Lisa's Learning Log

JokuMuu · July 25, 2024, 3:55am

Congrats, Lisa

I guess, you can call that extremely early music education. How nice for your little one that he can hear you play and sing

Your routine looks so organised and disciplined. Hmm… Now that I try to my set up routine, I notice that I have similar time issues (though my routine is only 45 min). What do you do if you can’t finish a routine on one day? Do you start it from the beginning? Or do you continue with the item where you stopped last time?

Hope the looper arrives soon. Sounds like a fantastic toy to play with

roger_holland · July 25, 2024, 5:17am

Hi Lisa,

And remember these happy thoughts when he is doing these actions on your bladder

And almost happy NPD

Greetings and wish you all the fun and comfort possible these special periode

Lisa_S · July 25, 2024, 5:04pm

@Jenndye429

Aaw, thanks a lot for your kind words, Jenn!

Confession time: The routine itself might look solid, but even I tend to noodle away in between. So you are not alone with that.

Yes, it is an amazing feeling and those little moments cover up for all the non-desirable side effects of pregnancy.

@JokuMuu

Thanks so much for your kind words, Nicole!

Haha, yes that’s true - but it’s a little forced though as he can’t escape, yet. Let’s see if he’s inspired to follow the creative/musical path one day or rather will be a little more technically oriented as his dad - or none of both.

As said above, it’s only looking as if. Often I get carried away, too.

It depends: When I split it on the same day, I just pick up where I left after little warm up. If there’s one day ore more break in between, I tend to start at the beginning again, but then try to pick items first, that were neglected due to splitting or pausing. For that reason, I try to keep up with my hand written practice journal, too, where I can clearly see what has been done in a given session.

@roger_holland

Thanks for your good wishes and congrats on my almost NPD. And also for reminding me of this:

He does it already and it’s definitely not that enjoyable, especially during the night.

PS: The Looper finally arrived today and I did the most crucial mistake already: I read the instructions. Nevertheless, I will have a noodle after my practice today.

TheMadman_tobyjenner · July 25, 2024, 6:16pm

You better avoid playing Metal then Lisa or you could be in for a right kicking, Either that or an internal mosh pit. Us men can only imagine how that might feel ! What a joy.

Silvia80 · July 26, 2024, 8:11am

Hi Lisa, I,'m happy to read you’re doing well and that your little treasure takes part to your playing sessions already . Grade 4 is like …wow! But you seem very well organised and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it without feeling it overwhelming! Although if you ask me, from what I heard in your recordings I would have called you an intermediate player already.

Lisa_S · July 26, 2024, 8:17pm

@TheMadman_tobyjenner

Toby, you’re feeding my imagination for the worst. I can’t help but visualize how my son is headbanging right now.

Sometimes I feel a little sorry for my man and also others, as you can’t feel as we do. Even though putting hands on the belly while the little one is dancing is quite impressive in itself. At least a way to share this kind of joy.

Thanks for checking in here and sharing a good laugh.

@Silvia80

Grazie mille, Silvia! Appreciate you checked in here. I also feel blessed to take my little one on my musical journey with me.

Thanks for your kind and encouraging words! But I have to admit, I started playing almost 22 years ago. So entering Grade 4 after that amount of time is… not so much impressive. Taking it nice and slow, each step at a decade or so.

Lisa_S · August 22, 2024, 8:02pm

Hi folks!

It’s time for a small update again. Due to still working full time, I unfortunately can’t manage to play guitar daily. Being in the middle of moving doesn’t help either. Currently play days are averaging between 3 and 5 per week, which hopefully will settle at the 5 soon. Only one more week of working. Yeah!

My newly set routine works nicely, even if I only manage to go through it once or twice per week. The other play days are just practicing songs or noodling with the looper.

Using the looper is great fun and I haven even tried everything what’s possible with this tool! For now, I mainly play a progression, select a drum beat and then trying to improvise with my scale patterns over this progression. I think I still suck at it, but I’m enjoying it to great extent. A nice thing about the RC-500 is, that the drums are autosynchronized to the recorded sequence. So far, I haven’t tried it vice-versa (i.e. putting up drum beat first and then recording along). Also, I’m not yet ready to use it in a more creative way with regards to layering and overdubbing. Hitting the foot switch at the right moment is still a little struggle, but it’s getting better with practice. Once this is solid, I can start thinking about building a piece with several layers.

The Grade 4 items are coming along nicely during structured practice sessions. Even if I don’t practice as much as I’d like to, I notice some improvements for some areas, i.e. for the minimum movement and the fretboard knowledge. But I also notice where I truly suck. One of these points is string bending. I can hear the pitches quite ok, but I can’t get that motion right. This will be a long way until it will work…

But during the last weeks, I noticed some other issue that is getting bigger (quite literally ). Being rather short, I always felt my acoustic actually is a little to big being a Dreadnought. As I got used to it during the years, it didn’t bother me that much. But now with the growing belly it’s becoming a problem, especially when practicing seated. The guitar body is farther away from mine and is getting slightly tilted. Therefore, the right arm has a tough time reaching around and strumming smoothly. It really can be heard as strumming sounds more tense, less relaxed. Just a little awkward.

For song practice, one way to overcome this issue was playing standing up. This worked for a while, but now the belly is also causing the guitar to tilt while standing, resulting in a little weird angling I need to get used to. Also, standing for a longer duration doesn’t get easier these days…

I guess, there’s no solution to this except waiting for two more months (and a little after)… There is another smaller sized guitar placed over at a friend’s. He’ll bring it down next time he visits, but it has been neglected for the last years. Will need some care before it is playable again. But hopefully it will help solving the problem of reaching around with my T-Rex-arms . Unfortunately, it’s an acoustic without pick-up, so won’t help for a possible OM performance with my current setup, so there it will be the big Cort again.

roger_holland · August 23, 2024, 5:50am

Hi isa ,
What a nice, sweet update, you are still busy for a while. Busy with everything and especially work, but fortunately with a great prospect…

If only you had an electric guitar, that would give you a lot of room to grow…unfortunately…otherwise come and have a coffee, I have more I don`t use so you have choice that you can borrow …3 hours and 50 minutes for you if you keep to the speed limit… so 2/3 hours ???
My mother passed by your town last week… If only you told earlier

Almost vacation. . good luck the last few days

Greetings

JokuMuu · August 23, 2024, 6:10am

Hmm… What about an emergency uke? You could justify it with the need of just having to practice soft goodnight and other childrens’ songs

GrumpyMac · August 23, 2024, 9:00am

or a banjo ?

Lisa_S · August 23, 2024, 3:08pm

Ladies and gentlemen, please don’t talk me into a NGD/NUD - it was incredibly hard work to convince myself not to buy something new and I was there - almost!

Haha, no I know you all have the best intentions.

@roger_holland

Hi Rogier,

your offer to borrow an electric guitar is so sweet, and makes me happy so much, you can’t believe. While reading your message my smile got bigger and bigger! Thanks for that!
I own an electric guitar, too. That’s the one I’m using for the looper and also some practice. But there are items on my list for which I prefer the acoustic and it’s also easier for songs, because my amp doesn’t have an XLR-input for Mic.

The invitation for the coffee I will keep in mind. Maybe one fine day we will go on vacation to the Netherlands, so we can stop by and say hello.

@JokuMuu

Hi Nicole,

I always thought about getting an uke, too, and your suggestion is tempting. I mean, all the reasons you list are true, but I can’t justify it right now. We need lots of stuff for the baby, so the uke has to wait a little - maybe when he’s old enough to enjoy playing himself. Until then, I’ll go for gentle fingerpicking on the guitar - as hopefully the vast majority of the belly will be gone after birth.

@GrumpyMac

Hi Deborah,

my banjo would be an option size-wise. But unfortunately, these things are really heavy (at least mine), so I can’t play it for too long. Also, I’m so much out of practice for banjo, I would need to start right from the beginning again.

Silvia80 · August 23, 2024, 5:15pm

Lisa this is the sweetest update one can ever read
Just a thought…if the playing isn’t coming easy you might enjoy all the other aspects like ear training maybe? Or working out some little melody for your little one and singing…Or mindful listening or whatever doesn’t require posture and technique…but something that can keep you nicely engaged and can be relaxing for you…

Lisa_S · August 23, 2024, 6:49pm

That’s some good food for thought, Silvia! Thanks a lot for that. I will definitely considering your suggestions.

Especially this:

would be a beneficial thing to do, as I rarely take my time to do that and it is relaxing and beneficial, too.

TheMadman_tobyjenner · August 24, 2024, 9:04pm

This did make me chuckle Lisa, again !! I have no excuse for the lump that sits below my ribcage. It doesn’t kick and does not roll with the vibe of what I am playing. Big belly and dreads are a challenge but think of how those deep tones are nurturing you little one. Its temporary and likely to shrink well before mine does. And then you have two joys in your life, Its just a bump in the journey

nsladendew · August 24, 2024, 9:25pm

Inspiring. Thanks!

Lisa_S · August 25, 2024, 7:14pm

Same for me and your comment, Toby! Currently, you would definitely lose the lump competition, though.

You are right with all you’re saying. It might be a little dread now, but on the other hand, all the joy coming along with the odd belly outweighs it by any means (please remind me I said that in a few months after lots of sleepless nights ), so I’m not worrying too much.

Like those speed bumps they put in place to slow traffic down.

Thanks for checking in, Toby, and once again sharing a good laugh.

@nsladendew

Glad you found something inspiring in my log, Nicholas! It’s good these logs are also beneficial for those who read, not only the ones writing them. Thanks for checking in.

Cyril_fr · October 26, 2024, 9:44am

Hello Lisa,

Long time without update, and we are now one week after October 19th, so I am wondering how you are doing…
Any good news?

roger_holland · October 26, 2024, 9:59am

Also hi Lisa

This morning I was also thinking that it’s almost B-day ,

and I was looking for a way to subtly ask how things are going … oh well, it can also be done this way.

In any case, we wish you all the best from the Low Lands

Greetings

Lisa_S · November 1, 2024, 7:42pm

Thanks so much for caring and asking, Cyril @Cyril_fr and Rogier @roger_holland.

Sorry I didn’t reply sooner, we’re still adjusting to the new normal here.

Lisa_S · July 12, 2025, 8:09pm

Now even the board puts pressure on me and makes me feel guilty about neglecting my learning log (and the guitar) for that long… But my absence is justified, at least kind of.

Finally, the past few days the situation related to the guitar started to change. I managed to play for a good 30 to 40 mins in the evenings before concentration went south completely. Even though all my callouses are gone, it’s not the sore fingertips that’s limiting play time. Probably the sensory receptors up there are dead already.

I’m still evaluating how to set up a new routine. Currently, it focuses mainly on fingerstyle. Song practice is kind of on hold, at least the singing. I still have a doubt it might wake up Vincent, as I only practice when he’s asleep, and the walls here seem to be made of quite stable paper when it comes to noise cancellation.
Some experimenting is needed what is possible with strumming (with a pick) so that at least the accompaniments of my repertoire can be resurrected and maybe even improved. Let’s see.

So fingerstyle it is for the moment. Luckily enough, I collected a lot of different, a little redundant material/books on the matter, so it will keep me busy. Once dexterity is restored a little more, also chord melody arrangements (not my own, though) could be an option.

With resprect to Grade 4 of Justin’s course, I will put it on hold, too. Practice time is quite limited still, so I want to focus on one topic first. As stamina increases, I might include a few items later on.

But that’s not all. My musical journey as such was not completely on hold the past few months. Once Vincent started to sleep alone for a few hours in the evening before we go to bed, I started working on my course for “digital music production” again and managed to finish 10 months worth of material in the past 4 months or so. Final evaluation is still pending, but I’m quite hopeful to finish the program with a very good grade. Not that it’s worth something or of any use, but it’s a quite nice boost for my ego.
The course was really interesting and fruitful. If I ever get to recording stuff again, it will certainly up the game at least for audio parts. Putting audio and video together thereafter…
As DAW, I probably will stick with Cubase for now, as it was included in the course fees and I really got used to it. Drawback: it will be costly in case of an upgrade, but currently, the elements version should suffice anyhow.

So far that’s the latest news on the music-parts. For those interested: Vincent is doing great and we kind of settled into our new life as a family. It’s such a pleasure to see the little one develop and grow, it’s stunning. Most of the time, he is a smiling, laughing cutie pie with an enourmous appetite. Jeez, that guy can eat. 10.4 kg and counting… In the past 4 to 5 weeks, he first started crawling, learned how to sit on his own and now even stands up with the help of furniture or mom and dad. Incredible, how fast all these things happen. Also, he enjoys to listen to me playing and singing - for approx. 3 mins, then it’s getting boring or he wants to lick the guitar (pun intended). In September, we start a child and parent singing-playing-course at our local music school. I’m looking forward to this soooo much.

That’s it for now. Hope to get back in the saddle fast. Thanks for stopping by and reading. Have a great day!

Cheers - Lisa