Claire's learning log

Unless you’re playing songs that require super speed, I’d say 62 is plenty fast. And if you do find a song like that, just practice OMC for those particular chords.

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Most of it has been a review so far but the two most helpful pieces of advice were to prioritize constantly keeping your strumming arm moving over making chord shapes and to use the thinnest pick possible. Up to this point I have been using some really thick picks and I think that was holding me back from developing good technique. And if I do want the pick to feel a bit stiffer I can just hold it closer to the tip.

Yeah thin picks are really good for learning strumming. I had to do the same, I did what Justin suggested and started with the .46mm nylon, I was a huge help. Then went to the Dunlop .60mm nylon. I bounce between that and the orange Tortex depending on the type of stuff I am playing.

So the normal Dunlop .60mm Nylon is that boring grey. Then I found out that Fat Mike from NOFX has a custom made pick by Dunlap in the same .60mm so I had to go pink cause NOFX. They are way rad and so it the band. :grin::call_me_hand:t2:

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Been having trouble maintaining a regular practice schedule. I work evenings at a hospital and the past few weeks have been pretty rough on my schedule and sleep cycle. Ive just been passing out at times I set aside for practice. That doesn’t mean I’ve just given up however. I still make it a point to pick my guitar up and play something, anything every day even if I can’t do as much as I would like, and while away from home I’ve been learning as much as I can about music and sorting out what directions I want to go in. The main approach I’ve been taking is to keep a running log of things I’ve learned and things I’d like to focus on so whenever I have my guitar in my hands I can prioritize those and keep them fresh in my mind, and that allows me to optimize getting as much practice time in as I can when I can.

Practice wise I think I’ve finally outgrown the pick I started out with, something between the .46 and .60 nylon now feels more comfortable, although the orange ones still feel like a bit too much. Strumming, which was once my weak point, I can now do as confidently as breathing as in it’s something I barely have to think about.

My focus has turned to developing finger strength in my pinky and ring fingers. Instead of resting my thumb on back of the neck I like to have it over the top edge of the fingerboard, and I’ve discovered that tilting it back at an angle towards the guitar body helps me get more leverage to use my last two fingers much more quickly and accurately when playing riffs. Beyond that I’d like to start branching out and begin learning about music theory. I’d also like to learn more songs to get more out of my practice sessions.

Finally I took a week off lessons to completely rip my jagstang apart and overhaul it and I’m extremely happy with how it came out. I adjusted the nut, bridge mount, neck angle, action height, intonation, and rewired it with new pickups. I feel like for the first time I’m truly satisfied with an instrument to the point where I can finally stop messing around with it and move on to other aspects of my equipment. Chasing the sounds I’m after is one of the biggest things keeping me going and I feel like I’m a big step closer.

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Great update. My wife and I both work in medicine. Life happens, thats ok. Thats rad you got your rig worked out thats a great feeling, you should post some photos up in the equipment section. That is if you took them, I usually manage to forget to take any photos, after im done, im like dang that would have been cool.

Sounds like you have actually been doing a lot. Dont forget justin has some great music theory stuff. I think the first 2 or 3 units are free. :call_me_hand:t2:

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Thanks I just started on it

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