Mainly focused on getting Austin Bound down this week. Started off slowly, getting myself used to dropping down to the 18th & 19th frets for the double stops, then gradually increased my speed as well as added in the other sections of the song. At this point I’m playing along with the band at the slow tempo with little problem and am almost up to speed at the fast tempo. This is one of those weird instances where I am finding it easier to play at the faster tempo as opposed to the slower. Perhaps I spent so much time building up my speed in the previous lesson that I need to retrain myself to play at slower tempos. Not sure what’s going on, maybe it’s just one of those songs that is easier to play fast than slow. Whatever the reason, I am happy with my progress and expect to be moving on to the the next tune, “The Trouble With the Truth” next week.
While working on double and triple stops I found that they were easier for me to do on my 5-string Lakland, than on my 4-string Jazz. I figure it is because the string spacing is narrower on the 5-string, thus making it easier to fret the chords. Needless to say I spent a lot of time this past week playing my 5-string, although I can’t say I played the B string much, if at all. Actually, I find it a little difficult to reach the notes on the B string past the 9th fret, not sure if my hands are just to small or if I have poor technique. My 5-string is a joy to play, but I always feel like I am not utilizing it to it’s fullest as I rarely play the B, guess it just something else I need to work on. The good news is that once I was up to speed on the 5-string, transitioning back to the 4-string Jazz was easy as pie. Now the jazz actually seems a little easier as the it only has 20 frets, so I down’t have to think as hard about where I need to be when hitting the double stops in Austin Bound. My methods my be somewhat odd, but as long as they get me where I need to be I guess I’m doing okay.
