I don't know if I wrote about this already, but about a month ago I was working on vibrato while watching a movie and I discovered a wrist action/motion which created a sweet vibrato sound. It goes against established mechanics of vibrato in that I move my wrist up and down rather than left to right, but it works and is very easy to do. It requires a light touch and a small movement of the finger. Prior to discovering this I had been pressing the finger down too hard, and the wrist movement was too exaggerated because I was trying to imitate the correct procedure. I remember writing an entry about forgetting about book technique and searching for the correct sound rather than the right mechanics. This idea brought about my new vibrato and I am proud to say that it is my own invention.
Having obtained the beginnings of a vibrato, the next thing I need to work on is sliding the fingers to notes two or more frets up or down the board. I am beginning to find the correct mechanics and this should not be as difficult as vibrato, it just needs a lot of practice to cement the muscle memory of the distances. So I worked on that today while jamming in the late morning (an unusual time for me to practice).
Later in the day as the sun was going down I could not resist picking the guitar up and playing some more, this time to Canned Heat's second album. This was my first long double practice session, and I think there will be more now that I am making progress and things are starting to sound good. My fingers held up nicely, 3 hours of playing and no soreness or blisters. I played to a few new songs, one being a Nick Moss version of Howling Wolf's Louise. The main bass line is hypnotic, and I surprisingly found the 8 note line rather quickly. I played the bass line and then made a quick transistion to playing lead - fun! I will post the live version I was playing along too, Nick Moss is amazing!
Lastly, I felt the need to name my guitar, and decided upon Laura Lee...
