My suggestion would be to post performances of songs as you feel ready in #all-about-your-music:audio-video-of-you-playing. Once you feel done with the consolidation the you could write a Learning Log update that summarises your consolidation stage with links to the songs in AVOYP.
That’s how I’d do it.
But nothing wrong with posting the recordings in your Learning Log. You may get more views and feedback posting in AVOYP though it does seem as if people are reading Learning Logs more than they used to read the equivalent on the old Forum.
Again personally, I think it is appropriate to post work-in-progress recordings as you are learning either songs, studies, or techniques in the Learning Log. I have seen people do that. For myself I chose to create a specific Topic in #community-hub:what-are-you-learning to record a particular learning effort that will require much time and many work-in-progress recordings.
And if something ends up in not the most appropriate place then a friendly mod may pick up on it and with your blessing move a Topic or Reply.
Enjoy the rehearsal, recording and I look forward to your playing.
Song Exploration:
Goal during my 10 minute song practice yesterday was attempting a bunch of the grade 1/step 1-3 songs to see which I’m going to be focused on during my grade 1 consolidation. I ended spending hours going through attempting to play/listening to them and I think I have my five songs!
Mad World - For the reasons I mentioned in my previous post.
Hey Joe - Also for the reasons I mentioned in my previous post.
A Girl Like you - This one has all of the minor chords and while I’m not struggling with it as much as the C Chord, Dm still gets me sometimes. Also, the mid bar change sound great.
What’s Up - Easy pattern, but has C Chord and 2 bar strumming pattern both sounds interesting and seems like a fun challenge.
Stand by Me - Also has a C chord (Really want to get this down) and I practiced muted strumming for hours yesterday with varying degrees of success. Honestly not sure if I could get it sounding good enough for me to be satisfied but “Old Faithful” is a great alternative that makes this song easy.
Some other songs I really liked that could make there way up there if I feel like switching one:
Chocolate Jesus - I just really like the song, also has a Dm.
Bad Moon Rising - I just like how the progression sounds even without the lyrics.
This was fun to do. I’m really looking forward to really focusing on playing these start to finish. I’m leaning towards posting my recordings in the forum, will definitely record my self at least for my own self assessment.
How it’s been going + What I’ve been playing:
It’s been a couple of weeks since my last update and I’ve been chugging along with consolidating Grade 1. All my practice has focused on songs and the chord changes/strumming patterns required. I’ve mostly been working Stand by Me, but try to attempt the chord progressions for all 5 songs I’m working on at least once a day. My C chord (one of my weakest chords) had gotten a lot better so I’m glad I took the time to consolidate.
Still not 100% sure I’ll post audio/video of me playing them yet as I’m not sure how best to do it. Speaking of…
New Gear
I mentioned this in another post but I was speaking to a work friend about music and mentioned I was looking for a cheap audio interface. I asked if he knew of any cheap quality interfaces that could get the job done and he did me one better. He had just purchased a brand new interface, said his old one was just gathering dust and was glad to give it to someone who could use it!:
I just picked it up and haven’t tried setting it up yet but I’m really excited to try it out!
The Plan:
I expect that I’ll continue consolidating for another 2-3 weeks. Possibly record and post the 5 songs for you fine folks. I’m really excited to move forward to Grade 2 but enjoying the journey!
If you have a PC or Laptop then making a video with audio recorded through the 2i2 and using your phone as a camera is also pretty straight-forward (as per the link I previously shared with you)
Have fun and look forward to hearing you when you are ready.
March 10th, 2022 How it’s been going
Continuing consolidation of grade 1 with a focus on playing/memorizing 5 songs. It’s reaaally hard not to move forward at this point because I’m anxious to learn some new things but it’s hard to argue that I haven’t been tightening up the skills I’ve learned in grade 1. I’ll probably spend another couple of weeks consolidating and posting the songs here in the forum. What I’ve been Playing
My 5 songs haven’t changed much and I try and play them all at least once a day while focusing on one song in a particular week.
Chocolate Jesus - This is the song I’m currently working on. Dm chord changes are the focus here as they are pretty weak from lack of use.
Hey Joe - pretty much have this one down, will probably post this one soon.
Mad World - Also have this one down and will try and post soon.
What’s up - Next week’s focus, I love the 2 bar strumming pattern in this one.
New Gear
I’ve been playing for ~3 months (time is flying by!) and it feels like its about time to change my strings. I took this as an opportunity to purchase a couple of tools that I’ve been meaning to get: A snark tuner, a string winder/cutter, new strings, and a guitar neck rest/stand (which comes tomorrow) to use when I’m working on the guitar.
@sairfingers
Thanks! I just did it using this video. I screwed up and broke my D string but luckily I bought a 3 pack. Unfortunately, future me will have a missing D string when changing my strings 2 times from now.
That is a proper tuner you have there my friend, exactly like mine and probably choice was made after seeing the same video from Justin from experience works really well and couldn’t be more happy with the purchase I am sure it’s going to serve you well.
I’d say that if I were to do something like this again, I’d spend more time trying to record the whole song. When practicing I did play the songs in their entirety but I’d like to at least show more when making a video. Good news is that the Grade 2 songs have some potential to sound really good in a recording!
Speaking of Grade 2, I started it a couple of days ago and am moving along nicely. Stuck 3 & 4 chords sound great, I love the wish you were here riff and am starting to get the hand of it. The E Minor Pentatonic scale felt really awkward playing up and down but even that is getting easier and easier at 80BPM.
What I’ve been Playing:
Every Rose Has it’s Thorn - a 16th note pattern (I’m getting the pattern from Justin’s Rock Song book) which I’m really getting used to at this point. I love playing this song, the only issue I’m having is switching chords mid bar. Just can’t seemed to do it right with this pattern. I feel like I’ll get it eventually though
You Shook Me All Night Long - First song I’m learning that combines riffs and strumming. AC/DC is one of the first bands that I listened to that I really noticed the guitar. They got me interested in playing guitar in my teens. I’m playing the C chord here like the record (not Cadd9) so it’s not as useful for getting used to stuck 3&4 like Every Rose has It’s Thorn but I love the song. I want to record and post this song some day. EDIT: Forgot to add that I’m using the Dirty Deeds Katana patch that Justin made for the tone. It sounds really close to the record (For pretty much any AC/DC song) when playing with the bridge pick up. Would recommend for anyone who has a Katana!
The Plan:
I expect that I’ll be spending at least 2 weeks total on Module 8. From how I’ve been feeling so far I feel like I can make that. Of course I’ll evaluate at the end and see if I should spend more time on it. I’m definitely going to be working on You Shook Me All Night Long after I move on. A long term goal for me (years) is to play all of the songs in the Rock Song book. I’m not close to ready to play the solo on this one but I’m excited to have the start of 2 of the songs in the book.
New Gear/Purchases:
Yesterday I ordered Justin’s rhythm reading book from Amazon. I was learning You shook me all night long from the tabs in the song book and there was some rhythm notation that I just did not get. I couldn’t find the meaning anywhere and figured I might as well start learning to read rhythm notation since it’s used in justin’s and other tabs I’ve seen online. Really excited for it to come tomorrow.
Hey Alexis, I think that you’re doing really well!
Good pick on your gear, all sensible buys should last you a while. Beware of GAS, it’s always nipping at your heels reminding you of the number of guitars you need = what you have +1 😵💫
You’ve played some solid consolidation pieces so time to go forward; just one question, have you learned the full songs that you’ve been learning?
Yup! part of the reason I didn’t record the full songs is that for most of them there is a consistent pattern through the whole song:
What’s up: G Am C G whole song
Mad World: Em G D A most of the song, some variation with Em and A
Stand by me: G G G G Em Em C D whole song
Hey Joe: C G D A E E whole song
So they were really easy to memorize. Which also means they got pretty old to play without me singing too. Still worth consolidating, I’ve said this before else where but even though I “knew” the songs before consolidating I really felt like I got so much better playing them in the month I took staying in grade 1. Would recommend to anyone who is going quickly through the grade. Some things feel easier to grasp in Grade 2 and I have a feeling it’s because I was so comfortable with the Grade 1 content.
That’s the right idea, to make sure that you’re comfortable playing songs through in their entirety is quite important, if you don’t it will hold up your progress further down the line. Rushing through any of the course is a bad idea, you just don’t give yourself time for it all to sink in. It’s not a race, it’s a lifetime thing, I’m still learning such a lot after having a guitar in my hands on and off for nearly 59 years but I still enjoy and have fun with it!
How it’s been going:
One week into Grade 2 and I’m starting to feel like I can play the guitar a little. Stuck 3 & 4 chords give access to a variety of pretty great songs that I love and even just attempting them gives me some motivation to move forward.
What I’ve been Playing:
Every Rose Has it’s Thorn - before I would just play the intro and the verse but now I’m getting into the chorus and the bridge. Really fun to play and I’m getting the hang of it.
You Shook Me All Night Long - I’m getting better at changing between the regular C and the rock G, but more times than not while playing the song. I consider this a long term song and will work on it till I get it right.
Wonderwall - Out of pure curiosity I started to muck around with this song. I was determined to try and get the rhythm and strumming pattern sorted. Luckily Justin’s Beginner song book has the pattern clearly laid out and I was surprised to be actually getting the hang of it. This song inspired me to get a new piece of equipment…more on that later
The Plan:
I feel comfortable enough to move on from Module 8 to module 9 but I told myself 2 weeks for each Grade 2 module at least so I’ll be working on 8 for another week. The songs are really nice to play and I just got a new acoustic guitar to play the more acoustic appropriate songs on! Speaking of:
New Gear/Purchases:
New guitar! I wanted to get a new guitar for the more acoustic appropriate songs and for when I get to the finger picking module. After a lot of online research and some advice from you fine folk I narrowed it down to the Yamaha fs800 or the Fender CC-60s both concert size because I wanted something small. Since the Yamaha’s were the more recommended I went to the Guitar store with that in mind. Fate intervened though, they didn’t have the Yamaha in stock and not only did they have the Fender in the store but it was on sale for $170 down from the $230 I expected to pay.
So without further ado, here it is in all it’s glory:
Surprised how pretty it looked out of the box. It will definitely need some getting used to as I was messing up some stuff that I thought I had down while playing on the electric. I’ll be using this one for my practice all week.
Sounds like you are continuing to make good progress, Alexis.
I’d say the only rule we should have is there are no rules. So if you feel comfortable with module 8, can achieve the performance guidelines provided then I’d move on. When moving on to start the new lessons, you can still incorporate technique practice and especially songs that use those techniques in your guitar time.
Speaking of guitars, enjoy the new instrument. Playing the acoustic has quite a different feel to playing the electric (at least in my experience). So likely to take a little bit of playtime to get used to it.
You may also want to check the action to get a sense of how well it is setup. Many times acoustics will benefit from a luthier’s setup, irrespective of what the store may advise, even on instruments costing a few more $100s than you’ve spent.
from experience works really well and couldn’t be more happy with the purchase I am sure it’s going to serve you well.
😵💫
