Here's the Cold Sweat riff:
At first blush I thought I'd get this right away...but the placement of the ghost notes and the bass and hi hat foot ended up being just counterintuitive enough to give me a fit. I nearly learned the riff wrong...but then realized what I was doing. It didn't help that, in the video demo, the instructor added about 3 more sets of ghost notes. My instinct is to do that too...and maybe Clyde did also...but I thought this was not really a very nice thing to do in the video. He's adding things that aren't on the written page and he didn't warn us that he was going to do that. I don't think this is a useful way to teach reading. Reading means playing what is on the page. Step one. The NEXT step is adding extras.
This touches on my general feeling about the course...is that they are a bit careless sometimes. They don't make sure that what is on the videos is what is on the page...in the case of the first week etude he's playing a different song than we were given! This is just sloppy prep work on the part of the organizers. And while I feel like I can adjust to these mistakes...it just makes the learning process harder. Especially if you were new to reading...and SUPPOSEDLY this class is in part to teach you to read (though I'd say that if you couldn't read prior to taking this course you would not be able to make it through). The pre-req for the class is one year of playing. Shit...after one year of playing I would NOT have had the skills to do this stuff. They really are expecting way more experience and/or training.
Second point, they don't tell you when the chats are with enough lead time to plan. And the chats aren't very useful.
Third point, your interaction with the instructor is minimal here. That's kind of what sells the course...that you are going to get this individual feedback...but it is pretty generic.
Overall, it is VERY apparent that this course runs on auto-pilot and that we aren't much of a priority to the instructor (if he's even really the one on the other end).
That said, the course is fine. I really like the format of short video...printed material. The pacing of the videos are pretty good too...though a hair advanced (he doesn't slow down much).
They used to require you to buy Playalong books and don't anymore...which is nice from a cost perspective...but I've really benefitted from having the Amazing Slow Downer cds that have both the track with drums and without. I think that in their recommended resources they should recommend that you either buy the Playalong books...or get the Amazing Slow Downer program. I keep debating if I should buy it. It's like 50 bucks...but works, in theory, on all mp3s. They have a free version, but you only get the first 30 seconds of the song or the first few songs of a cd.
Anyway...back to Cold Sweat. I was pretty discouraged by Tuesday morning. I'd worked on it a bit Sunday (before the assignment was given, but I had the Playalong version) and on Monday and then on Tuesday while I was waiting for my oil to be changed. I avoided practicing on Tuesday night and actually went to bed at 8:30pm because I was so depressed. On Wednesday morning I was avoiding it to...then decided that I really ought to try to play it once. I put the Slow Downer on 50% and, to my surprise, got the part. Then did 70%...80%...90%...and 100%. I got it. I was shocked. I REALLY had thought I was going to have to rewrite the part and apologize to him and say that my skills weren't up to the challenge and that I just couldn't get it. In that way that things happen...if I can keep the pattern in my head and hands/feet over the next few days...it'll seem easy by Sunday when I record. I might even record on Friday or Saturday and start the next lesson on Saturday/Sunday (next week is Swingtown...a song that I've been trying to learn to play and failing for at least two years now).
It's just a weird thing. To be totally convinced that you'll never get something at 7am in the morning...and 30 minutes later to have conquored it. I'm supposed to pause and pat myself on the back now...because...really wow. I don't know if it'll always fall into place in a week...but I guess that I should have faith that if you slow something down enough...break it down...and go over and over it...eventually you WILL get it. We'll see how Swingtown goes...it has been sticking its tongue out at me for a while now.
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