I hit my second wall a short while ago, at the end of Module 5 - specifically the Ska rhythm and “Gimme Some Lovin’”. I can get through them on slow, I start getting messy at medium, and then it falls apart at fast tempo
My first wall was a solid crunch at the infamous “Billie Jean”, which hit me so hard I decided I had to go right back to the start and begin again. I still can’t do Billie Jean but redoing earlier lessons has been a big help going forwards.
I think one key take away for me is not to be afraid of taking a step back occasionally, to help you to then move forwards. Another important thing, and something Josh often highlights, is to not get bogged down by trying to nail every play-through perfectly. Now if I get stuck, I’ll have a few goes at something and then move on, making a note to come back to it later and see how I get on with more experience - sort of a personal mini-milestone
As others have already said, I think the course is very cleverly designed to hit you with the occasional wall, but to follow that up with some confidence building lessons, so you can go back and climb over that wall at a later date.
Maybe a little tip to other Newbies…print out the lessons in the “course extras” (hippy alert: double sided, please) and not only use them as reference while on that lesson, look back at them, repeat what you’ve done and ALSO write notes down: “medium was a bitch”…“totally fucking up after the first bar every time on Fast”, etc.
Sometimes even a day later (well, in Mod 5 at least) you’ll surpass your little scribbles.
-jay
Cool @MattyD, you’ve got the old school 3-ring binder going.
I too have the schedule going, with the projected dates I should (or rather hope to) be doing things if I keep to the one lesson a day; only with Mod07Lesson01, 2 days ago, did I get thrown off (so far), as my fretting was whacky and I kept fumbling the medium speed (after the 3 bars, upon repeating bar 1 my middle finger insists on hitting the F and not micro-shifting up with the index to be ready for the next notes…)…(I know Josh says do the Slow and move on (even for this lesson he said move on even without slow), but i gotta handle medium too. #stubborn) At least up to now.
So that was my closest ‘wall’. Lots of swearing, lots of ‘rewinding’ the video and overall 11:30pm grumpiness.
Anyway, yesterday I made up for the day by being a wee bit better at it and then with the much easier lesson 2, so still 8 days ahead of pace. Fully aware this is not important and shit will get harder soon.
I take lots of notes to see where I need to return back to eventually.
j
Love it! I bet you had to practice a lot to draw that well!
It’s hard not getting grumpy. The inner self talk and put downs are the hardest beast to slay when playing. I’m still wrestling with them but I tell myself,
“putting my self down, rehashing mistakes in my mind, being nervous, doubts, only HURTS my ability to play.”
AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FO DAT!
Negative self talk leads to self abuse, loss of focus, stiffness and garbage playing. Always.
Seriously, you want to get better fast? Focus 100%. No drifting thoughts, no negativity.
I’m about as negative as they come but on stage you will only play to your skills/ practice level if you ditch that s***.
I realized early on with the band that if I kept that negativity up I’d be out the door.
It really has been a cure to my depression and perfectionism in life too.
I am as good as I’ve practiced to be. Any negativity only subtracts from that. Drop that crap and play from your balls.
Also lessons are just a part. Learning songs and playing with others is in my opinion more important (which is why the course isn’t done yet for me).
I have not hit any walls. There are some things that I have not mastered i.e. Billie Jean and other things will take me longer to absorb. I climb these walls a little more slowly and accept it is part of my learning process.
Like: [quote=“dukea, post:1, topic:73646”]
I have found it really helpful to take opportunities to look back and find that suddenly riffs I struggled with are easier, or how recognisable riffs that I learned early on can suddenly be played well without warmup.
[/quote]
Yeah that jazz-style bass line was a killer - I could barely play the slow tempo, so I guess it counts as a wall. In this case though, rather than trying to slowly climb it, I’ve taken the option of simply bypassing it and moving on. I may come back and conquer the jazz, but I won’t lose any sleep if I don’t
I guess the thing I learned from that is there are two approaches to the “wall” - move on, but keep coming back to try and climb over it, or just bypass it and move on. Perhaps a bypass might come back and bite later in the course (I definitely found that earlier on), but if it does there’s always the option to go back and try and climb that “wall”
I haven’t hit any walls that I couldn’t pass, but I’ve definitely starred a few down as I stubbornly beat against them. Allow me to explain:
Billie Jean wasn’t as difficult for me (sorry!) as it has been for others, but perhaps the reason why is that I put it into my daily practice routine. I managed to get the slow, medium, and fast speed workouts done during the lesson, but I kept going back to it. I moved on in the course, but I didn’t leave Billie Jean alone. I added the song into my daily routine…S-L-O-W-L-Y. This reinforced the song as I continued into the course. Win-win!
I still go back to Billie Jean because there are just so many great techniques involved. And I don’t ever want to forget them. I also think Billie Jean is helping me figure out how to play Hysteria (Muse) at full speed. I’m just not there yet. I can play it comfortably and 90% mistake-free at 50% speed (around 47bpm), so it’s a wall I’m starring down at the moment!
I also think Billie Jean is helping me figure out how to play Hysteria (Muse) at full speed. I’m just not there yet. I can play it comfortably and 90% mistake-free at 50% speed (around 47bpm), so it’s a wall I’m starring down at the moment!