@DarrellW@roger_holland I’m pretty sure I had the gain down on my amp and if I just push it up a notch it’ll be better.
@Tim_Wilson Strumming I think is one of my strong points. I think it’s because I practice with the metronome on while watching TV (at night of course, my wife could never tolerate the constant beeps). Sometimes for an hour plus if I’m bored.
@sairfingers Wow, I was so focused on the chord changes that if you didn’t point it out I probably would never have noticed! Now I’m seeing it with my 4th finger sometimes too. Will definitely work on this, thanks!
Good job Alexis, it’s funny you mention the D chord changes, for some reason despite being fine on OMC exercises to and from D there was a period where in songs it went away, never quite figured out why but it’s one of those things that sorts itself out with practice so long as the fundamental chord is there under your fingers.
Keep at it, you’re doing great
On the chords shouldn’t that be G G Em Em C D G G (or D as Justin shows). It looks like you are going from the last G straight to Em, unless I missed that
@Stuartw
Good eye, you are correct! I opted to do 2 Gs instead of 4 for the sake of brevity. When I practice the song/play the whole thing I do the full 4, I just wanted to focus on the chord changes.
closing in on the end of consolidating Grade 1 and wanted to record my self playing the songs I’ve memorized. I’m not a singer so I opted to just play some of the chord progressions just so you get a gist of where I am. Here’s Hey Joe:
Any feedback is of course appreciated. I have Mad world’s chord progression video being processed by youtube now and am close being comfortable with my last 2 songs: What’s up, and chocolate jesus. Hopefully I can get those up my the end of this week and on to grade 2!
Good job Alexis, really good rhythm and consistent strumming. I noticed a couple of slightly twangy D chords there which looked like it might be needing your third finger pushing up closer to the fret (on the B string).
I still play Hey Joe, if you’ve not done so yet check out Justin’s lesson on the song and give it a go with all down 8th note strumming. You’ve got the chords but it really changes the energy.
Congrats and keep on going! Looking forward to hearing What’s Up, that’s also part of my repertoire
Yeah I noticed in all of my recent uploads that there are some weak D chords that don’t show up as much when I’m not recording. I think my natural anxiety brings out my weaknesses even more, which is a good thing I guess. Shows me exactly what I need to work on, lol.
I’ve mentioned before but I had a period where for some reason I flapped around with D chord changes and had issues, despite being super confident in it initially! As you say, recording yourself will, unfortunately, really highlight those things to yourself!
You certainly look like you’re in a good place rounding out Grade 1
Hey Alex, where you going with that guitar in your hand?
Good vibes for a solid, fluid and rhythmical play through. The aspects that you want to consolidate are those that fine tune and polish and give it life … dynamics, variation in strumming and the very vague, hard-to-define ‘groove’.
You are ready to play along to the original now so join Jimi’s band as a guitarist and as you play along listen for the feel, the pulse, the energy of the song.
Hey Joe is a great one for a beginner to learn as it uses all 5 of the major open chords that beginners usually start with. It was one of the first songs that I learned and I still revisit it now and then.
A good observation and thing to know Alexis. Awareness is the first step. Do you have some strategies to reduce unnecessary tension and anxiety? Simple things like a few deep breaths and shaking out the tension before playing can help.
I’ll definitely try that. I think I’ll also get better as I share more. Hopefully sharing my 5 consolidation songs will encourage me to do it more in the future. It helps that this community is positive.
Well done, Alexis, you’re ticking the grade 1 boxes … steady strumming keeping the hand moving, clean chords, smooth changes.
I had a sense every now and then that when you go for the odd louder, stronger strum that you tense the arm. I’m sensing it rather than observing anything, so could be totally wrong. From Justin’s Strumming Techniques lessons, I picked up the idea to vary the strength of your grip on the pick to add dynamics; perhaps something to play around with.
Nice Alexis, thanks for sharing. As some of the others have said, timing was consistent etc. Adding some strumming dynamics will add a lot to the song, just experiment! There’s also a pretty cool riff you can add in the middle of the E bars and a bass walkdown you can try adding, all make the song a lot more fun to play.
Consolidation song number 3! I found this song harder to play slowly than fast. I found really good vocals only on youtube and was going to play the whole song with that but figured since I did just the chord progressions for my other consolidation songs I’d do just that here. Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.
EDIT: Youtube seems to have cut my playing off for some reason. It’s close to the end of what I recorded anyway but it just doesn’t end naturally without what they cut off. I end on a long Em in the original recording.
