Roland MC-707: Drum programming, Gotchas, Updated Features

You work with one drum kit at a time. A kit can have up to 16 instruments (samples). Each instrument is assigned to a pad. Next to the pad area, there is a row of 16 buttons that represent the sequencer steps. The MC-707 reference calls a drum sequence a "Clip".

The MC-707 lets you choose between selecting one kit for the entire Track (this is the default) or selecting one kit per Clip in your Track, which allows you to change drum sounds from Clip to Clip. Note that if you pick a kit for your first Clip of the Track, then later change your mind and change the Track settings to allow for each Clip to have its own kit, you may have the preset reset to "Init Kit" for some Clips. 

One downside of the MC-707 is that a lot of settings must be accessed by button combinations that may require many of repetitions to memorize. The Measure settings for the current Clip is one such case. The magic combo is Shift and either the "<" or ">" buttons which are both labeled "Measure". The settings are:

• Step Len - The length of the Clip, which can be 1-128 steps
• Scale - The value of one step within one Measure, which can vary from eighth notes to 16th note triplets
• Mode - The order that the steps will be played(forward, backward, random, etc.)
• Shuffle - The manual just says it adjusts shuffle/bounce. Seems a bit subtle to me.

To edit the current drum kit, press Shift+Sound to access the Kit Edit screen.

If you already know which pad in your drum kit you want to edit, just press Shift and the pad, then press Enter. This takes you to the Instrument menu, where you can choose to edit the instrument in various ways, or replace it with another instrument.  If you want to press a pad to select an instrument but don't want to hear the instrument being played, for some reason - like being onstage; just hold down Note while pressing the pad.

 Unfortunately, if you want to add the Instrument to a Mute Group, you have to remember to select Pad Edit instead of Instrument Edit.

The MC-707 provides 5 Total Effects, which include Reverb and Delay, for the entire Project, one MFX effect for the drum kit. The FX settings for the Drum Kit are accessed by entering the Kit Edit screen then navigating to the MFX and Set screens. If the Track type was set to Drum+Comp, there will also be a Comp screen. The Set screen lets you set Level, Pan, Reverb Send, and Delay Send for the entire kit. The latter two control how much of the kit sound goes to Total Reverb and Delay - note both default to zero. The MFX option lets you switch on/off the "master" effect for the kit and select the effect - you have a choice of about 90 effects.

You can edit effects levels for individual instruments in the drum kit, so that you can, say, set the kick to be totally dry, set the snare to have some reverb, run the clap through some Auto Wah (with MFX set to Auto Wah), etc. If the Track is a Drum+Comp type, you can set up 6 different compressors, and set individual instruments to go to any of these 6. Confusingly, if the Track is set to just Drum type, you still have the option of sending instrument outputs to any of the compressors - it's just that nothing will happen because there won't be any available, unless you select a compressor in the MFX settings.

The length of a drum pattern - aka a "Clip" in the MC-707 reference manual - can be 1-128 steps. Hardcore music theorists may dispute Roland's definition of "measure" here, but as far as MC-707 sequencer programming is concerned, one Measure is 16 steps. Thus the MC-707 shows one Measure (16 steps) at a time in the step button area If there are more than 16 steps in the pattern. If the Clip is longer than 16 setsps and the sequencer is not playing, you can use the Measure "<" and ">" buttons to page through the Measures.

A new Clip defaults to a length of 16 steps, which is one Measure. If, however you have Clip that is already playing on a new track, and that Clip happens to have more than 16 steps, your new Clip may default to a different number. For example, I had a 4-Measure Clip playing on a bass Track when I selected an empty Clip on a Drum Track, and it defaulted to 32 steps in length.

There are multiple ways to change the length of a Clip. One way is to duplicate the measure by pressing Func and ">". Another is to halve the measure by pressing Func and "<". Another is to access the Measure settings screen by pressing Shift and either Measure button. There, the Clip length can be changed.

The basic ways to program a drum pattern:

1. Real Time - Record yourself playing the pads (assigned to drum instruments) in real-time.
2. Step Sequence/Step Record - Tap an instrument pad, then pressing the step buttons to indicate when you want that instrument to be played within the current Measure.

Real Time recording is ideal for entering drums with the velocity and time-feel that you want, if you are willing to practice your live-playing. Quantize can be used to automatically adjust the timing of the drums. Step Recording is ideal for entering drum parts that you are sure will be playing regularly, such as a classic "four on the floor" pattern in which the kick plays on every beat of a 4-beat measure.

Each instrument in the drum kit effectively gets its own sequence pattern, regardless of what method you used to create the pattern, although you cannot set its pattern length to be different from that of the overall Clip. For example, if you created a pattern for the kick (instrument) in which the kick plays 4 times per Measure at an even beat, if you tap the pad assigned to the kick, you will probably see the buttons for steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 light up. If you created a hi-hat pattern in which the hi-hat plays on the even-numbered step, you will see all the even-numbered step buttons light up when you tap the pad assigned to the hi-hat. Press Shift and a step button to edit the settings for the step, which are:

• Vel - The velocity (loudness) of the drum hit
• Start - Controls when to actually start the drum hit in relation, time-wise, to the step. So you can program the drum to play a little early or a little late.
• Mute - The probability, in percentage, that this step will be muted. This is useful for drum hits that you want to play occasionally, but not all the time, which in turn is useful for adding variation to the drum pattern.
• Sub Step - When set to any value other than OFF, it seems to introduce a kind of drum roll or flam. Extreme Shuffle settings for the Clip, however, may reduce this behavior .

You probably want to exit out of the Edit Step screen if you want to resume adding or removing drum hits. If you forget to do so, you'll get confused.

The way I build up a Scene is to create a one-measure Drum Clip first that will play main beat, then create the Tone Clips for the bass, chords, etc. I am too lazy to calculate how long the Clip for each Track should be, so I just skip the calculations and increase the Clip lengths as I go along.
Press the Shift and Motion Rec buttons to access the First/Last Step screen. This is where you can shorten a Clip by setting the First Step to something greater than 1, setting the Last Step to something smaller than the Clip Length, or both. First Step/Last Step manipulation probably works better for a secondary Drum Track or a Tone Track than for the Drum Track providing the main beat. It's a quick way to introduce variations to the Clip

Behavior of cursor buttons and the C1-4 knobs is not consistent. For example when you delete a Track - usually to change a Track from a Drum Track to Tone Track or the other way around - you have to press the C4 button to delete, because the Enter button does not work here.

Gotchas

Before you attempt to change a sound preset for a clip, be sure the clip is actually highlighted in the grid display. Otherwise you'll change the preset for a different clip

Notable Features added in from OS 1.02 and up

Total number of Scenes was increased to 128. You have a choice of Type1 and Type2 workflows for saving and recalling Scenes. Select Type1 or Type2 in system settings. Type2 looks more intuitive to me because the step buttons are used for accessing Scenes, and are lined up left to right. It does require an extra step or two, compared to Type1, in that you have to select the Bank where you will save your Scene, before you select the slot for saving your Scene. On the other hand, this may help prevent you from overwriting an existing Scene by mistake.

System Settings include Count-In, which can be set from 1-128 steps, and Metronome Level.

Copy/Paste Step which is handy for quickly laying down repeating chords. You do have to make sure the Edit Step screen is showing before you start.

A lot of operations on the MC-707 are like this - you have to memorize the right button combos to get to the settings that you want to edit

While holding the FX button, you can use the encoder to select PCM waves. This works also in conjunction with SHIFT in steps of ten.

Calisthenics: Week 17

Monday - Squat Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Lateral Chain Complex (minus dynamic side plank), 3 rounds

Tuesday - Push Chain Complex, 2 rounds. Flexion Chain Complex, 2 rounds

Wednesday - Mobility session influenced by GMB's Shoulder Prehab video.

Thursday - Pull Chain Complex, 3 rounds.

Friday - Squat Chain Complex, 3 rounds.

Calisthenics: Week 16

Monday - no workout

Tuesday - Pull Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Extension Chain Complex, 2 rounds. Switched back to clutch curls. Forearms/elbows felt ok.

Wednesday - Squat Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Lateral Chain Complex (minus dynamic side plank), 3 rounds.

Thursday - Push Chain Complex, 2 rounds. Flexion Chain Complex, 2 rounds

Friday - Pull Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Extension Chain Complex, 2 rounds.

Random finds of the week:
He Shou Wu (Fo-Ti - Chinese medical herb): Benefits, Dosage, and Side Effects
Top 6 Benefits of Taking Collagen Supplements

Today's Music Discoveries

Calisthenics - Week 15

Another week of Micro Workout Complexes:

Monday - Push Chain Complex, 2 rounds. Flexion Chain Complex, 2 rounds. Shoulder still feeling sore, so did only 2 rounds of Push Chain. Was able to do 6 reps of Body Saw by working a very sort range of motion. I did not have much left in the tank for knee tucks or mountain climbers.
Tuesday - Pull Chain Complex, 2 rounds. Extension Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Tried regular bicep curl but that movement did not feel better than the clutch style. Was able to do 5 hamstring curls during one of the rounds.
Wednesday - Off.
Thursday - Squat Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Lateral Chain Complex (minus dynamic side plank), 3 rounds.
Friday - Push Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Flexion Chain Complex, 2 rounds

Calisthenics Week 14

Continuing Suspension Micro Workout Complexes, as shown in this video:

Monday - Pull Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Extension Chain Complex, 3 rounds.
Tuesday - Squat Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Lateral Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Did not have any energy left for dynamic side plank, so I left that out.
Wednesday - Off.
Thursday - Push Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Flexion Chain Complex, 2 rounds. Worked at too intense a level with body saws, which left me little energy for the knee tucks and mountain climbers.
Friday - Squat Chain Complex, 3 rounds. Lateral Chain Complex (minus dynamic side plank), 3 rounds

I neglected to rest at least 30 seconds between rounds. Hopefully I'll remember next week.

Interesting articles:
Unilateral vs Bilateral Training for Vertical movement
These Researchers Reveal The Right Way To Train For More Muscle Mass

Calisthenics: Week 13

According to Dan John:

A complex is doing an exercise for a given number of reps, then moving on to another exercise without ever putting the bar or bell down.

The "bell" of course is a kettlebell. Dan John has a long history as a kettlebell coach.

Anyway, Red Delta Project put up a video of calisthenic micro workouts applying this complex concept, using a suspension trainer. Interestingly, both RDP and Dan John mention the problem of complex training with a fixed load - it might be a good load for one exercise in the complex, but too light or too heavy for another. John came up with a solution particular to using double kettlebells as the exercise implement. RDP's solution is of course specific to suspension training - adjust your body angle and the strap angle to dial in the appropriate load for the suggested reps for each exercise.

For Monday, I tried the push chain micro workout. I had the suspension trainer handles set to about waist height, because the space where I set it up imposed a limit on the length of the straps for the chest fly. There was some tightness in the Golfers Elbow area of my forearm during the chest fly sets, but I think that can be fixed by paying extra attention to pulling the scapula together first, to initiate the eccentric, so that at the bottom of the movement, the scapula should be squeezed together. I had better luck with the tricep press, because I've gotten better at maintaining enough upper back tension to prevent too much load from going to the elbows. I did 3 rounds of the complex. Overall, the workout felt pretty good. As I continue to practice these complexes I'm sure I'll get at dialing in just the right amount of load for each exercise.

I took the rest of the week off because I visited family. I could have squeezed in a micro workout here or there but my body welcomed the rest.

Calisthenics: Week 12

Monday session: 5 sets of 3-4 Assisted Pistol Squats

Tuesday session: Warmup with 2 Planche Lean holds for about 3 seconds per hold, with knees tucked and toes pointed back so I could test for my Tuck Planche readiness by attempting to pull my toes off the floor. Then one set of floor pushups, and at least 4 sets of 7-9 RTO pushups on NOSSK suspension trainer. I set the angles of my body and the NOSSK straps to reduce the intensity of the movement. I focused on allowing the shoulders to be pulled back and the chest to get a decent stretch at the bottom of the movement, then using the chest muscles to pull the elbows away from the ribs - so that most of the work in the push up is done by the chest. For the finisher I did a drop set of suspension tricep extensions, to try to stimulate tricep hypertrophy.

Thursday session: Antagonist Pair Day

4 sets of Accommodating Resistance Archer Pull Ups
4 sets of 11-12 RTO pushups
Finishers: Suspension bicep curls and tricep extensions

I attempted an AR Mixed Grip Chinup and the Golfers Elbow threatened to flare up, so I decided to do AR Archer Pullups instead. I cannot find any reason to favor the One-Arm Chinup over the One-Arm Pullup. The only difference seems to be in the grip at the top of the movement. The grip is supinated at the top of the movement in the One-Arm Chinup and the biceps might work a little more. What seems to feel more comfortable for me is a neutral grip. I added the suspension bicep curls as a finisher to work the biceps more.

M8 Tracker Beginner Tips

The following are notes from this video

• When starting a new project, set up an FE Chain of four FE Phrases.  You can then use this Chain as a placeholder/spacer.
• Also set up an FD Chain, as shown.  The FD Chain can be used to stop any holdover from a previous Track or reset any commands that might have been incrementing.  This will be your kill/reset Chain.
• Number your Chains by Track, as shown
• Phrases within a Chain can be thought of as variations of a musical phrase.  In the video, Read Means Recording says they tend to work with 8-bar patterns but instead of putting 8 Phrases in one Chain, they prefer 4-Phrase Chains because they feel this organization gives them more control.
• Phrases are not numbered by Chain or Track.  It's just quicker to use Edit-Edit to number a new Phrase, based on next available number.
• Clone can be used to copy a Phrase so that you can edit the copy to make a variation.  The procedure is a little tricky, however.  The exact steps:
  
  
  1. Hold the SHIFT button by itself
  2. Continuing to hold SHIFT, press OPTION then release OPTION
  3. Still holding SHIFT, press EDIT, then release EDIT
  
  
• Deep Clone is for cloning not only a Chain, but also all the Phrases in the Chain. The exact steps:
  
  
  1. Hold the SHIFT button by itself
  2. Continuing to hold SHIFT, press OPTION then release OPTION
  3. Still holding SHIFT, double-tap EDIT, then release EDIT
  
  
• Use the DRY and effects send settings on the right side of the Instrument for most of the level settings for an Instrument.
• One way to use the Instrument Table is as an arpeggiator.  Just enter notes under the N column - these will be offsets in relation to the note in the Phrase triggering the Instrument.  
• He shows HOP, which is one of the commands you can select in the FX slots.  HOP tells the sequencer to jump to the specified row number, and loop from it to the end a certain number of times.  The built-in help system explains it pretty well.
• The Table can be used to introduce a polyrhythm, since it can run independently of the sequencer tempo.
• Interpolation shortcut:
  
  
  1. Hold the SHIFT button, tap OPTION to activate Selection.
  2. Use up/down arrow buttons to Select the column values
  3. Press and hold SHIFT, tap EDIT - the selected values will be interpolated between the first and last values of the selected area.
  4. Tap and release EDIT
  
  
• Table can be used for side-chaining.  The example in the video has a bass line on Track 1, and Track 8 playing kick drum.  Go to the Table for the kick drum, and enter the VT1 command in the FX1 slot for all the lines in the Table.  VT1 controls volume for Track 1.  Set the first line to the lowest volume you want, and the highest value to E0, which is the max speaker volume.  Then use the Interpolation shortcut above to automatically fill in the values between the lowest and highest.
• REP command can be used for ramping up Snare timbre and color over time.
• He duplicated a kick pattern to introduce variety. An alternative approach is put a CHAnce or NTH operator on that last kick<
• Other topics covered that I won't study much at this time:  Sample slicing, making up for lack of onboard compressor, using instrument filter modes for mixing

More tips not covered in the video:

• For automating filter cutoff, in Phrase view, use CUT command followed by a REP to have cutoff repeat
• At the bottom of the Project screen, there is a Clean/Pack command which is useful for deleting duplicate Phrases and stuff if you run out of slots.
• Cut/Delete function on the Tempo in the project screen resest Tempo to 120. Useful if you load an instrument that messes with the tempo.
  
• Chord Tutorial Check out THO command when using Tables too
• Tap over to the blank Input column in the Mixer page, hold Edit and tap up, you will activate dual mono mode. When recording you can change the input to be left or right
• For somewhat random melodies, you can use a table, where you write the notes of the scale that can be triggered,. Use the RAN command in all the steps, but the first one where you have to write the HOP00 command. This way everytime the note is triggered a different note of the scale will be choosen.
• M8 Meetup Video Timestamp List

mikey303 is one of the top experts in using M8 Tracker

Calisthenics: Week 11

Monday Session:  Assisted Pistol Squats: 4 4 4 3 3

This week, I decided to drop the Hamstring Curls, so that I can replace the time I was spending on that exercise with more sets of Assisted Pistol Squats. After I get strong in the Pistol Squat movement, I will resume hamstring-specific work.

I waited until Wednesday morning to decide whether or not to continue practicing Accommodating Resistance Pseudo-Planche Pushups. My shoulders were still sore, with the right shoulder being sensitive to reaching out to the side. I decided to drop that exercise and replace it with a less intense pushup variation. For this session, I did GSC-style RTO pushups. When RTO pushups are done properly, more of the load is on the chest, and less of the load is on the shoulders and triceps.

I was shocked how hard my abs were being worked during the Accommodating Resistance Archer Pull Ups. It's as if the abs had not recovered from last week's training.

For the Thursday session, I decided to try Assisted Pistol Squats using one arm, instead of two, for assistance. I just wanted to get used to single-arm assistance so if I travel, I can just use a table top for assistance.

For the Friday session, I did several sets of RTO pushups.


This video has great tips for hanging as an exercise

Calisthenics: Week 10

Monday session: Assisted Pistol Squats: 4 4 3 3 Suspension Hamstring Curl: 4 4 4

I used less assistance from the suspension trainer and focused on making my lower body work harder in the pistol squat, so the reps went down.

Wednesday morning: 3 antagonist pair sets of Pseudo Planche Push Ups and Archer Pull Ups, both with Accommodating Resistance. Performance was about the same last week, except for some reason my abs worked harder. I did the finisher pretty much the same as last week.

I had trouble getting up early enough to do any exercise on Thursday and Friday. As of Friday night, my abs were still sore from the Wednesday session. Both my shoulders continue to be sore as well. If by Wednesday morning I still feel soreness in the shoulders, I may switch back to regular pushups.

New idea from Mindful Mover for rest-pause reps in unilateral exercises with Accommodating Resistance. The idea is to perform the concentric part of the movement on one side, then on the other side. You would then pause for a few seconds, then perform the eccentric on each side. Someone asked about applying this to Mixed Grip Chinups. The suggestion was to use a chair. After performing the concentric on both sides, use the chair to lower yourself so that you won't have to do the eccentric. After your pause, you step up on the chair to get into position for the eccentric.

Calisthenics: Week 9

Monday session: Assisted Pistol Squats: 6 5 4 4 Suspension Hamstring Curl: 4 4 4

Wednesday morning: 3 antagonist pair sets of Pseudo Planche Push Ups and Archer Pull Ups, both with Accommodating Resistance. I paused for a about 10-20 seconds between reps, and rested 3 min. between sets.

I felt a little stronger in the AR Pseudo Planche Push Up than I did last week, though for one rep I did lean a little too far forward out of the isometric hold and started to actually fall, so I pulled up my knees and feet to stop the fall, shook my body a bit, then restarted the rep.

If I had really split the load 53-37 during the concentric of the AR Archer Pull Up last week, this week the split felt more like 60-40. I felt the working side of my body taking more of the load, and the assisting side really just assisting. I was also relieved and happy to be able to load up the left arm more, to force the eccentric to start, without aggravating the shoulder or Golfer's Elbow. I was also able to sink further down into the bottom position, and even hang with elevated scapula for at least 10 seconds, which is another improvement from the perspective of pain and range of motion.

As I reached the top of the Archer Pull Up, I increased the amount of assistance from the assisting side to help me get my working elbow as far back as possible and contract the bicep as much as possible to get the working side ready to take the weight shift that will force the eccentric to start. For some reason, my knees went up when I put in the most effort.

I finished the workout with drop sets of incline pushups on NOSSK suspension trainer. I decided not to do any pulling exercise as a finisher. I want to see what gains in strength and muscle will be stimulated by practicing the AR Archer Pull Ups, without a finisher, as Mindful Mover reported that Accommodating Resistance might subject the muscles to enough time under tension to stimulate hypertrophy.

Thursday session: Did GMB Recovery session, emphasizing reaching and twisting. Abs were sore, probably from the Wednesday session.

Friday session: Assisted Pistol Squats: 5 5 6 Suspension Hamstring Curl: 4 4 4

For a finisher, I did assisted shrimp squats, then cossack squats for some lateral mobility.

Cool lower body flow for hip mobility and strengthening muscles around the knee
Lower body flow for hip opening and spine twisting

Octatrack Live Sampling ideas

How OoraMusic uses Octatrack for live sampling

More ideas from a thread on loopers, which mentions using the Octatrack.
Track Trigs/Multiplier to Master Length Calculator

Got an Arranger Keyboard

The Yamaha PRS-SX600 is the second arranger keyboard that I've owned.  My first was a 76-key arranger from Yamaha's DGX series which was in production around 2003, but I only used it to practice piano material that I learned from my last piano teacher.  I did not use its arranger features at all, because I didn't understand what an arranger could do for me.   I eventually learned over time about arranger features and started to get more and more interested.  

This post is focused on my first impressions of the PSR-SX600.  Yamaha did not pay me to write it. It is not intended to be a thorough review of all its capabilities.

 

An arranger keyboard is typically set up so that notes that you play with your left hand will influence the bass line and other harmonies being played by the auto-accompaniment.   The typical way to play an arranger is to manage the auto-accompaniment with your left hand and play the melody with your right hand.  Your virtual backing band will play their harmony parts in a given key until you play a different set of notes with your left hand.

 

Thus, the arranger keyboard will typically be split into 2 zones with the left zone designated for style management - the manuals calls this zone the "chord section" - and the right zone - "voice section" -  for melody.  Some arrangers, such as the PSR-SX600 will let you set this split point between the style side of the keyboard, and the melody side.  The PSR-SX600 gives you two split points - the Style Split Point for splitting the chord and voice sections, and the Left Split Point for splitting between left hand zone and right hand zone.  These two points can be different, although I believe they default to identical positions.

 

Many songs are built out of song sections such as intros, verses, choruses, bridges, outros, etc.  Arranger styles typically include song sections that are intended to match the style - thus a bossa nova intro, R&B intro, and rock intro will sound different from one another.  A lot of songs are also played with variations of how instrumental parts such as the drums and bass line are played.  Arranger keyboard styles typically include at least one variation.  PSR-SX600 styles have 4.

 

Arranger keyboards are designed to allow for easy real-time arrangement of a song, so they typically include buttons that trigger these song sections, so that players can decide on the fly when the auto-accompaniment should, say, switch to another variation, insert a fill, or finish the song with an outro.  Easy real-time arrangement of a song is what distinguishes arranger keyboards from other types of keyboards.

 

Arranger keyboards are well suited for people who want to explore unfamiliar musical styles - and thus, would struggle to create song sections in those unfamiliar styles - people who want to play cover tunes with the greater flexibility that an arranger offers over a backing track player or just pressing play on a sequencer in song mode; and people who want to write an original song in a recognizable musical style.  These users would probably appreciate not having to program all the song sections and variations from scratch.

 

Key features of the Yamaha PSR-SX600 which attracted me:

 

3 Intros, 4 Variations, 4 Fills, Break, 3 Endings

Style Creator

Half-bar Fills

Style Section Reset button

Style Unison (eg. the horn section unison riff in “Sir Duke”), assignable to pedal

Style Accent - velocity values from left-hand input can affect Style performance by adding/removing notes

Multi Pads - can trigger audio files as well as MIDI clips

73 Super Articulation Voices (vs. 14 Super Articulation Lite voices)

 

There are more expensive arranger keyboards which have specs and features that can justify the additional cost.  There are less expensive arrangers which do not support as many song sections/variations and do not provide any onboard editing of styles.   I chose the PSR-SX600 because it had the specs and features that looked like the best match for my interests, and appeared to have a good price-performance ratio.  The Style Unison and Style Accent features are not found in the more expensive PSR-SX models, or even the top-of-the-line Genos.

 

Chord Tutor

 

The PSR-SX600 is not designed to recognize every piano chord voicing of G13Alt known to humankind, or any other chord.  It is only designed to recognize certain voicings, and this is where Chord Tutor can be a handy tool to look up what those voicings are.  Pick the key and chord type, and Chord Tutor will show you the chord in standard notation, as well as what it looks like as a shape on the keyboard.  It should be noted some chord shapes shown are for rootless voicings, which may be confusing to beginners.  For example, the Fmin9 shape does not include F (the root).  I think I get why Yamaha implemented Chord Tutor this way - if you aspire to play keyboard with a human bass player, you'll have to learn rootless voicings sooner or later, because bassists will be playing the root and might get annoyed with you competing with them for the root.

 

In any case, beginners will appreciate using Chord Tutor to learn more chord shapes.  Experienced musicians without experience in arranger keyboards could use Chord Tutor to help figure out which chord voicings they can and cannot use effectively with this arranger.

 

Chord Fingering Types

 

For the auto-accompaniment to play in the desired harmony, you play certain notes in the chord/auto-accompaniment zone of the keyboard.  When you want the harmony to change to a different chord, you play another set of notes in that zone.  The Yamaha PSR-SX600 manuals refer to this as “specifying the chord”.

 

The notes that you have to play so specify a chord depends on which Chord Fingering Type (CFT) you select. .  Some CFTs are meant for people who want the auto-accompaniment to play more notes in a chord than they are comfortable playing with the left hand.  Some allow more direct control over the harmony but require a greater vocabulary of chord shapes.  Below is a listing of CFTs that I tried, and corresponding comments:

 

Single Finger

Fingered

AI Fingered

Multi Finger 

Full Keyboard

AI Full Keyboard

Smart Chord  

 

Single Finger lets you play major triads with just 1 finger,  minor triads and unaltered dominant 7th chords with just 2 fingers;  and minor 7th chords with just 3 fingers.  It’s a good CFT for users who want to play 4-note chords but aren’t comfortable playing all 4 notes at once.  It’s really good for users who want to hear major and minor  triads but are not comfortable with those yet.  Yamaha seems to assume whoever uses this CFT doesn’t know what diminished or augmented triads are.

 

Fingered is for specifying the chord by playing 3 or more notes, which you will have to do anyway if you want chords that are more sophisticated than the ones available in the Single Finger CFT..  A chart of chord shapes that the arranger understands is shown in the reference manual.  These shapes are root voicings in the key of C, such as C6, CMaj7, Cm7b5, C7sus, and so on.  A table of chord spellings is provided, for those who want to extrapolate what the shapes should look like in other keys.   The manual also suggests using the onboard Chord Tutor for looking up chords, although beginners may be confused by the Chord Tutor shapes in the key of C being different from the shapes shown in the chart in the manual. So, in exchange for having to learn more chord shapes,  this CFT gives you a lot more control over the harmony compared to Single Finger.  Note that you may have to move the Style split point, because the default auto-accompaniment zone may not have enough room for chord shapes in certain keys, such as A.

 

Fingered On Bass works a lot like Fingered, except the lowest note of the chord played is always the bass note.  The name of this CFT might make you think it will let you play a bass line with your left hand without triggering a change in key for the auto-accompaniment.  If this is indeed the case, you might prefer to just flip the chord and voice sections, so that you can specify chords with your right hand, and play the bass line with your left hand.

 

AI Fingered is basically the same as Fingered, according to the Reference Manual, except you may be able to just use 2 fingers to specify a chord, based on the previously played chord.  Yes, I find this description vague.  You're giving up some control over the harmony because, as implied by the AI, some artificial intelligence is trying to guess a good harmony to play.  This CFT might be worth exploring for happy accidents, as it may be annoying if you have a clear idea of how you want the chord progression to go, and it doesn't make the right guesses.

 

Multi Finger is the default CFT.  The arranger is generally smart enough to  detect whether you are specifying a chord in Single or Fingered CFT as you play.

 

Full Keyboard works like the Fingered CFT, except chords are detected in the entire key range.  It seems to detect most of the two-handed chord voicings that I learned from the Jazz Chords for Beginners course on the Open Studio Jazz website, except the dominant 13th, which has left hand playing  root and 7th, and right hand playing the 3rd, 13th, and 9th.  It also does not detect the altered dominant shape that I know, in which the right hand plays a flatted 9th and 13th.

 

AI Full Keyboard works like Full Keyboard, but like AI Fingered requires less than 3 notes to be played.  9th, 11th and 13th chords cannot be played - according to the manual.  This might also have happy accident potential.

 

Smart Chord CFT  lets you play a chord with your left hand, by only using one finger of your left hand.  You set the key signature and the Smart Chord Type.  For example, if the key signature is C Major, and you want to hear a C Major triad, you just play the C note - you don’t have to play the other 2 notes.  Similarly if you want to play a B diminished triad, you only play the B note.  If you have some music theory knowledge, you might recognize Smart Chord as an implementation of scale harmonization.  This feature would appeal to players who want to play a chord progression in a given key signature, using only one finger at a time, as it is much easier than having to memorize the keyboard patterns for various chords in different keys.  Smart Chord Type settings include Standard, Pop, Jazz,  Dance and Simple.  The Jazz Type setting generates the most sophisticated chords, as expected.   A disadvantage of the Smart Chord feature is that it is not suited to blues, as dominant chords are frequently substituted for major chords in blues styles.  The I chord in a C Major blues, for example, could be a C Major triad, or it could be a C7, which includes a Bb.   Bb is not part of the C Major scale, so if you use only chords from harmonizing C Major, you won’t have C7 available.  For similar reasons, this CFT is ill-suited for chord substitutions and reharmonizations in general.

 

Voices

 

PSR-SX600 sound presets (“Voices”) are built on instrument multi-samples, which is standard for arranger keyboards.  While the sound design capabilities hardly rival those of, say, a Yamaha Montage or Waldorf Quantum, there is some flexibility for tweaking the Voices.  You can edit settings for envelopes, filters, and even LFOs.  

 

Super Articulation (marked as S.Art) Voices produce sonic effects like trumpet fall-off, guitar hammer-ons, etc. depending on how you play.  These effects can also be triggered by a button or a pedal.   Each comes with an Info screen that you can look at for hints on how to play them expressively. For example, most of  the guitar S.Art Voices have Info screens that advise trying piano legato.  I am more used to the so-called “legato” on guitar, not piano legato playing.  I think I’m starting to get the hang of it though, as I can occasionally get that “guitar legato” sound.  Thankfully the PSR-SX600 has 2 pedal inputs, so one could be used for S.Art playing and the other used as a more typical piano damper.

 

The non-S.Art Voices generally sound like I would expect out of a $1000 keyboard rompler in this price range.  This is neither criticism nor praise - just setting expectations for whoever might be reading this.  The specs say that these include 27 MegaVoice, 27 Sweet!, 64 Cool!, and 71 Live! Voices but I don't really know at this time what makes a Voice Sweet!, Cool!, Live!, or MegaVoice.

 

UI/UX

 

I did not have to read the manual to select Styles and Voices or to activate song sections such as Intros and Outros.

 

I did have to dig into the manuals to learn how to change the CFT, Split Points, and other settings that require menu-diving.  I also needed the manual to get some idea of the intended usage of each CFT, although the manuals fell short in their attempts to explain the AI CFTs.  

 

The Info screens for the S.Art Voices are a very nice touch.

 

Next Steps

 

Explore Style Unison and Style Accent

 

Continue exploring unfamiliar styles, like 90% of the ones in the World category, and all the Entertainment ones.  There are also Voice and Style Expansion Packs like  Indonesia 3 that I want to check out as it appears to have gamelan stuff.

 

Sketch out a composition and save it as MIDI (SMF file).  I will probably use the multi-track recording feature.  Real-time recording is also possible, for those who can manage the auto-accompaniment with one hand, play something with the other hand, and also press the auto-accompaniment buttons to change song variations, insert breaks, etc. without missing a beat.

 

Load the SMF file into Ableton Live or hardware groovebox for further development of the piece.

 

Import an SMF file created on other gear (software or hardware) and see what can do with it on the PSR-SX600

Calisthenics: Week 8

Monday session: Assisted Pistol Squats: 5 5 5 Suspension Hamstring Curl: 4 4 4

Wednesday morning, my shoulders felt fine enough for resuming upper body calisthenics. I did not feel as much soreness when reaching out to the side or reaching up and to the side.

I did 3 antagonist pair sets of Pseudo Planche Push Ups and Archer Pull Ups, both with Accommodating Resistance.

I think I did ok in leaning forward into the planche lean to start my Pseudo Planche Push Ups, at a sufficient angle for a 3-5 second isometric hold - not too easy, and not too hard to hold for the minimum 3 seconds. I might be tending to reduce the leans as I go down, which would make the eccentric easier. I did have one rep in which I leaned even more after the isometric hold to force the involuntary eccentric, and that felt more intense than on my other reps. This is probably the correct way to do the exercise.

I call my chosen pulling exercise "Archer Pull Up", but I am really practicing it as a variation of the Mixed Grip Chinup. I practice pullups on Duonamic Eleviia, which are a pair of pullup handles that clamp onto a wide variety of door frames. The handles can rotate, which is great for protecting the elbows. I followed the guidelines for Mixed Grip Chinups with AR as much as I could in my practice of the Archer Pullup. I practice Archer Pullup with my working palm facing the side at the top position, and pronated in the bottom position. In the Mixed Grip Chinup, the working palm is supinated at the top position and may turn out at the bottom position. The reason I went with Archer Pullup instead of Mixed Grip Chinup is it seems less likely to cause reinjury to my shoulder or elbow. My shoulder does not feel good when the arms are extended overhead with supinated palms, although it does feel better when the palms are rotated more to the side. Any position from the bicep curl movement, with the palm supinated, can trigger Golfer's Elbow unless I am being very mindful of using the spiraling action from the back to reduce load on the elbow.

The Mixed Grip Chinup guidelines stipulate full range of motion - from elevated scapula at the bottom position to working elbow pulled back as if you are trying to hit someone at the top position. Both shoulders still feel uncomfortable when the arms and scapula are pulled p past a certain point. So, I worked within the ROM that was comfortable for me. I may not get the same gains as I would have gotten with full ROM, but any gains will be better than nothing.

One point where I need to improve though is initiating the eccentric. The guideline is to shift so much weight to your working arm, that the added weight forces you to start sinking. What I did instead was voluntarily start sinkng, then shift weight to the working arm as I was sinking. I was afraid I'd shift too much weight and thus cause an accident. Oh well that's part of the learning experience.

Mindful Mover feels the One-Arm Chin Up is the best calisthenic (bodyweight only) exercise for pulling strength, because of the intense load on pulling muscles of the arm, back, etc. It makes sense to being the journey towards the One-Arm Chin Up by first achieving the pull up, then progressing beyond that by redistributing the load, so that one arm takes more load than the other. I feel like I was able to split the load maybe 53-47 - 53% on the working arm, 47% on the assisting arm - on the concentric and maybe a 60-40 split on the eccentric.

I finished the workout with drop sets of incline pushups and rows on NOSSK suspension trainer.

Friday session: Assisted Pistol Squats: 5 5 6 Suspension Hamstring Curl: 4 4 4

For a finisher, I did assisted shrimp squats, then cossack squats for some lateral mobility.

Strandberg Salen Jazz NX review

I had been fascinated by the Salen Jazz model since Strandberg first announced them, as it was their first semi-hollowbody model with an F-fole. It may have also been the first to feature a mahogany body and neck. Recently, Strandberg introduced the Salen Jazz NX. When I saw they had a Salen Jazz NX on sale in the Refubs section, in the burgundy color, I bought it.

Improvements with NX Concept

The Salen Jazz NX incorporates design improvements that Strandberg describe on their NX Concept page. I have a Boden OS7, which is an older Strandberg model. One design improvement in the Jazz NX that I really appreciate is the EndurNeck is more rounded, which feels much nicer to my hand than the sharper edges of the Boden OS7 EndurNeck. The quality of the setup is better, although that might be because it was refurbished and set up by the Strandberg USA team in California. The tuning knobs on the EGS Rev7 hardware require noticeably less effort to turn than on the older guitar.

Pickups and Sound

There is a 5-position pickup selector switch. The sounds by position:

1. Neck Humbucker
2. Neck  single-coil (inner coil of humbucker)
3. Both Humbuckers
4. Neck inner coil and Bridge outer coil 
5. Bridge Humbucker

Position 4 has quickly become a favorite for rhythm guitar. The sound is similar to that of my Tele with its pickup selector in the middle. Pickup designer Michael Frank worked in his magic to make it hum-free too, despite it being a single-coil sound. The humbucker tones are comparable to those of the Seymour Duncan 59s on my D'Angelico guitars, which is not surprising as all these pickups were designed to sound like PAF humbuckers. The neck humbucker sounds a little brighter with the tone control high, compared to the Seymour Duncan counterpart at a similar setting, but that might be because of the Salen Jazz NX's small body. The bridge humbucker has the expected bite, but with a pleasant roundness.

With a clean guitar amp, I have found that notes can be made to pop out more on semi-hollow body guitars and tend to have rounder tone, compared to solid body guitars. The responsiveness of semi-hollows to variations in playing technique with clean guitar amps attracts me to this type of guitar. The Salen Jazz NX has those semi-hollow characteristics, although they are more subtle compared to my D'Angelico Deluxe SS and Excel Mini DC. I think the smaller body of the Salen Jazz NX reduces the unplugged string volume and makes it sound a little less airy, and more focused than the D'Angelicos. Some have compared its tonal personality to that of a Telecaster Thinline, but I've never played one so I can't compare the supposed similarity myself.

Some Strandberg owners/fans feel they can get the same tones on any dual-humbucker Boden model that has a chambered body. It would be fun to do a side by side comparison with one of those people. The Salen Jazz NX has a mahogany body and neck, with rosewood fingerboard and maple body top. The majority of Strandberg models do not have this wood combination, so there should be some tonal differences, somewhere.

Playability

Most electric guitar bodies have a curve at the bottom for resting on the player's thigh. The Salen Jazz NX, like other Strandbergs, have two bottom curves instead of one, so you could rest it on your thigh in the more common playing position, or raise the angle of the neck, and let the other curve sit on your thigh.

The combination of the 20" radius fingerboard, rounded EndurNeck, balance of the guitar for standing, and the extra sitting position make the guitar very comfortable to play - if your playing style is a good match. I generally prefer a light touch and don't dig hard into the strings, except for an occasional accent. The string spacing is comfortable for fingerstyle and hybrid picking. The neck is very comfortable for hammer-ons and pull-offs - very little force is required. Some song arrangements for solo fingerstyle Even notes and chords on the first fret are easy and comfortable to play.

The combination of the 20" radius and 25"-25.5" multi-scale design on this neck allows me to play the double-stop bend that starts the "Peg" solo, which I cannot play on any of my other guitars that have .010 gauge strings.

The sustain is excellent. It might have the best sustain of all my semi-hollowbody guitars.

Verdict: It's a keeper. It has taken over as my #1 guitar to practice on because it's so comfortable and is the least likely to cause the return of my Golfer's Elbow. The selection of tones and responsiveness to playing techniques are also excellent.

Calisthenics: Week 7

Assisted Pistol Squats have gotten easy to do, so it was time to progress by lowering the assistance of the suspension trainer. This was done by standing a few inches closer to the anchor points of the straps.

Monday: Assisted Pistol Squats: 5 5 5 Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 8 8 8

Tuesday: GMB Shoulder Prehab (elbow rotations, Twisting Bear with emphasis on shoulder rotation, Crab Walk); then Weighted Cossack Squat and unweighted Jefferson Curl.

On Wednesday morning, my shoulders still felt sore, especially when extending the arms to the side. So for Wednesday morning trainng, I decided to do another Leg session:
Assisted Pistol Squats: 5 5 5 Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 8 8 10

Friday: Assisted Pistol Squats: 5 5 5 Suspension Hamstring Curl: 4 4 4

The one-leg hip hinge was getting easy to do, so I progressed to suspension hamstring curl, which is quite a bit harder.

Calisthenics: Week 6

I have to admit my calisthenics training is is neither totally freeform nor tightly structured. So I'm just going to log my calisthenics training as "calisthenics". My rough plan for this year is 12-16 weeks of calisthenics, alternating with 6 weeks of Isochain 6x6 training.

Monday: Assisted Pistol Squats: 7 7 7 Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 7 7 7

Tuesday: GMB Shoulder Prehab (elbow rotations, Twisting Bear with emphasis on shoulder rotation, Crab Walk); then Weighted Cossack Squat and unweighted Jefferson Curl.

Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, my shoulders were still feeling a bit too sore for Pike Pushups. So for Wednesday morning trainng, I decided to do Pike Pushups with Accommodating Resistance instead. Pull Ups: 7 7 8.

Wednesday: Pseudo-Planche Push Up with Accommodating Resistance and Pull Up antagonist sets. Did 3, with Pull Up results: 7 7 8.

Friday: Assisted Pistol Squats: 8 8 9 Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 7 7 7

Lower body loosening flow
Adding Pauses to Front Lever Rows
Exploring your ranges during dynamic stretching

Hybrid GSCARVE: Week 5

For the Monday Leg session, the results were:

Assisted Pistol Squats: 6 6 6
Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 5 5 5

The pistol reps were higher than last week because of the greater assistance from the NOSSK suspension trainer. In the afternoon, I did a few sets of 3-5 reps of weighted Jefferson Curl with a bag of canned food serving as weight. The low back felt a little sore. It might be because of the one-leg hip hinges. While I don't feel the low back working during the exercise, the spinal erectors and multifidus are thought to be working isometrically, and thus may get sore later. Because of my past history with low back injury, I will restrict the practice of weighted Jefferson Curl to the "chest up" variation to minimize forward spinal flexion for the time being, focusing more on hamstring mobility. Eduardo Orihuela showed this and other Jefferson Curl variation in his Instagram post.

For the Wednesday Upper Body session, I did the Pike Push Ups starting the eccentric with the feet on step 4 of the stairs. The greater height might create a greater load on the eccentric, but the load may have been reduced as well by the feet being also further back. Hard to tell if shifting more weight back, by the feet being further bac, canceled out the load increase by the feet also being higher than last week. Next week, I'll try moving the parallettes closer to the stairs, to try to let the hips get closer to forming that ideal vertical line from the hands, through the shoulders, to the tailbone. I did not feel stronger in the concentric, but it almost doesn't matter if I progress in the eccentric. For the Finisher, I did a drop set of incline push ups on the NOSSK suspension trainer. Next week, I will try starting the drop set at a higher incline, to allow for higher overall reps before burning out the muscles.
My pull up performance was: 7 7 8. It was a bit of a drop from last week. For the Finisher, I did a drop set of table rows, followed by incline rows. Next week, I will skip the table rows and try starting at a higher incline to increase higher overall reps.

For the Friday Leg session, the results were:

Assisted Pistol Squats: 6 6 8
Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 6 6 8

Mobility Routine post that includes weighted cossack squat

M8 Tracker: Initial collection of notes

Red Means Recording put up a video in which he announced his new album Rituals, then did a walkthrough of the song"Deep Throat", in which he explains how he programmed the song on the M8 Tracker in fair amount detail. He also shares the thought processes that went into composing the song.

The tracks on the M8 Tracker are not polyphonic, so you can only program one note at a time on one track. However, there are workarounds for playing chords on on track. One way is to use the Sampler instrument, and have it play samples of chords. Another way is to use the Macrosynth instrument's Wave Paraphonic engine. Using that engine type you can move between a selection of 4 note chord voicings, while also scanning through a wavetable to get different timbres etc.

Another way to play a chord on a Track is to use Tables. The M8 Discord Meetup #10 video shows this approach, first with the Macrosynth Triple Saw, then the FMSynth instrument. The video has other tips related to using Tables as well as tons of other info

Selecting within a phrase or chain to loop has been a struggle for me. One tip I got from a fellow user:

If I’ve understood you correctly, you can make a selection within a phrase or chain using shift + option and then hit shift + play so it’ll loop that portion in all tracks. That means you can edit one phrase within a track while being able to hear how it fits with the others without it advancing the song. Very handy!

Another struggle has been getting the hang of cloning a Phrase or Chain. The documentation tries to explain how to press the buttons, but I still found the procedure hard to understand. Basically, you have to hold the SHIFT button by itself, then press the OPTION button, then release the OPTION button, then press and release the EDIT button.

Another question that comes to mind is when to use Chains or Phrases. Some thoughts from fellow users:

IMO the best way to think of it is that phrases are the equivalent of pages in Elektron sequencers, and chains are the equivalent of patterns, but for individual tracks. My chains are usually 8 phrases long, but the optimal length really depends on how your song is structured. If you’re doing long chord progressions, it makes sense to have them all self-contained in one chain each, so you can just repeat the same chain over and over, rather than alternating between 2+ different chains, if that makes sense?

I’m trying to keep my chains to 4 phrases (64 steps). Multiple chains per track to add variation to melody / notation. 64 steps for phrases seems to calculate better in my head, considering I’ve used Digitone as a sequencer for years. If all chains use 4 phrases, across all tracks, everything will stay lined up as the song plays. However I have had a few smaller chains and everything then starts moving at a different rate, can be confusing for me.

A tip about the chance command:

One of my favorite things about the M8 is being able to use the chance command with one percentage to the left and another to the right. Similar effect to programming drums on the Octatrack, but instead of using an LFO to bring fx in and out, I use the chance command

Tip for using Groove for slides at very slow tempi:

I was working on a song at very slow (~40) BPM and wanted some really subtle slides. I was getting frustrated because doing a PSL even over just a single tick still took so long at this BPM that it felt overly dramatic.

“Nothing for it,” I thought. “I’ll have to double the BPM and go back and manually expand all my phrases over twice the steps to maintain the tempo.” I was half way through this laborious process when it hit me: if I could just increase the number of ticks each step in my phrase consumed, I would get more resolution out of each tick without rearranging my phrases.

And this, of course, is exactly what Groove let us do! I just doubled the ticks-per-step in the Groove page, doubled my BPM, and ended up exactly where I would have been, timing wise, if I had spaced out all my phrases.

All of which is to say: Groove isn’t just about getting swing in your patterns. It can also act as a “zoom” (or “page scale” in elektron-speak) that lets you, for example, lay out those chunky whole-note drones without breaking them up single-note-per-phrase over, like, 20 phrases or whatever.

Hybrid GSCARVE: Week 4

Monday leg session results were similar to the previous Friday's:

Assisted Pistol Squat: 3 3 3
Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 4 4 4

For the Wednesday session, I did the Accommodating Resistance Pike Pushups on the stairs. The stairs under my feet are much more stable than the old dining chairs I'd previously used. Without the distraction of a moving platform under my feet, I could focus more fully on the pike push up itself. With the P-Barz at the bottom of the stairs, the first stairstep is just a couple of inches lower than the P-Barz handles. All the other stairsteps are higher than the P-Barz. I set my feet on step 3 for the eccentric phase, and kept them there at the start of the concentric, until I got stuck due to strength limitation. I then moved my feet down to step 2, which reduced the load enough to resume the concentric. My feet did not rise in the lower half of the eccentric like they did last week, because my hamstrings were not put into a tightened enough position. Next week, I will move the P-Barz closer to the stairs to make it easier to form a vertical line that goes from the hands, through the shoulders, all the way to the hips, per Mindful Mover's video. At least, if I can't form that ideal vertical line, it should be because of my own strength/mobility limitations, not because the P-Barz were just too far from the stairs. We aim for this ideal vertical line to maximize the load on the eccentric.

The Wednesday pull up results were: 8 8 8. Quality of movement was fine, but level of effort was moderately high.

The Friday Leg session was kind of like the Monday session, except after the first set, I decided to set up further from the NOSSK trainer anchor points, in order to use more assistance and thus get more reps per set. I figured that at this stage I would benefit from the greater number of reps as it would mean more practice of the movement.

A finisher for Leg sessions which I didn't get around to this week but may try next week: Bear Squat as taught by Mark Wildman, which looks like a more accessible way to improve hamstring mobility.

I asked Eduardo Oriheula about Jefferson Curl reps and sets upon seeing his great post. His reply was:

I have one lower body day where I do Jefferson curls right after for 3 to 4 sets of 3 to 5 reps with about 10 second holds at the very bottom for each one. On other days I play it by feel and don’t use any weight

His post on the Helicoptero move from Capoeira shows some of his considerable movement skills.
Rest-Pause post by Mindful Mover. They also suggest trying it between the eccentric and concentric phases of a movement.
Warmup Ideas
GMB Shoulder Prehab Article
Bear-based Flow for strong shoulders, flexible hamstrings, and body control
Ankle mobility
Tips for Wall Handstand Pushup with Accommodating Resistance

Using Baking Soda and Vinegar for Laundry and the Washing Machine

For some reason I now get Reader's Digest articles emailed to me, though I did not ask for them. Reading these articles, however, may have nostalgic appeal for those who used to read the print Reader's Digest. A lot of home care/cleaning articles recommend baking soda and vinegar but this is one of the few that actually mentions when to not use them both at the same time.

How To Use Baking Soda and Vinegar for Laundry and the Washing Machine

Hybrid GSCARVE: Week 3

The Monday leg session went smoothly. The pistol squat performance was almost the same as Friday, except I used a little less assistance from the NOSSK suspension trainer. I sank a little too quickly into the bottom position, however, so next session I will make myself do a 4-count eccentric. I progressed on the suspension hip hinge to cross-ankle, then to fully single-leg hip hinge after finding the cross-ankle variation almost as easy as the two-leg version.

For some reason, I woke up earlier than expected on Wednesday morning, thus getting less sleep than desirable. I felt a little weaker in my Pike Pushup practice. There were a couple of times in which I stalled on the concentric, failed to shift enough weight away from my hands, and had to restart the con centric. I decided to try rest-pause, inserting at least 15-second rest between reps. I think part of the problem is that I had my feet on a chair that was sliding too much because of the sliders on its feet, despite the chair being up against the wall. I originally started using the chairs because I thought I would be practicing Pike Pushup with my knees on the chairs. But I don't really need the chairs anymore. So next week, I'll practice this move with my feet on the stairs, and the P-Barz against the wall - as they were sliding a bit too and thus distracting me from the weight-shift.

I did these reps for the pull up sets: 7 7 9. The Backfill strategy from GSC appears to be working better than my previous strategy of doing reps to failure, or close to it, on every set, which resulted in rep numbers like: 9 7 5. By doing only 7 reps per set for the first two sets, even though I could have done more, I had enough energy on reserve to do 9 reps for the last set. Thus the Backfill strategy promotes greater overall training volume.

For the finisher set, I did archer rows on the NOSSK, alternating working arms and using the assistance arm as little as possible. I tried to focus on keeping the shoulders down.

I wanted to make up for my disappointing Pike Push Up performance, so I did a finisher set by setting a timer to 90 seconds, then doing Bent-Arm Bear for as long as I could, then regular Bear. I didn't make it to the full 90 sec. so I stopped the timer, and did hands-on-floor push ups to finish burning out the pushing muscles.

For the Friday session, I did 4 antagonist pair (assisted Pistol Squat and one-leg suspension hip hinge). The results in reps:
Pistol Squat: 3 3 3 3
Hip Hinge: 4 4 4 4

These are the 3 mobility drills that Mindful Mover recommends the most for people who are training for general-purpose strength (not for specialized purposes): Split Squat (aka "ATG Split Squat"), Jefferson Curl, Brachial Hang. I finished the Friday session with some ATG split squatting with the front foot elevated on a thick book, then some Jefferson curls with a couple of soup cans in a bag for load.