Taking a Break

Well I just had to get up and move around a bit. I think I've been hammering away since around 2pm. It's another beautiful day so I shifted my guitar practice to my favorite spot, the deck at the back of the house. This locale gives me the opportunity to get fresh air, enjoy the sunshine and to take in the lush wooded scenery when my mind needs a break from staring at sheets of music. I do admit some irritation as the local maniacs speed down the road up front, sometimes with music blasting away. Although this does give me practice at maintaining concentration with distractions around me. Sometimes I am successful. I've been concentrating upon timing and note quality today, slowing things down, tapping out timing, endlessly repeating phrases that I am not pleased with. There have been an ample number of those today. I did allow myself to stretch the limits a bit with Star of County Down and Foggy Dew until they sort of fell apart and I felt the need to rein them in again. I think I'd rate my playing as a 6 out 10 today. So far I've spent some time on Study in Bm, Study for Margot, Dance, Anji, the two Irish tunes, Falling Slowly, Jamaicalina, and Maison Blanche Exit Song. Each piece needs attention....no such thing as perfection from this guitarist. Of course perfection is an impossibility isn't it. I can play through all of these tunes with the exception of Jamaicalina, which is definitely at the stage of discovery. I am just beginning to get some of the phrases in Study in Bm memorized. I feel pretty good because I have Falling Slowly memorized(although I still make mistakes) and it is a new piece for me. I just acquired it from Walbert on the 15th of this month. Admittedly it is not the most complex of pieces but in retrospect one of my difficulties has been memorization of tunes. So, whenever I get another bit of music stuck in my mind I consider it a victory.