LunaRocket's Learning Log

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18

Grade 1 Module 5
Well, as all my OMC’s have mostly passed 30, I decided to give ye olde C chord a try tonight.

Heh, heh, heh. Yeah. That didn’t go so well. Got the index finger down okay, that sounded good, the other 2 stretched out just fine, too unless you count the fact that nothing above that B string sounded good! Tried 6 minutes of chord perfect practice. I’ll try again tomorrow. Let DH have the room to practice bass. I put in over an hour today anyway.

Songs
Went cruising through the beginner’s playlist on Spotify again and decided to add A Girl Like You to my song practice for those pesky minor chords. I’ve never heard it before but it’s a catchy tune I rather like. Already have Ain’t no Sunshine and needed something a little faster/involved for the challenge of changing chords.

Been practicing Three Little Birds with the metronome some more and also on Love Me Do. Haven’t gotten that one up to speed yet but at least I’m over 100bpm now. I think it’s around 138.

Strumming

I need to work on the patterns a lot more and try with the metronome. I can’t do any of the 3 for very long without screwing them up.

I’m going to watch more of the mod 5 videos tonight and then concentrate on the C chord and strumming practice and Mod 4 songs for a couple weeks and see how things go. I certainly am not the fastest learner in the place, but as I mentioned before, I couldn’t do anything like this a couple months ago!

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Keep at it, Rebecca, sounds like you continue to make good progress!

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Hi Rebecca,
You are well structured and doing well :sunglasses:, the speed of learning does not matter at all in this long learning process (as far as I am concerned :blush: because I am very slow myself, but I have a lot of time that I put in every day), but just fun in an almost never-ending guitar journey .So I wish you a lot of fun …and time :smile::sunglasses:
Greetings,Rogier

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Sounds like you are doing well. When you look back at how little time has passed so far and how much you have achieved it is amazing isn’t it. I am with you on the strumming, one fday it will be automatic, so the experts say :wink:

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I had no idea it has been 14 days since my last update.

Chords

So, my C chord is coming along okay, sometimes I even manage to mute the 6th string, but more often than not I don’t, especially during OMC.

I’ve also started Module 6 and started practicing the G chord today and at Justin’s suggestion in the video added finger practice and OMC using G to C and G to D.

Speaking of OMC I am doing C to D, C to Am (which seems pretty easy of the 3), and C to Em.

I’ve put all these items in new routine I’ve created combining Module 5 and 6 along with a couple of bits I am having trouble with, namely OMC of Dm to Am and Am to D.

Songs

Now last time I thought I’d be practicing A Girl Like You and Ain’t no Sunshine but nope. I’m still practicing Three Little Birds with the metronome some more and also on Love Me Do which I am dropping for now as it’s sort of easy chord changes, but I just can’t play it as fast as it ought to go. Instead, I’m working on Feelin’ Alright by Traffic using the Capo on the 2nd fret as it sounds weird to me on the 3rd.

I’m planning on practicing Eleanor Rigby any day now, just hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t till I print out the lyrics and required chords which may have to wait till I can do it by hand as my printer keeps going on the fritz. I am having the most fun with Walk of Life by Dire Straits. I tried adding the extra down strums but it keeps messing me up while singing along so I dropped it back to 4 strums per bar until I get that right.

Today I also tried Hey Joe for the first time which proves I really need to get those C/G chord changes up from the mediocre 20ish OMC that happened today.

Now I keep planning to record myself playing Three Little Birds, but I swear even the thought of it keeps messing up something, strumming, or chords, I’ll get there.

Strumming

I need to continue to work on the patterns a lot more and try with the metronome. I can’t do any of the 3 for very long without screwing them up. I actually managed Old Faithful for 5 minutes yesterday without mucking it up too much. I have yet to try it in an actual song.

I tried strumming the 6:8 pattern for the first time today. I can’t do it without staring at it written down though, just doesn’t seem natural. This one will probably be the most difficult for me to master.

Miscellaneous

Tried the Nirvana riff for Come As You Are, once. will definitely try it a few more times.

I’m actually having a hard time getting to the songs to practice unless I spend more than an hour a day practicing guitar; the chord perfect practice, OMC’s, strumming, by the time I get through it all (and I’ve already dropped many of the easier things using A, E, and D) I’m tired. My time management needs an overhaul. I’m also getting to the point where I feel I need to do different things to some songs to make it more interesting, but I don’t seem to be there as my strumming is still problematic as are doing certain chord changes fast enough.

But I’m only TWO months in on my guitar journey, I have to keep telling myself not to stress about my progress!

(edit: stupid thing posted before i was done! Now it is.)

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I guess I should link my first video here, so, here is

(Three Little Birds - take 1)

I did this last night on the spur of the moment knowing it was now or never. I could only watch it halfway through, To me it’s cringe worthy.

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There is a video by Justin called: The Objective Observer. It’s pretty good!
I got an idea in that connection, that might be able to work:

If you can imagine, that the video is your very very best friend. Would you react the same way?
Thinking this is a video sent to you, by your most lovely friend of your entire life, and thinking, how could I watch and respond, to encourage this most beloved friend to continue and feel joy about it?

Just some thoughts, with the hope and wish it can help or at least give some lovely inspiration. :heart: :pray:

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It was very interesting, thanks.

And this is a very good idea, thanks for that.

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Songs

I’ve made myself a new Song Practice Routine today, it includes:

Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane - Started today. The verses sound strange, the chorus like I remember it. I watched the video lesson closely, watched the chord changes, I’m doing it mostly right if extremely slowly, in spurts, nowhere with the rhythm as I’m so slow. I’m guessing all these reasons are why it sounds weird. But I love the song, so I’ll stick with it for now. Can’t quit this soon.

Feelin’ Alright by Traffic - been practicing this, going okay
Walk of Life by Dire Straits - been practicing this already as well, also going okay.

And now that my Beginner’s Songbook Volume 2 has arrived, I’ve added:

For What it’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield which I’ve practiced for about 25 minutes now and I think it will be a good song for me, as I already know the lyrics and tune and the chords are the easiest one for me.

Bad Moon Rising by CCR. I tried it with the Capo on the 5th fret and it sounds insanely bad to me. I watched the video lesson with that same capo and it sounded fine, but not to me on my guitar at the speed I’m creeping along at. Thank goodness I recently learned the G chord. I tried writing the chords in the book but it’s hard for me to read so I’ll need to print it out larger

I had intended to add Desire by U2 but I started watching the video for it and decided it’s too much for me to attempt at this time.

I need to find at least one song I want to learn with the C chord.
Edit: The song may just be Stand by Me by Ben E. King

Chords

Since I posted my Three Little Birds video, and it was pointed out my wrist bent a bit much I tried paying attention today while doing the C and G OMC (which really slowed those down a lot, back into the 20s). I’ve decided to go back to just doing chord perfect practice for a while and seeing if I can get my wrist in a better position. The C chord is extremely hard to do unless I first rest the guitar neck in my palm so I can get my fingers angled more and then slowly pull my palm away. Otherwise, my middle and ring fingers tend to stand up fairly straight while my index finger lays sideways on the B string no matter what I do.

Strumming

Old Faithful is getting better, but I simply cannot do the 6:8 strum unless I count it 123, 123. If I look at the printed-out pattern or say 4 5 6 and I totally mess up.

2023-03-30T04:00:00Z

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I have had similar problem with the G, bending my wrist way too much. With the C, there have to be a tunnel for the 1st string, high E. - That issue is not the case with the G, since 1st string, high E, is pressed in 3rd fret, so I can touch with the root of the index finger on the neck. That way it makes it way more easy for me with the G. - Same goes with the D, since there the 1st string, high E, is pressed on 2nd fret. ------ I say root of the index finger, but it is rather kind of side of the root, just where the index finger is attached to the hand, that rest towards the neck and usually mute the 1st string, high E, if not pressed further down neck, like it is with D and G.

So I have become aware about, to notice which strings need a tunnel to ring clean. If I don’t need a tunnel, I can fully concentrate making the chord any way that makes it more comfortable. Still in the learning phase of it, but it already helps me a lot to have awareness on that. Now both my G and D have become way better and hardly any bend in the wrist. Still need a lot of work with it though, to make it one of the good habits.

Maybe you already know and are aware about this, but that little detail have really helped me a lot and will help me for the rest of my journey. :cowboy_hat_face:

Lovely choice of songs you have on your list. :+1: :sunglasses: - Used yesterday to find a list of songs. Had none before really :joy: - Now I need the discipline to stick with them and train them :blush:

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Thanks, I’ve added 2 more:

What’s Up by 4 Non Blondes
How To Save A Life by The Fray

I didn’t realize I had heard the songs before till I played them on Spotify. In fact I had thought What’s Up was actually called What’s Going On as what’s up is never said in the lyrics!

A short Progress Update:

Chords
My “hacked” G chord is pretty easy so at times I try the 3 finger version, first finger on the 5th string rather than muting it, just to know how. That is certainly harder to do than the 2 finger hack!

Since I’ve been concentrating on adjusting my wrist position the C chord started working out much better, D is still a problem, A is getting better. I’ve definitely improved the wrist position, so another few days I will try OMC’s again to see if I can do those as well or better than before. The minor chords work just fine with the flatter position as well.

Songs
I’m really enjoying playing Stand By Me, and my husband says what he hears from the living room sounds pretty good, too, including my singing. :smiley: I guess playing with a capo on the 2nd fret is better for my vocal range. Chord changes are sloppy still. I haven’t tried the 2 songs I listed up above yet.

And I decided to give the song app another try and as they are having a spring sale, figured why not? So, it’s downloaded on my phone (using a new email add I created just for guitar stuff as my previous email didn’t seem to be working with it anymore) and I’m racing through the bits I already know to get to the newer stuff. I hope the songs on it will really help with my chord changes and timing.

Okay, off to practice before dog walk number 2!

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That is so lovely to read, the whole text is! Nothing like kindness towards each other and a supportive partner. Lots of luv to both of you :kissing_heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :pray: :pray: :pray:

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Just wanted to say I went back to this store 2 days ago to buy some picks and look at some acoustics, because well, why not? and the same owner was there. The attitude change was night and day, she was friendly, helpful, I tested out a few guitars and must have been there an hour with her chatting about all sorts of things. She just must have been having a really bad day that last time. So, I’ll be back again.

And, no I didn’t buy a guitar. sigh

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That’s much better to hear Rebecca, as you say we can all have bad days that can spill over to others. Unfortunate though in a retail setting!! Good that you’re building that relationship :slight_smile:

There’s always next time! :wink:

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I’m in Module 7 so, I’m closing in on Consolidation for Grade 1.

Chords
My OMC are all above 40 (some barely), some in the 50s and 60s. However, anything involving the C chord (except for Am to C) and the G chord to A, which are all within the songs I am practicing, are giving me trouble. So, I’ve made up a practice routine of OMC with those C chords and the G to A as well as an attempt at “air changes” for all those chord changes and the easier ones just to stay in practice.

My changed wrist position has certainly helped though while doing OMCs I sometimes find my wrist doing bad things and I have to concentrate more which slows down the OMCs. Still, it’s better than it was, and the C chord has become so much easier to play now.

Strumming
The routine also includes strumming Old Faithful for 5 minutes which I sometimes mute the strings and sometimes try to change between a couple easier chords like E and A just to see if I can keep it up. Also practicing the 6:8 strumming pattern 1 +3 4 +6 which I still have to count as 123 123, but I really am not liking this pattern at all! Good thing I can’t find any songs I like to practice that require it, yet!

However, in actually songs I’m sticking with down strums because I things fall apart if I try anything else, not that I’ve tried often, but one thing at a time, I figure the chord changes take priority.

Songs
For the 5 songs I need to learn for Consolidation, I’m definitely keeping the first song I learned, Three Little Birds, for the 2nd song, For What it’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield I can now play at 100% speed while singing and pretty much keeping the beat. Justin is definitely right in that using the Song App really, really helps, even if I flub up the chords my strumming hand just keeps on keeping on! I do want to be able to do it though without the backing track and just the metronome to be sure I’ve got it all memorized. On top of this my hubby has decided to learn the bass part to see if we can play it together and record it in the near future. He says he’s learning the simplest base line because the 2nd simplest is beyond his abilities at this point.

Currently my 3rd song is Stand by Me for which I am also using the App and am practicing it at 90% speed which is 108bpm. 100% is 120bpm and I swear it just sounds wrong at that speed. I’ll have to play it on Spotify when I get the chance and compare. If I can’t get the speed up because my chord changes are still crappy, I may have to change to another song.

Number 3 is Wild Thing currently also practiced at 90% speed which brings it down to 93 from 103bpm. Apparently, I am having trouble with the faster songs and that is, of course, mainly due to my inability to make fast enough chord changes.

Number 4, well, I’m practicing What’s Up by 4 Non Blondes still, which is nice and slow, but I may have trouble singing it and to me there is no point in playing a song I can’t sing to because a bunch of chords around a campfire with no melody line would be kind of boring. But I shall persevere for now and see what happens.

The 5th song could have been any of the others I have been practicing that aren’t in the App: Feelin’ Alright by Traffic, Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers or Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane, none of these are “doing it” for me at this point for various reasons; speed, weird empty space in the middle, just kind of boring, etc.

But I discovered in the App today, a few other song possibilities, ones I really love: Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd; Mary Jane’s Last Dance, Tom Petty; Cortez the Killer, Neil Young. I shall be practicing all of these and see which ones I do best.

So, that’s where I am now, mostly practicing songs and OMCs. Assuming I can find the time I also want to check out Ear Training and the first Music Theory course.

Time to feed the dogs. Ziggy is getting impatient, and Kaylee is looking despondent.

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I luv everything in your post, but this one especially. Oh yes :+1: :partying_face: :sunglasses: :heart: :pray:

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Sounds like you’re making great progress!! I also did Mary Jane’s Last Dance for one of my G1 songs, and they seem to have recently added it to the app so you don’t have to muck around with slowing down Youtube like I did :laughing:

Not sure if it’ll help with your motivation for this song, but it’s one that I’m now “upgrading” and using as my first with 16th note strumming now that I’m in module 9. The lesson for this module only tells you to start playing with adding 16th note up-strums, but it has actually been a pretty achievable transition from the 2-bar pattern I initially learned to a sped-up 1-bar, 16th note pattern. Since I already know the song, I can focus more on the rhythm while my fretting hand already knows what it needs to be doing (and, as you mentioned, it’s a slow song, so more achievable as you first start out).

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Wow, 16th notes, don’t think I’m ready for that yet! I’m definitely going to keep trying this song, I’m not as familiar with it as with all the others. Yup, dating myself, I know the older rock, not the newer. I’ll just have to practice singing to the original song until I know it inside and out. Probably drive the hubby nuts! :rofl:

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Haha I think there are varying degrees of “older” rock - this one came out when I was a kid, now 30 years ago :flushed:
I’m pretty sure today’s kids would consider it ancient (given that they now make a “historical” 1990’s American Girl doll :woman_facepalming:)

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Oh that is just weird. I’m not even sure what the 90s were about, lol. Sort of slid right through them.