I had another lesson Tuesday night, and I asked a couple questions that led to us switching gears. We're by no means done with the minor scale and working that into improvisation with the blues and minor pentatonic scales, but I also have some right-hand picking exercises to work on.
I started doing the picking exercises last night and was getting frustrated - I couldn't do it smoothly, kept flubbing, etc., etc. Stepping back to think, I realized I was going too fast and need to start slower. Immediately after realizing this, a number of very emphatic quotes from people on the message boards popped into my head - guitar teachers saying that their primary advice to students is SLOW DOWN. Everyone wants to play fast, but you can't lay fast until you can play slowly.
The rule of thumb is to play at the speed you can play it perfectly. Then slowly speed up. And the way to track this is with a metronome. I have a metronome and intend to start using it to keep myself playing in a steady time.
So the current mantra is "slow the f&^% down!"
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