Nice work David!! I can definitely see progress in the relaxation aspect of your playing. As Tavi said, setting goals for yourself is key!

David, man! This is coming along nicely. Your second recording of the tremolo seems to be a lot more relaxed. The tremolo sounds a bit "disciplined" in the first video and can definitely see a big improvement in the fluidity of your tremolo. I love that you are setting goals for yourself and I can see you accomplish those goals. Great work! Yes, I do have the time and let's schedule a private lesson. Cheers

Here is my installment for March a little late but I hope to back on track with my progress this month.

David, this is good. Be patient with it and increase the speed slowly. Tremolo aquisition is a marathon not a sprint. Great job!

Here is my starting point about 60 bpm. My plan is to post a video every month so I can track my progress. If others would like to join in that would be awesome and highly motivational for everyone. This is a tough technique to master and I am sure that there will be some roadblocks on the way but with the support of elite guitarist I'm sure that any of us struggling can be helped to make our goal.

Hi David, great to have you here on the Elite Guitarist forum! I agree with Tavi - you shouldn't worry too much about tempo for the first several weeks. 5 minute chunks is definitely the way to go (maybe do 3 sessions over the course of your practice to hit the 15 minute mark) so that you don't tense up. If you do use a metronome (highly recommend this) I would set it at 60bpm and play 8th notes with occasional 16th note bursts. Make sure the bursts don't last longer then a beat or two.

This is the ultimate relaxation technique and is very difficult to play for long periods of time without tensing up. Don't ignore the tension in your right shoulder blade because it won't go away on it's own...Keep track of your breathing, go slow, use the metronome and start with small. That's the best way to build things up.

Keep us posted here and maybe even post a video of yourself so we can see how things are going!

Thanks Tavi I did immediately notice that after about ten minutes I started to feel a lot of tension in my right shoulder blade. I'm starting back at 60 bpm so I can incorporate the touch before you pluck idea from the video. that should fix the string click problem that I'm prone to have. I figure it should probably take a couple of months to dial that in before I start building speed. Even if this takes a couple of years I'll be happy. What should be my target tempo to play a majority of the songs that use this technique.

Hi David, thanks for the question. I think you should not worry too much about the tempo for the first several weeks. I would be more concerned with achieving evenness and patiently building good default settings. In my experience, Trimmel always a tricky beast. If I have long practice sessions doing just tremolo I tend to become tensed in my practice becomes counterproductive. I would practice tremolo in five minutes chunks. Definitely make sure you use a Metronome . I will let Taso and Ines share their opinnions which may be different than mine