Artax's Learning Log

Community Hub Learning Logs
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Is it too late for me to start a learning log? :thinking: I haven’t used this part of the site because I know myself and it wouldn’t have been a fun read. But now I’m out of the beginner grades, I’m going to try to only use it for tracking positive achievements throughout grade 4 and up.

So for first entry, I’m in Major Scale Maestro 1 module, and I’ve been doing the one finger solos using the major scale pattern 1. I’m just learning pattern 2 and I suspect we’ll be adding the two patterns together for practicing easy solos using them both. I like these exercises, even though I still am fumbling around with picking wrong strings sometimes.

Also I am practicing Enter Sandman using the song lesson video in the Songs section. Its challenging to say the least. My fretting hand has not liked that Hetfield positioning for the opening riff. But it is getting a little easier after three weeks or so of practice. My pinky is still quite weak and the reach I have is so short, it will be a miracle if I can play it that way without getting buzz from having to fret with the pinky so far back in the fret. I am seeing progress on the accuracy and tempo for this song with its multiple riffs. I am only at the halfway point of the song though.

Random thoughts:
I’ve got three of my instruments in their cases because we’ve had bad weather for the past 6 weeks, so those instruments will be easy to grab while running to the storm shelter if needed. One guitar I have out is my Squier, and it has an HSS configuration. Or SSH. Or whatever. Two single coils and a humbucker at the bridge. I have been hitting the middle pickup when practicing riffs, because its directly under where my pick lands when I have my hand in prime position for palm muting. This is making me consider not ever buying a guitar with a middle pickup. Maybe I’ll eventually improve my picking and it will be a non-issue. I have two electrics with this configuration. I’ve lowered the pickup as much as possible, but I’m still hitting it. I guess I like to put my pick low between the strings.

The humidity has been higher than normal in my house this season. Not higher than what is considered normal for normal humidity, just higher than what it is normally in my house, which is 45-50%. But its’ been 55-65% in the guitar room. I’ve had to adjust the action on a couple of strings due to string buzz, so that’s fun, because I feel like I am really able to care for and do my own maintenance on my instruments.

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Great! Looking forward to your posts in here! :slight_smile:
And also I have been with Justin for maybe four years now and am still lately having the intention to start a learning log.

I’m also hitting my pickup at times and am not so glad about it, here it’s the the bridge humbucker on my Les Paul copy.

I agree - it’s great you can do some maintenance yourself!

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Good to see you starting a Learning Log, Stacy.
There’s never a better time than now! Above all, it shows your commitment.

Looking forward to following your story. Best of luck! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

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Its never too late.

I always hit my middle pickup too its super annoying, and I don’t ever use it. I was considering removing it, but I am still early in my electric guitar journey and sound analysis. So I decided it would be a bad Idea because I am still constantly finding new sounds in my own equipment. It’s just stuff I have not explored fully this could be the case here so I will wait.

Maybe for your next guitar what you need is a guitar with just double humbuckers. Something like a Les Paul. No middle at all.

I do think its fantastic that you do your own work. Great job, there is real satisfaction in taking care of our own gear, and being able to maintain it and do our own midifications. Its always suprising how many people are scared to do basic things like this. :wink:
It just depends on how you are brought up diging in and repairing stuff on your own and its a huge money saver.

Hunker down during those storms and glad you started a nice log.

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Stacey, I’ve read lots of your posts since I’ve been in this forum and I’m really happy that you are starting a learning log.

I fully recommend getting into your own guitar maintenance. I did that and then eventually even built a Strat and just finished renovating (completely) a very cheap affinity tele. All my guitars required some work on them and a bit of work significantly improved their playability and it’s really not difficult.

Regarding hitting the pickups, I don’t hit the middle pickup on the Strat much but I hit the pickup selector switch a lot - drives me nuts, especially as I love using the middle pickup alone and the difference in sound is quite large between middle position (3) and position 2. Normally when I hit the switch it goes to position 2.

The answer to this is get a tele :grinning_face::grinning_face::grinning_face: but not a Nashville

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It’s never to late to start a log!

Who knows? I think talking about both, success and progress, but also about frustration, is worth telling and can be useful for the reader. But you will know best!
Looking forward to follow your log entries!

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@domi7 Thanks! Yeah hitting a pickup is not something I expected to have to deal with! Funny the things that make playing guitar so special and individual.

@BurnsRhythm Thank you.

@Ontime Same! I am two seconds away from just removing it, but like you, I think, no it isn’t quite the right time yet. Still so much to learn and its frankly a challenge I need to overcome. So, it stays in for now. Yes I do have a strat style with two humbuckers that is my favorite guitar, but it’s downtuned right now, so I’m not using it for everyday practice. It is actually pretty rewarding to do my own little tweaks when I feel its needed. It was a mental thing to get over- that even if I tweak something and its a mistake, if it puts the guitar in a non optimal state…who cares??? Nobody! Its just a guitar! I don’t have to care either! But it is quite easy for me to get stuck in my mind thinking everything with the instrument has to be just so, everything has to be perfect, in a state of perfect circumstance. A little funny story, I did a pickup swap on my Squier just to learn the inner workings of the thing. And of course we (my husband did the soldering) soldered the pickup out of phase (oops) but then I am too lazy to take it apart again to fix it, so that pickup is out of phase. Oh well. I read that some famous guitarists actually like the out of phase sound, and wire some guitars out of phase on purpose. My OCD freaks out when I think about it, but then when I realize some people like it that way, it helps me just relax about it. And anyway, its not forever. The next string change is an opportunity to fix it, if I even want to.

@Prof_Thunder Thanks! Wow, that had to be fun! I do think it would be a great hobby, and very rewarding, to rescue stray guitars and making them look and sound good again. I have not had an issue hitting the selector yet, but I have read a few forums where people say that. Maybe you’re a player that gets wild and plays with big motion! One day I hope to have enough confidence to play with big movements. Yeah I may have discovered with this problem that I love Teles, huh?

@Helen0609 You know, you’ve very right. I’ll keep that in mind and not limit myself to only certain kinds of communication. Thank you!

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If it’s equally downtuned you could use a Capo, if not it won’t work unless you use one of those expensive things that can be used for single or multiple strings.
A lot depends upon whether the ST type that you’re thinking about modding is routed for a Humbucker at the neck position and the bridge, it’s not too difficult to convert to a H H then, just the cost of the scratch plate, another Humbucker (or P90), and a new 3 way switch - unless you fancy having a go at wiring it up for in and out of phase and being more flexible still wiring the pickups as split coil as well (on another two way switch). It could be a fun project and you would end up with a real “swiss army knife” of a guitar!

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Nah its only the low E that’s downtuned to D. No big deal.

Hmm yes I think that’s more work than what I want to fiddle around with. Maybe one day in the future though. I have to be careful because I can really get invested and then its like Im on a one way street to whatever goal I’ve set, no brakes! Haha.

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So here’s a fun thing. I’ve come back to the Wanted Dead Or Alive (Bon Jovi) lesson. I learned it (kinda sorta) pretty early on in my journey maybe even like in the first year. I forgot all about it as time passed and when I thought about playing it again this week, I realized I didn’t even know where to start with the opening riff. I rewatched the lesson, and it all came back pretty quick.

Now that I have gained more ability, it is feeling much easier than it did the first time around. I started to realize that that riff is really only going to sound really good and flowy when I’m either able to move to each fret position without looking, or picking the pick pattern without looking. Well surprisingly, for me, its going to be the fret positions that will be easier to do without looking.

Here’s the fun part- after a bit of practice, my left hand is accurately landing on the correct frets most of the time while my eyes are focused on my picking hand. !!! This is a big deal for me! I am still not quite hitting the 5th fret every time after leaving the ~8th or so area. That’s a bigger jump, but I’m sure I’ll get it. I had been wondering how I was ever going to be able to play in such a way. I see so many players play without even looking and on really complicated stuff. This makes me think I could maybe get there one day. Yay!!

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So I am having a few thoughts the past couple of weeks about being an adult learner. I know they’re not unique to me. Thoughts about the slow pace of learning, having to do with time availability. Also, the slow pace of learning, having to do with my brain’s uptake ability. I’m 46…wait, 47…? No, 46 haha. And for the past couple of years especially, I’ve been dealing with perimenopause symptoms such as problems with brain fog, information retention , decrease in ability to focus, attention span decrease, some measure of cognitive decline and comprehension, basic function like conversation, etc… All these cognitive areas seemed to be decreasing to some degree in function, some worse than others.

I started HRT about 10 weeks ago and have seen some improvement in many areas. Amongst the cognitive issues, there was a whole host of other symptoms which I could list for days. But many have improved and that’s been a giant relief.

However I still struggle to sleep through the night, and I still have to work full time, so most evenings I am super tired. My guitar practice has dwindled to maybe twice a week, and I’ve brought a guitar into the living room so I can pick on it during the evening, during relaxation time, as opposed to going into the guitar dedicated space in the other room. There’s definitely also an issue with commitment when I have free time, which honestly has been one of my problems for many many years. But lately I’m not able to develop or focus on a practice routine, nor find ways to apply the concepts in learning to real playing. I think the nature of Grade 4 is part of it, being much less structured. But moreso, my current struggles are physiological, hormonal, and still related to availability of time.

I am currently learning Major Scale Pattern 2, and I’m noticing that, cognitively, it’s kinda difficult (and it totally shouldn’t be) , and frankly, a hassle to learn these scales. Related to what I described earlier with hormones and mental struggles, I had a thought about how much harder this hobby is as an adult learner. Scales are a kid’s game- where it’s much easier for a young, developing brain to apply these scale patterns to memory much faster. Conceptually, the scales and the patternings, and the combinations and such all make perfect sense, kindergarten stuff for me in terms of concept. But memorizing scales, this is excruciating. Coming back to the guitar after four days, eight days, twelve days of being completely immersed in things other than guitar means I have to basically start the lesson over.

I shall keep going on, doing a few minutes practice here and there amongst the other thousand things I have on my task list. But geez it’s like the hardest time I’ve had in all my life in doing…simply anything.

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Good thinking with having your guitar readily avalible. I keep my 3/4 size in the living room all the time so I can just grab it. Like you say without going into my dedicated music room makes it a lot easier.

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