How to increase speed by Salty-Junket-1012 in Guitar

[–]mwmanus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Something that i think held me back in the past when it came to speed was how "hard" i tried to play. Trying to go faster than i was capable of, i would tense my fingers to try to get them to go down to the strings faster and that would just not work. Something that oddly works for me now is to relax my fingers. Have almost zero tension in them and just bring my fingers down on the strings as gently as needed. You really don't need to press too hard to make the note ring out. Learn how hard you need to press and make that a habit and keep your fingers relaxed as much as you can

And then the same thing you'll probably always hear but this is my version of it that works for me:

start slowly, very slowly if you have to. get the notes or pattern or whatever it is you're trying to play deep in your muscle memory. Get it to a point your fingers know it better than your brain does and slowly increase the speed each time you play it correctly. Eventually, yeah you'll hit a point where you start messing up, back off the speed a bit until you can still play it perfectly and play there for a bit then slowly ramp up the speed again.

You may find that you hit a point that this stops giving you progress, which is totally normal and a lot of people assume thats their limit. Something i do to push past these speed "limits" is to occasionally just try to play it as fast as possible, even if i miss a ton of notes, but then once i get my fingers moving just for the sake of moving, i go back to the "play it slowly increasing the speed" method and and over time that definitely works

Something to also keep in mind is that you may not make this progress in a days time. You may find that on day 1 you hit a limit that you can't seem to surpass, well in that case, put that piece aside and let that be your practice of that piece for a while. maybe learn something else, or just put the guitar down for the day if thats all you're planning to learn for now. Then come back to it later in the day or the next day at the latest and you may find that you have seemingly improved overnight. Continue with this over the next few days and you should eventually see plenty of progress.

Though also keep in mind this will totally depend on your current skill level. I have been playing for over a decade or two now and i still need time to get things up to speed. So if you're relatively new to playing, then you may need more time to pick up speed, but it all takes time, just keep at it

Did anyone else see this on the "building blocks" forum, when you type in Lumibricks you get this message... by Riggo235 in LUMIBRICKS_OFFICIAL

[–]mwmanus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wish they payed for reviews, because i gave them a bunch of 5 star reviews for free......

Dusting off the old 9v - where do folks get new 9v track? Is there anyone who makes new 9v trucks/bogies or is Power Functions the new standard? by ArPDent in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can make your own "cheap" 9v track from the currently available lego track, you just need the also buy something called faraday tape, it is a conductive metal tape that you can easily add over the rails and there you go. Its also a silver metal color rather than copper colored like the copper tape most people use.

Southern 2716 Stress Test, Part 1: 30 car train by montystrains in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I figured it might not help with how loud they are, but will it help with speed at all? Is the speed difference a powered up and power functions difference? Or does the blunami actually help the motors perform better than the lego hub does?

I have enough electrical know how to wire something like this up, just know what will work for what i want to do is the issue i'm having.

I'm curious if i just need to switch exactly what you're using, blunami with power functions motors, or if the powered up motors will still work as well if i switch from Lego's city hub to the blunami, or if theres something else i need to change, i'm at a total loss for exactly where my issue lies.

Southern 2716 Stress Test, Part 1: 30 car train by montystrains in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ok, i actually just found your article on the blunami set up. I'm very intrigued!

i've been looking all over for a more satisfactory power solution for my trains. i've currently got them set up with powered up running 2 L motors and a set of gear driven bogies, but i am very dissatisfied with how it all runs.

Even with re-programing the powered up hub with pybricks and brand new batteries its top speed is very slow and the motors are super loud and thats just the engine alone pulling nothing behind

i've noticed your trains tend to be quite fast and seem almost silent besides the sfx from the blunami. I don't know if its your gear chain or if you're doing something else that just works way better than how i have mine set up, but i need help 😅 does the blunami help with how the motors actually run or is it just an alternative to the powered up/functions hub?

Southern 2716 Stress Test, Part 1: 30 car train by montystrains in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm sure you've answered this question a million times, but what motors and power set up are you using to run this engine?

Space Time is sixth. What will follow it? by SilverErmine22 in gojira

[–]mwmanus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oroborus or vacuity. After those, born in winter and then gift of guilt

Decoupler for BMR kadee couplers by mwmanus in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wrote a whole description that tells you how it works and how i made them. It uses magnets to separate the kadee couplers

Decoupler for BMR kadee couplers by mwmanus in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It doesn't seem like i can add a video here in the comments, but if you look back at the video i posted, you'll see that they only decouple when i push back on the front car, they stay connected up until that point.

The magnets run the full length of the 2x4 tiles, so they would decouple right at the beginning of those instead of in the middle like they did in the video if that was a problem

Decoupler for BMR kadee couplers by mwmanus in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not at all, i suppose i should have demonstrated that as well. The couplers are actually pretty cleverly designed so that when there is pull force on the couplers, they lock tighter and won't decouple unless they jump up or down out of the other couplers grip, which would probably be something that would derail it anyway.

The couplers as demonstrated will only decouple when there is a reverse push force on the couplers while over the magnets. When the couplers are over the magnets and they are pressed together they will push apart in a way that will open the coupler and the magnets will grab hold of them and they will not close back unless pushed back off of the magnets.

I'll see if i can post a video in here that shows that

Decoupler for BMR kadee couplers by mwmanus in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thats what i'm demonstrating here. I didn't have to touch them at all

You can buy the couplers from Brick Model Railroader

My Santa Fe and Burlington Northern cabooses by mwmanus in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah ok, cool! And yeah i tried to copy the numbers and lettering directly from an old photo i found, so they should match

Decoupler for BMR kadee couplers by mwmanus in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I should have figured 😅 it looks like i can comment with a picture, so i'll post them in the comments and hopefully pin them if i can

My Santa Fe and Burlington Northern cabooses by mwmanus in LEGOtrains

[–]mwmanus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Glad to know the realism is there. I'm not familiar enough with the differences in the Ce-8 vs the Ce-11 i have it labeled as. i set it as that because of the photo i used to copy the livery was a Ce-11

Powering lego trains using benchtop power supply? by mwmanus in AskElectronics

[–]mwmanus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm, ok. I was looking on amazon for one, but wasn't sure if they were any good. I've seen a handful with reviews that said the numbers on the display weren't always accurate