Here she is folks, new addition to the family
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Sweet John!! i love a cutaway acoustic 
Wishing you much fun with her,looks like you need to by a(nother?) guitar stand however.
And jeepers how big is that TV??!!
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Thank you! Moved the full size away in to storage so the newbie has the previous guitar stand.
TV isn’t that big, nice little 55" 
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Enjoyed my first Zoom lesson with Lee Mead-Batten on Beginner Club #6 Power Chord Basics. Working on Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love. Well worth attending!
Then I stumbled across a vid on G Major scale in 3rds which is something that I’ve looked at a couple of time. Did more of a deep dive in to it but I’m just not getting it, its not sinking in. May be that I’m too tirednow, I’ve been “braining” all day and then the zoom call… I just can’t “see” the pattern so I can’t learn it…
I’ll keep going at it and I’m sure it’ll sink in at some point…
OK, If I can “see” the note (G, A, B, C etc) next to the fret number then I can kind of see the pattern a bit clearer… The curse of suffering from Aphantasia…
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Morning all! Not been here for a while and actually didn’t touch a guitar for quite some time due to… life. (Don’t worry its life, we all get through it 
).
Anyways, started again a couple of weeks ago and realised that I had been stagnating before. I thought I had been practising the same things but in fact I hadn’t, I had just been “doing” them. The difference being, I was doing with no intent of improving. The point of practice is to improve so you have to be more intentional about it.
So, get back to basics, get back to learning and improving… Starting again and things feel better and I am learning things and understanding better. Things are “clicking” in my brain better.
One of my complaints was that nothing I did sounded musical to me, it all sounded robotic, even when I performed the chords, fingering etc correctly.
Then I found something I already knew about but hadn’t considered…
12 Bar Blues!
I looked at the the 12 bar blues 1,4,5 in key of A and could SEE why it works and how it works in every key and what that means.
More importantly, at its basics, it is relatively easy to do and sounds musical!!! The most simple and basic form of it IS MUSIC!
Full scales and Pentatonic scales are not music, but I see how they are the components of music.
I can now see the parts of scales being used when people are playing. Its like hearing a new word and figuring out how to say it and what it means by understanding the letters and how the word is structured.
Its like watching Bob Ross paint a scenery.
So with renewed gusto, I’ve gone back to the online course and thrown myself in to Module 2. Things are just making more sense now. I’m not struggling to learn the meaning behind the information whilst struggling to physically follow so I’m able to enjoy it more and feel like I’m getting it rather than just copying in a monkey see, monkey do style.
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Been working on James Blunt - You’re Beautiful and this evening I’ve been having a dig at Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. Absolutely fantastic song, really beautiful and although not easy for me to do, in fact it was stretching my ability, actually do-able. Looking forward to practising it and getting better at them both.
Not played properly for a while so fingertips are a little sore now again…
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Couple of observations…
Learning to play songs isn’t just the end game, it can really turbo charge your learning, probably due to real world experiences from real world applications of techniques.
Also, learning a song with finger picking is (bloody hard) a very useful tool for checking the quality of your chords. If your chord fingering is inadvertently muting other strings even the smallest amount, the finger picking will highlight that!
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OK, its been over 2 years now…
I’ve just done a (dodgy) facsimile of Wonderwall… 16th timing is VERY hard for me to grasp and the strumming pattern was impossible for a very long time! But, I’ve got a recognisable version of it to practice now…
In other news…
Another new addition to the family…
My previous electric was a very poor copy of a Strat. I mean, it was guitar shaped, but thats where the similarity ends. It was truly dreadful, but I paid £20 second hand because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a fad. I had it in the back of my mind that I would upgrade at some time… Then my boy and I decided to pop in to PMT…
Yamaha Pacifia 311 VRM. She is a million miles away from that which she replaced and altogether very lovely! 
Also, while playing with guitars with my boy (he’s much more advanced, experiences and accomplished than me despite playing for the same amount of time, the git) he pointed out that my strumming is really hard and harsh. I recorded my attempt at Wonderwall and can actually hear what he means… There is no softness or gentleness to the strumming so the emphasised strums are way over the top!
I’ve noticed that I am holding the pick too hard and that its going too close / deep to the strings… I’m not known for my gentle touch so this will be a real challenge! I’m going to be practising and playing the “How Soft Can I strum Without Missing The Strings” game…
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I don’t if anyone knows this and it may be a secret which shouldn’t be spoken of… But I am willing to risk everything to blow the whistle on this big secret.
Ready?
Singing, counting (strums, beats, strumming patterns etc), strumming and playing all at the same time might just be the most difficult and complicated thing in the world to do!
I think juggling flaming chainsaws would be relatively easy in comparison…
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Hi John, I have been reading your learning log and can tell you have made great progress. Isn’t it great when understanding clicks and you began to understand how things work in music.
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Hi John, you are right that singing and playing guitar is a lot like juggling. I tried to learn juggling unsuccessfully, but the object was to practice with one ball until you can do it without thinking and only then add another ball. It is same with playing guitar and singing. You have to practice the strumming pattern until you can do without thinking, then playing the chord progressions until you don’t have to think about how to play the chords. Then you have to listen to the music and practice singing along with the music without playing the guitar. When you can do all of that then you combine singing and playing the guitar. it is not easy and some great blues guitarists like BB King never sing and play at the same time. When you start singing and playing use the simplest strumming and chord progressions, until you get better. Justin has a lesson in grade 3 module 20 on Singing and Playing at the Same time and even then he say start with the simplest grade 1 songs first, such as the one’s you learned at the very beginning. I can tell you are having fun, so I know that you will improve over time.
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Thank you!
Yes it’s a good reminder sometimes to look back at how far you have come in order to see the progress you have made.
Helps keep the motivation going!
For me, I can normally do anything physical without too much bother, but if it involves music (singing, dancing, playing) then it’s like I’ve never experienced anything like it!
Like trying to draw an elephant without knowing what an elephant is and only going by someone’s description of an elephant… 
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Holy Poo The Bed Batman!!! For anyone who struggles with 6/8 timing, no need to feel bad. It was invented by aliens.
I’m pretty sure it come out of Area 51… Clearly no right thinking human being would have created that monster…
Keeping in 6/8 timing and doing 2 strums on beats 1 and 4 and switching between C and D along with David Gray’s This Years Love is one of the most challenging things I have ever attempted. Like, I feel like my brain hurts and I need to go for a lay down after that…
Hang on a minute… Area 51… David Gray… Maybe that should be David Grey Little Alien Dude…
Yep, I think 6/8 timing has broken my brain…
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Hi John, good to read you’re back playing regularly, more motivated and inspired. Maybe while you were not playing so much (or not all) your mind was processing in the background some musical and guitar things that now are making more sense.
I’m practicing the same 6/8 strumming pattern that you are as part of practicing select material of the new beginner course grades 1 and 2 while consolidating the old beginner course. I’ve found it very difficult too. If you want to already use it in an actual song while learning it as I read you are, I think you can set aside some time for practicing just the pattern very slowly, maybe with muted strings, if you’re not already doing so. You can practice it as a warmup before practicing the song. In my case I’m practicing it very slowly so I can automate going down in 2 and 4 without playing any string, but coming up with an up strum right after. Not attempting chord changes yet.
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Since my lad mentioned to me a few weeks ago that I was strumming too hard, I’ve been trying to be aware of it and tweak it somewhat…
Unconnected to that, I recorded myself playing a little ditty of a tune I made up by playing with 6/8 timing and eMaj shape triads along the neck.
The standout for me is how much I can hear the plectrum on the strings…
Tell me, am I hearing too much in to it or is this an ok level and I’m making a mountain out of a molehill…
https://recorder.google.com/3961d24d-b97e-4a1e-8327-85516726d944
Seems like a fairly normal level of pick noise to me. Not sure what pick you are using but thicker picks generally create less noise, but they are more difficult to strum with if they get too thick. I think Justin generally uses a 0.6mm (Orange Tortex) for strumming, but uses significantly thicker picks for other playing.
I use a 0.88 (Green Tortex Flow) for strumming and picking, but also revert to the Orange one for strumming on acoustics - I actually quite like the sound as long as it’s not too obtrusive.
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Still working on trying to strum softer, less rigid, more fluidity and keeping the pic 1 or 2mm further away from the strings…
Also, possibly a little forward of my schedule, been having a play with triads… I come across them, kind of understood but not really getting it. So obviously I searched out a Justin video and found this one…
So here’s a question, which I might have to post elsewhere to get some attention on it…
For some reason, I REALLY struggle to mini barre the high E and B strings with finger 1 and then REALLY struggle to find a position for finger 2 to go on the G string without muting the B.
Its like to get there I have to squeeze hard enough to leave my fingerprint in the wood from finger 1… I end up making my middle knuckle of the finger hurt. But can’t seem to find a way round it.
However I can use fingers 1 and 2 for the B and E string and finger 3 for the G. Much more comfortable.
Is there a reason I shouldn’t use this fingering for it?
I enjoyed reading the log, John. Welcome!
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