Tremolo....update.... new approach

I would really like to be able to do tremolo.  I'm not exactly ready for Recuerdos de la Alhambra (well to be honest, I'm probably never going to be, but that's beside the point).  It would however be really nice to play a simpler piece - it's just so darned cool.  Perhaps that piece in Martha Masters' book "Reaching the next level..."  Although I constantly angst (can I use that as a verb?) over my left hand, which I swear is missing a speedy connection to my brain in addition to being length-challenged, my right hand has to date escaped the same scrutiny. Until now.  First shock was that it is slow, really slow.  This is not a good thing to find out if you are trying to master tremolo. So I've been working on speeding up the right hand with arpeggios,  Scott Tennants "walking" exercises with variations, and of course tremolo exercises.

Which exercises would those be?

- tremolo on the first string forwards and backwards
- tremolo with damped strings to listen to the rhythm
- tremolo with dotted rhythm
- tremolo with different finger emphasis
- tremolo with a walking bass
- tremolo in a different finger sequence

Check out DouglasNiedt.com  for a really good description and video download of exercises...

10/2016
I thought I was getting somewhere with this until my guitar teacher pointed out that I had more of a "gallup" rhythm than an even 1-2-3-4.   I really couldn't hear it when I was playing, particularly when the thumb was playing a different string to the fingers. So I recorded it on my trusty twisted wave app (definitely the most user-friendly recording app I've found for the iphone) and as usual, he was right.

 So I tried another approach. This time using the technique suggested at thisisclassicalguitar starting slowly and recording each speed until I was confident I was hearing an even beat on the recording. It was really helpful to be able to relax back into just i and m before things got out of control, and I found it easier to adjust my hand position when only adding a or i to the pattern instead of diving into the complete pattern.   I have been practicing it on the first string and muting the strings with a natty little device  making it easier to hear the rhythm both in real time and on the recording.  I know the left hand works perfectly well to stop the strings if you're just practicing rhythm, but this will eventually allow me to transition to something more musical!  Actually you don't have to purchase anything -you can make something that works just as well by rolling up a small piece of felt and taping it into a cylinder...

I decided that I would do it as part of a right hand warm up for 5 mins each day, and I have been gradually increasing the speed when I am happy with the recording.  It was, and still is, a slowish process and a couple of times I have had to go backwards as I heard that dreaded gallup creeping in...  but progress is being made! Each day I start at well below tempo and move it up, but the starting point is also moving up as I get better at it.   Of course there is also the evenness of the sound as well as the tempo to be considered, but that's for another day!