Nice steady playing there @alexisduprey
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.
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Hi Alexis. Pretty solid job there.
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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.
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The base is there.
The cool guitar: check
Moving forward: right on!
As @Richard_close2u said, this is a good time to be adding a smoother groove and some spice to the mix
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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.
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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.
Look forward to the next couple of songs.
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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.
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Sweet stuff Alexis, steady strumming and chord changes.
I think everybody else has covered everything, so I’ll not repeat what they have said, as they know better than I.
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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.
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Doing well, Alexis, that sounded clean and steady. Keep laying that solid foundation.
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Thanks David!
These last weeks of consolidating have been extremely valuable. Hoping I’ve laid enough foundation to be successful in Grade 2.
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Sounds good to me Alexis, yes slower pieces can often prove to be more difficult, not what you would think 
Keep it up, you’re coming along quite well!
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Very nice playing Alexis. Your strumming is dynamic, your posture and strumming arm action look good.
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Nice steady rhythm and clean chord changes, good stuff.
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Sounded good to me Alex…nice and steady playing. In Justins original song book he used the chords Em, G, D and A for the verses and Em, A for the pre chorus (“and I find it kind of funny” part)…that wa with a capo on 1…apparently to play along with the original you capo 2.
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I’ve had a new appreciation for Tears for Fears lately. This song definitely sounds better played slow. The original recorded version was just too fast.
This should be a great one to learn to sing with too.
Sounds great, thanks for sharing!
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Nice!
What is the BPM on which your playing?
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Didn’t set a specific BPM for this one since I was playing by myself. I just made sure I tapped my foot to stay consistent. I was going for the slower Gary Jules version of the song. I think I was a little faster than even that one.
Hi All,
Finishing up my consolidation here’s the chord progression for chocolate jesus, at least some of it. I really think this would have turned out better with some sort of backing track. I’m only playing the chord progression for the first ~1 minute of the song and there is like 5 Am chords in a row at some point. I think I’ll revisit this if I find a good backing track to play it with. Any feedback is appreciated.
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That sounded good, Alexis. It’ll be a good song to revisit as you develop your rhythm play, to give it a shuffle feel, once you learn that.
I just commented on What’s Up and noticed the way you ended this recording, which worked well.
In terms of recording over backing, there are options. It depends on how you are making your recordings. Share that and we can make appropriate suggestions.