Hmmm… It would be so nice to see and hear where you are now? Maybe a song you really love and don’t mind practicing over and over again? Looking forward to a new video in the near future. 
Yes, recording the fifth song and publishing as AVOYP was the idea. But it looks as if I have lost valuable time now hurting my arm…
I want to get back to practicing tomorrow. Let’s see how it goes
It may be coming soon, looks like I’ll be going back to a Grade 1 song, but with Old Faithful strumming this time. Bad Moon Rising by CCR is making me very happy right now. 
Even if I can’t quite get it up to full speed, 90% sounds better though. At least that’s my excuse!
If it sounds good, it is good. Period. 
Looking forward to the video.
How you playing OH for the split A G bar?
For the split bar, just down strums, 2 for each chord. I learned that from @Richard_close2u on another thread somewhere. It’s working out great. Don’t know if he also does that for Up Around the Bend by CCR but I’m trying it there, too.
Probably mine as I was ‘pushing’ the second part. Didn’t realise this at the time!! See this post Chord Changes with different strumming patterns - #11 by Richard_close2u
Anyway for this one I have been using D D D DU+ for both full and split bars. Sounds OK!
Apologies to the OP for taking over this thread 
Yup, that’s the one! lol. And to keep our mini thread hi-jack relevant:
GO @JokuMuu , GO JOKUMUU!!! 
Happy to host discussions in my LL. All good.
No playing today still. This arm is driving me crazy… Grrr… I want to play. 
But yes. The voice of reason called again. It’s a good sign that the arm hurts more now, right? It must be a sign that the huge black spot starts disappearing…
its pretty normal , the body always feel the pain later on …
I did it. I played. Hadn’t been playing for almost a week because of the bruised left arm and it started to drive me mad. After playing a bit more than an hour, the arm is tense and makes itself known from shoulder to fingers, but I’m happy
What a strange practice session this was. Playing a song with changes from Em to Fmajor7 with a C bass meant realising that this change maybe isn’t one of the easiest. There is a lot of movement going on…
Then again Fmajor7 with a C bass is a brilliant chord to experiment with. It’s just a small step to the thumb over F chord and barre chord F. It’s somewhat amazing… I noticed that I can play the thumb over F with all strings ringing out clearly - didn’t try changing to it and back from it though. Today was also the first day when more of my attempts at barre chord F were successful than unsuccessful.
I tried using the barre chord F in the song I’m practicing and that’s kind of a trainwreck so far but I can change from an existing barre chord F to standard open G reasonably fast. It’s interesting how much of my F barre chord success depends on my own expectations - as soon as I start to think nothing works. Practicing that shape in the fifth fret… Supposedly easier? No go, probably because I was way too impatient…
Regarding moving on from Grade 1 to Grade 2… Given the long forced break I had, I will not be able to have my fifth song in a shape that is worth sharing by 16.2. I can however play and sing the entire song by heart…
Thus I will do this: Tomorrow I will move on to Grade 2 - seeing that my fifth song does anyhow include an F chord and seeing that practicing various F shapes has become part of my practice routine. I will however continue working on the fifth song and publish it in AVOYP once I feel it’s good enough for the moment.
Aah… and @roger_holland : We have had quite a lot of snow today. This time I’m bragging, because I think this picture is quite successful 
Glad to read you can finally play again, Nicole!
Sounds like a good session with some light-bulb-moments. Also glad you decided to move on - it’s reasonable and actually, knowing a 5 songs by heart and play them through is checked. It’s never mentioned you should also share a recording. 
But I’m really looking forward to it, so you basically have to, but not to pass Grade 1. 
Have loads of fun in Grade 2!
I know some of the chords are moveable, I tried that when I found myself playing a darn near perfect f chord. Froze that shape, slid down the fretboard, and disaster. Apparently, it’s not as easy as it looks. Not for me anyway! 
I only recorded 2 of my Grade 1 songs, I didn’t think that was a requirement. I could play them fairly well though before I moved on. Now that my playing has improved somewhat that may change.
And that’s a lot of snow. I haven’t personally seen quantities like that since the Blizzard of '78 when I was in college in Massachusetts. You can keep it. 
One of the perks of the place I’m living in being located at the Baltic Sea, is that we get lots of snow… I would be very willing to share it, Rebecca, it’s getting boring after having had it here more than three months already
@Lisa_S and @LunaRocket … Lisa,Rebecca…yes, yes… I know it’s not a requirement. It just felt so silly stating a personal goal and then backing off… 
Moving shapes? Yeah, well no …not yet. I keep on losing the shape on the way. It will come with time, I hope.
Officially leaving my safe space in Grade 1 feels more daunting than it should I dreamt the whole night about playing guitar. Well… at least, due the strike, my weekend already started and I will have lots of time for practicing, provided that my arm allows
Hi Nicole, glad to read, that your arm is getting better! Good decision to move on to Grade 2, you won’t regret, you are already overripe to do so! I was on the prudent side with moving along to Grade 2 and then spent a long time there, but a lot of things, that needed more work, got better just by the way, without bigger effort. I then took a longer consolidation after Grade 2 too.
You’re doing really well! Keep on keeping on !
Hi Nicole. Catching up on your LL this morning. Ouch. Hope that arm is improving. Sounds like you’re practicing hard despite everything.
Great update.
Thanks… I’m happy with my decision. Let’s see how it goes. The real learning starts here. There are so many new things to learn … I have no rush whatsoever. It will take the time that it will take.
@sairfingers Gordon, thanks. Yes, I have been very, very lucky. The arm hurts after playing just like now, but how much worse it would have been with a broken arm, ruptured tendon or so… All good. Especially since I yearned so much for playing when I tried to be sensible and didn’t play. It’s just another sign that I’m finally on the right track 
For the first time I’m really making use of the practice assistant on the website. I set up my routine on Thursday, watched the module 8 videos again and searched songs I could play with the stuck 3 & 4 chords - amazing how much time that took. Practicing itself was still rather unstructured on Thursday… this changed yesterday.
Since I have no idea how disciplined I will be in the future, practicing different things with a stop watch, here is proof that I at least tried in the last days.
Module 8 is fun. My pinky is hurting more than my arm. I love the sound of the Rock G, hold personal grudges against the four finger Em7, I’m amazed that I haven’t been giving up on at least trying to mute strings when playing the scale ( at the speed of a sloth). Most of all, I’m very surprised that practicing the “Wish you were here”-riff is not a hopeless endeavour… seems that there are very, very small sparks of hopes.
Left arm feels strange, but hey, what is a bit of pain. That will pass
Yeah, I’m not fond of that one, either. I am fond of the Practice Assistant, though. I find myself trying to best the time I got the previous day. I’m actually managing about an hour a day now, and I know when I see only 30-minute days, it’s usually because nothing was going right. 
My pinkie took forever to stop hurting, hopefully you will be painless sooner rather than later.
Quite many days have passed since my last LL-update. Have I progressed a lot since then? No, I haven’t. I’m still in module 8 and besides that I’m trying to get better at easy riffs and melodies.
For various reasons I am under a lot of stress at work. I haven’t even had time to keep up with this lovely community. I’m that worn out and almost over my limits of strength and energy. I have a feeling the next work week will be yet another dimension of demanding and tiring. Consequently, there will be so much to catch up on, when I hopefully have time to relax during the upcoming Easter days. I’m quite curious to see what I have missed.
Last year in September, I have been under a similar amount and quality of stress at work. Back then I stopped playing the guitar. That is not happening now. I have not given up playing. Not for a moment. That’s good news I guess.
Nicole
Sometimes life just gets in the way and yes things have to take priority over playing and learning. Just think of the space you were in around Christmas, that guitar was not at the fore front of your mind and quite rightly. Life has a tendency to balance itself out. So take so take a long deep breathe during these lean times, abundance and playing pleasure will return when the time is right.
Hope your old man is doing well and behaving himself but like I said back then, look after your own well being.
Take care.
