Do what makes you happy but just so you know learning music keeps you brain active, playing computer games is mind numbing.
Try playing your guitar and see if you feel guilty for not playing Stardew Valley.
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I think I just needed a mental break from like… important stuff.
I’m back onto guitar, no worries!
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I would just like to say a big EFF YOU to barre F chords
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yeah this one is easier on an electric 
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How brave! 
…seems like your hot days are over 
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Are you in siberia ?
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Omg, no, I’m just not built for cold weather at all lol
I’ve got bad circulation, so even in the middle of summer when the nights are hot, I’ll still go to bed with socks on unless it’s an extreme heatwave…
I used to handle the heat like a champ in my youth, and can function perfectly fine up to about 36° before it starts getting too hot, but I’ve never been good in the cold. I lose all my body warmth out of my chest, and my hands and feet go icy cold.
I’m literally shivering right now, but I’m playing guitar anyway 
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Btw that pink blanket is an electric heated one
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Europe’s winters are not for you then 
a winter with 10 ° is considered hot
I dont understand how you can put socks during summer nights Oo
even the bed sheet is too much
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@GrumpyMac I guess that in Constance’s place, the houses don’t all have a powerful heating, or even don’t have one at all, if during the coldest time of year, it is still kind of acceptably warm?
Like in southern Europe, where some houses don’t have a heating at all or just an electric one, they only use rarely, because it’s so expensive.
Me too - but here more from december to February even it was 20 degrees in the flat then, sitting for too long, not moving, I felt pretty cold. Looking at the image above, I guess it’s below 20°C
@ConstanceClaire
I remember my body and blood circulation worked much better when I regularly did sports - but I’m bad at doing it regularly nowadays 
Hey - maybe get one of the bicycles that stand in your flat and you can listen to some music or watch tv while riding… that would keep you warm for a while
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I have an exercise bike, it’s probably in the background of some of my videos. I’m much stronger and more energetic since I’ve got back into exercising. It always heats me up, too, but I’m just not built for cool weather at all. I’ve been like that since I was a kid - couldn’t even get in a really warm bath all at once, because even though I love really hot water, my feet and hands couldn’t take it as they’re cold even in summer!
I do really love winter fashion, though. Love rugging up and going about like a giant fluffy potato for a few months, all scarves and jackets and boots.
And yeah, the houses in Australia are not built for keeping warm. To be honest, most of the modern ones aren’t even built for keeping cool. Barely any insulation, often dark roofs, lots of windows, not much care taken to prevent draughts, and open plan, so even if you have air conditioning sufficient to reach every room in the house, it’s not economical to heat or cool. And electricity is suuper expensive here.
It makes the news pretty regularly, actually. 
But I’m able to play guitar rugged up this winter, and with cold hands, which is a big improvement from last winter! Plus, the bonus of winter is that if I’m home and sitting in front of the computer, I can just make hot drinks all day long to keep warm.
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Im the complete opposite of you ^^
My body is always very warm so I like to keep my rooms cool is winter
my bedroom is perfect at 17° C ,
for playing guitar it would be 20°
[quote="ConstanceClaire, post:212, topic:284407”]
Plus, the bonus of winter is that if I’m home and sitting in front of the computer, I can just make hot drinks all day long to keep warm.
[/quote]
hmmm hot cocoa … yummy
a guitar and a steaming cup of cocoa , its the perfect setting !
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Constance, I learned Blackbird many years ago using a Hal Leonard Beatles TAB book when I was unemployed for a few months and unmarried. Although it is listed as a grade 6, it is not as hard as you might think. All the chords are two finger chords as in the Happy Birthday chord melody lesson and after the first few bars where you jump to the 12th fret for a couple of bars or measures, the rest of the song you just move your chords one fret at a time up and down the fretboard. I learned it one chord at a time over several weeks, until I memorized it. I learned it using standard finger picking. I never learned to play via the thumb and finger strumming technique Justin teaches.
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Had a look at the Blackbird tutorial the other day, and tonight I thought I’d take a video of my progress. It’s stretching my fingers differently than my other playing, so I’ve got that beginner tenderness on a spot on my pinky and middle finger that should hopefully be calloused in a week or so.
It was sounding quite nice, but for some reason when I turned on the recording I decided to try and go fast like the original! Will get it under my fingers and learn the lyrics and the ending, and hopefully have something enjoyable to post in the coming weeks. Not sure I will upload it as a separate AVoYP as it isn’t much of a ‘new skill’, just a new song.
**
Had to take a week and a half off guitar as two of my fingers just swelled up like sausages out of nowhere and hurt! I was worried I’d somehow hurt the tendons holding heavy grocery bags the day before. Just my luck my doctor is out of the country so I wound up seeing a different one after eight days and then the night before the appointment the swelling went down until they were just slightly puffy. Ultrasound showed nothing so I guess that’s just a thing that can happen for no reason randomly, huh… the mind boggles… 
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hey !
you know the notes and your fingers know where to land
now you just need to get the rythm with no stops in between
you ll nail this song soon !
[quote="ConstanceClaire, post:215, topic:284407”]
Not sure I will upload it as a separate AVoYP as it isn’t much of a ‘new skill’, just a new song.
[/quote]
why not ?
you do not need a new skill to post an AVOYP , you just need a new song
[quote="ConstanceClaire, post:215, topic:284407”]
Ultrasound showed nothing so I guess that’s just a thing that can happen for no reason randomly,
[/quote]
sounds weird
as long as its not a blood clot it should be ok I guess
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My veins all were doing normal stuff in the imaging… honestly they can never see inflammation which is what it was, just fluid or compression and structural stuff. So there was a little extra fluid around things, but so minimal.
I did get to find out that my damaged tendon is healing up, though, which is cool! Knuckle looks as bumpy as always still, so I guess it’s just staying like that.
I was thinking if I posted a fingerstyle song to the AVoYP it would be Cherry Wine when I finally manage to get the singing right and apply it while playing. But I suppose I might be better at Blackbird earlier… I’ll think about it a bit. 
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Not a particularly good session tonight, but the finger issue persisted past my last post and they got worse again, so I’ve been waiting for them to feel normal again. It was just nice to have a session. Right shoulder playing up so didn’t do too much strumming stuff. Did do some finger stretching exercises, though, trying to open up my reach a bit, since I keep having my pinky slide up the neck trying to play slightly stretchy chords. Did alright! I’ll keep doing it so I can hit the string with the middle of my pinky, or at least, not just the one spot near the nail.
In other news, I’ve been seeing an advertisement for Edith Pageaud for a few weeks, and today decided, since I couldn’t stop thinking about going I might as well buy a ticket, thus making myself have to go. (It’s weird that I have to bully/trick myself into having fun, but this is how I roll, lol.) So, I’m going to see her play classical guitar for an hour and a half on Thursday night! Might get in early and have dinner out, too.
This is her setlist for anyone who’s interested:
Glass / Opening (arr. V. Miladinovic)
Mertz / Introduction et Rondo Brillant
Schubert / Gute Nacht (arr. Edith Pageaud)
Schubert / Aufenthalt (arr. Mertz)
Messiaen / Louanges (arr. M. Tozzola)
Biber / Passacaglia (arr. Pageaud)
Rachmaninoff / Prélude in C# minor (arr. Pageaud)
Scriabin / Étude Op. 8 No. 12 (arr. Pageaud)
Seixas / Sonata K. 24
Piazzolla / Oblivion (arr. Dyens)
Yupanqui / El Bien Perdido
Tansman / Passacaille
I’m not particularly cultured and I suck at remembering the names of classical pieces I like if they don’t have a memorable title. I’ve only heard of Schubert and Rachmaninoff in this list! Anyway, I’m looking forward to it!
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have fun
Im not a huge classical music fan but I just love to listen to the Requiem by Mozart late in the evening
My CPU died
Ended up changing my password so I could log in here, ordered the wrong screws to mount my hard drive with all my files into the pc I’m permaborrowing from Mum. So I’m behind on reading learning logs and stuff. 
The concert was really nice, music was fab, Edith was so talented! And she explained what she chose and why, and tidbits of information about the style of the song she was playing, the arrangement etc. So we didn’t just listen to great music, also came away more knowledgeable. (Or at least, I learned a lot.)
Going to see another classical guitarist this week! …and I bought a ticket to see Jesse Welles next year, under $60! I doubt it’ll ever be that cheap again!!
I got really slack with guitar for a couple of weeks, did the bare minimum or nothing at all, in part because my shoulders keep giving me grief on an alternating schedule… BUT I’m back in the groove of it as of a few days ago, currently trying to learn the app version of Killing Me Softly. Once I’ve got it down pat I’ll see if there’s a lesson on JG with more options; I feel like a bit of fingerpicking in with the strumming in a couple of parts would go really well. But I’ve been practicing with the metronome version and it holds up without the backing track. Gotta get my pacing and changes more consistent, and more importantly, got to remember the order of the chords so I can play it without getting whiplash going between my phone and my fretboard.
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