Week 1: Going North! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the Landslög Challenge
Share your progress updates here and help each other out by commenting on other member's submissions!
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- Watch the kickoff livestream! (<- click)
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Okay, is it Landslög or Landslag? I've seen it both ways.
In any case, don't let the simplicity fool you! I'm finding these pieces are very exposed, and so different from anything I've done before. For those reasons alone I'm finding even the first couple of pieces to be very challenging. Getting the dynamics right, which seems to be such a huge component of this music, is probably the biggest challenge for me.
Here is #1. You'll probably hear my daughters in the background, even though I told them I was recording.
This was my first take, and they all went down hill from there.
One thing I find challenging in general, and with this piece it was measures 15 to the end, is that my i and m fingers sound really bad on the 4th, 5th and 6th strings. I have a really hard time not getting a scratching sound, so in this case I played strings 6 and 5 with my thumb.
And, yes, those are new lights hanging up on my wall. They look pink, but they're actually purple and give the room a really cool vibe when I don't have all these studio lights shining in my face!
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Steve Pederson Great play Steve. It is such a nice piece. Thanks for sharing
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Steve Pederson Sounds good Steve, your room looks like a music store :->. I could be wrong but I believe Landslog (Landscapes) is plural for Landslag (Landscape) . As far as scratching sounds, try 4000 grit wet/dry sand paper on your nails as a final step. I have a small piece I use all the time, after which I rub each nail on an old baseball. The leather really buffs them out. Just a suggestion.
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Steve Pederson Beautiful playing! I also have the noise issue on the last part on strings 4,5&6. I can't really hear it on your recording so much, so perhaps it is more of an issue for the performer? For me it comes not from the nails, but from the fleshy part of the fingers on the RH. It is winter where I'm at and perhaps I need to moisturize the fingertips to soften the skin to reduce the friction noise.
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks Blaise!
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Andre Bernier Thank you Andre!
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Michael Shirk Thanks for the suggestions Michael. I actually have a buffer that I use to polish the under-side of my nails to get them like glass. It's when I drag them across those wound strings that I get that sound. Maybe I just need to pick faster.
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David Thanks David! I'm sure you're right about it being more of a performer issue. Good point!
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Steve Pederson Nice, Steve. I struggle to keep the tempo down on this one, but you sounded really consistent throughout and held it back which is what I think the piece needs.
And if you ever decide you have too many guitars and want to give some away, I can probably find a good home for that p-bass and tele, lol.
Congrats.
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Steve Pederson great job Steve did you memorize the piece or have it on the computer screen?
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Vilio Celli Thanks Vilio. I had the sheet music up on the screen.
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Steve Pederson so beautiful. Glad I found your submission of this piece!
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Steve Pederson Bravo, Steve! Sounds great in your hands! I think that the sound of i-m-a fingers in the wound strings is always a problem by the angle that the nail get into the string. Thank you for sharing!
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I don't have the best recording equipment, just my iPhone, but here's my recording of Landslag I. Was feeling pretty self-conscious about recording and did multiple takes because my anxiety and scattered brain got the best of me and couldn't get through without stopping or me feeling bad about the recording. But after seeing some other people's recordings I feel a bit more confident and ok about the recording.
The hard part for me was getting good tone and control in my right hand. I also think I may have gone faster than the 76bpm which could have helped my recording if I allowed for it breathe a bit.
Nothing stuck out to me as particularly easy today in this piece.
Tomorrow I think I'll try to make it a goal to get no. II down and hopefully recorded. We'll see how it goes.
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Austin Flemming don't worry too much about the ultimate sound quality, your skills for that aspect will go better and better each time... since you're using an iPhone you could simply turn on the camera and share a video next time, that's be great to see you in action!
Your tone sounds good according to the provided audio and for sure you could have slowed down the tempo a bit... looks like you've played the last mesure near the required tempo. Great work! 
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Austin Flemming Thanks Austin for sharing. The tone of your guitar is so nice. You did very well.
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To all, thanks for your supports, suggestions and comments.
I started reading Landslog #1 . It is a fairly long process for me but I know I will eventually get there. I have done bar 1 to 8 so far and memorized each chord shapes.
I have one question:
Bar #7 - The chord (EDD) of the triplets change for (FDD) on the fourth triplet. What is the use of the natural sign before the F note. As the piece is in Am there are no sharps or flats in the Key signature.
I will keep learning a few more bars every day and try to work on some fluidity in the chord changes and keep the notes clear.
I will try to record my progress and post on next week 2 main thread.
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Andre Bernier regarding your question, I believe that the natural is there simply to make sure it’s clear that it’s not sharp, because in the previous measure the F is a sharp. It does seem odd though that it wouldn’t be in parentheses.
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Andre Bernier you and Austin are right. It's also common to see that in modern music notation where the key signature serves more as a «framework» than a «tone» and it helps the brain not to speculate on what happens next based on key idioms.
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Austin Flemming Blaise Laflamme
Thanks for the explanation.
You're right that using the # sign on the F in the first triplet of bar 6 leads to the conclusion that all other F would also be sharp. The use of the Natural sign in bar 7 make sure there are no confusions.
I guess I learned one more thing today...
Thanks for the help
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I felt pretty good about this one, and a little less nerves today. I think going through Gulli's course on the piece really helped. I tried taking my time and slowing down with it more in comparison to the last one. Much more enjoyable of an experience.
I do have a question for both II. and III. There's a notation saying subito under the dynamic marking on bar 18 in no. II. and on bar 4 in no III. I googled that it means immediately or suddenly. First off I'm not sure exactly how that's supposed to sound and secondly is it connected to the dynamic marking or is it meant for the measure bellow it?
I gladly welcome any critiques.
I'm going to get started on no. III and see how that goes.
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Austin Flemming Very nice! You make the starting chord shifts seem easy. I am struggling to connect them, but am inspired that with some more practice they will flow better. Thanks for posting the video!
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Austin Flemming Also, can you let me know what type of guitar support you are using? I have posted elsewhere asking about the options, have tried a few, but am still in search of something that feels right to me. Thank you.
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David Thank you! For the starting chords something that helped me was writing down the RH fingering on the piece that felt most natural to me, and it made it much easier when you have one less thing to think about, because that was one of my hiccups with learning the piece. I hope that helps a little. As for the guitar support I believe I got it from stringsbymail.com and it's the Murata GR-2 Guitar rest. Here's the link: Murata GR-2, Guitar Rest Support with adjustable feet, Silver (stringsbymail.com).
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Austin Flemming Very nice Austin. Well done. Thanks for sharing
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Austin Flemming Very nicely done Austin! I enjoyed listening and watching you play. It looked like you were enjoying it to, and I think that's the main thing!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
