Beginner's safe space

Will hopefully get the courage to submit some riffs and songs later on.

Great work from all that has been submitting recordings :slight_smile:

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@myall_blues
Sounding good, both playing and singing, Murray. Keep up the good practice!

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Really great job Murray. Nice consistent strumming and chord changes and very good vocals also. Really good stuff!

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Cracking job there Murray. Your playing and singing were really nice. Great song to cover as well.

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Amazing! You are definitely going in the right direction.

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I finally sucked it up and did it - my first recording and first AVOYP. I’m using the backing track from the app at (I think?) 60% tempo to give myself time to play it from memory, so it’s a much longer song than usual, hah. I’ve been in grade 1 consolidation since the beginning of the year, and told myself I’d do this to use as my “play for other people” check-off. Definitely some mistakes in there (including one at the end when I was so relieved to have not biffed the bridge, only to go on and immediately mess up a more routine chord change instead), but it was my best take this afternoon, and I just wanted it done.

Keeping my up-strums in even eighths is definitely an ongoing issue that I’m already aware of (I tend to up-strum faster than I down-strum and then get ahead) and something I’m working on in strumming practice. The beginning of the last verse (after the tricky/different-sequence bridge) where it’s a single strum per bar is also a place where I am prone to getting off time. I was also even less relaxed than usual with the camera rolling, so there’s also that :rofl:, but overall fairly pleased with my progress since starting JG around Thanksgiving - I can do a lot more already than any of my other attempts to learn!

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Hi Hilary,
How wonderful your first video :partying_face: :sunglasses: :clap:, and also super good that you last so long, that is an achievement in itself…Good at analyzing yourself, that’s a hell of a good way to grow as a guitar player :sunglasses:…lot to like here! :smiley:
Greetings,Rogier

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Hilary @southpaw6
Well done, you may not realise it but posting your first AVOYP is huge step forward.
Michael :wave::wave::wave:

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Well done Hilary for posting up your first recording, it’s not an insignificant step!!
I thought you did great, mixed strumming pattern and a steady rhythm throughout. And playing without looking at your fretting hand is impressive at this stage.

Don’t worry about the relief at achieving a section messing up the next, usually easier, one! We’ve all been there and it continues to happen for me and others, we’ve referred to it recently as the inner voice! :wink:

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@southpaw6
Bravo, Hillary, you are making excellent progress. YOu look generally relaxed, smooth and steady.

You’ll find the more you record the more relaxed and comfortable that will become.

The only suggestion I’d make at this stage is to play close attention to where in the fret you place your fingers. The ideal is up close to the fretwire but not on the fretwire. Always tough to judge on a video due to camera angles but looked like your index finger may be on the wire for the G chord and you may want to get all three fingers, a little closer for the D chord.

But that is just things to polish as you progress, you are doing great to be playing along as you are!

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Nice job Hillary and congrats for posting. Sounded good which is the key thing! I suspect you were consciously trying NOT to look at the fret board…there is nothing wrong in looking at or glancing at the fretboard to check your positioning as you play. I would echo David’s comment just keep an eye on where your fingers are relative to the frets.

Nice steady tempo on the strumming as well. I suspect you are very close to being able to speed it up considerably.

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@DavidP Thank you for those suggestions! I’ll pay attention this week to where my fingers are when I’m practicing, especially the G as I hadn’t noticed that. The challenge I have with the D is that my middle finger likes to override the fret sometimes when I try to shift my index closer - I’ll keep working on it.

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@Rossco01 It wasn’t the fretboard I was avoiding looking at, it was the screen of my phone recording in front of me :rofl: I had been playing the song faster, but slowed down again for some remedial rhythm training once I started the strumming SOS, along with giving my brain time to play from memory without cues from the app. You’re right though - may be time to challenge myself more on speed!

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@Notter Thanks for the encouragement! Pity the inner voice has a different vision for the song haha

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I didn’t realize quite how many minutes slowing the tempo added on until I recorded it and saw it was SEVEN. :open_mouth: Now I know my practice assistant’s total count of practice time is probably more of an underestimate than I thought!

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Hello, I’m doing my first recording. I’m still on grade 1 and this is my first song. I totally messed up singing the lyrics. I got nervous recording, as I’m usually able to read and sing them just fine. This was my second take, but I liked the playing so I kept it.
The change in strumming was completely unplanned, never practiced, and something I did because it just felt right emotionally. Funny enough, this is when I had less trouble singing the lyrics.
So here it is. It’s a Feelin Alright by Joe Cocker
First recording

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Hilary congratz on your first upload, that was really good! You definitely managed to automate your strumming hand which is what you aim at during early stages of your learning + your chord changes were clean, so well done. I would work on one minute changes between chords used in this song to make sure you are not fretting finger by finger but moving all shape at once. That will come with more time and practice I am sure :slight_smile: all the best!

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Thomas also congratulations on your debut! Definitely a good progress and double kudos for standing up position! Those pumping eights came out strong too so keep at it and you will gain even more comfidence while performing! All the best

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Rockin’ that strat Thomas, well done for getting your first video up for us! As Adi says, good for you to be to be playing standing at this point, well worth persisting with and yes those pumping 8s really pushed things along, you noticeably gained confidence in your singing when they kicked in, bring that energy, it’s awesome!

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@Tomc12
Bravo, Tom, congratulations on your first recording. You did well and are making good progress in all aspects, including singing and playing. Loved the change up in strumming, play with feeling following your instinct is excellent.

Keep at it, keep recording, and over time you will become more comfortable and things will slowly feel better and better

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