Alex's Learning Log

alexisduprey · January 17, 2023, 1:03pm

I’m excited to start playing today when I practice. Always feel good when I start a new song. The tabs subscription is awesome too. Technically I could use that instead of the book to learn the songs from the rock songbook but I find myself looking at the book, then the video lessons, then the tab. Maybe out of habit lol.

Yup, I love how cyclical the work is. Really busy times suck but when busy seasons pass it is so very chill.

direvus · January 30, 2023, 12:41am

A little late but congratulations on your 1st full year of guitar Alexis! You are absolutely crushing it.

swashata · January 31, 2023, 3:29am

Hi Alex,

Just amazing how verbose and descriptive your learning log is. And your progress is mind blowing . I have just listened to many of the songs and you’re really good. I would now consider you a source of inspiration and try to post a few videos too . Happy journey and all the best.

alexisduprey · January 31, 2023, 3:45am

Thanks Swashata, really kind of you to say. Looking back, I’m really glad I started recording my self pretty early on. Now whenever I’m in a rut and feel like I’m not progressing, I can look back at my early videos and see the progress more clearly.

Happy journey to you as well. Hope to see you post in the AVOYP section soon

liaty · February 1, 2023, 9:01pm

Really coming along Alexis.

Your technique is very tidy, shows you’re putting the work in.

alexisduprey · February 18, 2023, 3:05pm

February 18th, 2023

How it’s been going:
I’ve been very busy guitar wise and because of that I’ll separate this section into 2:

JustinGuitar - I’ve finished grade 3! well, the part of it that’s released. I really loved the more loose structure of this grade. It allowed me to pursue what interested me while also giving me some sort of structure to follow. I didn’t master anything by any means. I’ll be spending a lot of time going back through the transcription videos and really digging deep. Also finished the 9th song in my JustinGuitar Rock songbook study: Sunshine of your love by cream (more details below). The last 2 videos of grade 3 that Justin released (Vibrato and intro to Barre chords) have been extremely helpful to me so I’m looking forward to watching the new lessons as they come out.
Metal/Rock Guitar - I’ve finished Metal Rythm guitar Vol. 1! The final song of that book is awesome (details below) and I had a lot of fun recording and playing it. I feel that this book combined with justin’s content has really given me a solid base to move forward with in terms of rhythm. There are still a lot of books in the series so like Justin’s content, this is just the beginning!

What I’ve been Playing:

As Darkness Gathers- The 6th and final song in Metal Rhythm Guitar Vol. 1. The Rhythm is pushed, there’s some single note fills and riffs, plus a lot of palm muting. Perfect capstone song to end the book. It’s heavily inspired by Metallica’s Enter Sandman (The main riff sounds exactly like it). AVOYP Here.
Sunshine of your love - 9th song in my Rock study and my goal of recording my self playing all 50 songs in Justin’s rock song book. This song is tougher than it looks! have to make sure muting is on point and the rhythm is good. I think I did pretty well considering but I probably counted 6? times I hit a string I meant to mute, lol. AVOYP Here.
Hair Rock- This is a song from one of Troy’s stetina’s books called Total Rock Guitar. It’s meant to be a supplemental book with 23 instrumental songs of various Rock styles that are arranged by difficulty. This is the first song so it’s pretty easy (though I did mess up once in the recording). I won’t bother posting this in the AVOYP section cause I don’t need any advice or anything on it but if you’re interested, here’s the youtube link: AVOYP Here.
Should I stay or should I go- 10th song in my Songbook study. I love playing it, it’s super fun and also the right amount of challenging. There’s a part with G and F E shaped barre chords sans the bass note but I’m playing them full barre chords since I’m on grade 4 anyway. I only just started this song so no recording for another maybe 3 weeks.

The Plan:

JustinGuitar - Instead of consolidating Grade 3 I’ll just move to grade 4 while justin finishes grade 3. I’m trying to move pretty slowly through this so I’ve only started messing around with E Shaped barre chords. This is perfect timing since Should I stay or should I go has some in there to slowly get me used to them. Half of my practice time is dedicated to this so a lot of chord perfect/OMC in my future. So far the hardest is D → G (E shape).
Metal/Rock Guitar - Now that I’m finished Rhythm 1 I’m going to start rhythm 2, but I also want to start messing around with troy’s other books. Specifically Metal Lead Guitar Primer and the Total Rock guitar supplemental songs. So I’ve decided to split my second half of practice in half (again, lol). I’ll be spending 15 min on Metal Lead Guitar and 15 min on Vol. 2 of rhythm or Total rock guitar. I think I’m going to start playing the first 3 songs in TRG then start alternating between a chapter/song in each book. I’ll see how that goes for a while.

New Gear/Purchases:
I bought a mic! Not for singing, not yet at least. I bought it so I can record my acoustic guitar instead of trying to get my electric guitars to sound like one. This will be great for when I get to the more acoustic oriented songs like behind blue eyes and I think I remember you for my songbook study. So far it’s pretty awesome for when I’m in work meetings lol, but we’ll see how it works recording instruments.

Notter · February 18, 2023, 3:19pm

Nice update Alexis and more great progress! Watching your improvement and dedication is really inspiring. Really good plan ahead for you too, as always I look forward to the next updat and uploads in the meantime

alexisduprey · February 19, 2023, 1:15am

Thanks mark! Sometimes I feel like i over plan/think about these things, lol. Comments like yours make me feel like I might be on the right track.

nzmetal · February 19, 2023, 5:45am

Wow Alexis! You’ve been busy! That’s a great update! Loving following your progress and seeing you delving further into metal and hard rock
Can’t wait to see where you head next. Great stuff mate!

DavidP · February 19, 2023, 7:48am

Great update, Alexis.

I enjoyed Hair Rock, even if it was simple (easy for you but wouldn’t fancy my chances). The tone was great, loved the little string scrapes.

Soon it will be time for you to grow your hair, ink up, and start a metal band

For practising the D->G (E-shape barre) change you could add Bad Moon Rising to your repertoire, perhaps on the acoustic. When I play that I switch from D to the barre chord G in the chorus for some variation from the open chords.

Keep on rocking!

alexisduprey · February 19, 2023, 3:52pm

Thanks @nzmetal @DavidP

I do like the song. The hardest part for me is the 4th dyad power chords cause I only really need 2 strings, so I had to concentrate on not hitting any others.

Im liking total rock guitar so far. I started the next song called liquified and it’s also simple but focuses on single note lines. I like that it’s basically just a song book. Small details on techniques and examples but it’s just 23 songs packed into a book. Not great for learning but really good for consolidating techniques already learned. I guess that’s why he calls it supplemental.

Thanks for the suggestion, I really do need to pick up my acoustic guitar more anyway. Plus I do like that song!

DavidP · February 20, 2023, 7:31am

And to add to that, play the D as an A-shape barre and the A as an E-shape barre before going back to open chords for the next verse. In fact, I think the change may actually be D-A, so a bigger jump up the neck …

alexisduprey · April 1, 2023, 6:20pm

April 1st, 2023

How it’s been going:
It’s been a little bit since I last updated this. I’ve been pretty busy going through Justin’s rock song book and Troy Stetina’s Total Rock Guitar book. Both have kept me busy enough that I haven’t touched much of the grade 4 course since going through the videos. At first I used my improv time to practice the major scale but ended up using that time to practice the solo for Smells Like Teen Spirit. Now, I’m using it to practice the lead part in the next song for Troy’s book. It’s too bad I usually only have an hour to practice cause now I have to really pick and choose from multiple things that I want to work on.
What I’ve been Playing:

Should I stay or Should I go by the clash- Part of my rock songbook study. I finished this song almost a month ago but I still play it from time to time because it’s so fun. AVOYP Here.
Smells Like Teen Spirit - 11th song in my rock songbook study. One of my favorite bands playing one of my favorite songs! This also will now forever be the first song I played the lead/solo for. AVOYP Here.
Liquified- Song 2 of Troy’s total rock guitar book. First of this book that I posted in the AVOYP section. It was a really simple lead-ish riff. I liked the sound of it, and it’s also harder to play that it seems. Was fun. AVOYP Here.
Alt/Grrl/Power pop- Song 3 from Troy’s book. Silly name, but it’s actually a pretty awesome song. There’s a rhythm and a lead-ish part with some minor pentatonic riffs and even a couple of bends. I’ve been playing this for a couple of weeks now so I should be able to record and post this one soon. Maybe in a week or two.
Song 2 by Blur- I only just started this song a day or two ago. It’s pretty simple though, it seems the toughest part for me so far is finding a way to get my amp to sound so fuzzy. The distortion on this one is something. I’ll probably record this closer to the end of the month. Mayybe early May.

The Plan:

Since the next song in Justin’s book is fairly simple, I think I’m going to spend some time alternating between working on that and grade 4 stuff. I want to get to a shaped barre chords at some point but also want to spend some more time on the major scale stuff before moving on. I think I have the rhythm stuff for this grade down though.

As far as Troy’s stuff goes, I originally was going to alternate between songs from Total Rock Guitar and Metal Rhythm guitar Volume 2, but I feel like the total rock guitar ones have been so easy that I want to spend more time getting through them to catch the difficulty up to MRGV2s songs. There are 23 total in the book and I think I’ll catch up to the difficulty at around song 10.

New Gear/Purchases:
I bought Justin’s Blues Lead guitar solo book. I’m no where near good enough to start it but I like to buy things that inspire me to get better. I don’t have time to start going through it anyway, lol. At the very least it’s another way to support Justin. My “One day I’ll get to this” pile is starting to get pretty large though…

nzmetal · April 2, 2023, 1:51am

Cool update, Alexis You’ve been getting through the work!

Have you seen this vid about Song 2 by Paul Davids? Really interesting watch and could be useful.

alexisduprey · April 2, 2023, 11:13am

Yes! This is exactly what I’m looking for. Thanks Jeff!

I’m glad you showed this to me early on so I can work on the heavier parts the way Paul does in the video. Truly great man, thanks.

nzmetal · April 3, 2023, 12:55am

Rad! Glad it’ll help Yeah Paul is brilliant eh?!
Can’t wait to see your rendition when it’s ready!

alexisduprey · May 19, 2023, 3:45pm

May 19th, 2023

How it’s been going:
Almost 2 months since my last update! I’ve been extremely busy at work and had a reaaaally bad cold. It was so bad that I didn’t play guitar for almost 2 weeks, probably the longest since I started playing guitar. It’s been tough getting back into a rhythm. Right now, I’ve been practicing maybe an hour every other day, sometimes 2 days in a row. Graduation at the Uni I work at has just passed so work will be slowing down considerably. I’m hoping that the rhythm starts getting back. I’m considering this learning log the start of all this.
What I’ve been Playing:

Teenage Kicks- Next song I’ve been working on for my JustinGuitar Rock song book study. Very easy song if done as written in the book as it just uses power chords. In the orignal songs there are 2 guitars, one using power chords and the other is using barre chords. I’m in Justin’s intermediate grade so I’m learning both. I’m also messing around with the solo so hopefully when I record the full song, I’ll be doing all the guitar parts. I feel like I’ll end up recording the solo completely separate. Making 3 parts in my final recording. We’ll see.
Alt/Grrl/Power pop- I’ve been working on this song for a loooong time. I feel like i just can’t get that lead part working right. Now sure if I will record this yet or not. I might just start working on Troy Stetina’s Metal Rhythm guitar volume 2 and just move on.
Holiday- I love green day, I got into rock around the mid 2000’s when green day was a staple. When I was trying to figure out what song to play at the next JG open mic, I almost went with one from justin’s song book, but spotify randomly put holiday in my playlist and justin recently posted a tutorial. This seemed like fate to me so that’s what I’ve been practicing. The original has 2 guitars but I think it still sounds pretty good with just 1 so hopefully it sounds good during the OM.

The Plan:
I need another reset, similar to my previous lull in November so I am currently re-evaluating my practice routine. Right now I’m thinking of starting Troy Stetina’s Metal Rhythm Guitar Vol. 2 soon. I finished Volume 1 in January and wanted to do a bunch of songs from a supplement of his (Total Rock Guitar) but since I’m stuck on 1, I think I’ll just go ahead and start up the meat and potatoes of his method again. As far as Justin’s stuff goes, Teenage Kicks has been a great song to work on barre chords, I’ll soon record that and start the next song in his rock song book, the ballad of jayne. This is a power ballad with an acoustic song so I think this will be a pretty good palate cleanser, perfect timing for a reset.

I am nervous, but I’m still planning on performing at the next JG open mic. I think I have a pretty good grasp of the song I’m playing (see above), but I’ve literally never played in front of anybody besides my wife and 3-year-old son. I’m expecting a train wreck, lol. There is a space in the middle of the song without a guitar, maybe if the first half is bad, I could use that time to re-adjust and stick the landing, who knows. I haven’t looked at the set-up guides for zoom yet because I’ve been so busy so I should really do that.

Anyway, don’t want to ramble. Until next time guitar friends!

alexisduprey · July 12, 2023, 2:06pm

July 12th, 2023

How it’s been going:
Another 2ish months since my last update! As before, it’s been a crazy busy couple of months work and life wise. Luckily, I’ve been able to pick up the guitar most days and have been playing pretty consistently. I also got to play at one of the recent justinguitar open mics. This was a really great experience since I don’t really play in front of people besides my immediate family. I think I did pretty good overall, I messed up on the solo for the song I did though (Holiday by greenday).

I also started Justin’s grade 5 and Troy Stetina’s Metal Rhythm Guitar Vol. 2. Feels good to be moving forward, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows as I’ve been slacking on my rock song study. I was able to record teenage kicks and am in the middle of learning Ballad of Jayne by the LA Guns. It’s just been at a slower pace than what I was doing before and just haven’t had the time to really dig deep.

Did songs in the AVOYP section and have a couple more cooking.

What I’ve been Playing:

Teenage Kicks- This is a great song to practice some barre chords since it uses simple E and A shaped ones. I enjoyed my time with it and was glad that I was able to at least attempt the solo in my recording. AVOYP Here
Lucky Day- First song in Metal Rhythm guitar Vol. 2 and it is FAST at 152bpm. This was great to do right after teenage kicks since it also uses barre chords but much much faster so I feel like it is taking it up a notch. Lots of one minute changes in my practice to get from power chords to A shaped barre chords up to speed. AVOYP here.
Holiday - Song I played in the justinguitar open mic. As I said above, I think i did okay when I played it live, but I didn’t hit the solo properly. I ended up doing a more polished version for the AVOYP section of the forum. I did get the solo right that time, though I made a small timing mistake in the middle of the song. AVOYP here.
Ballad of Jayne - Next song in my rock study. Lots of layered parts in this one. Justin teaches the acoustic part in the songbook, so I think I’ll be only playing that part in my video. I don’t play my acoustic nearly as much as I should, so focusing on that part allows me to really dig deep to getting it right.

The Plan:
Not much here, I’m gonna keep pushing! In terms of Justin, I’m doing a little of grade 4 and a little of grade 5 since I’m working on a lot of barre chords. I already have a couple of songs with them in it and I’m closing in on the intermediate section of the rock song book which has a lot of songs with them in it. I’m excited to move forward there.

For metal guitar, I’m pushing forward with troy’s book and have gotten to barre chords there too. I’m really excited for the rest of the book because it gets into some really awesome topics/songs including 16th note rhythms/syncopation, drop d tuning, triplets, and some really heavy sounding riffs in the songs.

anyway things are starting to get longer than I like so till next time…

Notter · July 12, 2023, 3:30pm

Nice update Alexis, it sounds like your last couple of months have been similar to mine!! It’s good to see the updates and what you’re working on, the and playing you’ve shared are really enjoyable, looking forward seeing the results of your continued pushing!

alexisduprey · July 13, 2023, 5:08pm

Yeah, I think I’ve come to terms with the fact that this whole process has peaks and valleys. Sometimes I’ll be killing it playing more than I plan, and sometimes it will be less than. In the end, I’m trying to at least play everyday and hopefully make up for the times I can play by playing more when I can.