Day 4 on my journey to Recuerdos de la Alhambra

I probably should offer a recap of what I'm doing. It's been years since I learned Recuerdos, and, I thought for purposes of our publication, I would relearn the piece using the methods and teachings set forth by Karl Wohlwend in our guide to Mastering Recuerdos de la Alhambra. I've started by focusing on the right hand as I am familiar with the left hand fingerings for the piece as we set forth in our publication. The point is to work on each hand separately before bringing them together. This will really help speed up learning the piece (that way, the development of the tremolo technique won't suffer as a result of uncertainty over the left hand fingerings and vice versa).

We pick up learning the tremolo technique at page 7 of our guide book, "The Secrets to Mastering Recuerdos de la Alhambra and the Tremolo Technique." We offer a number of suggestions for learning the technique.

1 - Practice the tremolo pattern (p-a-m-i) on one string, using the metronome at a slow tempo, set to click on every attack.

2 - Move this same pattern to each of the other five strings, always working with the metronome.

3 - With a-m-i on the first string, practice the pattern with the thumb on each of the other strings.

4 - Experiment with using the fingers on the second and third strings as well.

5 - We offer a number of drills using different rhythms to emphasize the working relationship between the thumb and the fingers.

A brief summary of my daily progress - began with #1 at 120 bpm but set metronome to click on p and m attacks. Continued this pattern on each of other strings. Followed #3 at same tempo at first but then got daring and did #3 above with metronome set to click on the p attack only. Tried #4 at same tempo but moving to 2nd and 3rd strings at that pace wasn't working so slowed down to half that tempo. Worked through each of the drills at this new tempo and moved drills to 2nd and 3rd strings as well.

I hope to record this sort of practice session soon and listen to it to see how things are sounding. We often hear things differently from behind the guitar. Until tomorrow, keep on truckin'!