Hi Dave,

Great question, and I appreciate how tuned-in you are to the many aspects of the learning process!

For the section of Good Golly that is giving you trouble, I would suggest this: Separate that snippet of the song out from the bigger picture, and make a mini-project out of it.

This means you will slow it WAY down, and at this point in the process, by all means use your cognitive mind, eyes, ears, and narration to coach yourself through all the nuances of the moves that are being made in that snippet. Super-slow and methodical.

If there are any aspects of your technique in that section that sometimes happen one way and sometimes another (for instance, sometimes you use your index finger for a particular note, and other times you swap out your middle finger for that same exact note), examine which of the permutations is the best choice for the context. And then settle on that permutation and commit to it as you continue to slow-practice the rough spot.

Spend a good amount of time on lots of super-slow repetition of the rough spot - this is how the "information" begins to gel in the form of new neural sequences in your brain, and this is the path by which you will ultimately be able to wean your cognitive mind from being so intensely involved in supervising this section.

So, I would begin your practice sesssions of the song with this.

Give it a good chunk of time - 15 minutes or more.

THEN...try placing it in context within the song, but again, in super-slo-mo. In other words, play just the line of the song that preceeds the rough spot, try to flow through the rough spot, and continue on through to the line that comes after the rough spot. Stop there, and repeat, focussing on integrating these parts.

Create a mini-project out of THIS. Preceeding line, rough spot, the next line - as a package deal. And approach it with the same mindset - plenty of cognition and coaching, as needed. Plenty of watching with your eyes as needed. Very very slow, and lots of repetition.

Try to integrate taking a breath at the moment you transition from the preceeding line into the rough spot. This helps your brain unlearn the habit it may be in of getting into a state of anticipatory tension at that juncture. You know, like you're saying to yourself, "Uh oh, here comes that hard part!" Thoughts such as these actually translate to increased physical tension, which increases the chances that the rough spot will continue to lack the kind of flow you are looking for - simply because the body has tensed up.

And THEN......see about putting the song together as a whole.

If you encounter any other tricky transtitions or hiccups in the flow of the song, follow the process above to work them out and bring them up to par with quality of ease you are able to play the easist parts of the song in.

HA - can you tell I have a LOT to say about the learning process? You really got me going - have fun and best of luck!

-Lisa