Thanks! I'll definitely give that a try, because while I can work around it for playing Stick, it's a real killer for working on the drum kit!!

One other thing that I'm discovering as a noob. Everyone advises to sing along with what you're playing. What I wanted to do with the Minuet in G Major was to sing the right-hand melody while learning and practicing the left-hand melody.

The problem I've always had is that my voice is not comfortable with singing (I never do it spontaneously), and either natively or as a result of lack of practice, I have a very narrow range. I can handle an octave if it's in the right pitch.

However, I can whistle much more effectively and it has the same benefit. I can manage two ocataves whistling, from C3 to C5, and I think that with practice I might even be able to expand that. I just have to make sure the door to the music room is closed when I start doing this!!

I've discovered another technique. I don't know if this will be helpful with anything other than a Bach-style counterpoint piece, but for those working their way as I am through Greg's "Tapping Into Bach", it might be helpful.

I used the piano roll in Garage Band (though anything would do including the iOS Atom 2 Piano Roll or the MIDI piano roll that is probably built into your DAW software) to automate the right-hand melody. I found the right-hand to be very easy to learn and memorize, but the left-hand being the harmony is less intuitively obvious, and a little harder to get right both as to the melody and timing.

I used the piano-roll (playing the right-hand melody as a simple piano sound) to get the timing right on the left-hand/bass melody. I just kept looping (slowly then at a faster tempo) first through the individual verses to learn the harmony for each, then looped through the entire song to get it all memorized and in time. I also used it to get the counting straight on the right-hand, so when I started playing the right- and left-hands simultaneously it all came together quite well.

One other little observation. The fact that the fingering is so critical to being able to play a piece properly makes the process of tapping like choreography.

It begins to feel like my fingers are "dancing" on the strings. I'd never realized this before, but I think that's why watching someone play a Stick can be so mesmerizing. It seems very akin to Celtic step-dancing.

I really like that analogy Steve.

It does bring a very interesting dimension to playing the Stick that I hadn't anticipated. Just as in dancing, if you start a phrase on the "wrong foot," it can make it very difficult to properly complete the phrase. There is a phrase in the Minuet in G that was giving me trouble, so I kept playing it over and over. For some reason, when I'd loop back to the beginning, I'd "lead" with the middle finger on the bass side, instead of the (correct) index finger. I'd have to stop and start it again, otherwise the fingering got very awkward.

At first, I thought the need to carefully pay attention to the fingering was going to be annoying, but just as in sticking in drumming, it's just a part of doing it right. There are certain beats and fills that Ringo does that are difficult to learn until you remember that Ringo was left-handed playing a right-handed trap set. If you lead with the left hand going into the beat or fill, it's much easier to master.

Perhaps also connected to the 'dancing' analogy (another 'step' maybe? LOL!), I've just recently built a DIY stomp box (i.e. foot percussion) & I'm finding that I don't only like it as percussion accompaniment but I'm also finding that it helps steady my playing. Somehow that self-driven rhythm is so much more attractive than a metronome!

Oh, yes. Some part of your body has to be moving in time. Your foot, your head, a twitching eyebrow, your hips - something! A metronome doesn't do it. It has to be internal and physical (i.e. just "counting in your head" doesn't do it).

More progress!!

I’ve been able to play the entirety of the Minuet in G major for a couple of weeks now, and the rough edges are starting to come off.

I started to look at the Minuet in G minor today!

The only thing holding me back is a physical problem that is limiting all of my instrumental practice because I play seated, which gets very painful after a half-hour or so. Thus I’m getting my practice in several “bursts” each day. I saw an orthopedist on Monday and should be getting a cortisone shot in my sacro-iliac joint real soon!

That's what's holding me back. Suprised they didn't suggest a shot.