Steve
Well played on both songs. Particularly good dynamics in many phases of ‘I’m A Believer’ in both versions: I think your vocal sounds more comfortable in the lower version; you could maybe try the capo in a different position to land somewhere just a little higher. Very enjoyable.
Brian
@Socio James, I was going to listen to one of your latest AVOYP recordings, but the last was the Blues Studies recorded on Nov2023, before you started the BLIM course. Hopefully after the BLIM you can record some more blues studies. I would be interested to see what progress you have made.
Hi Steve, yes it seems I haven’t posted an AVoYP for quite some time. BLIM has been very time consuming but in a good way. After BLIM I plan on recording blues studies as I consolidate and build upon my learnings.
25Nov2024 - Today I am adding songs 5 and 6 of the ten grade 2 consolidation songs recorded on my iPhone. These are two songs with similar chords but very different styles and rhythm techniques.
The first song gave me chance to use a lot of percussive strums. I didn’t use a metronome or backing track, but I think the rhythm was still pretty consistent.
Here is song number 5:
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
The next song I changed to thumb and finger strum after watching Bob Marley on YouTube. I had listened so much to Bob Marley that I think that I was starting to unintentionally emulate his singing style a little. I did consciously wear the colors of the Jamaica flag out of respect, so I hope my singing is regarded in the same spirit:
Here is song number 6:
Redemption Song
These are all great, Steve. For I’m a Believer, I think I like the lower voice one better, but did enjoy the ending you did on the higher voice one. I think the percussive strums worked out well in Have You Ever Seen the Rain.
Looking forward to seeing which ones you do next!
Steve
Enjoyed both these songs. Again your playing really well, good timing, chord changes and dynamics. I slightly preferred ‘Have You Evr Seen The Rain’: your vocal seemed more confident on that one.
Brian
Well done Steve 
Hello Steve, I much enjoyed Hallelujah and Can’t help falling in love with you…you’re both playing and singing with feeling! Bravo! 
@pkboo3 Pamela, thanks for listening to my song cover recordings and for your kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed them.
@Eddie_09 Eddie, thanks for listening to my recordings and for your encouraging comments.
@beejay56 Brian, thanks for listening to my next two songs and for your kind comments and thoughtful suggestions.
@deiussum Dan, thanks for listening to my song recordings and for your kind comments and thoughtful suggestions.
@beejay56 Brian, thanks for continuing to listen to my song recording posts and for your nice comments.
@DeltaTyne Hec, thanks for listening to my song recordings. Glad you enjoyed them.
@Silvia80 Silvia, thanks for listening to my song recordings and for your kind and encouraging words.
27Nov2024 - Today I am adding songs 7 and 8 of the ten grade 2 consolidation song recordings.
The next song Mustang Sally, I treated differently as a learning project with future blues studies in mind. Since this R&B songs has a blues progression base, I decided to focus on the guitar rhythm. I was inspired by @math07 to put Moises app on my iPad (old dogs can learn new tricks 
) and extracted the drum, bass and vocal tracks. I made this recording on my phone while playing the tracks on my iPad.
Here is song number 7:
Mustang Sally - Moises tracks in background
I liked my rhythm groove, especially in the first verse, but the backing track was too weak and I couldn’t hear the backing track well even as I was playing and recording. You can hear my guitar playing clearly, though:
In the next video I merged the GarageBsnd mix (the video audio and the drum, bass and vocal tracks from Moises) with the video in iMovie and muted the audio in the video. Unfortunately the video and audio become slightly more out of synch as the video progressed, but the result is still good if you just listen to the audio after the first verse:
Mustang Sally with merged backing track audio
The next song, One, ironically is the first song that I have recorded in one take. I did spend a few minutes practicing the muted strumming pattern again to make sure it was locked in, then listened to the U2 YouTube official video singing along with Bono, and then played the chord progression with the correct strumming while reading the lyrics to check on ther syllable placement. Then I took a deep breath and recorded the entire song. I was pleased with that, considering that I just finished updating the chords for the last verses last night and this was the first time that I had sung all the way through the song. I did have a mental lapse in the next to last “middle” section and had to improvise the last couple of lines because I didn’t want to stop recording.
Here is song number 8:
One by U2
My hands were sweating halfway though the song, since I suspected that this might be a useable recording. I just kept having a “The Show Must Go On” mentality and finished the song with a sigh of relief.
Before I forget, here is the recording setup for all of the songs, this one showing the 3 song sheets for One:
I have a sturdier music stand filled with music, but I still tend to use this light-weight music stand for recording. I’ve had it since I was learning classical guitar (self-study) in 1977. 
30Nov2024 - I am finishing up the recordings for my grade 2 consolidation ten songs just in time to end the month. I actually recorded this next song last because I was having trouble with the push rhythm while singing. I did OK with this song, but later I may try to record on my DAW and include backing track and play and sing separarely for recording purposes.
Here is an example of the strumming practice that I did before recording the song:
Dock of the Bay strumming pattern muted string practice example
Justin highly recommends this type of practice and now I do too.
Here is song number 9:
Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay
The last song, number 10, is Free Fallin’. I decided to play electric guitar with a bridge hum bucker, following Tom Petty’s example in all the videos I have watched. This rhythm was also a little tricky but the chord changes where more compact since there are all in the same fret position.
Here is song number 10:
Free Fallin
I think that this is the first time that I have tried to sing while playing an electric guitar, so perhaps this is a good capstone or final recording for the ten grade 2 consolidation songs. What do you think?
Actually, I think that this is the first full song I have playing on this guitar. I would have to look back at all my recordings to check. I had to pull this guitar from the back of the closet, with case behind 2 other guitar cases. I obviously don’t play it much, as I haven’t even bought a shoulder strap for the guitar. This is the guitar that I want to replace, since it doesn’t inspire me to play it much.
BTW, I had a simple setup for recording the final song. I just played into my little Positive Grid Spark mini amp set next to my phone. Also this is the only song played with the orange 0.60 Tortex Jim Dunlop pick. All other songs played with a 0.60 mm Nylon Jim Dunlop pick.
I said at first that I would record better recording with my DAW before the end of the year. Based on my experience recording these 10 songs with just my phone, I know that this will take a lot for time for me. So I will work on this during my grade 3 sonsolidation in 2025 as I start learning grad 4 lessons. I need to spend more time learning Garagebad and how to synch audio in iMovie using GarageBand recordings.
@SteveL_G99 Ten excellent renditions with a variety of recording techniques to boot! Good steady rhythms maintained throughout and nice clean changes through the progressions. Well done! You’ve set the bar high for when I get to recording my Grade 2 songs next year (I’ve still a way to go to reach this standard).
@ziggysden Stuart, thanks for listening to my recordings and for your kind words of praise. You give me too much credit for having a variety of recording techniques All ten recordings were recorded on my iPhone. I had good intentions of using my DAW but recording the ten songs over the last 2 weeks with my phone was stressful enough since I don’t have a dedicated recording area, but have everything stored away. I also have my acoustic guitar, folding chair, music stand and phone tripod stored away, but those are not too difficult to pull out of the closet and set up each day. I did combine the iPhone audio with a Moises generated backing track using GarageBand for Mustang Sally, but I need go through all the GarageBand lessons in the link you sent me. That will be a project for next year.
That’s it, I give up. I’m burning my guitar.
@paul_x Hi Paul, I wasn’t sure how to interpret your post - light hearted compliment or genuine cry of despair If you do think that these recordings were good, but are discouraged by your own progress, then I wanted to put my experience in context. I had 45 years of wandering through the wilderness of strumming from songbooks and online content before I joined the JG community and started the current Justin Guitar beginner lessons. I went through grades 1 and 2 in 5 months and spent 2 more years in grade 3 while continuing to do grade 2 consolidation. Notice that I did my five grade 1 consolidation songs last year while I was learning grade 3:
So I have had a lot of practice. (30 to 50 minutes a day, 6 days a week for over 2 years.)
If you want to see where I was in my guitar journey when I started Justin Guitar, you can look at my intro:
If you want to see my over 2 years of struggle learning guitar while in grade 3, you can look at my community Learning Log:
There are others who have started out learning guitar with Justin Guitar and recorded every step in their learning log.
BTW, I see that you signed onto Justin Guitar 2 years ago and dropped out. Most people in the community have probably done that at least once, including me. Now you have returned again and started to read and post to the community. Take a moment to go to the Community Hub/Introduce Yourself section and tell us a little about your guitar background and interests. Everyone in the JG community will be happy to welcome you and provide encouragement.
Steve, keep up the fantastic work. Your chord changes, especially the quick ones in Alleluia, were immaculately spot-on. Your timing is good, and your singing well done. It was a pleasure to watch you play and listen as well. Amazing you came so far after grade 2. I’m at grade 2 and while happy with my progress, I know I still have a ways to go to get those chord changes down smooth. Thanks for the recordings.
@jvlynch Hi Jim, thanks for listening to my recordings and for your kind words. If you look at my previous post, you will see that I admitted that I have spent 2 years in the grade 3 lessons while working on grade 2 consolidation and I also went through the classic beginners course a few years back.
For comparison, here is an early post that I did back in Sept. 2022 when I was finishing the new grade 2 lessons:
Killing Me Softly - 2022 AVOYP and 2015 version
You will reach your goals with enough practice and having fun.
Steve
Well played on both versions. The improvements in the second performance: a far more confident vocal; confidence again to play through the mistake at the start; your chords are far cleaner and changes generally very tidy; the dynamics in your playing are more subtle, made better still by the slapped/muted chords. Excellent progress and an excellent version of a terrific song.
Brian
Brian, thanks for listening to these recordings and for your kind and thoughtful words of praise. I had put the link in this post in response to the previous post, to show that with practice and time their guitar playing will be better. It was true for me.
