Thanks for the story and the demo, Joe, enjoyed it start to finish.
Guitar does sound good, bright but a warmth in the low end. And I imagine in a month it’ll sound even better as the strings mellow a little (I like it a little mellow and warm).
Picked some similarities listening to your story. I think I got my first starter guitar in '84 (not a keeper) and was gifted a better guitar in '88 (despite my lack of ability). Decided I ‘deserved’ an upgrade in 2017 after a few months of progress through JustinGuitar. I had the same 2-3 hour experience you did and settled on my Fender Paramount, it just sounded so much better than everything else (it was also so much more than I intended to spend and I just said what the heck).
Later I added an electric which I am just starting to get more into now 4 years after the purchase. I also have a wooden resonator that I picked up used, a birthday present from me to me. One day I shall butcher some slide blues, just like Justin Johnson might play on such an instrument.
Anyhow, enough of my waffle in your LL. Love the guitar, wish you hours of delight. And by the way, your playing sounded just great.
Man, that sounds great! Perfect for just about all styles, and you are mistaken when you said you didn’t do it justice with your playing. Thumbs up for the Prine, one of my favorites - one that I tend to request at just about any open mic event, in fact!
Whoa, didn’t realize so much time has passed since my last post. Last night I had a fun experience. My older daughter and her boyfriend were over for US Memorial Day holiday yesterday. He and I have been talking for a while about jamming together - he having played for much longer than I and consequently much better than I. Anyway, we finally had a our chance to jam together for a little bit yesterday. it’s the first time I have played with somebody since the '80s and the first time I have played anything unscripted (not playing out of a songbook).
It was such a fun experience that I hope to repeat often. What stood out was he comparing this experience to jamming with college friends of his that are classically trained. While they are quite adept at reading sheet music and playing things they know by heart, they struggle to jump in just by watching and/or listening. He enjoyed that I could watch what chords he was playing, listen to the basic groove and jump right in, allowing him to then throw down some licks. Loads of fun.
Yes, yes he is. Kind of a cool story. They played ice hockey together on a team I coached when she 8 and he was 10. His dad coached that team with me. They reconnected back in December and have been dating since - and playing hockey together again in the adult “beer” leagues.
Well, it certainly has been an unacceptably long time since I’ve updated the learning log. I hate to say I’ve not made much progress since my last post. When the new (now not so new) app was released to mirror the new (now not so new) Grades 1 and 2 I decided to go back through from the beginning and try to master all the items in each, including those I wasn’t super interested in, knowing that it would help me in the long run. Well, I ran into a road block with module 12. I am just not inspired by power chords but know that mastering them will help me with finger control. My benchmark to move on was to master Seven Nation Army with full power chords but my fingers just don’t want to cooperate. This led me to become uninspired, wander and stagnate. I have picked up a couple more songs in the intervening months but haven’t progressed beyond this module, which is a shame because I love the Blues and that’s the next module.
I think I reached the point that I am going to review all the notes I took during my second pass through to refresh myself, give the power chords one last go and then move on even if they are just mediocre.
A good idea to get back through Grades 1 and 2, see what you can pick up that has been added.
WRT power chords, my suggestion would be if the techniques and songs you are playing don’t lead to the desire to master the technique then move on. One day you may have the need and can then come back to them. That was my experience.
And the fact that you have an eye on Module 13 adds weight to that. Move on and get into the blues. And you may find playing the blues rhythm for an A blues on just the E and A strings contributes to one day getting back into power chords with more success and enjoyment.
Hi Joe, if I am not wrong, some lessons in the beginner course and grades are just an introduction to some skills, and just giving it a try and understanding what is about can be enough. If not being able to become fluent with power chords as fast as you would like is creating a barrier to enjoy your practice you can just leave it for now and move on to other lessons and maybe get back to it later. In my 41 minutes weekly practice routine that I usually split in two days due to time constraints and to give some space to the songs, only two minutes are dedicated to power chords just to try to maintain the skill.
Whoa, I didn’t realize it’s been almost a year since I’ve updated my log. It seems I fell off the wagon for a period of time this year and would often go two, maybe three weeks without picking up a guitar. For the past month or two, and especially the past two or three weeks I have been much more regular with practicing. I had a fun jam session with my older daughter’s boyfriend on the day he ask our blessing to propose to my daughter. I don’t know if that’s what got me going again or not but I’m happy to making progress. I’m even happier that I seemed to pick up where I left off without really losing anything.
All that being said, I FINALLY made it through all the grade 2 lessons and am now consolidating the areas I feel I still need to practice such as mastering the F on a regular basis. I can get it down but the B string is still often muted. Not the end of the world but not great. I am working on the more challenging variety of the dominant 7th chords. The easy E7 and easy A7 are ok, but I am keen on mastering the more challenging fingering because it sounds so much better.
I finally seem to do ok on the power chords. Strangely, sitting the guitar down for a period somehow helped me with the power chords, and I do see a use for them from time to time.
I also have happy birthday finger style pretty much down which makes me happy. When I have been playing, I have been playing a lot of finger style such as House of the rising Sun, a finger style version of Hurt and even added a finger style intro and outtro to my original work “Song With No Name”. My goal over the next few weeks and months is to consolidate all the items in grades one and two and finally move on to grade three. I need to record some of the stuff I’ve been working on and post it up. I also need to attend one of the open mic sessions and maybe try to play in one before the end of the year.
Enough for now, Time to put the guitar away and hit the hay.
I’ve been working on CCR’s version of Proud Mary for a few days now. I have the main body (verses and chorus) down. I almost have the intro down but can’t quite get from the G to the F fast enough. Close, but not quite fast enough. I just spent about ten minutes on changing from G to F. It will get there soon. The hardest part for me, and the part I really want to get, is the little transition embellishments. My fingers don’t want to land in the correct spot yet. I will get there with practice.
I realized something funny and sad at the same time while practicing this song. You really need to feel the groove to strum it right, I find my fretting fingers don’t like to get where they should be in time for the groove - which is the sad part. The funny part is, I find that all those years of air guitar as a kid really helps my strumming hand and getting the groove down. If I only put as much emphasis on practicing a real guitar with proper fretting… Oh well no point dwelling on the past. At least I have the groove down. the fingering will come - with practice.
Joe, I had similar struggles. Then I opted to play the intro as barre chords. Maybe give that a try if you can play E and A shape barre chords. Apart from making the change from G to F easier for me, I liked the difference in tone playing it that way.
Thanks for the idea David. I’ve only been trying the song for not quite a week. I’ll give it another week and if I’m still struggling give this a try. Heck, I may just try it for the difference in sound.
The part that will be harder for me is mastering the up and down neck embellishments before, during and after the chorus.
Long time, no post. Some things never change. I have been going through module three of Practical Music Theory and the practice routine for Beginner Grade three module 15. In addition to trying to improve my scales I was working on Ear training this morning. I had the app on my old phone but one thing I found lacking in it is that it doesn’t have a feature to just choose the interval so I can listen to them and better familiarize myself with them vs. being quizzed. So this morning I was playing different intervals and in that process, without trying, transcribed - wait for it, wait for it…
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Deck the Halls of all things Belated or very early Merry Christmas all, depending how you want to look at it.
If I only put as much emphasis on practicing a real guitar with proper fretting… Oh well no point dwelling on the past. At least I have the groove down. the fingering will come - with practice. 
I have been going through module three of Practical Music Theory and the practice routine for Beginner Grade three module 15. In addition to trying to improve my scales I was working on Ear training this morning. I had the app on my old phone but one thing I found lacking in it is that it doesn’t have a feature to just choose the interval so I can listen to them and better familiarize myself with them vs. being quizzed. So this morning I was playing different intervals and in that process, without trying, transcribed - wait for it, wait for it…
Belated or very early Merry Christmas all, depending how you want to look at it.