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Living the dream/ Phase 1 - The first crossroads

Workout: upper, add plyo's and shoulder prehab
Guitar: standard practice template
Eat healthy
Sleep @9
 
Spoke to one of my friends who used to be a lead guitarist in a signed metal band, dude shreds, reminded me the speed will come once the playing is clean.

Stalled song progress:
Needs cleaning up and the speed will come

 
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Picked up my guitar which added an hour onto my drive but had a great practice, both songs progressing.
Missed my workout.
 
Workout: upper, add plyo's and shoulder prehab
Guitar: standard practice template
Eat healthy
Sleep @9
 
Practice done + a good workout.

Both songs were promising but I kept making random mistakes probably due to tiredness. It was like the quality of my mind-muscle connection was degraded.

I need more sleep to improve my focus. I might front load my practices with these two songs if I'm tired.
The nap isn't a great option as it means I struggle to sleep later on.
Maybe I should find work that doesn't have an early shift.

Diet was great and I have a prescription with a company called dermatica in the UK for tretinoin and some acids.

Festina lente
 
First singing lesson later. Should be able to get some guitar practice in after- just the two main songs, slow and steady.
 
Singing lesson was good. The singing teacher is actually really hot lmao. She's a beast and sings opera.
Went over some exercises, tested my range. Got to do a lot of ear training which is really useful - basically matching the right note with my voice but a major skill when learning guitar songs by ear too.
Will round out my skills very well and I think I might have discovered a hidden talent with this.

Went home and had a good practice, just played both songs very slow but they sounded very clean.

Diet was good, I almost got a pizza but my mum made an off hand remark about me being bad at saving money when I told her I'd been for a lesson. Obviously this is a good use of my money but getting takeaway was not and is only a hindrance to my goals.
She grew up quite poor and has a very scarcity based mindset when it comes to money but it is a good exercise to ask myself if my spending is serving me or not.

The girl I dated for 6 months in Nottingham has blocked me when I sent a message seeing how she's doing. When I moved back home I felt this desire to kind of rest after seeing her ended. It was great seeing but made me realise how transient this shit can be, I was pleased we kept in touch just to stay friends but I am not a fan of the way she's just vanished from my life after all those great memories, not one bit.

A solid day.
 
Will do a three hour practice today.
Cutting gym time to 3× per week and 2× cardio as my nap after work yesterday boosted my focus so much I'm gonna use them to get productive practice sessions in during my early shift week.

The aim isn't to practice until I've got the songs right, it's to practice until I can't get them wrong

Trying to sort out some times for singing lessons around my rotating shift pattern as well.
She's got an awesome business, makes a lot per hour and seems very busy - she can charge these rates because she's at the top of her game doing professional opera singing.
I will build my skills and get enough exposure to offer a great service as well.
 
Practice went well after a nap. It's proving a very good way for me to get focussed when my sleep schedule isn't going well.
Played both songs first slowly and clean.
Then through my scales, speed and chords before playing them again.

Got a new recording of the formerly stalled song but putting my phone by my amp seems to have made the audio quality worse.
Recorded Rylynn too, every time I go to record this one my playing goes to shit.

Notes:
Speed and clean playing is not there
Dynamics are weird. I'm trying to get my nails as short as possible and even but it means I'm hitting strings with different intensities
Classical gas needs more swagger
Rylynn - there a part where I strum and hit the strings at the same time which is way louder than the rest of the songs

Solutions:
More reps
Focus on dynamics
Listen to the songs again to lick up details I like that get forgotten

Diet was good again today.

 
Big practice again later, I have more time on Friday evenings so will mix in some acoustic playing to my session.
 
Feeling better today, caught up on sleep.

I'm going to implement Pavel Tsatsouline's greesing the groove but on guitar this weekend to try and ingrain the motor patterns quicker.

Otherwise same big practice as usual, will go to the gym at the end of the day so as not to tire out my hands too much.
 
First touch done on both songs. Struggled to keep them clean, could be the day off. Will get reps in on then at least two more times today.
 
Played for 6 hours today, everything else went out the window.
Found a video of an old dude ripping through one of the songs I'm learning but putting his own embellishments in. Super inspiring.
There are a few changes I want to make to my version too as the score I've got seems a little different from the original.

I'm probably the best musician I've ever been at this point. These songs are really serving to develop my skills, all the more basic stuff I'm doing is feeling way easier now.
 
Practice was good. I've added in some stuff into the mix on a brutal acoustic guitar as it makes my hand feel really strong before moving to the classical.
This has improved my speed but not accuracy - which is king.
More time more reps.

I'm determined to get back in the gym next week.
Diet has been solid.
On my new skincare stack.

I'm not sure if the singing teacher's emails are down as I got a response with no content, I replied saying I couldn't read it but haven't heard back yet so I'll find an alternative address to message her. Otherwise I'll have to find another one.

I've been shit at messaging girls on the apps because I've been focussed on getting better at guitar, it seems to have made them massage me
more. I don't know if it's just one of those echo chamber confirmation bias things but maybe there's some truth in the idea that women find it attractive if you have goals that are more important to you than they are.
It is very freeing to have something that I care about much more than getting laid.
 
Great workout
Guitar practice was decent. Tomorrow I'll focus just on the main songs, break then down into sections again and ingrain good motor patterns
 
Workout
Guitar practice
Work

Singing teacher hasn't responded so I'm going to find another one
 
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