Update for 2025-07-22: today I recorded a passable version of Cat Stevens’ Father and Son, and I’m thus marking it “complete” (at least for now) and moving my practice to other goals. In the end playing a “super light” strumming as in the original record proved super complicated and I compromised by picking the two lowest notes on each chord and then strumming, in this pattern: (here “b” stands for “bass note”, the first one would be the lowest root, followed by the next thickest string in the chord)
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
b b D u D u
As for instrument, I tried recording it with my acoustic, but did not like the sound, and with its thicker strings, I still have less control of the dynamics on it than on my electric, which is where I ended-up recording it.
No AVOYP for this one, while I’m ok with the result, I did not bother to record video this time.
Update for August/2025: currently making slow progress with the structured course, I’m stuck in grade 2, module 14, but not laser-focused. If I am to progress linearly (and I believe that’s the right way to do it for me right now), I need to start putting together a structured practice routine and work on it - but off course learning songs is more fun, and I’ve been indulging in it for a while.
In August I had a go at the jazz standard “Fly Me to the Moon” (simplified version, just the melody notes) which sounds AMAZING for such a simple melody line, as well as Blue Monk, from Thelonious Monk (which I ended-up not liking much).
On a more complex subject, I’m trying to learn “Life by the Drop” (Stevie Ray Vaughan), first exercise (the intro) after the break:
Next goal is to get the chord progression for the song memorized to be able to play all the way through.
Update for Sep/2025: Still progressing on the SRV tune. It’s already way better than on the short video I shared last time, and I can mostly play the whole song through, but I haven’t recorded anything new;
New strings: The acoustic above came with .011 gauge strings, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I’m used to extra light (.009) on my electric, and I was finding the acoustic hard and a bit unpleasant to play. Yesterday I’ve decided to switch them and installed a set of 10-47s D’Addario Phosphor Bronze.
What a difference that made! It feels nice and pleasant to pick up the guitar now, whereas before it felt like a chore. I may be forgoing some “finger gym” by using such a light gauge, but it more than pays in the extra mileage the guitar will see just by virtue of being fun to play
Since this was my first time doing it on an acoustic, I’ve watched Justin’s lesson on How To Change Strings On An Acoustic Guitar and it was a breeze. I was happily surprised to see that it stayed in tune after a couple string stretches.
Finally, I was expecting to have to adjust the tensor rod because of the gauge change, but as far as I can tell the string height did not change perceptively. Maybe it was a tad too high before and settled a bit closer now, but in any case it plays good and there’s no buzzing on any string / fret.
Update for May/2026: a detour on classical guitar?
Since my last update I’ve worked on a number of pieces, with a notable mention to Stairway to Heaven, a long-time favorite of mine. I’ve also studied Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing and Neil Young’s Comes a Time, tough I did not record any of those. Sultans especially was very challenging but also rewarding, as it unlocked a very nice way of strumming on the electric without a pick.
Then, erlier this year, I started to work on Green Sleeves, which I always liked. That turned into another AVOYP, though this one could be improved a bit, the timming is still very rough due to lack of a metronome. It’s in my plans to record a follow-up to this one sometime soon.
One thing led to another, and from Green Sleeves I started working on Spanish Romance (also known as Romanza and Canção de Amor), and then on Francisco Tarrega’s Lágrima. And all of that meant that I’ve spent more time with my nylong classical guitar, and less with the electric or the steel accoustic; in doing so, I’ve noticed that the string action on this guitar is a bit high on the higher frets, making it more challenging to play than it should be for a beginner such as myself, and the strings which I’m using are a bit harder than those on some other similar instruments I’ve tested, so I should consider changing them too. I’ve also noticed that the bridge is starting to lift, which is something that needs attention sooner rather than later.
My plan is to take the instrument to a luthier this week, and once I have it back dive deeper on these tunes. I’m especially enchanted by Lágrima, it’s such a beautiful piece
PMT Update: I did take advantage of the recent 50% discount on the lifetime access to the Practical Music Theory course, so now I’m including a bit of PMT back in my weekly routine. It came at a good time, I feel I’m at a point where I could certainly use a bit more theory.
Classic guitar is back from the shop, the bridge has been glue back and two support pins added (visible between strings 1&2 and 5&6), so it should not give any more trouble. There’s a bit of extra glue showing in the picture that is not all that nice, but thankfully this is not at all noticeable to the naked eye, I’ve only seen it on the blown-up picture.
The action is now a bit lower too at the higher frets, which is good. But the biggest change came from changing the strings: before I was using “Giannini Guinga”, which are bronze plated (including a wound 3rd string) and “extra tension”. While they sounded super good, they were HARD for novice me to play, and making bar chords was a chore (pun intended!), especially further down the neck.
I have changed to D’Addario EJ27N, which is a “normal tension” set, and the difference is brutal, it is so much easier and pleasant to play now. The only drawback is the sound, it will take some getting used to: while the previous strings were bright and had enormous projection, the D’Addario set is more mellow in sound and have noticeably less volume. The volume itself is not an issue for practice, but the sound was a bit of a let-down at first (though I’m getting used to it now)
me too! I planned to learn it later this year or early next one! Soo beautiful! …and probably the only one Tarrega approachable piece for me 
