CC's Learning Log

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81

Also, this has nothing to do with learning guitar, except I guess that I have more appreciation now for the instrumentation that goes into acoustic numbers, but I’ve been using spotify recently to listen to albums. (Never really used it before.) Anyway, I’ve been listening to Christ Stapleton’s discography slowly, haven’t stumbled across Tennessee Whiskey as yet, but I have heard a lot about whiskey. Like, a lot. Chris Stapleton is maybe sponsored by Big Whiskey™ or something, man has found himself a liquid amber muse for life.

Also been listening to every new thing put out by Jesse Welles and am loving it. A bit poetic like Dylan, whose discography I have not listened to, actually. Should probably put that on the list.

As the sort of person who likes to buy physical media to enjoy, it’s been nice to, albeit very late, realise I can preview albums and also enjoy them, while contributing to the artist’s paycheck, before I have the money to buy the music. I did used to do that on YouTube when artists uploaded their albums on there, but ads really harsh the vibe. Also, it lets me be more choose-y with what I’m getting. Gone are the days of hearing a couple of songs and rolling the dice on whether the album would live up to the singles.

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82

My preference for strumming is a thinner pick, I find it moves across the strings easier and so I get a better sound. I have picks of both of those sizes and don’t use them. They’re both too inflexible for my liking. I play with Dunlop 0.6mm picks. I tried 0.73 which is the next size up and prefer the 0.6mm. Maybe this reflects my limited ability as a player.

In general I think thicker picks are used by people who want to pick single notes quickly, such as in a technical metal solo where a bendy pick is not helpful. To be clear I’m not saying you can’t strum with a thick pick, I can do it, I just don’t like the feel

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83

Hi Constance, nice to read your latest log entry!
Concerning the picks - I had the impression, they seem to be a bit on the thicker side for a beginner. To my ears the .88 sounds better, as you are strumming more decent with that one. With the thicker one you are getting caught by the strings at some points. Those thicker Tortex are quite stiff for strumming. I personally prefer the Tortex .60 as my to go pick for strumming.
I get you on the sound, which is richer with the thicker picks and is more suitable for those powerful songs like What’s up. My choice for songs that need a bit of a deeper/fuller sound are Dunlop Nylons 1,0 (black). They are less stiff than the Tortex, but they are providing a very full and decent sound where needed. I use those a lot for Neil Young stuff or more powerful songs. The .88 Nylon (grey) is also a nice pick. :blush:

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84

Hi Constance,
I wish I could help you with this, but I find it difficult to hear this way, too much distraction from other sounds to be able to focus on the slightly thicker or softer sound of the pick…

What I personally think is that I find everything above 1mm very thick in the beginning…but on the other hand, I find everything below 1mm very thin :roll_eyes: :see_no_evil:…

I’m going to quickly practice with that bunch 0.75mm and otherwise they will go out to friends…

Good luck finding your pick(S) mmters

Greetings

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85

@mattswain @Helen0609

Thank you both for the input. I relistened to the video and I can hear the thicker pick catching on strings, although I couldn’t feel it happening at the time. I might try the dunlop ones in the thinner size. I’ve got a handful of picks I don’t use that are thinner, I bought just to hear the sound, so I might have a look at them. I realise upon hearing the video sound that the clackiness you hear when you’re playing isn’t amplified nearly as much to people not holding the guitar, even though it personally irks me to hear the plastic noise. It’s interesting though that in this case, the thicker pick sounded clackier.

@roger_holland I actually found the thicker picks were easier to use when I moved up from my grey and yellow ones, and sounded better. I have a handful of picks I got when I had my guitar set up, might go back through them and see how they sound. I think I have at least one thicker one that I didn’t like at all, sound-wise. I also have a mystery pick I just randomly ended up with, somehow.

I might jump online and get one of those big bags of a bunch of picks and try them all out. Given that the thinner pick sounded better in this case, maybe the composition of the plastic is as important as the thickness. Both were nylon I think, but the green one feels softer and therefore more secure in the hand.

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86

Maybe the thing to do is have a pile of picks and take one randomly without looking and also trying not to look at your strumming hand as you play and try to assess what feels and sounds right. Certainly I’ve got my own bias that gives my light grey Dunlops a head start on everything else!

As for the sound I guess it depends on circumstances, if you’re only playing for your own enjoyment then whether the sound of the pick is irritating or not is important. That equation changes if you’re playing for an audience or a recording

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87

Claire @ConstanceClaire
Plenty of advice from others, all I would say is that whenever Justin is strumming in a lesson or song he is inevitably using an orange tortex which is 0.6, there must be a good reason for that.
Michael

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88

Just watched this video lesson for Helpless by Neil Young

after seeing it recommended in somebody else’s thread at some point, I think recommendations for someone doing an AVOYP. Anyway, I’ve heard the CAGED system mentioned a bunch of times but unless my memory was really bad when it was expanded upon, this is the first time I’ve really known what it meant, outside of ‘names for specific chord grips’. This song lesson explained the CAGED system just as a part of it, demonstrated it, and I feel like my eyes have been opened. A real a-ha moment.

Anyway, it does make me want to muck around with the capo when I’m learning songs, now that I know how I can quickly adapt a tune using the CAGED system, and how that is useful for embellishments etc, but it does mean I need to develop the grip strength of Thor because the capo I’ve bought has too-tiny levers for the amount of force needed to open it right up. The thing’s a missile if I lose my grip for half a second! I have big hands and my left hand now has like, muscle near the thumb from practicing barre chords, so I dunno what iron-man this capo was designed for…

My pride will be injured going into the music store asking for a capo I can operate safely :smiling_face_with_tear:

**

I busted out my handful of picks and tried them all out for the C G Am chord progression for What’s Up the other day, my favourite is still the tortex flow green .88 one, but the orange .6 tortex dunlop one is also nice, and I have a blank mystery pick that I suspect falls between the two, probably a .73 or something, which is also pretty nice and not too clacky.

**

Sat in the audience for the latest open mic, it was phenomenal! I swear I lucked into sitting in on the best one yet. My day is dozy now because I rolled out of bed at 4:25 to tune in, but I feel strangely energized because of it. Very inspired. Can’t wait to be up to dipping my toe at some point!

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89

Hi CC. I’ve just stumbled across your LL although I did comment on your first AVoYP ‘Anchor’ a month or two ago.
This is a fun read and your progress videos with the chat to yourself and cups of tea/coffee are very entertaining. You’ve come a long way in a short time and the progress videos really highlight your improvement.
Anyone who feels they are not progressing with guitar and has not recorded themselves should use you as an example of how recording yourself proves that all the time and practise is worth the effort. Well done.

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Thanks Gordon!

The progress videos have honestly been a real boon to me. I tend to forget good moments and wins and instead my brain hones in on failures etc, so it’s actually helped keep me motivated to learn. Knowing you’re progressing doesn’t quite feel as real as actually seeing it in ‘real time’.

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91

Hi Connie!

I must be on Gordon’s boat or something… just read through your LL for the first time & have pretty much the same conclusions… it’s a fun ramble through the early stages of learning guitar… your progress videos are fun & probably very helpful for you! You have a lovely voice, I enjoy your singing greatly! I hope you continue to travel along the musical path you are literally trotting along - you’re doing very well!!! Most importantly, keep it lots of FUN! Your beautiful Maton is a trusty companion!!!

Tod

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Thanks Tod :slight_smile:

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Practicing of late has been… a drag. I have a bit of insomnia which always messes with me, along with the usual shoulder issues. Got some scans and no tears or impinged nerves so I guess I hope the physio is knowledgeable and I can exercise my way out of it.

I’ve been reviewing my footage to see what any recurring issues are. Tension in my fretting hand is a big one, I still push hard enough to bend strings when I’m really focussing / struggling. I also forget to hold myself up when I’m really focussing on something, so I gradually hunch over the guitar, which throws off my proprioception, already an issue for me and my stretchy nervous system. Probably messes with the shoulder, too.

One thing the footage has reminded me of is that I do have good moments and successes in my sessions, but I tend to focus on the stuff I’m messing up, probably due to wanting to improve but also because the stuff I’m getting right is stuff I should be getting right at this point.

Anyway, as it’s been a while, and a frustrating one at that, I’m gonna compile a little video with some of the stuff I’ve been doing, with earlier and the most recent footage from the last couple of weeks, so I can see the improvements. Also, since I happily chat away with myself like I’m another person, I’ll probably include some of that if it’s relevant / amusingly loony, for levity. This will force me to look at more of my practice, and then I can also delete some videos from my hard drive.

I will say this evening I managed to do the riffs, although looking like I was struggling a lot, a lot easier on my hand, like less tension, and it’s not gonna look like it but with a little less flighty fingers. Also had a crack at a couple of songs I’ve been doing, Take It Easy by The Eagles and The Story by Brandi Carlile, and both have improved. I remembered to sing along half way through The Story and was able to do so without mucking up much so my right hand is pretty good on its own with old faithful, although I already knew that I guess.

Gonna have to practice her original version since it has a barre chord in it, although that fast strumming really sets my shoulder on fire atm.

I think I’ve posed a couple of questions in my recordings as I’ve been going, too, but forgot them since I haven’t been reviewing, so some of those might be included, too.

Maybe I’ll spend some time tomorrow stitching stuff together. I’m not particularly patient so it’ll be good for me!

Also: one month away from the Hozier concert! Still wild to me that I’m going to a concert at all. Seems fake tbh. :sweat_smile:

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94

Well, here’s my silly chord progression / noodling video. Insomnia has me in its claws, so I haven’t bothered with my comparison one yet. I still may not, or at least maybe I’ll cut one just for me to have to look back but not in the learning log.

Anyway, if you have the time and knowledge, watch the chord progression one (two minutes in, roughly) and let me know if you have chord ideas for my rudimentary note examples.

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95

Insomnia is Grrrrrr, I am still happy every day that after about 45 years I no longer suffer from it…although some of those bizarre nights when you are awake for more than 24/48 or longer hours were also special and lead to great things …sometimes…and it lets you strange things … like record stuff on video with the guitar :rofl:

I listened for about uh well all minutes …because it actually made me “zen” :roll_eyes: with a cup of tea in hand during my own play break :grin: :smiley:… unfortunately I don’t have any suggestions or ideas for you, just keep going is my advice :sunglasses:

Good luck and greetings :sloth:

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96

I suffer from insomnia but I found something that works for me

I let the tv on all night on my tablet , sound not too loud , its like a parent reading a story to a child to make him sleep
the catch is : finding something on tv that is not interesting ( and ending up watching it ) or something that may makes you angry ( like political show etc )

works like a charm for me :slight_smile:

in fact , I woke up last night because the tablet went off ( no more battery )
the silence wakes me up but not the bla bla of the tv

Cant do it with a radio because , I listen to the music so i dont fall alsleep ( and the beat is too repeptitive to help falling asleep , it has to be some random sounds )

an audio book might work

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I don’t suffer from insomnia as such but on the nights when my thoughts are going round in circles and I am struggling to let go my default is to listen to a sleep meditation on an app like “Insight Timer” (free for iPhone, probably Android too), maybe something else to try if you haven’t already

I don’t have anything for your chord progression… I’ve not really started on music theory yet, just playing other people’s songs for now. One day, eventually, I might!

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Your video makes me grin… I like your honest self reflections.
Noodling around with chord progressions is definitly a way to get more creative with music.
I can so much relate to your insommnia, suffered from this for years and still do from time to time. All those nights where we are wide awake just to become a zombie for the next day(s).
We have a nightly TV programm, called “Space Nights”, they show a never ending series of satellite videos from all over the globe underlayed with spheric music. I don’t want to know how many people are watching this for hours during sleepless nights (as I did :joy:).

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99

Hmmm… You start your chord progression with an F and based on the following chords your starting key might be F or C. Am is a chord that belongs to both of the keys ( vi in the key of C and iii in the key of F). So in theory it should fit into your chord progression just fine. If it’s too bright, maybe an Am7 will do? A is interesting though what about an E next… ?

Shame that I am working in the office today. I don’t have my guitar here to test… Will test in the evening.

Ah, before I forget it. I watched this video yesterday ( just love it, and spent hours with my guitar). I have a feeling you might find it as fascinating. I’m sure it can help you with your chord progression :slightly_smiling_face:

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100

Oh man, I’m so sorry if this video was just weird. In my defence my brain is impaired :yawning_face:

@Helen0609 I will check this out! Ambient music may be alright. Like Deborah I can’t listen to music with regular rhythm or lyrics as I will focus on it. TV is out as I focus on the words too much, too.

I do need to put up a curtain, as the blind has big gaps. Last night when I finally looked at my phone to see the time, after accepting that I was, in fact, awake, it was three am… and the moon was like a stadium-light shining a beam of light right across my pillow. :expressionless:

Actually, I had really bad insomnia at the beginning of the year, and I wrote a poem about it that was mostly the moon, since it was so often very loudly present on those sleepless nights. It would’ve been a cranky poem but I was too far gone so it was just dreamy lol.

I wonder if it would be too out of place to put only adjacently-relevant stuff like that here? I’ve seen lots of off-topic talk in other learning logs… maybe I will… I do want to write poetic songs one day, or even convert some of my existing poems into songs, so maybe it’s not so off-topic after all.

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