@Newbie2022 Very good for 6 months, what seemed to me ( as only grade 2 ) the thumb pick of single note before chord. the single strum of last two chords at the end.
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@drake_equation – Heart of gold – good - loved tone of guitar – maybe say what software you have and @DavidP might have some comment. Depending on the hardware you can have a volume on each channel to adjust as a starting point.
Same good tone in Country Roads. I have not dared myself to include singing in anything I have recorded or posted here…
The F is hard. I had a song ( Rhiannon ) that was all F 's Am, F, C then F the whole way through and had 1 min changes on my practice schedule, through Module 10. Now added F to Dm as trying Dancing in the Dark through module 11 where I currently am.
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Thank you for the reply. Appreciate the feedback, and the struggle with F. I was actually getting better with Fmaj7 and might substitute it in Country Roads for my next try. I am able to get the F chord to ring out properly, but it still takes like 10 seconds at least for me to get my fingers right. At this point, I cannot imagine doing more than like 5 changes in one minute to any other chord from F.
I was playing a lot with Garage Band and enjoyed messing around with all the distortions and reverb and stuff. that is all pretty intuitive. However, when I actually recorded something and then tried to adjust it to make it sound better, I really struggled to understand it. I also used Ableton Live 11 Lite, which is the software that was free with my audio interface. I got as far as learning how to record one or multiple tracks at the same time and do some minor editing in the track. I think the software has a lot of features, but I am a true beginner in terms of audio processing, so I really have no idea even what the right words are when searching solutions to my problems.
Two very good songs well delivered there Drake. Strumming sounded good. Chord changes sounded good. Singing, well, if possible are you able to up your vocals a bit? For me your voice was drowned out by your guitar.
Keep on doing what you are doing though, sounding good.
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Keep doing what you are doing and you’ll keep improving and becoming more comfortable recording your songs.
I think you did pretty well on both, both the playing and singing as best as I could make out.
I thought your guitar level and tone was improved on Country Roads, plus better level on the vocals.
Based on your comments, I assume you are playing the electric plugged straight into the audio interface, not via an amp, and have a mic to record vocals also plugged into the audio interface.
Given that it is an electric you should be able to achieve a good balance in levels between the guitar and vocal tracks.
On your audio interface you should have a gain knob that controls the input level. I began using Ableton Live Lite and later switrched to Reaper. My suggestion would be to pick GarageBand as I think itmay serve you better in the longer term, though nothing wrong with Ableton.
When you are preparing to record, trhe first step is to set your recording levels. In your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, either Ableton or GarageBand) you should see some kind of level meter associated with each input track. I assume you have 2 input tracks, but maybe share more details and mention what interface you are using.
When recording the level fader associated with each track (a control that raises and lowers the volume of the track) should be set at the neutral, zero adjustment point.
When you set up, adjust the gain on your audio interface so that when you record the levels of both guitar are in the range -18dB to -12dB (not the smaller the number the louder). Peaks around -6dB are fine.
Once you have recorded then you can use the track level faders to adjust the level of guitar and vocal to achieve a balance that sounds good to you.
Initially I suggest you focus on getting that to sound good, perhaps also explore the effect of panning the tracks. Panning moves the sound in the stereo field ie pan to the left and the sound would only be heard in the left ear if wearing headphones. Each track should have a panning control.
Last thing to watch for is the overall level of the final mix. YOu should find a master track which is where all your individual tracks are routed to. On this track (actually all tracks) you must ensure that the level never exceeds 0dB. Your peaks can get close to this eg -1dB and a good average level would be between -6dB to -3dB.
Make a few recordings and get comfortable with this and one can build on that.
Also feel free to post questions in #gear-tools-talk:hardware-software-recroding
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Thank you very much. This is really helpful. I have a Motu M2, so the mic and guitar are using different inputs. I don’t have an expensive mic, it is a Shure dynamic mic PGA48. I used to use a USB Blue Mic and it was very loud picking up my voice, but it seems like the Shure does not pick up well unless I get really close. So, I have to get used to that. When I started I adjusted the gains using the record levels on the M2 interface, thinking that I should just avoid any red. Based on your recommendation, though I should be going off the DAW levels. So, I will try that next time, if I understand you correctly.
I need to save your post and keep reviewing it. There are so many volume and gain knobs. On the guitar I have volume, I have volume in the monitor, and then gain for each the mic, the guitar on the MOTU, plus adjustments in the DAW. I will play around with it more and hope I can get a nice sound. Thanks a ton for the reply.
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@drake_equation
My pleasure, glad to be of some help.
Yes, that is correct. Monitor level in the DAW and adjust gain settings and guitar volume to hit the appropriate incoming level, while ensuring no red lights on the AI.
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I had a go at video capture of myelf playing a few songs through on Sunday. Played Justins app through my hifi and recorded it all on my macbook. Ill work out better way to capture sound and video at some point but this is stressful enough lol. I posted an introduction about myself yesterday. I’ completed grade1 after a couplel months in April and May but then had to stop playing all june, july, august, september and most of Oct. Been back at it from early October with a quick run through of Grade 1 again then a couple weeks just playing back songs from the app until i get confident again to move to grade2
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and one with some iffy singing… Olivia Rodrigo, Drivers Licence.
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Well done Gordon on both videos. Not a thing wrong with your singing either. My 10 year old daughter is big into Olivia Rodrigo so I enjoyed that a lot. Great start and keep up the good work!
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Congratulations on your first AVOYP posting Gordon, they now get easier from here on out. Nicely played on both songs. Nice, clean changes on the chords, your strumming was consistent and good vocals on the second video. I thought you did a great job with them.
Is the projector for movie nights? 
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Thanks Everyone. Sgt Yes, i am the EU distributor for a hi end video processing device and i use it for testing. It’s basically our BIG tv…Useful for being able to read lyrics instead of looking at tiny iPhone screen…
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Welp, I’m doing this! Started 3.5 months ago. Finished up Module 2 but going back through it now as part of my consolidation. This is hard for me because I’m a perfectionist in every sense of the word however, it’s hard to get feedback when you are learning online so I figured it didn’t need to be perfect yet. Still need a lot of work on changing to the F chord. Thanks for any feedback!
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Well what do i know as a beginner? Well, I know i can’t do finger picking like that. i know i recognised the song wihtout seeing the video title. Top work…You made me want to practice more!
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That was really impressive Meghann. Really good fingerpicking and good steady strumming . I was nowhere near your level at 3.5 months and don’t worry about the dreaded F chord as it takes a while to get it perfect. I was probably well into year 2 before it came together for me. Thanks for sharing!
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Very well done Meghann! You’re coming along extremely well for 3 1/2 months in. Something to be very proud of. 
Your F chord is actually not too bad - won’t be long before you won’t even be thinking about it anymore.
Try to take it easy on the ‘perfectionist’ mindset. Guitar is not easy.
Looking forward to your continued progress. Exciting times ahead.
Cheers, Shane
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Hi Meghan you are doing great for only 3.5 months well done to you! I was especially impressed with your steady rhythm in second part of the video, clearly you got into groove and followed on, awesome!
Feedback bit now - I don’t think I am a fan of how you put your third finger on chords C and D. To me it looks like you are compensating lack of strenghth in the finger with wrapping your 4th one around it and putting some pressure on it. It’s actually quite clever how you came up with it but it has certain limitations that you will encounter in the future, like try playing your small finger on 3rd fret high e string while having C chord on. Same with D sus 4, your third finger needs strength and independency, so focus on perfect chord changes and follow on with one minute changes between C and D or Am and C. You can train changes with any chord changes from that song really.
In your fingerpicking your thumb placement could be more perpendicular to low E string and other fingers slightly curled up. This might be tricky at the start but will let you avoid clashing fingers with each other and play more clean sounds 
pic below for detail.
Overall don’t give up and try not to do everything to a perfect level. I suffer it myself and is really annoying, I think you posting a video is a great first step to get out of the comfort zone and give yourself a break from trying to be perfect keep up the good work and hopefully talk to you soon 
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@GordonF
Congrats on posting up your first recordings, Gordon. You are doing well and are progressing nicely with chord shapes, changes, and smooth strumming. With time you can also get more into the singing, as that sounded pleasant enough in the second video. Keep on keeping on!
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@meghory
Bravo, Meghann, posting that first video is a big step and a good one as you’ll receive encouragement and feedback. I enjoyed the way you moved through picking, simple strumming and then a more complex rhythm, generally keeping chord shapes, clean and making smooth changes.
I’d suggest invest some time playing the song at a slower tempo to give yourself time to make the change from D to F without hesitating. Justin emphasises how important it is to continually work on smooth strumming without a pause for a chord change.
Well done, keep doing what you are doing cause you are doing well.
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This is great advice. Thanks! I’m going to start being much more diligent with using a metronome and perfect slowly first then gradually speed up.
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