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Well, I think it's time to color the Canon in D complete.
I was practicing it Friday evening at 70 bpm and got through it 4 times mistake free. So, I cranked the metronome up to 80 bpm and in about the next hour and a half, I played it mistake free 9 times. 2 of those times were back to back. Yes, I did make a note of every time I played it mistake free.
Most of the times when it wasn't mistake free, it was just a matter of one or 2 notes. As I mentioned before, that first triple note in A in the 4th line is especially difficult for me. Many times I end up missing the open A string. And in the 3rd line, 3rd measure, the double notes on strings close together are hard. Where you pluck the open D and B strings together and where you pluck the D and G strings together. Many times I would miss one of those strings.
I felt pretty good about my progress, but I knew that the next day, things would probably be back to the status quo. Struggling through the song and making lots of mistakes. I'd like to get to the point where I could pick up the guitar and make it through the song mistake free realtively quickly.
Yesterday I tried to get through the song without the metronome and couldn't do it. I usually start too fast without the metronome for me to get through line 3. I then tried with the metronome at 80bpm and I couldn't do it at first. I had to drop back to 70 bpm and got through it several times before I had any success. Then I could get through it at 80bpm.
This morning I picked up the guitar and ran through lines 3 and 4 without the metronome just to see how it was going. No problem. I then proceeded to play through the whole song mistake free. I was satisfied with that.
I tried to get the speed of the song on the CD using the metronome. The first one seems to be at about 50bpm, the second is approximately 80bpm and the third one seems about 110 bpm. I feel comfortable that 80bpm should be a passing speed. I tried it at 110bpm with no success. It may take me till Christmas to get that.
Steve emphasizes that you should never practice finger picking without the metronome and I agree. I never do. However, you most likely won't use a metronome if you play The Canon in D somewhere. That's why I wanted to do it without the metronome. 80 bpm is a very comfortable speed for me on that song and that's probably about where I played it this morning.
For me, succeeding with this song is even more gratifying than completing sessions 7&8. Learning to finger pick is the #1 reason I took this course. But like sessions 7&8, completing them doesn't make you an expert barre chord player. The greatest thing about completing the barre chords is using them in my playing. That gives me the most satisfaction.
Integrating fingerpicking into my regular playing is what I'm looking for. There's several songs I play that I've always wanted to play using a fingerpicking style. I've already started working on them. That gives me the most satisfaction.
I'm still not done with session 10. I completed every exercise and song except for the second Merle Travis one. I also want to explore Steves intro to session 10. Even though it's not a song, there's several techniques that Steve uses in it that I'd like to master.
Hopefully before too long it will be on to the Pentatonics.
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