2022-10-11
My holidays in Colombia got postponed due to getting COVID-19. Fortunately it was not as bad as it could be and my wife and I have just remnant symptoms slowly disappearing. We’ll give it a try to travelling again this month.
Level 9 practice has happened but progress has been slow.
Yellow submarine is going well. I’m now practicing strumming verses 1 and 2, and chorus and singing verse 1. If I try to sing verse 2 also, my strumming gets derailed so I need more practice on automating that four eights and two quarters strumming. For the last bar of verse 2 I have to think thrice to do the six eights and one quarter strumming and fall in time with the four down strumming of the chorus. So far a big progress from not being able to do the chord progression correctly more than once.
I unearthed my 40 years old notebook of my in person lessons (for some reason I had the idea that I didn’t have it) and last weekend that was long weekend played the first three songs I learnt. I didn’t practice beforehand, just put the notebook on the music stand and hit record. The bass and chord rhythm, and the chord changes were fine but my alternating bass was somewhat rusted. Vocals for the first two were awful but I liked the third one. At least this time I didn’t get cough like Sunday when I tried to sing Don’t Be Cruel.
Chords for these three songs are a I-IV-V progression but the fifth is played as a 7th chord. We actually played E7 as a regular E to simplify and we did not differentiate between major and minor 7th. I did not really know the theory at that time. I just played the chords I was indicated, the main and the second. For C and B7 we fretted the sixth string when playing it. I do not remember if that way of writing down the chords in chord boxes was my own way or the teacher’s way. All three songs are very popular Mexican rancher’s songs (the equivalent of American country music).
Ella (She)
“…She didn’t want to listen me. If their lips opened were to tell me I don’t love you anymore…”
I remember having a hard time keeping a steady 1, 2, 3 rhythm.
El rey (The King)
“…with money or without money I do whatever I want and my word is the law…”
This was a step up, having a rhythm change from bass and one chord to bass and two chords and back.
Renunciación (Renunciation)
“…if only affliction I cause you my life I’ll leave from your presence even if my heart hurts…”
And now it was D, 2nd of D (A7) and G.
I’m now practicing bars 1 to 15 of Asturias. Long way to be able to keep a steady rhythm for those additional 8 bars.
Habanera is getting better. I’ve been focusing on the note length of the triplets and a note that plays as 8th with a dot the first time and repeats as a sixteenth the second time.
P.S. I do not know why in the videos I was checking my chords and right hand position as if I was doing it for the first time 
.