Week 1 - Technical Foundation // May 3

Giao Pham great job! I particularly like how the thumb acts as a guiding finger while not getting tensed up much when you change strings. That's great!

If I were to nitpick, one thing I've noticed is that your wrist tends to move a bit - more so when you do repeated notes rather than chromatic scales down.

If you could try to visualize your wrist as being a stationary point (not tensing it up), from which only the fingers move underneath it, that might allow you to achieve greater stability.

If practicing in front of a mirror, perhaps it's worth keeping an eye on the movement of this area here:

Giao Pham great job! Well done on posting these, and on doing them so well!

Quick thought in 1A: you did a really good job of fixing the dynamic balance between different strings after the first couple of tries. If you keep practicing this and aiming for a good balance between all notes, you'll be able to achieve that balance straight from the get-go!

Great preparation in all the other exercises!

Andrew Bracken great job!! Thank you for posting this, Andrew! It's really sounding and looking great! Here is some more targeted advice:

3A: very fluid movement and stable palm, wonderful job here! If I may be allowed to nitpick the tiniest of details: this is really hard to tell via YouTube, but I feel like the string is sliding through your nail a liiittle bit better on your m finger than on your i.

We're getting into some pretty advanced stuff here, but basically, I feel like the m has an easier time going through a larger portion of its surface on the string than i does. This is normal - nobody's fingers are perfectly even. Mine do this (or rather, the opposite) too.

To fix this, when you play with i, try to consciously force it to "catch more string" than m does. This can be achieved by visualizing that you're touching the string further left (more sul tasto) with the i than the m, or simply by imagining more of the surface of the i touching the string before letting go.

This will slow you down somewhat, but it will enable you to have that super consistent, creamy tone on both fingers even at fast speeds. Because tempo is nothing without security, and this can give that evenness of sound that feels so satisfying in the end.

Again, this is a super minor thing, but you're playing well enough that I feel comfortable talking about such minute details.

5B: Sounding great! Try to not move the palm too far left and right since you're only playing these two top strings.

At the end, when you get to the last 2-3 patterns, don't forget that every measure has a repeat sign on it! It's easier to make all these string changes work if you repeat each chord as the sheet music says. 

Igor Thank you so much, Igor! Happy to hear that practicing this has been helpful.

You're right! Practice is the way to go. If preparing takes a really big toll on your rhythmic accuracy, perhaps the movement has not been fully internalized yet, and it still causes some sort of tension that takes your hand a while to get rid of. You can always send in a video update for a quick check-in, if you're having trouble with that or anything else!

Dennis Greensmith hi Dennis! You are making such good points, thanks for uploading this! This has been very fun to watch, almost like having a chat with you through video - like sending each other letters, except they are in video form rather than text.

Alright, I have a couple of comments! 

First of all, I think it's wonderful that you're finding more stability in preparation now, after having done these exercises for a while. It takes a while for these effects to kick in, but when you feel that incredible stability and relaxation that preparation can cause (if done correctly), it's very hard to go back. Same goes for the rest stroke vs free stroke question!

Couple of notes here: 

• Musically, both options sound exactly the same. Normally, when we debate whether preparation is appropriate for a given passage, we must take into account the fact that preparation will stop the resonance of certain strings earlier than non-prep. However, in this case, your left hand is changing positions anyway, and you are using barres - therefore, the notes will be cut off no matter which version you choose. In this kind of situation, how playing this makes you feel is the only thing that matters.
• Technically, I see there is a little bit of tension in your hand before you play, namely on the right side of your RH palm. This is causing the pinky to stick out a little, and also causing the notes to sound quite percussive at times (or "slapped"). This could be partially because of the strings / guitar you are using, however, I think there is a technical reason for it, too. Compare your hand at 4:43, when you are not getting ready to play (first screenshot), with your hand at 3:08, when you are just about to play (second screenshot). You see that extra tension in your right hand, expressed through the pinky sticking out?
• Working on eliminating that will help with everything, and practicing with preparation is a great way to achieve that (in fact, I think that's the reason you've been feeling more secure with preparation lately - I think it's already started happening). When you place your hand on right hand your string, and you're just about to play, use your left hand to wiggle your pinky around a little (without moving your right hand). Then, when you play, look at your right hand and make sure the pinky is not getting tensed up again. Trying to eliminate that extra bit of tension should help with everything! Just a super-quick thought I had while watching your video.