Afternoon everyone,

I’m just getting ready to move onto the next lesson and wanted to share some progress with you all. It’s great to see how you are all doing too, experienced or not. There aren’t exactly Zither players falling from the sky.

https://youtu.be/WnSN_MkvXxA

Feedback is always appreciated.

- Andy

Andy - that is quite some progress! Very musical and rich sound.

When you started learning that piece, could you explain in detail exactly what you did?

For example, one measure at a time without watching your fingers, first slowly, then faster, etc.? Then adding the second measure, until you could play without looking at your fingers, etc.? Or, Melody alone, until you could play it without looking at your fingers? Then accompaniment same way? Then add the melody to the left hand?

I'm really trying to find out how to actually "attack" a new piece. Just playing it slowly over and over isn't giving me much progress.

Thanks.
Tom M.

Hey Tom,

I started out with just the melody for a few bars, enough that my left hand could easily play the melody at a decent pace. Then I started layering the accompaniment onto that. This brought my pace back down to a crawl while my right hand learned how to get in on the dance. Melody/Bass, Chord, Chord, Melody/Bass, Chord, Chord, exc.

The more hours I put in, the more confident my right hand feels. I don’t think as much about playing the bass and chords because they are becoming more muscle memory than active thought. My right finger 4 knows how to find C, G, and F, and my right fingers 2 and 3 know how to strum C-Major, G-Major, F-Major. It’s a struggle for a while when new bass note or chord are thrown into the mix. D-Minor still trips me, but I am confident that if I play it enough, it will become muscle memory too.

Hope that makes sense, its hard thing to describe.

- Andy

Andy,
That was a pretty tune and well played.
Thank you for sharing this as it all helps me and gives me inspiration.
Re zither plyers falling from the sky.
I live in Australia and five minutes ago a coach load of German Zither players just past by ....complete with Leder Hosen and accompanying Umpah band.
Didnt stop to play me a tune though!
Or.......i might have been day dreaming!
Pete

Bravo, Andy! Comparing this video with the one you posted a few months ago, there is great improvement. You’re putting in the hours and it shows!