Left-Hand Technique Workshop Session 1 (Dec 23) and Session 2 (Dec 29) Questions / Suggestions
Alright everyone, by popular demand, Sessions 1 and 2 of the Left-Hand Technique Workshop I streamed this summer using my horrible, low-quality setup will finally be streamed in High Definition on tonebase LIVE! 
This will not only enable you to ask me your own questions, but also complete the four-part set that we've never had on this platform in its entirety!
Back when we started tonebase LIVE, I was streaming on my girlfriend's computer in her kitchen while "stranded" in San Antonio, Texas, because of Covid.
Now I have this amazing home studio in Los Angeles, and we're getting married tomorrow. It's high time we completed the set!
Access Session 1: December 23rd (click the link below or click the picture):
https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/live/player/left-hand-technique-workshop-session-01
Access Session 2: December 29th (click the link below or click the picture):
https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/live/player/left-hand-technique-workshop-session-02
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions about things he might want to touch on, and offer you a chance to ask him your own questions!
- What questions do you have for him?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
Forum questions will be answered first!
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Happy birthday to you
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Giuseppe Gasparini Thank you Giuseppe!
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Mircea - congratulations to you and Ashley. Hope you both enjoy your special day and I wish you a long and happy life together! You make a great team.
Best wishes Derek
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Derek Thank you so much, Derek!
so glad to hear from you!
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Congratulations, Mircea, to both you and your lovely fiancé! I hope you are able to enjoy a nice honeymoon retreat somewhere. And let me say too, that I'm now even more impressed that you managed to complete all eleven pieces of the community challenge: what with graduate school, exams, wedding preparations, tone base workshops, and who knows what else, I don't know how you found the time! Casă de piatră! (And don't worry, I won't try to steal your bride!?)
(With big apologies if google search has misinformed me about Romanian wedding traditions ...)
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David Wow!!! Google did not mislead you! I'm extremely impressed
the bride stealing is a really old tradition, people don't really do it anymore - and if they do, it's only in the form that the bride disappears for a few minutes while the groom goes looking for her and eventually "rescues" her (a.k.a. brings her back to the party). We have no idea when our actual party-time wedding will be (we'll definitely wait until the pandemic blows over), but this will probably not be part of it, haha
and the wish (casă de piatră) was spot on!!!
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Hi Mircea, no questions - just wanted to say congratulations to you and Ashley!
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Jaime hi Jaime, thank you so much! From both of us
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Hi Mircea,some exercises for: lightness, precision and relaxation
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Giuseppe Gasparini I will cover a couple of exercises for that, especially in session 2! Thank you for the suggestions
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Hi Mircea, I have had severe focal dystonia in my left hand. After four yaers of consistent work it is almost gone. So it can be done if you can stand the frustration. I still have a small twitch in my pinky when I put my third finger down. Any suggestions anyone?
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Herman A friend of mine, a professional guitar player, has overcome focal dystonia too. He is giving a lecture on it (the general topic is 'Musician well-being') this Sunday. His name is Mislav Rezic, you can find him on facebook or at his personal website. BTW my intention is to help, not to advertise, so I hope I can post this here. :-)
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Though he had focal dystonia in right hand.
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I've never had focal dystonia, but I have the same problem with my pinky that Herman describes. It's movement seems to be dictated by its neighbour, no matter how much I try (through concentration) to stabilize it. As a result, I find it impossible to keep it close to the fingerboard - its natural tendency is to point upwards. For me, this is one of those habits that developed early in my playing (the danger of being self-taught!) and has plagued me ever since. (When I did later get proper instruction, my teacher noted it, but had no idea how to correct.) I did manage, a few years ago, to improve things a bit through slow practice of chromatic exercises. (Boring!!) But, my pinky remains unruly. (My more recent solution is to just live with it ...)
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December 28th Update: Hi everyone! Due to Isaac Bustos' illness, his workshop tomorrow will not take place. Instead, we will run Session 2 of the Left-Hand technique workshop tomorrow (December 29th).
Disregarding the unfortunate circumstances that lead to this decision, I am actually quite happy with the new timeline, since it allows us to run Sessions 2 of this workshop closer to last week's Session 01.
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Hi Mircea, I've not been able to watch the left hand sessions live - I've just watched session 1 - but I wanted say how useful they are. I will certainly be revisiting some of my previous fingerings to see were I can put the ideas into practice! Many thanks
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
