Thanks, I don’t really see a difference in the placement of the guitar, but I definitely see that it’s doing its usual tilt which pulls my elbow back. The guitar simply slides out on my leg. It’s why I occasionally make jokes about attaching Velcro.
Hi Rebecca,
sometimes I had the same issue with my Electric, don’t know exactly why it was different from time to time, but what I found is: Putting my right leg onto a foot rest, so my guitar sits more tightly to my body and can’t slide down the leg. Have you tried this before? Maybe this could be a little help. Fingers crossed for more guitar grip. 
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I’ve been doing this for months. I still can’t figure out what’s going wrong. My first half of practice today I really tried to be conscious of where the guitar was and after about the first 15 minutes though I had it okay, at least no arm pain by the end. Then I took a break, walked the dogs and started my second half and before the end, the upper muscles of my strumming arm were aching. It’s the same feeling I had when I tore my rotator cuff. But my surgeon, many years ago, assured me, it was fixed.
So, I’m still doing something wrong, and this is very frustrating. Tomorrow I’ll try my old office chair instead of the kitchen stool I’ve been using and see how that goes. Otherwise, I’ll be fiddling around with this all during my vacaction.
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You should be able to look straight down and see your strumming hand - for me it is very slightly to the right but I can easily see my hand without turning my head to the right at all. If you sit in a chair without the guitar but with your hand resting in your lap that is pretty much the position you want. I suspect this is the cause of your arm pain.
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A hopefully short update as I am trying to stay awake after eating turkey, stuffing, gravy, and an assortment of pies for our Thanksgiving dinner over here in the states. I was doing all the cooking and cleaning so I had no time to practice today. I did get 55 minutes in yesterday.
I’m still where I am a month ago. A couple days ago I discovered my mini F chord was wrong, I seem to have merged the Mini F with the Fmajor/C and was using 4 fingers for the mini F by adding the pinkie on the 5th string 3rd fret. It sounded fine while “playing” House of the Rising Sun (still at 60% speed) so I just kept doing it that way. I am now practicing the Mini F the correct way and so have put the song on hold as I still automatically go to this odd merged chord.
I am still in Module 10. I had a great time on my vacation in Massachusetts at the beginning of November and didn’t have a lot of practice time there, but I did manage to get a little in here and there every few days. It wasn’t the most comfortable, the only place to practice was the edge of the bed, but I managed.
Speaking of comfort, I have been trying to reorient my guitar/body alignment including getting a lightly taller stepstool for my right leg and thus far I’ve only felt a twinge of the upper arm pain I’ve been having. This is a good thing, I just hope it continues.
Since I’ve got the Song Ap, I discovered the 12 Christmas song bundle and have tried a few, so far, I like practicing Jingle Bells and Silent Night. I had to learn the D7 and A7 but they seem easy enough as long as I don’t go too fast yet. I’ve tried O Come All Ye Faithful, but with 7 chords , it’s a bit trickier plus I need to figure out if I can transpose it to a different spot on the fret board, my voice is either way too high or too low. Still, just learning the first 2 by Christmas I think would be plenty.
That’s all for now.
ETA: I woke up enough to get in 31 minutes of practice! Now I’m going to bed. 
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Gotta say it while it’s true: I’ve played guitar every day this year! 
Quick update. I’m staying in the middle of Grade 2 Module 10, I have no desire at this point to finish the module, I’ve mainly been playing songs, taking @Richard_close2u 's mantra to heart! I’m definitely better at most of these except the Rising Sun, but that change to the mini–F is noticeably better than a month ago, so there is hope. I tried it once today at 70% speed, iffy, but I’ll keep trying.
Songs and why I’ve chosen them:
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac - F major 7
Hey, Hey, My, My by Neil Young - F major 7
The House of the Rising Sun - Traditional/ the Animals - Mini F
Wonderwall - Oasis - stuck 3/4 chords
As Tears go By - the Rolling Stones - weak G
I’m going to stay playing these for now until I can get House of the Rising Sun to sound okay at a speed faster than 60% on the App. I just don’t feel comfortable adding/learning new things when I’m not improving in being able to play actual songs.
I’ve been neglecting my Grade 1 repertoire as well, so I’m throwing a couple of those songs in now and then, too. I’ll probably try one of the Christmas songs with the D7 now and then, too, as that particular chord is so-so.
In any case, with the holidays having wound down, I’m getting more effective practice in than I did in December, when I missed a lot of days due to illness or had super short sessions because of no time. Plus, I’m enjoying myself more. Too much stress last month!
Also randomly doing chord change practice and Alternate C picking as that was getting rusty.
But still, mostly songs, songs, songs!
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My mini-F in the House of the Rising Sun is getting better so I’ve managed to speed up to 70% in the App. I’ve discovered in playing the Stones song that my A chord needs work, I haven’t used it so long it’s getting rusty. I also reviewed the first half of the Module 10 lessons and realized I’d totally forgotten about the A mini chord so started practicing that and will see if it helps with As Tears Go By.
I’ve also just started practicing Have you Ever Seen the Rain by CCR and really need to work on my F barre changes from Am and from C major.
Still happily plugging away.
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Well, I’ve been practicing diligently and trying new strumming patters with:
As Tears go By
Dreams
Hey, Hey, My, My
What’s Up
and Bad Moon Rising
And of course, my ability to sing along has gone right out the window, except, for some reason, I can sort of sing along with As Tears go By, though I had to slow it down to do it.
My F chord variations are coming along nicely though and I’m almost ready to try House of the Rising Sun at 80% any day now.
Another week maybe and I’ll start the rest of the Module 10 lessons and see how it goes.
edit: typos
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UPDATE
So, I’ve been practicing guitar for a bit over a year and have been in the Community almost the same amount of time. So, I thought I’d post a kind of progress report.
I officially started my guitar journey in January 2023. GR 1 Consolidation was in June 2023. I started Grade 2 in July and I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in Grade 2 Module 10 for some reasons that made sense to me a few months ago but now I’m thinking I was wrong for staying so long. So today I finally finished the lessons on Hammer-on, the Push thing, and the La Bamba Riff.
I can’t do the push thing to save me life, I spent 10 minutes on it, (the 1 minute practice was too short as I can barely do the strumming with muted strings) Once I can do that, I’ll shorten the practice as Justin recommends.
I understand the hammer- on but, obviously after only 1 practice session, it needs lots of work. As for La Bamba, I realize my ability to read TAB is woefully inadequate I barely have any idea where my fingers should be. So, I shall concentrate on those things while I move into Module 11 in the near future (I did watch the lesson on Fingerstyle as it was recommended for tomorrow’s Vintage Club #7.)
Besides the scales and the lessons from Modules 8, 9, and first half of 10, I was mainly doing a lot more than 5-10 minutes of Repertoire Revision. If nothing else, I’ve probably got a jump-start on Grade 2 Consolidation when it comes to the songs. Now that I am moving forward again, I thought I’d looks back at where I was on Grade 1 songs compared to where I am now as well as where I am on Grade 2 songs.
Grade 1:
What’s Up by 4 Non Blondes - At consolidation I could sing it and play it without looking at the App all with down strums only. Now I can play it with the fancy 2 bar strumming pattern but lost the ability to sing along. That is going to take a lot more time.
For What it’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield - I had it memorized but with just down strums it was rather dull, now I’m trying the strumming pattern for the chorus recommended in the Songbook.
Up Around the Bend by CCR - This one is fast and fun. Had it memorized with all down strums, but I hadn’t practiced it in so long, my fingers were actually getting tied up between the A and D chords! Coming along better again with the Old Faithful strumming pattern and only down strums for the split chord barres.
Dreaming by Blondie - I have to admit, I totally forgot about this song till I was writing this post so no idea where I am on it now.
Bad Moon Rising by CCR - I was playing this one at 80% and thought I’d never get faster. Now I can do 100% but prefer it at 90% which is 161 BPM. I’m also singing along and using Old Faithful. I actually feel like I am rocking this song! It will probably be my next AVoYP.
Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and the Wailers is BORING. I tried the up strums instead of the down strums but I’m not feeling it and will retire it for now and replace it with something else…
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Grade 2:
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac - I can sing and play it mostly from memory at full speed along with the App and the Old Faithful strumming pattern.
Hey, Hey, My, My by Neil Young - Doing pretty well at full speed with a DDDUDU pattern. Still mess up when not looking at the App.
The House of the Rising Sun - Traditional/ the Animals - Using Mini F barre with this and dabbling with 80% speed though my F chord suffers. I also still flub it up when I don’t watch the App all the time.
Wonderwall - Oasis - This is boring me, I don’t have a fancier strumming pattern for it yet, so it sounds boring to me, I may set it aside for a while.
As Tears go By - the Rolling Stones - I chose this song to use the weak G chord and the one finger A chord. I’ve got it pretty well memorized, heck I did grow up singing it, (and most of the others already mentioned) so it might be headed into AVoYP territory soon. With the Old Faithful pattern, too.
I just threw Walk of Life by Dire Straits back into the mix as well with the 8 down strums per bar and using the (GASP) metronome at 129 BPM which is 75% speed. It’s only in the song book, not the App but I can mostly manage it okay.
I also started playing with Have you Ever Seen the Rain by CCR (I seem to be leaning heavily on that group for my repertoire!) It’s in the App and it has chord changes from both Am and C to the dreaded F barre chord so I can barely mange it at 70%. I only started up with it a few days ago.
I also play the Wish You Were Here riff every session and realized from La Bamba, that my TAB reading on that is also wonky, (wait, I should only be using 3 fingers on its version of the Em7?!!)
As you can see, my practice is really heavy with songs and not as much new stuff, so I need to do some time management as the practice sessions are tending to last more than an hour and I’m kind of neglecting stuff around the house. However, the hubby doesn’t seem to mind as long as he gets fed, and he even made a nice compliment to me: “I’m only playing notes” (he’s learning the BASS), “but you’re making music!” That felt really good. 
I have to say, when I first started a year ago, I never thought I’d be where I am now. Sometimes looking ahead at the lessons, the complexity of what’s to come instills a bit of anxiety but I still remember when I couldn’t play a freaking A chord. So, I shall keep on keeping on! 
edited for clarity and typos
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Hi Rebecca,
With such a clear commitment to song practice, playing and dedication you become a fine player
and with this dedication
to the guitar you make us more proud 
La Bamba cost me an enormous amount of practice … And being able to read and apply Tabs properly in the first year was also very difficult for me … Keep it up and it will really get easier, but you know that too 
… so have fun further the road
O this will be always a thing when not started before 18 years old I guess
and this is the best thing to remember
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Rebecca @LunaRocket
Interesting write up and you seem to be going on quite nicely. I admire your perseverance on sticking on one module for quite a while to get it right, must confess I often skip over something and come back to it later.
Interesting range of songs any particular reason for choosing them?
Michael
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Mostly, they’re in the App or one of Justin’s beginner songbooks AND I either grew up singing them, (classic rock gal here), so already have the music and words in my head. A lot of CCR is on the App, maybe because Justin said they’re one of his all-time favorite bands? They also are one of mine. “Newer” songs like What’s Up I just heard on one of the local radio stations a few times and the music, if not the words, stuck in my head. I decided I needed something post 60’s and 70s.
Also, further up the thread my Grade 2 songs were chosen to help learn these chords.
I’d really like to find a different song than Wonderwall for those stuck 3/4 chords, I tried the Green Day song, Good Riddance but found it difficult to play along with back track, there was too much going on in the background for me to keep the rhythm correct. I know you’re supposed to be able to choose different variations of chords if you think it works, I just haven’t got that kind of confidence or knowledge yet.
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Rebecca @LunaRocket
Your choice of songs is sort of what I expected you to say. At the beginning, in Grade 1 people choose songs they know, of course those that Justin has done lessons on as well
As you move onto Grade 2 I think you start to do what you say songs which have particular technique you are learning even if you don’t know them particularly well.
You sound as you play a lot with the original and/or the app, if that works for you then that’s fine. Speaking for myself I rarely do that and then only at the start of learning a song to get the feel for it. Of course I listen to the song a lot but try not to compete with it, just my way of doing things.
Michael
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Hi Rebecca, it’s sounds good enough to me for the stage you are at in your learning. When I play this song, I play at about this speed too, when I fingerpick this song.
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Congrats on the 1-year guitariversary, Rebecca!
No harm in spending a little longer and learning more songs! I’m taking a similarly slow approach - my G1 consolidation was January-March 2023, and I’m still working my way through G2 almost a year later. It’s not a race (and new techniques also do not have to be perfect before you move on…both can be true).
Twist and Shout is another good one for the rhythmic push - it was a song I tried early on in grade 1, but didn’t officially use as a grade 1 song, partially because the syncopation was so hard at that point! Then, when I got to the rhythmic push, I finally understood what it was I was trying to do.
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I plan on using the App to also find songs I am unfamiliar with to expand my repertoire. I figure if I don’t even know they exist it will be a good way to learn. I’ve already made a list of possible country songs. I don’t do country, but I have family who love it, so I thought I’d give it a go.
Plus, these are the only ones who tend to visit in summer and share an actual campfire with my husband and me. 
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Great update Rebecca, sounds like great progress too. It’s always good to read progress like this as I am just into Grade 2 and so it gives me some confidence in what I have to look forward to.
I can relate to spending a bit long in some areas, I tend to do this but its good to solidify the knowledge and the techniques, and its not a race anyway 
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Hi Rebecca, congratulations on the 1 year anniversary. You have made a lot of progress as can be seen in your progress report. Don’t let any one skill like the push strum discourage you. You can always practice this in the other modules and then you will be coming back to this at the end of Grade 2 during the consolidation period. You are making especially good progress in your song list, which is good since songs are what guitar is all about (at least to me).
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Well, I rewatched the module 10 lessons, learned I don’t have to be proficient on the push, and hammers-on etc., been playing lots of songs with various F chords, the wfG and 1 finger A and decided to start watching the Module 11 lessons today. I’ll continue practicing stuff from 8, 9 and 10 as I need to, of course and will start practicing some of Module 11 tomorrow.
But what really made me happy today was being able to play Bad Moon Rising, at full speed with Old Faithfull strumming pattern and it sounded good! Twice through with the App backing track and barely looking at the App at all. And Singing! It was a great way to end my practice. Hopefully, I can record it soon. Yeah, it’s only a Grade 1 song, but it’s a lot better than it was a few months ago. Repertoire revision works! 
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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Great little read Rebecca, and congratulations on passing the year mark.
I remember when you came in. You should be very proud of your progress over this time. Onward and upward !
Cheers, Shane
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