My first Grade 2 song (simple strumming version of Wonderwall) using stuck chords (my aching fingers refer to them as the suck chords ).
Things to improve that I’ve noticed while playing this song:
Rhythm timing goes a little bit wonky at the start slighty, and more so after the stop-start mid-way.
Still can’t quite nail that coming back in after the stop with the A7 sus4 chord, it’s garbled in this recording.
Things I’m doing well in or have improved in (thanks @Socio for the reminder):
Holding a rhythm for longer (6 mins. songs).
Able to recover & continue playing instead of stopping & restarting when I miss a chord or play the wrong one (leading to less recording takes).
More forgiving of myself and posting less than perfect recordings knowing that I play these songs better off camera.
Not giving up on harder songs like this one, and learning easier songs in parallel to continue learning & improving while giving myself extra time to get comfortable with more challenging songs.
Looking at my fretting hand less.
Any other feedback/areas to work to on is always welcome
Keep up the good work, Firas, you are making good progress.
Nothing to suggest on the playing.
From a recording perspective, I’d prefer your guitar to be louder relative to the backing. It may be sitting well in a mix of a cover of the song but for AVOYP learning purposes I’d like it louder than it would be in a cover mix.
Thanks for the feedback on the recording levels David. I did think it was a bit low, so I turned down the bass & drums tracks, and bumped up my guitar playing just a tad bit, but I guess it was still too low. Will adjust that some more in future recordings.
Making great progress, Firaz. Keep on doing what your doing. That’s good that your analysing what you need to improve upon but don’t forget to also take note of the things that you’re doing well.
Thanks for that reminder James I do tend to lean more towards self-criticism than self-appreciation. A healthy medium of self-reflection (of both accomplishments and areas of improvement) is better for sustained learning & growth).
I’ll add a few points of what I thought I’m doing well in that I can continue to expand on.
Well done, FirasR! I never get tired of looking at your Strat! haha. Your progress is coming along very nicely. Good steady rhythm and solid chord changes. I also like that your strumming had looks nice and relaxed. As you get better and better maybe at some point shoot to not be looking at your hands quite as much. Took me a long time to get there but eventually it’s very freeing feeling.
Thanks Tosh Neither do I It really does help having a guitar that’s pretty to look at to pickup every day and practice with.
I did a little experiment last night while practicing. I tried playing the same song standing up & without looking at my hands (actually while closing my eyes). Other than a few glimpses, I could play the whole song without looking at them. So it’s good to know that I can, and it’s probably just my camera shyness & feeling awkward while recording that makes me do that. Guess I’ll just have to record more AVOYPs more frequently to get over that
Really good, Firas. Just keep doing what you are doing as you are progressing nicely. Keeping working on that A7 come back, I know you’ll get there. Maybe time to have a look at the official strumming pattern as well.
@jkahn thanks JK I made the mistake in the beginning of trying to practice this song for 20 or 30 mins. like I usually do with other new songs and that killed my knuckles. I then limited myself to 5 mins. of practice a day which was a lot less torturous and that also had the side benefit of not feeling like I wanted to throw my guitar out the window So I’m hopeful
Thanks @SgtColon Your timing is eerily impeccable my friend. I was just thinking I should work on advancing my strumming patterns but hadn’t decided if I wanted to continue where I left off in the Strumming SOS course or something else. Working on this song’s strumming pattern is another option, thank you
Sounds good Firas I play this on Acoustic about the same level as you but not being an oasis fan I didn`t get the rhythm perfect just invented one of my own.
@Guitarman63 thanks John I always start learning the simple version of any song for my first AVOYPs but I’m starting to revisit some of them to learn more advanced techniques as Stefan and others have suggested.
@Nick22 thanks Nick Now if I can only get my inner voice to realize that so that it would stop pestering me that I’m not progressing fast enough that would be great
).
Keep on brother 
