2024-11-19
I’m now twelve months into a combined consolidation of Beginner Guitar Course [Classic] and new Beginner Guitar Course Grades 1 & 2 exploration. Progress has picked up recently after graduating myself of several of the consolidation items I had been practicing. Most of my practice routine is now refreshed with new items and some of them look I may not take as long to get fluent with them than with previous ones. It’s been rewarding to see more green background “Done” labels on my desktop HTML page, meaning I’m progressing (the background colours aren’t kept when I paste the code here).
Part A, Melody
Alternate picking C major
This one is progressing well. Same than I practiced the C major scale, I’m practicing it doing three passes, one with the syllabic name of the notes, another one with the alphabetic name of the notes, and the last one just playing it. Alternate picking is not new for me because I had had a try when I practiced the A Minor Pentatonic scale in Stage 9 of the beginner course. It looks I’ll be doing a review of that scale soon.
Major Scale Improvisation
The advantage of trying to improvise over the C Major scale is that whatever I play easily can sound like something someone has played before, but still here and there I found some interesting licks to delve on.
Blues Guitar Solo
With the help of the community I was finally able to use the Guitar Pro file for the blues guitar solo of Grade 2. I’m practicing it at almost half speed.
Come As You Are Riff
I was finally enough fluent with this riff to make a recording of it and post a compilation of the Grade 1 riffs. It took me 9 months to have this one ready.
After a smooth recording of this riff and two more to complete my Grade 1 Riffs compilation I spent some time making noise with a rock improvisation. Of the 11 minutes I played I’m only posting some select segments. At some points I was more engaged in exploring sounds than following the beat. I hope to be able to repeat some of the sounds if I ever want to. I don’t know how it happened, but the las two and half minutes sounded rich and connected to me.
Happy Birthday.
I started practicing this one first, before the other Grade 2 riffs, because my wife had a milestone birthday in November and I wanted to play it for her. I did it, although a little bumpy because it was still a work in progress. Practicing this one has had an easier side of mostly knowing how it goes the melody and a harder side of telling my fingers not to go for the full chord and going only to the notes Justin has selected to harmonize the melody.
Blues Exercise (Hal Leonard)
This one is mostly on hold due to time constraints. For whenever I restart with it I need to continue checking the videos about using a looper that Justin and others sources have available.
Beginner Hammer-Ons
I had had a try with this before but now I want to do a final practice before marking this as done. I’ve using hammer-ons for Habanera and Esperanza.
Part B, Rhythm
6/8 Strumming Pattern
I’m already practicing the final strumming pattern Justin proposes in this lesson. I’m struggling to keep the strumming hand moving during the no-strings-hit beats, so whenever I found myself doing this I try to correct that, even if that means getting tangled with the pattern. At some point the pattern will get automated the proper way. I’m not attempting to play a chord progression yet with this pattern.
Two Bar Strumming Patterns
I considered that I was playing well enough the strumming pattern for A Horse With No Name suggested for the songbook I have and I marked it as done. I still need to apply it to the actual song, but I’ll first learn to play it with straight eights (playing the actual song is not part of my consolidation plan, is a separate project).
12 Bar Blues Variations
I’m sometimes managing to be on the right beat with this one.
All Down 8th Note Strumming
This one entered and exited my practice routine since my previous consolidation plan assessment. I had a short adjustment period, but after that I was able to play it following a simple rock drum beat.
Ups to the All Downs (16ths)
I’m practicing this one and so far I’m being able to play it following a simple rock drum beat. I think the practice of this one and the all down 8th note strumming works better following a metronome or a drum beat to attempt to play the additional strums at the right time within the bar.
Next update in three months.
Consolidation StatusFor Justin Guitar Beginner Guitar Course Grades 1 and 2:
| Selected Lesson: | Module | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A 6:8 Strumming Pattern | 6 | In Progress |
| Dynamic Improvements | 7 | |
| All Down 8th Note Strumming | 8 | Done 2024-09-21 |
| Open E Minor Pentatonic Scale | 8 | |
| The Stuck 3&4 Chords | 8 | |
| Ups to the All Downs (16ths) | 9 | In Progress |
| C Major Scale | 9 | Done 2024-07-21 |
| 5 Common Chord Progressions | 10 | Done 2023-10-26 |
| Alternate Picking C Major | 10 | In Progress |
| Beginner Hammer-Ons | 10 | In Progress |
| Major Scale Improvisation | 10 | In Progress |
| The Rhythm Push | 10 | Done 2024-05-25 |
| Introduction to Dice Songwriting | 11 | |
| Beginner Sus Chords | 11 | |
| Re-Active Listening | 11 | |
| Shuffle Grooves and Strumming | 13 | |
| Beginner Blues Solo | 13 | In Progress |
| 12 Bar Blues Progressions | 13 | |
| Backbeat Hit | 14 | |
| Essential Slash Chords | 14 |
| Riff: | Status |
|---|---|
| Peter Gunn Theme | Done 2023-04-09 |
| Seven Nation Army | Done 2023-08-24 |
| Sunshine of Your Love | Done 2024-01-20 |
| Come as You Are | Done 2024-09-22 |
| Wish you were here | |
| Californication | |
| La Bamba (Option 1) | |
| La Bamba (Option 2) | |
| Happy Birthday Finger Style | In Progress |
| Enter Sandman | |
| 12 Bar Shuffle |
For The Justin Guitar Easy Guitar Songbook:
| Song: | Status |
|---|---|
| Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way | |
| Blowin' Smoke | |
| Boys 'Round Here | |
| Dance the Night Away | |
| Feelin' Alright | |
| Give Peace a Chance | |
| You Never Can Tell | |
| You Sound Good to Me | |
| You Belong to Me [Added 2024-09] | In Progress |
For the Hal Leonard Guitar Method:
| Exercise: | Status |
|---|---|
| Spanish Theme | Done 2023-08-09 |
| World Beat | Done 2023-08-24 |
| Ode To Joy | On Hold |
| Blues | On Hold |
| Rockin’ Robin | |
| Yankee Doodle | |
| Surf Rock | |
| Au Clair De La Lune | |
| Aura Lee | |
| He’s A Jolly Good Fellow |
For the Reader’s Digest The Complete Guitar Course: Learn To Play in 20 Easy-To-Follow Lessons:
| Excercise: | Status |
|---|---|
| A Bad Moon Rising | |
| Stand By Me | |
| Michael Row The Boat Ashore | |
| Jingle Bells | |
| Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star | |
| Edelweiss |
Other:
| Excercise: | Status |
|---|---|
| Two Bar Strumming Pattern for La Bamba | Done 2024-04-26 |
| Two Bar Strumming Pattern for A Horse With No Name | Done 2024-08-11 |
Edit: ajusted the wording of some sentences.