Interesting, apparently they did even bother to record his foot stomps at some point. I’ll need to read up on that some more.
In this video as well both Mr. Hooker and John Hammond are slightly on the stomping front rather than tapping tamely . 
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Coming along well, Nicole. Sounded pretty good. I like your self-assessment. Keep on keeping on!
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My fifth one on one guitar lesson is behind me and it went rather horrifically bad.
The thing with such in person lessons is, they will happen no matter whether they were preceded by a stressful workday or not, they will happen whether it’s the guitar equivalent to a bad hair day or not.
What I was so happy about last Monday, playing together with my teacher, turned out to be a curse this time. I was simply still stressed and annoyed from work. Not ideal for playing with another person. I kept on making the silliest, easy mistakes and the more that happened the more annoyed I got.
In the end we went through verse and chorus of “Have you ever seen the rain” two times okay. I managed to keep time and foot tapping (yes, yes and stomping to some extent) simply happened, which is at least something to be content about.
The verdict is that my strumming has improved after the short time we have been working together in those one on one lessons. It’s not great yet though, but I’m on the right track with that.
The three scales from Grade 2 remain major building blocks, especially getting used to playing them with a pick and playing them confidently and evenly in front of somebody else.
Accordingly I should find some time this week for working on my scales, I hadn’t foound any time for that last week.
The lesson ended with the encouraging request: “Ah, yes, and strum something. It’s always good to play and learn different songs.”
Now, where do I find the time for all that? 
Good thing is that it will be a major surprise if my next in person lessons will be as disastrous as this one. All too soon it will be Monday… Again
Major takeaways from this lesson: I am too hard on myself - plus I am too impatient. Still.
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Ah the growth vs fixed mindset, Nicole. Glad you took some learning. And you are right about how our state can influence things. I suppose figuring out a way to take some kind of metaphorical shower to wash away the day and be prepared for the guitar time is something to work on.
In my chess world some say never even start a game if you are not in the conducive state. Of course you don’t have the option when it is a scheduled lesson.
Best is the acknowledgement of progress and the realisations you shared. No ‘still’ about it 
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Please keep that in mind always, especially part one of the takeaway. 
I couldn’t agree more with David on this. We are all only human, we will have good days, bad days, some days in between… You know, that’s life. And even out of the bad, something good can grow and if it is “just some learning” about yourself.
It’s good to see you are making progress and it shows through even on “bad days”. And if life gets in the way again, I guess open communication with Jari will get this sorted, too. So no need to add stress again. If it’s too much, just focus on one thing rather than putting too much in a practice week.
By the way: I have the same “issue” with getting lost in the time/song when not singing along. In the past year, I tried to slowly address that by simply learning a song from the beginning without even thinking of singing along. Hardest part is keeping me mouth shut. But it helps starting to build it from strumming rather than from singing perspective, but still a long way to go for me, too.
Hopefully, the situation at work will calm down soon, so you can enjoy your guitar time as much as possible again.
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At least you recognise that you’re too hard on yourself. That’s the first step. I’d describe myself as a recovering perfectionist… it really was a curse no matter what anyone will tell you. I’ve taught myself to be ok with “the best I could do today” and to strive for good enough rather than perfection. Striving for perfection only ever results in misery because everything can always be better once you get in that mindset.
If you find yourself stressed maybe look into some breathing exercises such as box breathing and give that a go for a few minutes. I’ve learned a number of breathing exercises as part of my yoga practice and they really can help as something of a mental reset
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@DavidP @Lisa_S @mattswain Many thanks to all of you.
In the end, the quite dreadful one on one lesson yesterday is and will be a very, very valuable one.
I didn’t pack my guitar and did not storm out of the room in embarrassment. I did not run away but fought my way to somewhat acceptable playing. I had had no idea that I would able to do that. So that’s good. That’s very good.
Things are happening slowly. I just have to learn not to think in those lessons, but just to play. The more I thought about my mistakes, the worse I played.
Accordingly, my goal for the next lesson is just to allow myself to have fun 
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Self analysis likely spot on but aren’t we all. If work has been 
and you know you have a lesson, I would suggest some meditation to relax and just letting go. Clear the mind and drop the work related negativity and just breathe. 
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Is it realistic to have a lesson every week? Can you really practise enough in a week to bring enough visible improvement to the next lesson?
I guess the tutor will want you to pay every week.
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There wasn’t time for that yesterday @TheMadman_tobyjenner But yes, I’ll try to have some time for a real break between work and guitar lesson next time 
I guess that’s how it normally goes in that music school @sairfingers . Half an hour once per week. The positive aspect is that this “every week” routine will motivate me to play guitar … the negative side is indeed that I don’t have much time for practicing during work weeks, accordingly there is no visible improvement as you say.
For now, I think this “every week” routine is good for me, because I enjoy so much playing together with another person. Even yesterday, in those short moments when I didn’t make mistakes
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Nicole I can suggest a very suitable 20 minute session that is on Insight Timer, a total chill pill.
Lovely teacher from Melbourne down in Oz. DM me for details if interested. There is always time, even 5 minutes will do the trick, even sitting in a car park, yes I have done and do that frequently. 
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Hi Nicole, just playing some catch up on your thread. Interesting to read of the challenges that have led to insights for you recently. It is really encouraging to read that you stop and consider what has happened, put it into perspective, take away the learnings, and continue to move forward. That in itself, says a lot! You will continue to make excellent progress with that approach, I’m sure. As far as foot tapping along with playing is concerned, I don’t have any magical insights on that, but I can share something from my progress. It was certainly something I have struggled with, in fact just counting along in my head is still a major barrier for me. What I found with foot tapping is that when I use the front of my foot to tap (i.e. my heel stayed on the ground), I would tap too fast or I would tap 8th or 16th notes (depending on the speed of the song). So I switched to keeping the ball of my foot on the floor and tapping with my heel, which slowed me down. Looking at your video, it seems you are lifting your whole foot of the ground. I don’t see a real problem with that (although perhaps it would limit your ability to keep up with higher tempos, that tapping the front of the foot more easily allows), but in fact it adds dynamic movement to your playing that in some ways makes it even more engaging to watch In fact, even further on that, I have seen some acoustic guitarists playing live, using stomp pedals as a “drum” and it sounds awesome! Maybe that is something worth investigating, if you haven’t already, as it would give your foot an additional purpose, not only keeping the beat but adding to your performance 
Not sure if you’ve checked these out before, but there’s lots of vids out there and I found this one helpful (disclaimer, I have never purchased one but am keen to do so in the future some time. IN fact if anyone does purchase a stomp box, I’d be keen to hear reviews 
):
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Uuuh… Jeff @nzmetal , you should have seen my eyes getting bigger and bigger while watching the video. I had not idea that such things exist… Thanks for the idea
I will definitely do more research. I always thought that my first pedal would be a looper pedal, but that might just have changed. Those things are great.
No idea whether it will be half a year, a year or longer until I buy one, but I absolutely want to try such thing
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If I only would have had even five minutes on Monday…
Thank you @TheMadman_tobyjenner Toby. DM incoming soon
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“Strum something!” … that was the order I had received from my guitar teacher last Monday.
It proved to be real difficult to decide what this “something” should be. In the end I’m going for two songs that will be “nice to have” on my campfire song list.
-
Heroes
(yes, of course it had to be Bowie) -
The times they are a-changing
(… Can’t go wrong with good old Dylan, and if I - many, many months from now will get it to sound a bit as relevant as Eddie Vedder’s version, I’ll be happy. And … Yes, of course, it’s simply so much fun to play and sing this)
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Looking forward to hearing you play the harmonica parts too Nicole. 
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Likewise can’t wait for this Nicole, tis a great strummer. Enjoy.
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What?!? 
Hmm, maybe not. Or maybe if I try to imitate a harmonica instead? Or some dissonant whistling?
Hmm… …I never said that I would record any of it 
Started playing it a bit yesterday and it will still take some time to get the slash chord sequence right. … Let’s see how this will develop.
But, yes , who knew that it would take an old fashioned protest song in 3:4 to make me start to like playing with a pick…
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Is there such a thing as a new fashioned protest song ? Bob Dylan sings "No Clicks on Tik Tok " Blues. The times they are have been changing !! On the recording front, zen patience will prevail.
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Such a great song, Nicole. I first heard it performed by the more folk group, The Seekers. Also first heard Blowing in the Wind and California Dreaming on their records which my parents played, before I’d heard of Dylan and The Mamas and the Papas. In my defence I was 9/10 years old at the time.
As for playing it, I have always struggled to get the groove, not to mention a lot of lyrics to memorise.
Have fun.
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