DAILY UPDATES (Click Me!) Main Thread - Where the magic happens!
Welcome, one and all, to the Main Thread for this challenge!
This is where the magic happens - the thread where we'll all be posting our daily updates.
Make sure you've read the rules before replying (<- click)
Every day between December 6th and 19th, we are hoping to read your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!):
- Landslag you worked on:
- One thing you found easy:
- One thing you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
Sample daily update:
- Landslag you worked on: Landslag no. 1: dark sand dunes with some moss
- One thing you found easy: The first bar was the hardest one for me to learn, although it looked easy enough on my first try.
- One thing you found difficult: I liked that it was a single line; it allowed me to focus on every note and it was much easier to read than most pieces I play.
Feel free to make these updates as short or long as you wish!
Download the full score (click ↓):
Gulli's Lessons for each individual Landslag:
- Landslag no. 1, Landslag no. 2, Landslag no. 3, Landslag no. 4, Landslag no. 5, Landslag no. 6, Landslag no. 7, Landslag no. 8, Landslag no. 9, Landslag no. 10, Landslag no. 11.
Dedicated discussion threads for each Landslag:
- Landslag 1: dark sand dunes with some moss (<- click)
(More dedicated threads will be created as we progress throughout the challenge)
↓ Let's do this! Post your daily updates below ↓
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I don't think I can study and record one a day, but I will study them, I like them.
P.S and this I will try to record it better-
Giuseppe Gasparini Giuseppe, this is sounding great! No worries, you don't have to record every day! This challenge is about practicing every day, it's not obligatory to also put up a video every single time. I love the videos, but only post them when you can!
(Non ti preocupare, non devi fare una registrazione ogni giorno - questo "challenge" e piu per studiare ogni giorno, non c'e obbligatorio fare sempre anche una registrazione.
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Giuseppe Gasparini Wonderful Giuseppe! I really enjoyed your recording, the subtle reverb adds to the production as well! I love how you actively try to avoid too much rubato within the individual bars and keep the phrase going!
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martin Hi Martin thanks, you must clean it well
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Mircea Hi Mircea,thanks for the advice, I will work more calmly
Grazie per i consiglieri lavorerò con più calma
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Landslag you worked on: Landslag #1 dark sand dunes with some moss
Something you found easy: I liked the rhythm was all simple triplets so that I could focus on the musicality and volume changes, etc.
Something you found hard: Reading music. I'm played trombone in school 20 years ago, so I can read the rhythm on sheet music, but translating the notes to finger positions on a fretboard is really hard.
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Michael Sounding good, Michael! And you're right, the guitar is so much harder than most instruments when it comes to finding the notes! You're doing a great job though!
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- Landslag you worked on: Landslag no. 1: dark sand dunes with some moss
- One thing you found easy: Hand positions and shifts. Reading on sight.
- One thing you found difficult: Keep on counting those triplets. Taming the tempo.
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Vincent That's awesome! High five for my fellow good sight readers!
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- Landslag you worked on: Landslag no. 1: dark sand dunes with some moss
- One thing you found easy: The beautiful succession of harmonies makes the dynamic and phrasing extremely intuitive. Always such a pleasure when these, along with being indicated, are so inherent to the music itself!
- One thing you found difficult: Listening to Gulli's performance above, it became clear that he wanted all the notes to ring on as much as possible. This, in turn, meant I couldn't do right-hand preparation for individual arpeggios - my favorite technique for stability! Combined with my nails being way too long from lack of practice last week, plus a broken p nail, there was a lot of unnecessary movement in my right hand, in an attempt to get a good, scratch-free and beautiful sound. Watch the beginning especially!
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Mircea beautiful sound, man, and you're so incredibly patient with the tempo! Wonderful job, truly! Absolutely right about the right hand (good that I'm doing a workshop on Right Hand Preperation and WON'T be able to use it for that piece, haha!)
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Mircea great! I will probably start my job tomorrow morning. And - maybe I am wrong - but I will play it a little faster (don't know yet). And - like Giuseppe - main problem for me is recording. I will have to use my phone
Contrary to appearances, it is not such an easy piece as it might seem at first glance... -
martin thank you so much, Martin! Happy to hear you liked it
Marek Tabisz no worries about your recording quality! The videos are just a bonus - I love watching you all play, but what I and everyone else here really cares about is inspiring you to practice and document it every day!
I'm sure it's going to sound great.
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On the first day, by quick sight read the score for Landslag 1 for about 2 minutes without my guitar at hand. By identifying the chord progression and fingering for the piece. I try to play the first 10 bars to play the same appreggio pattern.
The easy thing found : Most notes appeared on the 1st to third frets and the appreggio patterns were similar sequence.
The difficult thing found: the control of the volume to do crescendo or dynamics. Maybe also the consistent triplet rhythm for each bar.
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Lawrence it's good to see you on here! Congratulations on starting the challenge, very happy you could join! I had more or less the same experience as you, playing the first Landslag! The dynamics were the most beautiful, but at times the hardest thing to control.
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First day report: I began by reading through the entire score (i.e. all 11 pieces). Not perfectly, of course, but well enough to get an impression of the music and the difficulty. A few of the pieces (I, II, V & VI) are quite easy and should be well within my grasp. Others, while not technically difficult, present certain musical challenges: polyrhythms in III and especially VIII; shifting meters in IV (8/8 vs. 4/4) and VII (also a counting nightmare!) . A few include specific technical problems: playing above the 12th fret in IX; production of natural harmonics in X. And one - the final piece, XI - falls into the 'cross your fingers and hope for the best category'! Almost certainly beyond my capabilities, but I'll give it a try.
While I can surely learn some of the easier pieces in a single day, these are for me the exceptions. Most, I think, will require the full two weeks to 'master' (I use the term loosely!). So my plan is to attack them not individually, but as a group, trying to work out the various problems a little at a a time. For example, I will certainly need to practice the two versus three polyrhythm on its own (the composer has helpfully provided some exercises) for at least a week before attempting number VIII. So I'll leave off making videos until the very end. How many of the pieces I will be able to manage is for the moment uncertain - I predict about half, but let's see where a little practice gets me!
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David wonderful! I was wondering whether anyone would choose to attack them all as a group! This is a great and absolutely valid approach! I'm looking forward to hearing how it's going through your daily updates. This is a great start!
I also peaked ahead and reached similar conclusions to you - for me, I predict the most annoying to be number X, because I will be trying to record a new one every day, and harmonic exercises are so much harder to sight read than anything else, because you can't look at the fretboard and at the music at the same time.
(My trick is actually to place the music stand very close to me and on my left, where it forms an almost direct line of sight with my left hand in frets VII / XII
not sure if you'll find this trick useful, but it did help me in the past!) For the polyrhythms, for me, it really helps to think of them as a linear rhythm. Don't think of 2 against 3, think: (Both), (up) (down) (up).
See the attached file? These three patterns actually all sound the same! (well, the first one doesn't have the bass line, but they are all "2 against 3") Hope this helps
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Mircea I think of the rhythm exactly the same way
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Mircea Thanks Mircea! I do try to think of 3 versus 2 in this general manner, but I never seem to get a satisfactory flow in the triplet - small hesitations manage to creep in, quite uninvited! (Btw, the graphic representation - which I've not seen before - is really striking: (3) looks utterly confusing, (1) looks entirely straight-forward! Strange to think that they are rhythmically equivalent.)
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David I know what you mean! You are right though, with a bit of practice, those hesitations will get smoothed out.
And that's true about the graphic representation!
For more complex polyrhythms though, once you get to really complex things (see the video below), that spelling I used in example 3 above actually becomes the most straightforward.
It's just that 2 against 3 is still relatively simple, in mathematical terms, so it's very easy to represent it as an aggregate rhythm (like in examples 1 and 2).
I love polyrhythms so I could nerd out about this all day!
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I practice Landslag 2 today
easier part: fairly easy chords although some shifts require precision
harder parts: I'm never happy with my release, I'd like a more crisp and rhythmic feel when changing chords
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David Chidsey Bravo
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David Chidsey VERY good job, David - congratulations!!! The release of the chords is by far the hardest thing in this piece, and yet it works in your interpretation! Of course, it can always get better (I had the same feeling as you in my own video), but you're doing a great job already! Keep it up!
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Landslag I
The easy thing: side reading.
The difficult thing: requires precision when changing chords (I am constantly whistling in several places). I have difficulties with showing the changing voices (right hand) because I am trying to highlight the "hidden" melody. And.... too fine print
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Marek Tabisz wow, you stole the words right out of my mouth, Marek
this is EXACTLY how I felt as I was practicing it, too!
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- Landslag you worked on: Landslag no. 2
- One thing you found easy: Sight reading the piece (again!)
- One thing you found difficult: Achieving legato connection between the chords in the first half.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
