Session with Marek II

9 March 2009

We had a second meeting with Marek today. It's a sunny day, the road works outside are very noisy.

M made a good call to work on the basics.

'Being in time' turns out to be the main work today, we don't look at the operation of the hands.

Picking - 'downstrokes' and alternate on the A string.

BPM = 60: Whole notes, half notes, duplets, quarter notes, and ...

... quarter notes triplets. We stay here for longer and pay attention to the metronome pulse. Tapping the foot on the beat is too much at the moment. We work on counting 4 bars of 4. Good work!

Then move to eighth notes, extend the pattern to EAA, and then to EAD.

We establish the EAD pattern and play it alternately in two speeds: quarter and eighth notes, changing every bar of 6.

Then add the left hand chord in the Position of Readiness (M's guitar is very uncomfortable in the original EOTN position). First 3 notes of the Eye of the Needle arpeggio, using established picking pattern. Then move to notes 4-6. Then combine all 6 of them. J shifts his part to the off-beat, which gives a little challenge and helps to listen to individual parts.

Once established we move on - the same but in 8th and 16th notes alternating every bar of 6.

Diligent work, stop when enough.

The main issues: time & tone.


------- short break-------


Present the 9 notes of the first the Eye of the Needle descending line. We are standing now.

Then we establish the count (simplified, 13 broken up into 5 subdivisions) and clap the basic rhythm pattern while counting (w/o guitars).

Once established, J adds the lead line, but we mostly fail, miserably, due to the timing issues.

At the end we come back to clapping the rhythm pattern w/o guitars, a strong pulse is established in the feet. We are sitting.

End.

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Very intense 70 minutes (45 + 25).

Personally - a very good meeting for me. A good effort by M & J.