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First practice since the group officially started...
From laertes22 on 5/8/2014 5:16:58 AM
I am still trying to tweak my practice regimen to see what works best for me and what is most effective.
I'm trying to get up at 5AM to squeeze in a morning practice before work, and then do another practice after work. This is to give me time in the evenings to also practice my fiddle (and a little ukulele, time permitting).
I am practicing with a metronome, set to slow (between 70-90 bpm).
I started with a warm up-scale (C major scale, specifically), chord practice (I mainly have played in Double C, so I didn't use chords much in the past), and basic clawhammer stroke practice, and finger to string accuracy drills. My nails being too short has really thrown off my string accuracy and my sound. I tried using the Fred Kelly Freedom Picks, and they helped a lot.
Using the metronome, I worked on an arrangement of Angelina Baker from Dan Levenson's Clawhammer from Scratch Book. This was the last song I worked on before my hiatus, and the main song I've been working on since I started back. I slowed it down to about 70 or 80 bpm and also broke the song down into phrases. I worked on individual phrases for a while, then put them all together for the song. It was a struggle to play so slowly, but I feel like it helped my sound and my rhythm a lot.
To end things up (and for fun), I retuned (I think to G and to Sawmill?) and tried some different songs out of Dan's Old Time Festival Tunes book. I spent the most time on Colored Aristocracy, because I really liked the Carolina Chocolate Drops cover of it, and Cluck Old Hen because I like the bluesy sound of the modal tuning. Play the tunes I have not really practiced before was to give me a gauge of how I am progressing and also to a little "fun" element into the practice.
Reflections on this practice. Using the metronome and doing the warm up drills were really helpful. It produced a noticeable improvement. Since I am back to playing fiddle as well, I am going to try to work on the same song(s) on fiddle as I do on banjo, because I feel like it gives me some insight and improves my playing on both. I will probably switch from focus from Angelina Baker to Soldier's Joy.
10 Comments |
 | Zischkale says:
5/8/2014 7:31:14 AM
What do you think about Levenson's new(ish) Fiddle from Scratch book? Glad there's someone else multitasking here...I'm also trying to keep up a little guitar repertoire (not necessarily old-time) alongside all of this, so I'm trying to use my time wisely. Playing uke clawhammer style?
Angelina's a fun song to play. I'm trying to get some confidence in singing while playing, so I throw some lyrics in with this one. Playing slow definitely helps get everything on the right beat. A while back I got bored playing in front of a metronome, so I took a real brief drum break from a Jurassic 5 song and slowed it down to the bpm I wanted, so I had a different groove to play to. Was more fun to drill to than just a steady beep--but I really ought to bring back the metronome to my practice. It's amazing how many amateur musicians don't practice to metronome, and end up speeding way up when they get around to playing (though in some contexts this might not be such a bad thing).
Gotta have that fun. Cluck Old Hen is a great one for that, you can really relax and groove on that one.
Soldier's Joy is a great one to learn--I haven't seen Levenson's arrangement, but I do know the Clawhammer Core Repertoire series by Josh Turknett has an entry dedicated to it. I really like his blog, great way to learn how to arrange a tune. Link (you'll have to copy/paste, I'm not sure how to add a hyperlink in this comment box):
banjohangout.org/myhangout/blo...p?id=1823
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 | laertes22 says:
5/8/2014 7:46:44 AM
I absolutely love Fiddle from Scratch, but I am probably biased. Actually, when I first started taking lessons from Dan, he was still in the middle of finishing FFS. His actually taught me my first fiddle lessons out of his rough draft of Fiddle From Scratch, making some changes as we worked through it. I have bought a proper copy of the finished book since it was officially released, and it is my daily practice workbook for learning tunes. The setup/layout of the book and the tune list run parallel with Clawhammer from Scratch, which I find extremely helpful. If you do banjo and fiddle, the two books complement each other well. I will definitely check out that blog!
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| laertes22 says:
5/8/2014 8:30:59 AM
Also, I forgot to mention in regards to the Fiddle from Scratch book. It has the same song list as Clawhammer from Scratch. At first he presents simple quarter note melody versions of the song with zero embellishments. then he ups it to an eighth note version where each melody note is doubled. Then he gives you a complex full version of the song, as one would normally here played at a festival. He does this for all the songs, so you start off simple and kind of "step up" to the next level of the song as you get better.
I'm just now getting into experimenting with some clawhammer stuff on the uke. I mainly do normal strumming and some fingerpicking.
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| Zischkale says:
5/8/2014 9:24:54 AM
Sounds like a book I'm going to want. Does he discuss and notate double stops? Any instruction on vibrato?
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| laertes22 says:
5/8/2014 9:27:29 AM
Let me check about the double stops when I get home. I definitely remember doing double stops, but not sure if it was from the book or not. I don't think it talks much about vibrato, as my understanding is that vibrato is not really used all that much in traditional OT playing. But, I'll double check that as well when I get home.
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| Zischkale says:
5/8/2014 9:41:20 AM
Yeah, from the little reading I've done on FiddleHangout it seems vibrato really isn't an old-time thing. I think it'd be a good thing to practice as I go, though, in case I want to branch out some day. Can't find my Ignoramous book CD since I moved, so I just used the book and played along to the Old-Time Jam Machine. Went better than I thought it would!
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 | skiptomylou says:
5/8/2014 1:38:31 PM
hats off to you for trying to get up at 5am for practice - that's commitment. i really should try and get up earlier myself as i'm often low in energy by the time i get in from work.
it sounds like your practice session was very organised and productive - i'm impressed!
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| Zischkale says:
5/8/2014 2:01:59 PM
Yeah I didn't notice the part where G was up at 5am to practice. That's dedication!
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 | VioletMoon says:
5/9/2014 2:44:04 PM
Getting up to practice at 5 am -- that's crazy -- in a good sort of way! If I practice that early, I don't get up. That's the nice thing about banjo. : )
I really love playing with a metronome and I should get mine out. I'm working on a tune that would benefit from it, I think.
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| Zischkale says:
5/12/2014 6:16:25 AM
What tune is that, Cyndy?
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