Another day when it feels like picking up the guitar was a mistake.Fucking tired,fucking distracted,and those octave jumps are pissing me off.Can't play for s***at 60 bpm.

Taking a well-deserved break.

So as planned,I went through the More Sixth String Exercises of the Bonus Workshop once again.And the progress was evident.Through repetition,I managed to get a very impressive flow within those octave jumps and made it to 55 bpm.5 more bpms to go,and this assignment is finished,then I will move on to the song,and also the Sharps and Flats to conclude the Session.

'Til next time.

So I've been disappearing yet again for a week.My mind wandered off of the Session 4 material,but this could lead to a renewed interest in the challenge the material proposes.I'm gonna try and memorize the names of the notes,and will also work on the Six String and More Six String Exercises in the Bonus Workshop.I wasn't beyond 40 bpm yet,so I will keep on practicing from there.

See ya after practice.

So I practiced and it went well.Sixth string exercises in the Work Shop are finally done.The More Sixth String Exercises sound like they will be completed in a breeze in the next practice too.

Still learning ''Stairway to Heaven''.Will have to figure out how to play fingerstyle and with a pick at the same time.Will need some guidance on that.

Cheeri-o.

Noch

So,I haven't updated in weeks.Haven't played in some time either.Was getting bored out of my mind with Session 3 and the constant repetition I put myself through out of a sick obsession with details.Finally decided to make a move.Went on to start S4.

I realize that the second time around (I had started that session back in the summer but abandonned everything in August) this session seems like less of a monster.The fifth and sixth string exercises in the Lesson book were a breeze.I then moved on to the Bonus Fifth and Sixth String Exercises and realized I'm not out of the woods yet.

Gosh these octave jumps are intense.I'm still at 45 bpm and having trouble going much faster than this even with a crazy amount of repetition.I'm currently working on the Sixth String Bonus Exercises.Will keep on practicing this later today.

I also switched from the song ''Paranoid'' to Led Zep's ''Stairway to Heaven''.Why?Lack of variations in ''Paranoid''.Don't get me wrong,it's a hell of a good song,but it's chock full of repetitive barre chords,and I found a lot of frustration in that concept the last time 'round.So I'm gonna go for a tune that has a little bit of every technique happening.And so far I'm having fun.

More details after practice.I'm a bit short on time this morning so I can't rant any longer than that.

See ya 'round.

Noch

Today's practice was limited to working on ''When the Saints...'' and I could already feel my head wasn't in the game.Made plenty of mistakes before I got to 120 BPM,guess I got there anyway.

Practiced ''Paranoid'',the chords sounded like absolute s***almost everytime I hit them,from the moment I started practicing at 65 BPM.

Absolute fucking crap.Not adding anything to this.This is not my guitar progress day.

(PRACTICE SCHEDULE)

Finger Exercises (Warm-Up)

Love Me Tender 90 BPM

More Fourth String Exercises 60 BPM

Ties,Dots & Rests 40 BPM Still working on playing it correctly

When The Saints Go Marchin' In 80 BPM

''Paranoid'' 50 BPM/164 BPM (Measure 1 to Measure 8)

Today's practice was yet again a no-bullshit,no frills affair.Practiced for 50 minutes straight.I started by the warm-ups as I always do,realizing the pinkie is getting slightly clumsy,it will need some additionnal training soon.I can feel Session 4 will help in this department.

I replayed ''Love Me Tender'' at maximum speed to see if I could still go through it smoothly,and apparently there are no problems there.

Also re-played through the ''More Fourth String Exercises'' at maximum speed since I love warming up some more in each practice with these well-constructed little melodies.Playing through them in a very clean and accurate way is always incredibly satisfying.

I am starting to feel more coordination between what I read and what I play when it comes to the Ties,Dots & Rests.I am still working on it at 40 BPM,but I can feel it's coming along slowly,but surely.

''When The Saints Go Marchin' In'' seemed intimidating at first (with all of its dotted notes) but ended up being fun to play,if only to hear long notes ring beautifully through the amp.I am making quick progress with it,already managing to play it at 80 BPM.Looking forward to coming back to this one.

I started working more closely with Guitar Pro and the drum machine to practice ''Paranoid''.I observed the way the notes are played within the drum beats and am applying this for the first eight measures of the song,at 50 BPM for now.The speed of this part of the song is no less than 164 BPM,and there are some barre chords that I will need to take my time with.They sound great so far,but obviously sound a little clumsy sometimes.As I keep on practicing,I have no doubt they will start sounding killer each and every time I strum them.

That was it for today,more tomorrow.

(PRACTICE SCHEDULE)

More Fourth String Exercises 60 BPM

Ties,Dots & Rests Working on playing everything correctly at 40 bpm

Yankee Doodle 90 bpm

Love me Tender 90 bpm

''Paranoid'' Practicing beginning of song and some of the first chords,still without metronome

Today's practice was an uninterrupted wave that lasted an hour.I was planning on making it two hours,but realize my mind soon falls off this task and I get preoccupied by the other stuff I have to do afterwards.

The ''More Fourth String Exercises'' were mostly an easy shot,with some mistakes that I ended up correcting by stopping the metronome every once in a while to go through the missed number and manage to play it correctly before increasing to 60 bpm again without much problems.''Yankee Doodle'' being an absurdly easy song to play,it didn't take me much time to play this at the required speed.''Love me Tender'' wasn't an immediate success though,so I set the metronome at 60 bpm and worked my way towards 90 bpm with few mistakes in between.

I haven't talked much about my time spent with the Ties,Dots & Rests,and it's because this is a work in progress and I won't let this hold me into Session 3.I will move on and still come back to work on this.The metronome is set at 40 bpm and I'm still making considerable mistakes.I will take my time to work my way towards the 60 bpm with this.I will shove it into my daily practice and still move on with the rest of the work ahead at the same time.

I am still practicing the same parts of ''Paranoid'' that I practiced yesterday,and it sounds pretty much the same.I will soon start using a metronome to play the beginning of the song.

That's about it for now.

(PRACTICE SCHEDULE)

Fourth String Exercises (from 45 bpm to 60 bpm)

Guitar tunage 

Fourth String Exercises (from 45 bpm to 60 pm)

More Fourth String Exercises (twice without a metronome,then from 40 bpm to 60 bpm)

Re-familiarizing myself with the main chords from Black Sabbath's ''Paranoid''

Today's practice seemed productive to me.I'm almost done with Session 3 which I thought I'd spend a few more weeks in,considering the lack of body conditionning I thought was the cause of the absurd soreness in my right arm and left shoulder whenever I geared up for practice.

Some days ago I went into the chatroom and exposed this issue to other members and received some interesting links written by the author of some website called Guitar Principles.These absolutely great articles and also what people have told me led me to believe that my lack of exercising has little to do with the tension of the muscles.It's probably related to my lack of attention to the behavior of my body whenever I hit a note,and I sometimes have trouble clearing the mind and relaxing before playing.Thanks to the people who were involved in pointing me in the right direction.I'm trying my best to keep ''The Incredible Lightness'' in mind while playing from now on,and whenever I feel the slightest tension,I take notice and try to let the stress go.

So as I did this today,I noticed an important change in the feeling of my playing and the groove I was in.I practiced for much longer than the usual,about an hour and a half I believe.Time flies,didn't really see it go,and that's exactly what I was hoping would happen again everytime I sit down to work on my chops (they're beginner chops,but I believe they are still chops at this point,when repeating the first three sessions for the second time).

I had to re-tune my guitar so I used Guitar Pro's digital tuner to work my way toward's Tony Iommi's tone in order to practice ''Paranoid'' after the Session's workouts.I found that after re-tuning the guitar,I felt almost electrified by what came out of the amp.The sound of this guitar when it's freshly tuned up...it's fucking amazing.Had plenty of fun when going through the exercises again,feeling like I was standing in front of a wall of amps in an arena.Magical feeling that sure gets you going.

After I felt I was making a few mistakes while playing,even though I was finishing today's assignment at the required speed,I figured I'd wait 'til tomorrow before moving on with the Ties,Dots & Rests.I picked up the ''Paranoid'' tablature from Guitar Pro and found out I barely needed to look at it to remember the main chords.

My wrist was more or less keen with the idea of playing barre chords.They sounded a little clumsy at times.Since in this song,these barre chords are played frantically in a very repetitive loop,it really requires an incredible amount of conditionning the wrist and getting used to stretching the fingers to play these little hammer ons in between the intro chords.I also have an issue with the strumming.I only do down strokes when I know I should do alternate-picking in order to play this song right.

So the three main things I gotta learn more about is the wrist positionning,the way to hold barre chords properly,and also how to do some correct alternate picking.

Lots of s***to cover 'til next time,but I bet I will sound better after the digging.

See ya tomorrow.

I am still in Session 3,working my a***off on the Workshop material.It's quite brutal on both of my arms,apparently.From the moment I get up to start working on the finger exercises,I notice an increasing soreness in the areas I mentionned in the title of this post.This crap is making absolutely sure that I can't gather nearly enough focus to practice for as long as I would like to.

I have a feeling I will never manage to practice for more than 45 minutes because of this.I always have time to revise some of the work I've done in my previous practice,then I incorporate some new material.

This is the summary of what I did before typing this:

(BONUS WORKSHOP)

-Third String Exercises 40 BPM,then soon increasing the speed to 60.I realized spending two days without touching the guitar didn't exactly kill my ability to play through these exercises.

-More Third String Exercises: 60 BPM

-Fourth string exercises from 40 BPM to 60 BPM

-More fourth string exercises is where I had to stop since I was losing my focus due to the soreness of my left shoulder and right arm.

I might need some guidance when it comes to the right playing position.I seriously don't understand why this came up while I never had this problem back in the summer when I got to the point I could play two hours a day and sometimes even three.

I'm making a LOT of progress when I put in the time and effort.I would love to make each practice slightly longer,but I need some pointers here.

See ya next time.

Noch

Since my last blog post I managed to reach Session 3 without too much drama.The boredom with the fairly basic material of the first four sessions of this course is mainly what keeps me from practicing 3 hours a day and being much more of a disciplined guitar player.

The Guitar World ''Betcha Can't Play This'' I had started working on,it completely disappeared from my practice schedules.I figured I better stick to the theory deal.If I let my focus wander around too much,I lose my grasp on it for good and neglect the stuff that will really build the foundation of my guitar playing.I'm even leaving the song option out of the game,even though I would just love to jam out to the stuff I crank on my stereo.

Theory-wise,I'm in the bonus workshop for More Third String Exercises.When I feel energized enough,I manage to not get discouraged in front of complex measures and simply start playing through everything at a slow speed before I gradually challenge myself.

My main concern these days is the way I neglect the chords.I go through the songs without learning to play them using the chords instead of the single notes.I simply skip over this and move on to the next theory pack.I try playing them a few times,but without incorporating them into any of the songs and without using the metronome.Not sure if managing to play these chords accurately at 60 bpm is necessary at this point,and I've been told it becomes more of an important deal from Session 5 and on,but somehow I think maybe I shouldn't neglect those.I will need somebody's point of view.It's odd that I can play songs like ''Paranoid'' and nail the chords,but mess up on the freakin' ''Jingle Bells'' chords.Maybe it's the lack of interest in these songs.

Anyway,sums s***up for now.Comments welcome.

Noch

Well,hello readers.

I find it's been considerably too long since I updated this blog,added to the fact that it's been the one blog in the spotlight on the Main Community Page for quite some time.Those who come by this website probably click and read in hopes to find concrete advice and inspiration for their Learning Journey.

That is why I'm going to make it a daily appointment with all of you.I'm going to post about my progression every single day.I can safely say that I am still a beginner.As you could read in my previous entries,I definitely jogged my way through the first four sessions and neglected some very important things along the way,and that old saying ''The Devil is In The Details'' has never been so true.In fact,it's taking on a whole new meaning that I had never discovered before.

When learning the notes in the first position,it is very easy to think that learning how they are played is the only important part.LET ME TELL YOU THAT YOU'RE WRONG.If letters have been associated with notes in the first place,IT'S FOR A BLOODY REASON.

Let me explain: I learned to play these notes perfectly along to the required metronome speed precised in the Bonus Workshops.Perfectly might be a bold word,let's replace it by accurately.That's when I got to Session 4 and started cruisin' my way through the realms of Sharped and Flatted notes.That's when SHAZAM,I realized I had to go straight back to square one to learn the names of ALL THE NOTES IN THE FIRST POSITION to be able to figure out which notes need to be sharped and which ones need to be flatted,by sight-reading and recognizing all the notes of the same name as I play along.I am pretty positive it's not the only task in the book,or in a guitar player's life overall,that requires knowing what a C or an F is.Mark my words.

So I decided to re-organize my practice schedules.Every time I pick up the guitar,I work on Session 1 material,which is the finger exercises,the C and G7 chords,and every day I choose three notes in the first position to learn by heart.As I play them,I whisper the letters.For those who need it to be more expressive,sing the names of the notes at the top of your lungs.Record yourself.Listen back.Do whatever it takes for you to remember those darn letters,because they will come back to haunt you at a point to which you might feel like taking wayy too long a break out of lack of motivation to go back to the start.

Take all the time in the world that you may need to complete every skill and master it down to the details.If you think this is a race,you should tell yourself that every single shredder the world holds still has a lot to learn.You won't be a better guitarist by hurrying and neglecting important stuff just to be the first dude on the forums to yell ''SESSION 20 DONE''!In fact,I'm pretty sure most users will encourage you to revise everything again,and again,and again,and AGAIN.

If you find the theory too discouraging,spice up your daily practice by adding some techniques to look into.I,for example,am receiving Guitar World through the mail every month,and in there are some interesting lessons (written and on DVD) that will give some character to your playing and that will allow you to rock some more complex licks and nail down chords that will sound like a dream through your amp.That is something every guitar player needs : entertaining him or herself in their practice time,if the theory gets too tough.You need to loosen up a little when you feel the motivation leave you slowly but surely.

That's it for today folks,I will post again to sum up the progress I make during each practice,at least now you know exactly what's cookin' over here,so my next few posts won't seem too confusing.

KEEP ON PLAYING.

Noch

Finally passed through the ''More Third String Exercises'' at 60 bpm.So I moved on to the fourth string exercises in the lesson book and it was only a matter of minutes before I could also pass through these at 60 bpm.I'm now at the 4th string exercises of the Bonus Workshop manual,still trying to play through them without a metronome,on my next practice I will start at 35 bpm.

I started learning the song ''Paranoid'' from Black Sabbath.Turned away from AC/DC since the band I like most is obviously Sabbath,and this song looks fun and easy to play.Still gotta figure out the first chord of the song though,I'm having a lil' trouble playing it correctly.I'll practice it 'til I nail it.

Still in the More Third String Exercises,going through them at 57 bpm,still working on the 4th and 5th exercises only (after the Session 1 finger exercises that I play before each practice).60 bpm seems wayy too fucking fast for some reason.

Not much to add to this,I'll try and finish this assignment tomorrow,hoping I can finally move on to the notes on the fourth string.

Completed the third string exercises at 60 bpm,tried the Bonus Workshop version of 'em,it's an absolute b***right now,but I'm going to end up passing through them like it's a caress of wind tomorrow probably.I usually sort out every trouble spot within two days which tells a lot about my discipline and the seriousness I put in each practice.

Started learning ''Back in Black'' up to the 4th measure,having trouble doing a proper full bend but I'm just not used to these yet.S'gonna come along quick,so far it looks like an easy song,maybe aside from that monster solo but I'm not gonna worry about this yet.

sums it up for now.

So I didn't practice yesterday,was pretty pissed off because of an argument I had with someone,right before I tried to relax during the evening and ended up having an argument with my fiancé.So it wasn't exactly the best idea for me to pick up a guitar and drunkenly force my way through the assignments.

When I picked up the guitar today,I felt the effects of drinking the night before when I did the finger exercises (I wasn't nailing 'em as fast as usual) but that issue is going to fix itself if I try to practice every day,remaining sober all through the week.As for the eighth note assignment,I haven't lost my groove,I finished the assignment by playing through all of 'em at 60.

So I started practicing the third string exercises at 40,and I noticed one particular trouble spot: in the 3rd exercise (third measure),when I encountered that eighth note comprised of an E and a D note,the D note totally sounds like s***when it comes through.It's the same whenever I practice this exercise.Kind of pisses me off in the long run,so I decided to take a break for today and see if tomorrow,I have less trouble with this eighth D note.

Didn't find the tab I'm looking for yet,and I doubt I would've been motivated to play through it today.We'll see if tomorrow brings anything better.

So I practiced what I mentionned in my last blog post.The eighth notes is something I'm starting to get.The assignment is to manage to play the exercises in the lesson book at 60,managing to play all of 'em at 53.

When it comes to the chord switching (C and G7) it's more of a problem,having trouble switching between 'em at 35 and I gotta get used to the idea of playing at 90.But as a lot of people on the forums have mentionned,this whole chord business is not that important 'til session 5,so I'm just going to keep on practicing and improving little by little.

As for the AC/DC song,can't find a GP tab that also has the solo in it.If somebody's got it,please send it to me at this adress: noch_croc@hotmail.com.

Cheers.

Noch

'Sup everyone.

I'm not gonna start introducing myself,as pretty much all the folks in this community have already read a bunch of my posts on the forum and have talked to me on the Tuesday night chats.

For those who have been following my progress from the beginning of LMG,you know I'm one of the most enthusiastic Ozzy-era Sabbath and Iommi fans out there.You also know I lost motivation during session 2,and gained it back with your numerous posts and all your sage advice to start moving on to session 3 and tame my crazy obsession for details.

You also know that the one question I kept on asking myself the most,is how to structure my fucking practice schedule to manage to have fun while moving on with the course which has its boring but necessary moments that make you feel like you're dragging your feet,even though it's important not to skip over anything.

That  led me to ask myself if there's any rock/metal band out there that has some rock anthems I could try and learn in order to do a lil' bit of shred after practicing songs like ''Yankee Doodle''.

That led me to AC/DC.So I'm going to follow some of Steve's advice about the practice schedule for the course in itself,which is pretty much centered on practicing session 3 assignments (I'm still practicing the eighth notes exercises,going to do the bonus workshop for these,and afterwards I'm gonna dive head first into the new notes on the 3rd and 4th strings),and I will also review the C and G7 chord switches that I'm still having trouble with (from session 2).THEN,I will use Guitar Pro,the online drum machine,and the jam tracks to end up nailing the song ''Back in Black'' from AC/DC,from front to back,note by note,even the crazy soloing parts.I'm going to take all the time in the world to learn this one song.

So that sums it up.Gonna update once there's something new to talk about when it comes to my progress.

Thanks for readin'.

Noch