CC's Learning Log

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21

This is true.

It’s often said that comparison is the thief of joy and it’s true here also. As long as you compare yourself to others it will be hard to get much pleasure out of playing guitar. And the thing is that mindset will only continue. You might think that once you’ve got the basic chords down it will resolve itself, but then human nature says you’ll only compare yourself to players at the next level. If you want to compare to anybody, compare your playing today versus your own playing 2 weeks or months ago (depends how long you’ve been playing) and realise how far you’ve come. That’s what has got me through the difficult days as a beginner

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22

Thanks! I’m gonna incorporate the metronome practice for sure, my timing is all over the place. (Playing with the tracks on the app isn’t really helping there, either, since it glitches and throws off the beat.)

I will for sure stay the course, in for a penny and all that.

@mattswain I’m working on the mindset. I’ve had a lot of obstacles in my life thus far so I’m plagued by a consistent ‘you don’t have time to spend time! you’re way behind catch up! hurry hurry!’ sensation at all hours of the day. I will keep jogging along and telling the voice to hush!

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23

Did three days practice in a row, which is pretty good for me. Weather’s been bearable.

One of those days was more noodling around than organised practice. Still did some chord changes, but spent a good chunk of it in drop D playing some power chords after looking up a tutorial on youtube for Mitski’s Bug Like an Angel. It seemed simple enough, but surprisingly difficult to consistently get the strings to ring out - got muddier as I went along, due to pudgy fingers (what surprised me the most was that the chord in the 12th fret was the toughest - I figured it would be the easiest but apparently not!). I put on a metronome and just kept at the four chords over and over for… a good while, didn’t time it. Also did the same with the two chords in Horse With No Name, had less bounce in the guitar neck but ultimately I have to keep pressing harder and harder the longer I play to get the notes to ring out, which always makes it bouncier.

I also grabbed a fretboard note map off google images and that helped me with my noodling and remembering what I had just figured out while doing so. It made my guesses for which fret to play a note in more accurate more often, and more intuitive, so that’s cool. I can’t name a note on hearing it yet, but I devised my own little experiment which was to follow each note around the fretboard and sing its name as I played it, and compare them, which I’m hoping will just blossom into knowledge in my brain.

I also realised, not sure if it was before or after the fretboard map, that Mitski’s song was just two descending fourth intervals. Felt a little bit good about myself noticing that, not gonna lie.

Wasn’t feeling it so much today, just did my structured practice routine, chord changes, a couple of songs. Found I put my fingers down much closer together on the D chord to start with, a couple minutes in if that and it was back to 1-2-3, and my A chord degressed as I played it. My fingers and brain seem to de-synch sometimes. Hopefully that fixes itself up in time.

Successfully played through For What It’s Worth without anywhere near as much trouble as usual. A chord gave me some grief towards the end but other than muddier chords after 20mins of guitar I was hitting the strings pretty well with my fingers situated as needed. Only doing it at 80bpm atm.

I’m doing chord changes with C and G, due to looking them up for songs, but I haven’t actually done the modules that go along with the notes so I should probably check that out. I think I’ll be in Grade 1 for many months to come, but I hope to ‘pass’ it satisfied with myself, which means I’m going to need to be able to play multiple songs and sing at the same time in full speed, clearly. Simple songs, but still.

Have no idea when my fingers will reliably form the chords prior to putting them down, that seems like an age away, but again, living in hope!

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24

Got my guitar back from the luthier on Tuesday, had it set up and had new strings put on - it’s a lighter grade string, had the standard 12s, but when the guitar was bought years ago a pack of 11s were bought with it and I’m too stinge-y to buy new strings when I already had some on hand.

I do miss the deeper tone, so when this pack is done with, maybe next year or so, I will go back to the original strings. It does sound warm and bright now and also, much to my glee, it is so much easier to play. I was hoping it would be easier but I tinkered around with just doing chord changes yesterday, having gone over a week without playing, and even after doing a solid half hour of that my fingers and wrist were not fatigued at all!

Also had a bit of a disjointed practice today, did some chord changes and a four-chord progression over and over to a metronome for a little bit, and found my fingers are landing much faster and more in-sync now, which is a huge relief. Tried the Come As You Are riff, thought it was really easy, put on the metronome and found as soon as I focussed on hitting it on beat I’d start forgetting what to do with my fingers, so I’ll be doing that more.

Frankly a bit daunted at thinking about trying songs again, they have been a bit frustrating for me, so I’m putting it off in favour of metronome changes and strumming for a few more sessions. Better something than nothing.

Currently my shoulders hate the guitar again.

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25

Did a more structured practice today. Did all my chord changes, and excepting C, Dm, and G, with a 40bpm metronome going. Most of them I managed to get more or less on the beat, giving me several 40 changes accomplishments! The new strings feel different to the old strings, so I was back to overshooting some strings due to that unfamiliar feeling, and probably also because I was trying to do 40bpm.

Am to Em was giving me grief, overshooting strings surprisingly a lot, had to slow down and really pay attention. Fingers once again getting all twisted up for A after doing a few of the one minute changes with it. Did the old school A for changing with C with an anchor finger.

Changing up between muting with the third finger and muting with the thumb for C chord. What wants to happen seems to be changeable.

Avoided songs again, but did the three riffs practice, with a metronome to put a bit of fire under my tush to improve. Had the most trouble with Sunshine Of Your Love, had to lean over the guitar and watch my fingers, kept skipping the G string for the B, and when I focussed on that, kept skipping the A string for the G on my fretting hand :roll_eyes: Never the less, kept at it until I’d fixed that up and done a few runs keeping up with the metronome.

Did about 15mins on Old Faithful strumming pattern and a metronome, really struggled at 60bpm but upping it to 70 worked well. After about five minutes I decided to do chords along with it, since it felt pretty automatic, and so I did two bars of various chords at whim and didn’t muck up my beat, although I did muck up some chords.

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26

I’ve not got much practice in the last few days as have been busy, and too tired to kick my mind awake enough to focus on practicing. I finished the first ear training grade the other day in lieu of practicing as that didn’t need as much focus and zero physical co-ordination.

I had a really good session today, got so into it I lost a few hours. Added a bunch of stuff to my routine to choose from as well, since I found myself trying things out. Played For What It’s Worth at 80bpm, went pretty well, although my fingers were a little lost from being worked harder than they’re used to.

Did the riffs to a metronome, a couple of issues but mostly no problem.

Added The End of the Line by the Travelling Wilburys and The Story by Brandi Carlile to my song list, had a go at both of them at around 80bpm (basically the lowest for one of them), and I can see how they could be within my grasp, maybe not so far in the future. The Story is gonna be fun/frustrating… funstrating?… to learn; not sure if I’ve heard it before, but it has a few chord changes within the bar and the old faithful strumming pattern by the sounds of it, and having a crack at that let me know that I don’t have old faithful down enough yet not to stuff it up when I’m trying to do a quick chord change that I haven’t got down just yet. (C chord is still a 1-2-3-thumb affair but it’s getting quicker). It will be a good challenge.

Spent about an hour on a song called Anchor by Mindy Gledhill. It has a simple chord progression with G, D, C, Em - although the C change was frustrating me a lot, and the tab I was following suggested Cadd9, which I found in the chord library and was easier to swap to and also sounded nicer, I thought. I mucked around with it and added… triplets I think… it’s in 4 beats per bar, and I broke each beat into three, strummed D-U-U, then went for the top string only on the down, and then broke them up into the top two strings alternating each beat. Sounded nice. Added a few single string notes between some of the chord changes too which took the place of the first beat in the bar.

Did not record that so good luck to future me trying to remember what I figured out already.

Anyway, stopped when I started getting fuzzy-eyed and couldn’t ignore the dodgy wrist. I want more of these practice sessions as I go along. The ones where I get to be creative and musical and notice stuff working out and improving. My chord changes were on the whole better today too, all of them improved. I almost didn’t practice as I’ve had a really busy week and it’s not over yet, and I thought I would just do chord changes if anything just to keep my muscle memory, but I got taken away by it all and really only the late hour and a loud body took me out of it.

Gotta remember this feeling every time I feel defeated by any of it. It’s such a thrill.

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27

Okay, so I’ve been watching past open mic videos and reading other folks’ learning logs, and stumbled across a comment from someone who’s been here a good while, who was appreciating videos that were less polished and ‘performance ready’ and more the nitty gritty of trying to get better. I guess the idea is - early feedback, and camaraderie with regards to learning.

Anyway, I haven’t had a practice session today but I thought I might as well just record my early days of attempting this song, since it’s been in my head all day. I had a good hour or so with it yesterday but it’s a long way from ready - I have to work on the chord changes for a start!

I do record myself so I can review, but frankly, I rarely ever bother reviewing except if I’m having a recurring issue with a chord change that I haven’t been able to sort out just using the webcam as a mirror.

So, this is Anchor by Mindy Gledhill, complete with sore night voice and numerous stuff-ups. (No metronome or anything, I’m just working out my fingers atm.)

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28

Hi Constance,
The above is so good and fun to look back on later and I almost don’t record the first attempts at all.(let alone that I posted it…well I did post plenty of unpolished songs, but certain no computer program tech stuff (just because I don’t understand it yet :roll_eyes:)… and flawless )… thanks for reminding me again… You are a very good singer :sunglasses: :sunglasses:
And I look forward to the day when you can play and sing this song… :star_struck:
Thanks ,
Greetings

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29

That was great. Yes, it needs more practice ahead of your debut world tour but singing and playing is hard… I can’t do it. I don’t think you’re far away from having that song sussed, look forward to hearing the final version :+1:

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30

Constance

Some nice strumming and lovely singing. You should definitely carry on posting your videos. As your performance develops they will become even better.

Brian

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31

Definitely worth recording early sessions on songs I think Constance, plenty to be happy about where you are with this at the moment though. It’s always a good reminder that nothing just magically comes out of your fingers!
Good luck with continued progression :slight_smile:

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32

Have started the third module of Practical Music Theory and have added the Major Scale pattern one to my practice routine. It’s taking the place of the finger stretching exercise from Grade one Module… something. The one with C chord in. I’ve got long fingers and decent-sized hands but that stretching exercise seems to have barely done anything after all this time, the scale pattern is gonna be the one to do it, I think.

I did some ear training stuff today, muddling with intervals, and doing fourth interval realised I’d chosen two notes in the D chord (A & D), added the third note for the chord to make it feel complete. Since I use Amazing Grace as reference, I realised only a couple other notes for whole tune so instead of doing the intervals I just ended up playing Amazing Grace on the bottom three strings a couple of times and feeling self-satisfied lol.

For some reason the 8th intervals are tripping me up suddenly. I seem to go up two octaves when I guess the note to start? I can identify it by ear easily, however, did fine on the quiz. I think the multiple tones of the bass strings confuse me. I often have a hard time matching pitch on the E string and try to sing lower than my register, until I play the same note on a higher string and hear it with a cleaner sound.

Getting better at changes again after several lousy sessions and a lot of skipped days due to life busy-ness. I look forward to the days when my muscle memory is good enough to practice tired, but it’s not good trying to push through while i still have to think a lot with a brain of mush.

I started getting into a bit of a flow with G, and C, finally, starting to put all the fingers down close together and accurately, instead of one at a time and slowly. Still going back and overshooting strings, particularly on the D chord for some reason.

Played For What It’s Worth at full tempo with only a couple of minor hiccups. After a hectic week and a disheartening couple of practices, it was nice to enjoy myself again.

Still working on Anchor, changing chords reliably and in time, and not death-gripping the neck while concentrating. I think I’m a lot longer off working that one out than my video would have you believe. It’s that thing where something works out pretty well the first time and then falls apart thereafter lol.

33

Been managing to get three to five practice sessions in a week, even if I’m in a bad mood, and it’s definitely paying off! Getting 2-4hrs in each week.

Progress:

  • Getting better and better at C chord, changing between stuff.
  • Have been practicing (music only) The Story by Brandi Carlile and End of the Line by The Travelling Wilburies at lower tempos, doing not terribly and getting better.
  • Got curious enough yesterday to find the lesson on the F Chord, since it’s sitting there in the chord changes practice in the app, what a beach of a chord lol. I can sometimes get it to ring out, sometimes even with the B string, but boy howdy. Gonna have to build up a callous on the side of my finger… Did get a bit of an ache in that muscle between thumb and pointer, but honestly as with any new stretch for a chord, I get pain in the top of my wrist / lower forearm where the tendon runs through.
  • This chord is highlighting how the stretch between my middle and ring finger is still a challenge after all this time, even with the stretching exercises and the various chords I’m playing.
  • Pinky finger still wants to lean over to the right, but I have been working on using it in a lot of ways even off the guitar and can for the most part control it to stay bent now, rather than having it (and sometimes the ring finger) lock at the second knuckle, relying on skeletal force rather than muscular.
  • Now mostly moving my wrist to the correct position when changing chords without thinking about it and fixing it after my fingers are in place.
  • Been trying to learn the fretboard, sloowly getting there.
  • Am getting better at dealing with guitar movement without it being an issue.

I do not know how long it will take me to get through the practical music theory stuff now that I’ve reached the lesson about remembering every iteration of the major scale. I can play it without mucking up memory-wise but knowing which root note based on how many sharps and flats feels like a lot to memorise…

Have been practicing and practicing Anchor by Mindy Gledhill for weeks, this will be my final upload until I get it perfect. This attempt is one after a dozen or so this evening, I just really wanted to reach a milestone and have it there to compare when I finally feel like I’ve got it without any stress. My voice is really out of condition since school choir days, years of reflux and just not exercising my vocal chords, its gonna take me a while to be able to control it how I used to. But I’m better at projecting now than I was at the beginning of the year, although I’m still using too much air frankly. Got some straw exercises to do if I can make them work with bendy silicon straws lol. (This is not guitar stuff I know but I do want to be good at both so I don’t have to think about how it sounds when I hear it, you know. If I hit a bad note or whatever it interrupts my flow.)

I also noodled around a bit with some chords known and made-up (just guessing stuff) because I thought I could work out the chords in Father and Son by Cat Stevens. Put the song on my watchlist on youtube so I can remember how it goes. I had a G, C, D, a Cadd9, Cadd9 but I put my pinky two frets along and one string up and lifted my ring finger, and then I had just the B on the 5th string down for another one, but the high strings were muted… don’t know why I’m listing all this here as it’s out of order but if you try them out you’ll probably figure out what order I was doing anyway by ear. Probably all wrong besides root notes or something.

Anyway, I am really enjoying noodling around with this instrument more and more as I get used to it. I was worried I’d kick it in but honestly, I think I’ve caught enough of a bug for it that I’ll never put it down for too long, it seems to be in my thoughts daily regardless of business. It’s also helping to condition my dodgy wrists which is a plus!

One day I will post my progress log as a concise list and not an essay, maybe. One hopes.

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34

reallly nice video :clap:

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35

Great update and a nice recording. Was not familiar with the song (I guess I missed your previous entry), so the only version I know is yours. But it was an enjoyable listen! Thank you for sharing!

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36

Hi Constance,
That was great …playing AND singing :sunglasses: :clap: :clap: :clap: :bouquet:

And it actually deserves a better place than an LL because many don’t watch LL`s (I even often skip them), glad I saw this :sweat_smile: (but of course 100% okay if you are going to work on this more or if you just like it here in the warmer, quieter environment of your LL :smile: )

Thanks and greetings

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37

Thanks Rogier. I might post it as its own post when I have it perfect one day, but I’m still mucking up so it feels like a progress video rather than a performance one. I definitely want to get good enough that I can post even a cover to youtube as a listed, findable video, so if someone I know stumbles across it I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be found out! XD

Perfect is the enemy of good and all that, but I want to be better anyway.

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38

Really good recording :+1:

My approach with the F chord was just to try it for a couple of minutes each day. It does take time and experimentation to find where the sweet spot is for your finger in terms of getting it ringing out as clearly as possibly. Some of us have bony fingers, others fleshy fingers, some have short fingers etc. I definitely had a sore finger as you describe, but wouldn’t say i’ve developed any hard skin from playing it daily so maybe I’ve just found a way to play it that’s comfortable for me

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39

learning the Fm/7 really helped me getting the F barre chord
maybe it can help you

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40

I plan to try all three alternatives in the coming week, so I can noodle around with that chord as well. It’s all so challenging but so fun!

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