I’ve not posted here in a couple years. I started guitar at 40 and here I am at 43 years old. I’ve not really moved fully beyond Justin Guitar Grade 1 - maybe made it half way through Grade 2. But that doesn’t mean I’m not still learning. I struggled with the discipline it takes to get to that next level with barre chords, finger exercises, scales, fingerstyle etc. But I do want to continue on with dedicating time to that.
In the meantime - I’ve really learned a lot about rhythm and timing and playing and singing at the same time which is what gives me joy. I kept things simple for a few recordings
So here is 5 Kalaheo/SD recordings from my summer. I just went for it and tried not to worry about it too much - just one take.
“Wonderwall” - Oasis. I know it’s become a guitar meme of sorts. But I love this song and this band. I’ve messed around with it a bit but finally learned mostly the whole song when Justin came out with his recent revamp of the lesson.
“Lucky Man” - The Verve. Probably my favorite Richard Ashcroft song. I learned this maybe a year ago and was my first time figuring out the strumming of 1/16th notes.
“Green Eyes” - Coldplay. Such a simple and beautiful song. I heard this on a playlist related to “Garden State” soundtrack which I loved back in the day. I heard the guitar on this and was like ooh I might actually be able to learn this. It got me back into guitar after a bunch of time out.
“Mellow Mood” - Bob Marley and the Wailers. I love reggae. I was in Hawaii and this song kept coming into my head. So I looked up how to play it and it seemed so technically out of my league with the reggae rhythm and the barre chords you typically play it with. But Youtube is amazing and I found a couple versions I could follow and while my reggae rhythm and style needs a lot of practice and probably won’t ever be a natural thing for me - I love the old Bob Marley songs - they are pure and beautiful.
“Cool Change” - Little River Band. I heard this song on the end of a podcast I was listening to. I actually fell asleep and woke up to this song at the end and was mind blown. I’d never heard it before that I can remember. Little River Band I think was huge in Australia but not as big in the U.S. Anyway another song that made me want me to pick up the guitar. The original is piano led but it’s pretty much basic open guitar chords and you could probably make it really pretty with some arpeggio.
I also included these songs on my learning log.
Thanks for reading and listening if you came across this. Much love.
I watched them all as well… Wow, it’s so obvious how much work has gone into rhythm and 16th note strumming. It’s a big thing being able to play them and to sing at the same time (you have a good voice btw…)
As when having watched your videos before, you inspire me to try some of those songs myself at some point. This time it’s Lucky Man and Cool Change.
Great videography as well. Fun to see how your friend’s dog seemed to want to listen to some music at first and then seemed to have said “No, no, no. I’m not listening to THAT song…” I kept waiting for the dog to reappear in later videos
There’s a blast from the past. I’m fairly sure the last time I heard Cool Change would’ve been on vinyl. LRB were huge in Australia in the 70’s, now in the Australian music hall of fame I believe.
Good question - I have not set an ultimate goal. When I first started it was just to work through JG Grade 1. When I first started and people referred to “Wonderwall” as a simple song I was like you guys are crazy it’s so hard!
I guess for the next 3-years I’d really like to be able to gain the level of comfort with barre chords that I now have with the open chords. I’d like to get comfortable enough with the barre chords that I can move them up and down the neck and play the reggae rhythm guitar patterns. I’d like to be able to transition into barre chords without taking like 5 seconds to get my fingers in the right position.
I guess I’d also like to improve my ear training and theory.
Nicely done Andy. You have made some great progress in 3 years. I only listened to the first 2 (will get around to the others later) as I am also a big Oasis and Richard Ashcroft fan. Luckily I will get to see both in Dublin this summer as RA is supporting Oasis for the UK and Irish part of the tour.
ooohh lucky you! That’s awesome. I heard that the Oasis song “cast no shadow” (which I love) is actually based on Richard Ashcroft from when the band toured with them back in the day! Enjoy the show!!
@Andy_15 That is great spirit about things you wanna learn. I hope to see more from you on this community. We all like that.
Few days ago I recommended it same… if you want little recommendation about bare song, try Where is my mind. Justin has great lesson for that and you are using here only one shape!
Sometimes I listen to his performance in car or with headset. Just a great cover!
This is great. I will use this for sure - I like it how he starts it simple and shows the E shape fingering that can move directly into the barre. Thanks for the recommendation!
Some great playing and song choices, your rhythm playing is pretty good, and you have a good singing voice IMHO. I think you would do well on Open Mic, maybe worth thinking about.
I think I need to do more practice with my own rhythm playing.
I was just checking out the open mics on the video that was shared. It looks fun. Cool to see when people are playing together - another goal of mine in the coming years is to play with people more. I’m almost always by myself playing and practicing. The thought of playing live in front of people - even virtually - is pretty scary to me!
That was great. I’m 2 years in. I’ve progressed a lot in strumming and I like singing but when I sing and play the strumming just falls to pieces. Well done!!!
Lol - yeah but keep at it. My strumming still gets all messed up especially when I first start learning a song. I have found that playing along with the record helps with the timing and hearing when the lyrics come in and out. And then just keeping the playing and singing separate for a while and then just starting the song piece by piece. I’m sure it comes super natural for some but for me it’s a situation where my entire family is completely sick of the song before I can actually play it!
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