So something weird happened in the last session. I tried my tiny Jazz ii or iii pick and everything just flowed so easily.

Even scuttle buttin' felt easier to play.

And it's all kinda confusing. Not sure what's really helping or hindering my playing. I suppose I need to keep switching between my picks and see what ends up being my go-to.

But the part that sucks is discovering this while under pressure to learn and perform new tunes. It's a great motivator to get'r done but it also just adds even more pressure and overwhelm to the mix!

Pick the wrong pick and you might screw up the performance or learning. I'm beginning to understand those superstitious soccer players who need their lucky underwear on to win a game! ?

Now I just need to figure out what my lucky pick is!

NorioDS So something weird happened in the last session. I tried my tiny Jazz ii or iii pick and everything just flowed so easily.

I also had a spectacular playing day yesterday...perhaps the stars were aligned...just so?

Day 6: 15m. Easily the funnest day of the 2part challenge so far. Got a great idea that you'll have to to wait n see - @NorioDS ain't 'borrowing' this genius maneuver (it's the guitar version of suplex ?)

Day 7. 0m. Too much sport on! Rugger, Ufc and F1, meant a day off guitaring. Did manage to borrow a simple looper (ditto clone)...

Day 7 — snuck in a few minutes of practice before bed.

The more hectic jam is definitely faster. Used a metronome app on my phone to check. Most of the song seems to be around 140bpm. That part is a whopping 160bpm (again! like scuttle buttin')

@V8 why do we keep doing this 160bpm madness to ourselves?! ?

Even at 140bpm, that riff is formidable. At 160bpm, I close my eyes, pray a little, and hope for my fingers to hit the right notes at the right times. So far... not so good. But I'm hoping it'll eventually work ?

NorioDS @V8 why do we keep doing this 160bpm madness to ourselves?! ?

...? ? ?

Coz it's fun (when one get's it right anyways!) ;p

That was my spectacular day on Sat - I could literally do no wrong. Everything worked cranked up at 160bpm. But now back down into the 150-152 range.

Did start working the looper into the tune, but I'm not thinking it's gonna be useful for the end product - mainly because I need to feed it two drum loops (140 & 160 bpm's) and that's a faf with just one slot on the looper. Also I want to have more than one layer of guitar - which means the undo/redo has to let me undo more than one layer of loop - which it doesn't.

Booo! I'd need a more complicated looper (that monstrous roland RC50/300/500, modded line6 DL4 or one of the fancier digitech jamman's) to figure that out.

Though it IS useful to hear the harmony guitar parts working together. So the simple looper isn't great for performance and okayish for rhythm practice...but really really useful for leads (I was messing around with some bluesy stuff too).

Is okay, I've plan B!

Eish @V8 stop getting fancy, here ? I'm barely keeping up with remembering all the riffs and their order in the song ?

Day 8 — I won't manage to practice tonight so I snuck in a few minutes before work this morning. Just like with Scuttle Buttin', I'm finding parts of the song I had "missed" before.

But I'm now almost at a point where I can do a "reduced" arrangement of the song. I'll just be doing the rhythm guitar part notated in Rocksmith but with less bars for each part. Not yet sure how many. I guess I'll focus on the easier riffs and only do 1 or 2 bars of the harder 160bpm part ?

I think I've already said it before but this duel has been transformational for me to finally get into learning a whole song!

The lead guitar in this song, despite being fast, is pretty boring. So I might attack a more "interesting" song later and first learn all the rhythm, then some of the lead, and ZOMG I NEED A LOOPER so I can then noodle between rhythm parts.

But that's another challenge altogether ?

Day ? : Got the early signs of that flu going around...sigh. Discombobulated describes the feeling, and I'm not even properly sick yet. This might be the miracle Norio was hoping for!

NorioDS I think I've already said it before but this duel has been transformational for me to finally get into learning a whole song!

Yay! More to the point, you've had lots of rhythm practice! Got the same from playing bass - which rekindled my desire to play guitar again. ?

NorioDS ZOMG I NEED A LOOPER

Bwaahahaha - I must admit to enjoying this basic ditto clone. I've had similar loopers before, but since all the rhythm practice I've become a lot more competent at using such a infernal device. However, now I can see one with some kinda rhythm guide (tap tempo-able) being my preference. The onboard storage would be nice for ideas, but I'd definitely insist on tap tempo.

Day 10 — Yikes I missed yesterday entirely. Hoping I'll squeeze in some practice today coz, otherwise, I'm gonna get hurt real bad ?

There's no way I'm ready to record. But this weekend is chock-a-block full. Need to find / make time.

NorioDS There's no way I'm ready to record. But this weekend is chock-a-block full. Need to find / make time.

I'm easy - we can add a extra week, I did start a bit earlier with the riffage. Take it easy and bring your best ?

Day 10 ( i think?) - 140bpm is nice n comfortable. Getting up to 160 not so much.

I did crank the bpm up to 170 and then back down to 160 - it's weird but it helps makes 160 feel possible when you drop back down into that bpm from the faster one. The mind is a odd thing!

V8 I did crank the bpm up to 170 and then back down to 160 - it's weird but it helps makes 160 feel possible when you drop back down into that bpm from the faster one. The mind is a odd thing!

I also do this. Learned it from Petrucci's "rock discipline". It's maybe the only thing I tried from that MONSTER of a course ? In that particular section, Petrucci almost loses his sh#t before going down a few BPMs. Worth a watch ?

V8 I'm easy - we can add a extra week, I did start a bit earlier with the riffage. Take it easy and bring your best ?

Yeah, that extension would be great! These past few weeks and weekends have been full. Doesn't help when you're trying to get licks down at 160bpm!

NorioDS Yeah, that extension would be great!

Sweet, add a week and see how you go? Since we've got us playing regularly, I really don't mind pushing it out for a bit more of that.

NorioDS Yeah, that extension would be great!

Sweet, add a week and see how you go? Since we've got us playing regularly, I really don't mind pushing it out for a bit more of that.

NorioDS Yeah, that extension would be great!

Sweet, add a week and see how you go? Since we've got us playing regularly, I really don't mind pushing it out for a bit more of that.

NorioDS I also do this. Learned it from Petrucci's "rock discipline". It's maybe the only thing I tried from that MONSTER of a course ? In that particular section, Petrucci almost loses his sh#t before going down a few BPMs. Worth a watch ?

Found it quite easily, although I had to watch from the beginning of the section.

(Starts at 40:50 if the timestamp doesn't work)

.

So why don't you guys try Peace Sells... at 216 bpm? Looks like a fun tempo!

ChrisDanger So why don't you guys try Peace Sells... at 216 bpm? Looks like a fun tempo!

...you first! ?

Day 11 (ish) : Happy at 140 bpm and starting to feel a hint of groove bit at 160. Not spending all that much time on Peace sells, that looper has distracted me - jamming all sorts of silliness.

Day 16 or thereabouts? — Managed some practice in the morning. Struggling a bit with the fast muted "ending" riff.

There are also two versions of the 160bpm riff. One that I have under my fingers (minus a missed-note here and there) and another which is still confusing the heck out of my fingers. Hoping the extension will give me enough time to nail it down.

Still also need to figure out how many bars of each riff I'm gonna play. Want it to at least remind you of the song, even though there might be a few lulls during the lead bits of the song.

If I decide to do this again, I'm gonna want a much slower song ? As difficult as Little Wing might be, I'll take a ballad over fast stuff. My fingers are tired of drunkedly fumbling around the fretboard at speed ?

?

NorioDS Still also need to figure out how many bars of each riff I'm gonna play

Yeah, me too. Got the 140bpm section nicely together, but the 160bpm stuff is a bit trickier w/o leads. Upside, it'll be short n sweet!

NorioDS If I decide to do this again, I'm gonna want a much slower song

LOL, I did try and trick you into attempting Battery - that would have been payback for calling Metallica riffs...easy

Day 15 (ish?) : Havn't played any over the weekend, was cold and there's was plenty sport to distract me. That said, I did have a quick jam w/friends on sat and my fingers were flying around with a MUCH lighter touch - finally feeling/seeing some results from the regular playing ?

V8 LOL, I did try and trick you into attempting Battery - that would have been payback for calling Metallica riffs...easy

I was specifically avoiding "Enter Sandman" as that would've been way too easy for a duel. To clear things up, *I don't think Metallica is easy. I think they're fast as heck, especially if you're looking at their older thrash metal stuff. And especially if you're nuts enough to try it all with pure down-strokes. (I won't bother! Too painful!)

V8 my fingers were flying around with a MUCH lighter touch - finally feeling/seeing some results from the regular playing ?

Makes a huge difference huh? I just want a way to get the same results without such high stakes! ?

And now I finally get why people learn their favourite songs. It's a much more enjoyable way to improve your chops. Plus there's a lot of satisfaction that comes from finishing things! Those are my 2 favourite takeaways from this experience.

NorioDS , *I don't think Metallica is easy

I must mention, I don't think anything on guitar is easy! For me, piano and drums are far easier (mechanically) to get started on. I'd say violin is one of the harder ones to play, it's just soooo awkward.

My point was - even though Enter Sandman could be considered a 'easy' Metallica tune - I struggled for a while to get the rhythm flowing throughout the tune. There's a lot more technique going on there than one would think, even if the song seems straightforward. Don't get me started on Wherever I may Roam...I started learning that a while back (15yrs? more?) and only during this challenge did I get it sounding legit.

Daze ? : I think we're onto 16th day. Been getting back up to speed on Peace Sells after a few days off. I'm starting to nail the Mr Brownstone riff ? And I'm rather enjoying that simple looper still.