G’day Tony
Nice to meet you! Welcome! 
(From another Aussie)
Yes! pretty sure… 
I could really see you doing this one Brian! Seems so you! 
( The Church - The Disillusionist) @brianlarsen
1 Like
Hi Tony, welcome to the community. When I consolidated, I made sure to have a guitar in my hand and rewatched any lesson where Justin plays the guitar and tried to play along with the lesson. It really helps to play along as Justin explains a technique. For some of the later modules, I’ve had to rewatch and play along with a Guitar several times. It sounds like you are a quick learner, but it doesn’t hurt to continue to review what you have learned. Of course, have fun learning new songs.
2 Likes
Welcome to the community Tony. Another Aussie here.
Matons do come with decent setups from the factory (I have 2) but you will need to adjust the truss rod. Both of mine had the action lift from new. It’s the wood settling in. When I bought my first one the guy from the shop said it would happen and to bring it back in 3 months so they can adjust it. They did, and it is great now. My second one I expected it so bought a maton truss rod tool and adjusted it myself.
Keep in mind that any acoustic is a bit harder to play than an electric as well.
Transcribing is super hard and your experience here is similar to what I found when I started. It does get easier, but slowly.
Sounds like you need some more song & chord practice then. The open chords should be easy for you by the end of the grade that has them in.
1 Like
Thanks, I will try that. I am thinking of spending at least the next 6-8 months consolidating Grades 1-3. Alongside that adding some more songs with additional chords/progressions, consolidating theory, get through the Ear Training course and taking it very easy with some Lead Blues.
Thanks for the advice on the Maton, I will get it checked in a few months. That will give me some time for the feel and how much it changes after setup.
I have set aside 10 mins each day for ear training/transcribing, I will just persist with it.
I have put a fair bit of time with the C Chord. It is just changing to it from D Chord at 168 bpm. Still feels clunky and not quite getting there quite in time. As you say, I probably need to put in a lot more time with it and it will come as the others did. It seems a lot better when I don’t look at the Fretboard. F is nearly there with House of the Rising Sun on electric, I need to put in a lot more time with it. Just starting on Bm with a few songs.
1 Like
Welcome Tony. You are not the only one to struggle with transcribing…
1 Like
Hi Tony, Welcome to the community.
A couple of notes (pun intended) about my experience with transcribing.
I’m not very good at it but it is worth pursuing. I listen to songs in greater detail and my ‘ear’ has improved significantly over time.
When I decide to try to transcribe something I end up spending 30-60mins (or sometimes more) in a session. Once I get engaged in listening and figuring things out, things start to flow and I want to take advantage of that acceleration. In 10mins, I probably would only have gotten to listening to the song a few times and maybe found the first few notes or bars.
The other thing that helped me was the use of the ‘Transcribe’ tool. I chose it based on Justin’s recommendation but there are others. Being able to slow the song down and loop on small parts easily made a big difference for me. Another benefit of the tool is being able to save where I am in the session so it is easy to pick it back up later.
1 Like
Welcome onboard Tony, good to meet you.
1 Like
Thanks, I will go back to the 30-60mins, I did try that and then went to 10mins per day to try and force myself to transcribe regularly but I agree that I don’t think that it is long enough. I will take a look at Transcribe.