My guitar journey started at the end of October 2021 when I decided to “just have a look” and then left the shop after my first guitar lesson and with a Sigma JM-SGE+
I called it “Marvin”
2 or 3 days later I installed the Justin Guitar app and practiced everyday. He motivated me so much, that I haven’t had any bad guitar day until now!
A week before Christmas I finished Grade 1.
My most played songs were Chocolate Jesus, How to safe a life and cool kids.
On Christmas I decided to take Marvin with me to my family and played “How to safe a life”, “Cool kids” and “Alle Jahre wieder” in front of them and they were surprised - in a good way!
( I was really unhappy because I realized that I need new strings right now - the B String sounded horrible!)
Two days later I changed the strings and started with Grade 2. I was really surprised how new strings changed the sound of Marvin. It was a blast.
Last week I practiced the F Chord and the “Wish u were here” Riff and I’m totally happy because I get the F Chord every second time I try. A week ago I thought “I will never get this beast!”
Tomorrow I’m going to start with the new Riff and I have to practice not to stare at my fingers!
And I want to record something with my ipad but don’t know how.
Hey Katie love your positive attitude and enthusiasm, keep it up!
You don’t have to do anything special with the iPad, just use the selfie camera and hit the record button and that’ll be plenty good to share your first recordings. Then just post it to YouTube and share the link here. Simples!
We tend to get really fancy with our setups but have a look at Nathaniel Murphy for example, zeppelinbarnatra on Instagram. He got really famous but all he did was use his phone and connected a little external microphone to it.
If you want to invest a bit and get some proper gear down the road there will always be plenty of knowledgeable people here who’ll be more than happy to help out.
Hi Katie and welcome. Great start to your LL and I look forward to more in the future and perhaps a recording of you and Marvin in action when you feel ready to post.
Hi Katie, looks like you’re doing ok - playing tunes is the best way to go forward especially if you can play and sing them to others!
With regards to using your iPad to record yourself to record into GarageBand you need an audio interface that works with an iPad. There are a few ways of doing it at a variety of costs.
This is a commonly used plain Audio interface, it is quite good!
Another way to do it is by using a MultiFX unit that has Audio connectivity, this is one of the best at its cost, the advantage of this is that it has a lot of effects etc for your guitar and also is great for an Electric guitar that you will probably be interested in later.
Either would do the job, it all depends on whether you want the extra facilities that the second one would give you.
Alternatively you can just use your iPad to record you direct, just set it up on something like a music stand and off you go. Obviously the recording quality will not be as good as if you recorded it through an Audio interface but would be adequate to start with.
Bravo on starting the Learning Log, and all the progress made, Katie.
I agree with @SS7 viz. you can make your first recordings just using the built-in camera and mic on your iPad. That is more that sufficient for early days recordings shared to get feedback on progress.
Once you get further down the road, have a better sense of what you want to be doing, then you can consider recording gear based on what you want to achieve.
I was really surprised how new strings changed the sound of Marvin. It was a blast.
