Grade1 Exam Song #3 - Chocolate Jesus

I wanted to choose a song for my consolidation exam, that has Dm chord in it, because that’s probably my weakest one.
Although this one has a kind of simple chord progression, I worked really hard to get it right. :slight_smile:
Hope you like it and looking forward to read your feedback! :pray:

17 Likes

I think you can tick off song number 3 for that.
Well done , steady rhythm, good changes, not qualified to say more as only module 8 myself. :smiley:

1 Like

Sounded great, good strumming and solid chord changes.
Keep up the good work

1 Like

Great work. I reckon you passed that exam!

1 Like

You can tick this one off András. Well done :star:

1 Like

Well done, András, all the moving parts working well together - chords, changes, strumming.

As a side project, I suggest you continue to work on the Dm to be able to play the 3rd fret B string with your ring finger rather than the pinky. It is an awkward stretch but worthwhile to spend a couple of minutes each time you play to achieve it. My primary reason for suggesting that is that it frees the pinky up to embellish the chord (not sure if you have covered sus chords yet, if not you soon will). I was looking at the angle of your hand relative to the neck and perhaps a slight adjustment there could make using the ring finger more achievable.

That aside, it sounded good, unmistakable.

Bravo.

1 Like

Thank you, @DavidP.

Initially I played the Dm with the ring finger. When I got to the consolidation phase and started to work on my air changes, I thought it’s better to use the “pinky Dm”, because Justin suggested it for strengthening the pinky.
I see your point, I’m going to work on the “ring Dm”.

2 Likes

Good stuff András. Steady strumming with clean changes.
Time to move on. I echo David’s point about your Dm fingering unless you know your Dm is followed by something like Dm/C.

1 Like

Thank you, @sairfingers and @DavidP again.
I couldn’t wait to finish work and give this a shot. I remembered that my regular Dm wasn’t perfect but after playing the “pinky Dm” for a month or two, now this felt surprisingly awkward. :smiley:
Anyway, after a few takes I recorded my attempt so you can help me decide whether I should work on this more.

2 Likes

That is looking good, András. Certainly worth persisting with playing it that way to be able to add the pinky on the 3rd fret of the e string (when that may sound good).

You are keeping your fingers close to together, which is good, avoiding ‘flying fingers’.

Maybe for the Dm you may want to get a little more separation between the fingers, particularly middle and ring, to get the ring finger up a little closer to the fret wire.

1 Like

Beautiful job to a wonderful song. I can close my eyes and picture you playing on a white sandy beach in southern Mexico. It sounds like you are ready for level two lessons. Great work!

1 Like

Sounding great András. Smooth changes, steady strumming and keeping that timing spot on. Nicely done!

1 Like

Well done, András! Steady, consistent timing can be difficult to master and you’ve done very well. This sounds really good on a nylon-strung guitar; lovely & warm. Well done on bringing that ring-finger into play for the Dm, too.

1 Like