.

A work in progress. Still, I’m actually getting the Bm almost correct and almost within the right timing for the tempo I’m playing. I need to work up to playing along with the track, though. I have a bit of a mental issue with that, even though I’m playing this all through headphones on my own. I catch myself saying “Sorry” to nobody, when I make mistakes, and still kinda get performance anxiety. Even playing exercises or sample chord progressions change for me, between technical exercises where I’m working solely on the chord or progression itself, and when I’m actually strumming a pattern at the same time, trying to make it sound like music. Gotta work on that. Performance, of some sort, is the goal of this whole endeavor, isn’t it?

But I did get a half-hour in. That’s a good start. One day, one practice session. That’s ass in the chair, isn’t it? A hint of Ass Power?

In addition, I’m making my way through a couple books on learning. Jonathan Harnum, PhD. seems to have a lot of good advice on this – both as a musician and in general. We’ll see how well it helps. Most of it seems like common sense but it’s good to see in print – lends some weight to it for me. Sometimes I hate that I’m like that – I tend to feel the need to back up the validity of things that I can logic out through words from other outside sources. But hey, if it helps me shape my learning processes going forward and keep me on the path, then it’s a small price to pay.

So, for today, on the agenda – more practice on the chord progression. Going to add varying the chord progression by playing the chord progression from “Houkiboshi” by Younha, from Bleach, which uses the same chords, but in a different order and tempo. And last, pushing through and putting in honest practice of earlier lessons from my online guitar lesson site Justinguitar.com, to reinforce the basics and work up properly to the more complex stuff I’d been looking over recently.

And who knows? Maybe I’ll be rewarded with a fun practice session (likely) and at the same time, maybe the Sacramento Kings will win their first game of the 2022 season (kinda likely?).

“Life’s a bore if you don’t challenge yourself.” – Nishinoya Yuu (Haikyuu!!)

My 2 yen,

Akiosama