I’m still here! Progress has been slow, and I haven’t been practicing as much in the past few months, but I’m still picking my guitar up at least a couple times a week. I’m making an effort to pick it up more lately, even for a short few minutes, to help compensate for my reduced practice frequency, since outdoor summer activities and a new relationship have been occupying more of my time - which I have no regrets about! I just need to adapt to the new routine.
In the months since my last log, I’ve gotten through module 14 and started module 15. I’m not sure I’d say that I properly “graduated” grade 2, but I reached a point where I needed/wanted new material, especially since much of the module is about refinement, which will be more of an ongoing thing, and less of a specific practice item.
Lately, I’m mostly doing repertoire revision, revisiting fingerstyle exercises, and doing some new technique stuff from module 15 (finger gym, linking chords with scales). I haven’t yet identified new songs I want to learn, and I have to admit it’s harder to do so than in grade 1, where there was a ‘menu’ of options. The open-endedness is both wonderful and paralyzing, though many of the songs I glance at will have to wait until I learn Bm. I am not as solid as I’d like on many of the songs I learned for Grade 2, so I periodically cycle through those as I get bored/frustrated, hoping that some time away will help me reach further. Nothing too exciting going on with my playing, just keeping on keeping on!
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Hi Hilary! Nice to read your latest entry and good to read you are still playing and enjoying your guitar playing and life in general. Sometimes, guitar has to take a back seat, there are so many other things that keep our attentiveness. Keep on keeping on!
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My 2-year JG-aversary was earlier this week! I’m still at it, though logging fewer practice hours than I would like due to being busy with other things, plus the fact that I now live in an apartment rather than a duplex, so I can’t play as early or as late in the day as I used to (maybe not can’t, but won’t, since I don’t want to be the obnoxious neighbor).
Looking back on my log, I worked on module 15 from June through earlier this month, when I noticed a loss of enthusiasm and went ahead and watched the first (35-minute whopper of a) lesson in module 16. Even though I’ve spent a long time on these last few modules, I don’t feel as solid on them as I wish I did – it’s hard to remember if this is how I felt in grade 1/2 as well, but perhaps part of that is that it’s much less objectively defined at this stage.
I do wish there were Nitsuj videos for grade 3 – I didn’t watch every video of his for grade 2, but it was helpful to watch his last couple practice session before moving to the next module to make sure I felt I was at a comparable place.
I think the only song I’ve learned recently (and not even that recently) is Tom Petty’s ‘Learning to Fly,’ otherwise mostly revision of songs I’ve previously learned. I’m not sure if my next move will be to tackle a new song, or to try to use the open chord shapes up the neck to spice up something I already know. So far, I’ve been using random songs in the app to try to build up my fluency in the different shapes/positions for each chord. It takes away the mental load of remembering what comes next, freeing up more neurons to remember where I can play G with the C shape, for instance.
The other big news is that I’ve got a weekend trip to San Diego booked to go on Taylor’s factory tour, and to hopefully upgrade my guitar! This has been in the sights for a while and was originally going to be a trip to Houston, but El Cajon/San Diego is closer and less expensive of a trip. They said they usually have a handful of LH models in their showroom to try, as well as a nearly-full array of RH models that I could have a listen of if I wanted to order something else. At least this way, I can get the different body sizes in my hands and hear/compare different tonewoods (even if I don’t go home with one I’ve actually played). I’m looking forward to getting something a little smaller!
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