Workout Mon 22/12

Warm Up - 23 - intermediate (68 reps)

Co-ordination - 14 - intermediate (16 reps)

Ear Training - 13 - advanced (31 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Still lurgied. Managed through the session though. Tried setting the metronome to speeds that would get advanced rating, but number of duff reps on the first two exercises stopped that idea. Just managed advanced in ET13, at the expense of massive cramp in my pinkie! Yow! I suppose it's exactly the sort of exercise my left hand needs, though...

Workout Sun 21/12

Warm Up - 21 - advanced (70 reps)

Co-ordination - 16 - intermediate (40 reps)

Ear Training - 25 - intermediate (24 reps)

Guitar used - Roland G-202

Notes:
Still down with the lurgy a bit, so another rather disjointed session, not helped by using a different guitar I suppose. CO16 was a new one which presented a fair few clams - even half of the duff reps done properly could have made that advanced, and despite a valiant effort at ET25 at 140BPM, I had to back off to 130BPM to make any worthwhile headway with it.

Workout Sat 20/12

Warm Up - 9 - intermediate (76 reps)

Co-ordination - 24 - intermediate (29 reps)

Ear Training - 12 - advanced (31 reps)

Guitar used - US Strat Plus

Notes:
Hmmm... not *too* bad, but not brilliant either. I'm coming down with a bit of a cold which is slightly distracting but not too bad - but I'll still blame that for only just getting advanced on ET12 and, despite going for it at an unrealistic BPM count on WU9, still only getting intermediate !

Workout Fri 19/12

Warm Up - 25 - intermediate (73 reps)

Co-ordination - 26 - intermediate (20 reps)

Ear Training -30-intermediate (20 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Not really at the races tonight. Being one rep away from advanced on CO26 was pretty much indicative of the evening's performance. Note the woeful attenpt at ET30 compared to 7/12 - 14 fewer successful reps - oh well, at least this time I was trying to stick to alternate picking...

No Workout Thu 18/12

No workout tonight - office Christmas meal instead. Such a slacker !!

Workout Wed 17/12

Warm Up - 35 - advanced (72 reps)

Co-ordination - 30 - advanced (45 reps)

Ear Training - 24 - intermediate (28 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Quickie session tonight - abbreviated warm up then straight in to the exercises. Progress continues to be made, although there was the occasional slip into sweep picking in CO30. Rather less than would have previously been the case, so some improvement. All in all, quite solid after the last few days. Thought I had really outdone myself on ET24 until I remembered that I don't double count the beats when I'm in 5s - so 265BPM really is 265 notes, not 530 ! (Note - 4 more reps since I last attempted ET24 last Saturday.)

Workout Tue 16/12

Warm Up - 9 - advanced (78 reps)

Co-ordination - 32 - advanced (28 reps)

Ear Training - 36 - advanced (32 reps)

Guitar used - US Strat Plus

Notes:
Hmmm ... Feel slightly fraudulent tonight, for two reasons. First, decided not to do the warm up exercise that came out first (another of those horrible major 7th arpeggio things). Then, on ET36, went for a "second lap" - took so long to get into the pattern that when the two minute bell went I kept going and counted the second lap. On the upside, I played the Strat Plus for the first time in the workout, and it went ok. Also, stuck with alternate picking in CO32, which would previously have been sweep picking all the way, and still knocked out an advanced time ! (Note - last attempted this exercise on 29/11, relapsed into sweep picking and only managed 25 reps - improvement ? wot improvement ?? Next stop, basic competence... mwahahahaha...)

Oh, and metronome was set to 160BPM for WU9, and 120BPM for CO32 and ET36.

Workout Mon 15/12

Warm Up - 12 - advanced (52 reps)

Co-ordination - 7 - advanced (44 reps)

Ear Training - 14 - intermediate (21 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Not too bad again tonight. Exercise choice turned out quite well, although sadly ET14 degenerated into sweep picking, after sticking resolutely to alternate for the last few nights. No complaints at all, and the modified warn up seems to be working quite well too.

Workout Sun 14/12

Warm Up - 33 - advanced (63 reps)

Co-ordination - 20 - advanced (33 reps)

Ear Training - 39 - advanced (46 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Well ! Talk about improvement ! Actually, I think I just got lucky with tonight's exercise selection (which was still random !) - they just suited the way I play more than some of the recent exercises. Which means I ought to be able to play them better, but also that they're probably not as beneficial. So, WU33 was done at 140BPM, CO20 also at 140BPM (just scraped advanced) and ET39 at 150BPM (faster, but still just scraped advanced). And, I stuck to alternate picking all the way through - no fall backs to bad habits & sweep picking ! Not fooling myself that I've turned a corner or anything, but after a couple of fairly poor shows, quite heartening.

Changed the warm up slightly - a little more variation, but still using the chromatic exercises from the web with some additional stretching exercises. Seemed to work fairly well.

Workout Sat 13/12

Warm Up - 27 - beginner (14 reps)

Co-ordination - 24 - intermediate (28 reps)

Ear Training - 24 -intermediate (24 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Not the best session. Had a definite air of going through the motions, especially on a pretty dire warm up exercise (WU27), very different in character to most of the other exercises. Struggled through it, and stuttered through the other exercises, including cranking the metronone to 240BPM in 5s for ET24 ! (Took a few runs through to get the metronome timing right - eventually gave up and went for single beats with a 5 count, hence the high speed...)

Beginning to wonder if the chromatic warm up exercises I found on the web are actually more harm than good, as since I started using them more, my ratings seem to be slipping back, especially in the warm up exercises. Hmmmm...

Workout Fri 12/12

Office Christmas party on the 12th, and wasn't back until late at night - so, no workout tonight.

Workout Thu 11/12

Warm Up - 30 - intermediate (35 reps)

Co-ordination - 21 - intermediate (11 reps)

Ear Training - 27 - intermediate (17 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Severe attack of "stupid fingers" tonight. Had enough trouble getting into the pattern for CO21, but just could not get the fingering for ET27 worked out at all. I rarely play 7th arpeggios so kept sliding into completely different chords and scales. Took three attempts to get to 17 reps, dropping the metronome back to 120BPM to get that. Hopefully just a blip!

Workout Wed 10/12

Warm Up - 16 - low advanced (64 reps)

Co-ordination - 12 - high intermediate (17 reps)

Ear Training - 36 - low intermediate (15 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Okish session. Warm ups at 160BPM. Kept it there for WU16. Dropped back to 130BPM for C012 and back again to 120BPM for ET36. Feels like a bit of a comedown when you drop the speed for each exercise, especially when it takes ages to get the exercise anything approaching right. Hmph!

Workout Tue 9/12

Warm Up - 12 - high intermediate (50 reps)

Co-ordination - 22 - intermediate (21 reps)

Ear Training - 12 - intermediate (18 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Slight comedown after last night. Warmed up with chromatic exercises at first, fifth and tenth frets, winding the metronome up as high as 160BPM. Took it back to 140BPM for WU12, then down to 120BPM for CO22 then finally down to 100BPM for ET12. Just missed advanced on warm up, but merely steady after last night. Did manage to stay with alternate picking all through though. Seems to be easier to stay alternate on the faster exercises-as I slow down I seem to fall out of the rhythm and it takes a couple of beats to get back into it again.

Workout Mon 8/12

Warm Up - 36 - low advanced (56 reps)

Co-ordination - 25 - high intermediate (11 reps)

Ear Training - 37 - intermediate (11 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Good range of exercises tonight. Warmed up with chromatic exercises at 1st, 5th and 10th frets, pushing the metronome to 140BPM. Backed off to 120BPM for WU36 to get an "advanced" rating, tried again at 140 and got more failures but a better workout. CO25 involved triplet picking a 12 note pattern at 100BPM - fun ! Triplet counting I could never get right, so it was a good idea to back the metronome off and have it count the triplets - play to the click and you're ok :) ET37 was an old friend tried at 120BPM - went ok, no major train wrecks. All in all, a good set of exercises. Oh, and stayed resolutely with alternate picking for all exercises too, even under pressure at 140 - a first !

PS. Last did ET37 on Sun 30/11 - got an additional 2 successful reps tonight - given that it's a 28 note pattern, an additional 56 "counting" notes in the 2 minute span isn't *too* shabby :)

Workout Sun 7/12

Warm Up - 23 - intermediate (52 reps)

Co-ordination - 15 - low intermediate (18 reps)

Ear Training - 30 - low advanced (34 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Warmed up with chromatic exercises at first & fifth frets @ 120BPM. Kept metronome there for WU23, but dropped back to 110BPM for CO15 and ET30. Was enough to put me in advanced for ET30. However, kept to alternate picking for warm ups and first two workouts, but fell back to sweep for ET30, so that advanced doesn't really count !

Workout Sat 6/12

Warm Up - 32 - solid intermediate (39 reps)

Co-ordination - 18 - solid intermediate (23 reps)

Ear Training - 35 - intermediate (18 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Warmed up with some chromatic exercises from the web at 110BPM. and kept the metronome there until ET 35. Pinkie v cold, refused to warm up properly but decent performance overall I think. Kept with alternate picking, again until ET 35 which was sweep picking manna. Darn !

Workouts Tue 2/12 - Fri 5/12

Dreadful lapse while trying to get broadband sorted out - backsliding already ! No defined workouts per se, but spent some time with Co-ord ex 23, which was a nightmare on wheels when I first tried it, but which is becoming more do-able with practice. Also found some good chromatic exercises on a website, so they might be getting an airing soon too.

Workout Mon 1/12

Warm Up - 37 - intermediate (19 reps)

Co-ordination - 29 - advanced (34 reps)

Ear Training -31 - low intermediate (19 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Reasonably straightforward tonight. Surprisingly high count on Co-ord 29, and Ear Training 31 is deceptively hard. Stuck with alternate picking except for ET31, which was almost designed for sweep picking.

Workout Sun 30/11

Warm Up - 22 - beginner (11 reps)

Co-ordination - 23 - beginner (4 reps)

Ear Training - 37 - solid intermediate (9 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
The longest workout ever! Took ages to get any sort of heat into my hands (it's really cold today), and ages to work out the fingering of co-ord ex 23 (the hardest in the book, according to the author). Not to worry, all things considered on honourable attempt. Also tried to stay solidly with alternate picking today, not entirely successfully (still slipped back sometimes !) but more alternate than normal anyway.

Workout Sat 29/11

Warm Up - 32 - solid intermediate (37 reps)

Co-ordination - 32 - high intermediate but see Notes (25 reps)

Ear Training - 33 - solid intermediate (14 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Feel like a bit of a fraud tonight for two reasons - first, the complete abandonment of alternate picking for Co-ord, making it ridiculously easy, Secondly having 3 false starts on Ear Training - just couldn't get the pattern for the 3rd ex at all to start with !!

At some point really ought to do more alternate picking - at the moment I still drop back to my old slow-ish sweep when it feels more natural, but that's not going to help develop speed - although I suspect given my picking method biomechanical factors are likely to be a limiting factor there...

Workout Fri 28/11

Warm Up - 14 - high beginner (25 reps)

Co-ordination - 13 - middle intermediate (24 reps)

Ear Training - 14 - solid intermediate (13 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Once again warm up hardest exercise, although I completely failed to alternate pick the last exercise ! Some exercises are just *too* well suited to my usual sweep/pluck method that changing to alternate would be an almighty act of will, given I've played this way without a pick for nearly 30 years ! Will probably try sticking with my current picking to see how far it can go before it inevitably breaks !

Workout Thu 27/11

Warm Up - 16 - solid intermediate (45 reps)

Co-ordination - 27 - advanced (just) (36 reps)

Ear Training - 30 - intermediate (just) (15 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes:
Quite straightforward exercises tonight. Co-ordination had a few clams but was played fast enough to still quality as advanced on the successful reps! Could have gone a bit faster than 8ths at 80bpm for the Ear Training ex.

Workout Wed 26/11

Warm Up - 27 - beginner (15 reps)

Co-ordination - 12 - solid intermediate (25 reps)

Ear Training - 6 - intermediate (15 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Notes
Not for the first time the warm up turns out to be the hardest exercise to play. Some perseverance on making the third and fourth fingers more independent will be useful.

Workout Tue 25/11

Warm Up - 7 - solid intermediate (35 reps)

Co-ordination - 24 - solid intermediate (24 reps)

Ear Training - 30 - low intermediate (18 reps)

Guitar used - Mexican Strat

Fairly straightforward exercises - felt that I could have set the bar higher / metronome faster, especially on the last exercise. A better metronome for counting 8th and 16th notes would help set a better pace.

Workout Mon 24/11

Warmup - 11 - intermediate
- quite tough this - good pinkie workout

Co-ordination - 5 - intermediate
- not as hard as the warmup !

Ear training - 8 - solid intermediate
- the exercise that counts in fives !

Guitar used - Squier Strat (warm up), Mexican Strat (co-ordination & ear training)

Not too bad overall - warm up very tough on pinkie though.

Didn't have the metronome to hand, so didn't take rep counts - warm up sneaked into intermediate, co-ord was easily intermediate, and the ear training could have made it to advanced.