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So I have been working on Bebop Calistenics #3 in Module to for WAY to long. Primarily my issue is getting up to the 120bpm. I can do pretty well at 110bpm when warmed up. My gut feeling is a should move along now and not worry about getting it up to speed. What do you think? Is getting up to that speed of secondary importance.
Yes you should definitely move on! It’s not so much about speed for now, but instead about keeping a steady tempo and developing an awareness of the location of all the intervallic degrees within each fingering as you play them.
Hello Richie.
I have been working diligently with this portion of Module 2. My personal aim with Bebop Calisthenics is to get those sounds, and the physical ability to create them, integrated into my playing.
As I noodle around to a backing tracking, I am making sure I stick in the concepts from these tracks as a part of my improvisation. So for me, it is not just about the technical aspect of playing at speed, its even more about being able to call upon it as part of improvisation before I move on.
Do you have any thoughts on this?
That is definitely a good idea. However, don’t forget to also incorporate the rhythms introduced in the rhythm templates, especially the ones with syncopation so that your lines will swing. You don’t want your solos to sound like an exercise…
Guitarists (because they mainly come from the Rock tradition), spend too much time noodling around on the instrument trying to find good improv ideas. Next day they pick up the guitar and don’t remember a thing and start the process over. I was once guilty of this process until I learned the importance of notating my ideas and programing them into my playing repeatedly and consistently. It has been proven to yield better and faster results and give you control of how you shape your future solos!
Rich, have you had a surveillance camera on me? I have not been using the rhythm templates much since I have listened and danced to so many types of music that I feel almost cocky that I don’t need them. But if you recommend them, I will do my best to set aside a little time daily using them.
Also, I am guilty of coming up with noodling ideas and then losing them. I have finally started recording them and writing them down.
‘Til next time, have fun everybody.
Glad to read about the speed issue. Module 2 has been a massive load for me. I started it two months ago and still find I have work to do. I can play the 5 etudes relatively well at speed if I use the tab but am trying only to rely on reading just the degrees. I’ve got the metronome out every evening and progress has been slow, slow, slow. I even lie awake sometime at night trying to visualize the fretboard in terms of degrees for the 1, 4, 5 mixolydian patters. I definitely am feeling very comfortable with pattern 1, and with pattern 4, less so with pattern 5, particularly when I try to quickly transition to it from one of the others. I think I am getting there but doing it in real time, at 120bpm remains a challenge.
Not sure if I am asking for reassurance or not, but I’ve postponed starting Module 3 until I am more comfortable. My main daily schedule now is playing the 5 etudes with the metronome, checking accuracy and speed, isolating the trouble spots and getting through them start to finish without mistake at slower spees if neccessary. Still do the individual scale patterns as a warm up every other day to drill this into my fingers. As I say, there’s nothing problematic with fingering these etudes, but playing at speed relying only on the degrees has been a bottleneck for me which I hope to push through eventually. Phew…
Andrew, The important thing is to be able to play the etudes reading the interval script. Tab is only a way to check if you are fingering the stuff correctly…other than that it is not conducive to progress in terms of internalizing the scale degrees to improvise. I would recommend doing the bebop calisthenics using neighboring tones until you can play them between 95 and 100 bpm, before moving on. These are the foundation for everything that is coming. That said, the calisthenics are probably even more beneficial than the etudes for the long run. Hang in there…it will get easier!
Hi Richie.
Just a note. there are 19 exercises in the first calisthenics video which include the variations of ascending/descending and upper lower and chromatic NT’s. I was comparing these to the visual summary on page 31 and 1 or 2 are not in both . Is this important?Jack,
Don’t worry about that. The video is independent from the workbook which was updated to a more visual format over a year after the video was done. When doing so, I had to leave a few exercises out due to lack of space. Either way, whether you practice following the instructions on the videos, or use the Calisthenics summaries, I believe you will derive the same benefit.
I recommend watching the video with guitar in hand the first and maybe 2nd time, and then just using the summaries in the workbook which combine ascending and descending into individual exercises.
Thanks so much, Richie.
I actually mapped the video out for each of the 19 exercises and have been doing the 1,4,5 for each one. Quite exhausting to keep track and do, so have done about 10 of the 19 exercises a session. I can see how it will be easier to establish a given combination like Lower DT NT 3 and b7 as a unit and then practice in all directions.
Good Jack! Yes, try to alternate the order each day. Also, be sure to do the same with the fingering pattern order…that is Pa1, 4 & 5 one day…Pat 5, 4 & 1, on alternate days. This way, you make sure you master them evenly. Too many students make the mistake of always starting with Pattern 1 and by the time they get to Pat. 5 their brains are fried.
Oh…did I mention to be sure to play them using swing 8th notes? 🙂
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