LunaRocket's Learning Log

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Well, I haven’t really progressed since my last post. Lots of stuff has been going on. While we really enjoyed the Christmas holiday with the visit of my sister and hubby and pup, my husband’s health was deteriorating, and my older dog Ziggy was also getting sicker.

My husband is improving since someone finally put him on antibiotics, but he underwent all kinds of tests, and everything was turning up negative except for 1 Lyme disease test, hence the antibiotics. We’re still not sure that’s what it is but at least he’s better than he was.

Unfortunately, my Ziggy is no longer with me, and I’ve been pretty depressed. He liked to come into my room and lay there while I practiced guitar. Kaylee, on the other hand leaves.

So being in the mood to practice has been tough. I’m feeling a little better the last 3 days. I’ve decided to break up my routines into 20-minute chunks. A couple of times I even enjoyed myself.

However, my acoustic practice is pretty bad as my fingers just don’t want to press the string hard enough to get nice ringing notes and forget the F barre chord altogether. I’ve decided to order those 11 gauge strings I’ve been muttering about for months and hope that will help.

I hope changing the strings will be easier than on my electric PRS. The hubby and I did that the other day, and it took 2 hours. It didn’t help that the string package did not say which were which, apparently, it’s supposed to be easy to figure out. Fortunately removing the first 2 strings we put on incorrectly, onto their proper tuners didn’t destroy them.

So, I’m spending 20 minutes on my acoustic now, mainly working on finger pressing and note sounds and the other 40 minutes on my electric, on which I have no trouble doing the barre chord shape up and down the neck.

I need to get back to learning new stuff. A year ago, I was on Module 10 of Grade 2 and I’m still in the middle of Module 13. But though I’m not necessarily learning new and wondrously frustrating techniques, I am learning songs, songs, songs.

Also, I’m pretty sure I’ve now had my 2nd year anniversary here with Justin Guitar. To think 2 years ago I knew nothing and now I can play a few songs from memory. It feels really great!

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Rebecca @LunaRocket
Hard read hope things improve for you.
Michael

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And that’s what’ll keep you striving to improve Rebecca.

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And I’ve added an easy “happy” song to my practice, today, “Hey Tonight” by CCR. Always good to have some easy stuff!

PS I did order a set of 11-gauge phosphor bronze D’Addario strings for my acoustic. I figure try the cheaper ones on for size before ordering the coated $20 per set version.

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I have 11s on my acoustic. It did change the sound a little bit, made it a bit brighter, but it still carries a good amount of depth on the lower strings. Definitely easier to use than the original 12s, although mine were really old at the time so you might find less difference.

Sorry to hear about the tough times. I’m glad you’re still getting enjoyment out of the music. :slight_smile:

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Rebecca, I’m sorry to read about the rocky and hard times you were faced with. I know how depressing it feels to lose a beloved 4-pawed companion. Hopefully, there are much better times ahead very soon! :four_leaf_clover:

But it’s great to read you find some relieve and joy in music and playing. It often helps to ease our minds a little. Especially, when we can play some happy songs. :slight_smile:

Good luck with the new strings. Changing them should be easier on the acoustic and - at least for me - 11s are easier to play, especially for barre chords.

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Hi Rebecca ,
Sad to read that things are not going well ( but hopefully the right path has been taken for your husband) and super sad to read that you had to say goodbye to your beloved pet , all the strength with that… :mending_heart:

Hopefully Kaylee will ease the pain , although she still needs to be taught some music acceptance :roll_eyes:

All the best and keep on going with how you learn the songs :smiley: :sunglasses:

Greetings :sunflower:

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Well, I finally finished watching all the Mod 13 lessons, some I repeated more than once like blues improv, (I swear it’s like coloring outside the lines which I am NOT good at!) and the blues shuffle riff, which is hard for me to get the fingering right. But I’ll get there as I really like the sound and feel when I get it right.

I also finally started practicing a Blues song, Sweet Home Chicago because I’ve always liked it, and I can almost play it now, poorly at 60% with the App. Good thing the App has it because I haven’t found any of the blues songs Justin suggested with an actual lesson attached. (Okay, I only looked for 4 or 5 so far, but in reading the discussion thread, others have mentioned that any lessons seem to be geared for intermediate students, at least.) So, I love that I pay for the App every year! Well worth it!

I’m also watching/rewatching the first couple Mod 14 lessons, because I need to get my butt in gear. I’ve been stagnating too long.

I’m really hoping those 11-gauge strings work when they get here, because I have been really pressing those fingertips on the acoustic and they hurt! I don’t know how you guitarists who only play acoustic manage to get through it! I’ve got callouses, but apparently not thick enough for anything but electric! Plus, in pressing so hard, my picking hand is strangling the pick in some sort of bizarre solidarity and that hand aches after practicing acoustic.

Okay, enough moaning, I’ve spent hours on guitar lessons today as well as more than 90 minutes actually practicing, and it felt good. I’m hoping to keep it up as it’s deep winter here now and it’s snowing again and other than TV and walking Kaylee there isn’t much happening here.

Hope everyone is having a good day. :smile:

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Hi LunaRocket - you are on a roll, gal!! Sounds like you’re having loads of fun and moving forward. Isn’t it a wonderful thing - and I just love this community.
I know!!! (About your guitar shop experience) … it’s terrible about the rude people in guitar shops - seems to be a bit of a theme on here, loads of people seem to have horrible experiences with snobby blokes (mainly, sorry guys)…I was so worried and intimidated when I went to buy my Gretsch, that I took my male guitarist friend with me to do that talking - and really hated that I did that, the feminist in me was not best pleased - but it meant that I had a pleasanter experience. In the shop I eventually bought my guitar from, a really nice woman helped me and did the selling, so that was good.

I don’t know why the sales people have to be do snobby and awful - surely they realise that we could just buy online these days - and that we are choosing to support small businesses and maybe be nicer to us?

Perhaps guitar shoppers are really, really annoying and so they can’t help themselves but be rude, who knows! Perhaps we should start a campaign. Be nice to us guitar shop fellas - and we’ll come back with more business!!

Lovely to chat anyway - keep playing - the course gets even better by the way - in case you’ve not got there yet…it absolutely brilliant.

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So I moved on into Module 14 and found a lovely surprise in the 2 lessons of not looking at the strings and standing while playing. While I don’t particularly enjoy the standing thing, I’ve already done it quite a few times, so yay, one lesson down! And I’ve been practicing not looking at the strings for months, I can play several songs without looking all the way through on my electric, a little trickier on the acoustic as the wider neck seems to cause my fingers to miss a string here and there. So, other than that and a few tricky things (F chord anyone?) I’m doing well.

I noticed there are no practices involving slash chords, so I guess I’ll need to find a song with at least one.

Back in Module 13 I’m having trouble playing the blues solo with the backing track. I can play it mostly fine otherwise, but it’s like my brain goes on the fritz during the backing track. It starts out okay and then, bam! I forget what I’m doing. Often, I find my way back, sometimes I hit the wrong frets with my fingers, sometimes my fingers just hang in the air while my mind seems to go blank. At least in my head I know what it’s supposed to sound like which really helps me find my way back. Looks like I’ll be practicing this a lot in consolidation, at least till I stop panicking.

Speaking of Consolidation, I guess I am sliding into it officially now. I’m going to begin practicing Wonderwall again for those chords I barely remember and whatever other songs I may need. Might even have an actual go at really learning the Kinks’ You really Got me rather than just the power chords in the intro.

I’ve also switched from Sweet Home Chicago to Before you Accuse Me. Yes, they have the same blues progression, except at the 12th chord but in the App SHC has so many sections without singing and just me strumming away, I think it would be rather boring in an AVoYP so the shorter song would work better.

Incidentally, I did put the 11’s on my acoustic and it is SO MUCH BETTER! My gosh, the F barre chord actually sounds like it’s supposed to, though that B string is still giving me fits now and then.

I’m also hoping to finally get into the music theory course, I paid for it, I may as well use it! :grin:

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Rebecca @LunaRocket
Glad to see you are still making progress and learning songs. Interesting you change from 12’s to 11’s I did the same as the luthier said when I got it set up much better for a beginner and he was right.
Michael

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I am in the Grade 2 Consolidation phase now, and have created a 119 minute practice routine, which will probably get longer as I discover things I need to work on. I don’t necessarily do the whole 119 minutes each day, but I am finding it helpful.

Things I’m having trouble with include that blues solo, and changing from the G7 chord to the C7 chord, the Back beat hit, and timing in certain songs I am learning.

And yesterday, I suddenly decided to record Bad Moon Rising by CCR as my first AVoYP in at least year.

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Well, long past time for an update.

I’ve been missing from the forum for the last three and a half months and twice that for progress updates in my learning log. I finally gave up trying to practice every day in mid-June. I decided it was making me actually resent having to practice. Unfortunately, that caused my practice sessions to really diminish. I don’t know if all that prior forced practice burned me out or it was a combination of that and just being tired all summer than did me in. There were times I was lucky to practice 5 minutes. No motivation at all.

But, within the good days I practiced and learning songs. Then, in a kind of freak conversation one night at the local bar, a friend asked how my husband Carl’s and I guitar practice was going and the guy sitting next to me who I knew only as an acquaintance, immediately perked up. Turns out he played drums for years in local bands but had to quit for whatever reasons, (one being an arm that isn’t as good as it used to be) and his drum set was just gathering dust in his garage.

So yes, I can say, after wanting to play since I was a kid yet not starting till 2.5 years ago, I am now in a garage band! :laughing: :guitar: :musical_notes: And we are having a blast!

We head to Russ’ garage every Tuesday night after dinner at the bar and bang away at several songs for an hour or so or till one of us has to give up. It’s tough getting old. lol. Our new friend, Russ says we almost play (with varying degrees of success) enough songs for a whole set list.

Consequently, I’ve mainly been practicing songs instead of really concentrating on Grade 2 Consolidation, but I did finally go back and check on a few things like SUS chords, etc, (mostly things I wasn’t actually using in songs already) to make sure I wasn’t a total disaster. I finally decided I should “soft” graduate and have watched about 3 lessons in the first Grade 3 module. I need to get back to that, stagnating in Grade 2 may have been part of my lack of motivation!

These are the songs we are jamming:

What’s Up - 4 non-Blondes
Have you Ever Seen the Rain - CCR
Stand By Me - Ben E King
Down on the Corner - CCR
House of the Rising Sun - Animals
As Tears go By - Rolling Stones
Bad Moon Rising - CCR
Country Roads - John Denver
Mrs. Robinson - Simon and Garfunkel
Before you Accuse Me - Eric Clapton

This past Tuesday we nailed What’s Up. Great feeling. We’ve got a couple other songs to start working on soon but still perfecting these 10, (the last 2 are very rough.)

So that is where I am. I did practice songs for 40 minutes today and was my best practice in a long time.

Cheers. :grinning_face:

PS: thanks to Andrea, @Helen0609 for nudging me back into the Community.

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You should add Hotel California to your set.
You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave :musical_notes:
Welcome back :folded_hands:

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Wow Rebecca! That must feel great! I’m very happy for you and…thank you for sharing this! You have a pretty cool list of songs already!

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Great news, Rebecca! A garage band, out of the blue! That must be so much fun!
I’m happy to read, that your mojo came back and that you are enjoying playing again!
Nice to have you back here too!

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Hi Rebecca,
I had indeed missed you too… and how wonderful to read that things turned out the way they did… :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:
:collision:

Now just save up for a video camera for some recordings :roll_eyes:

Now I start the day with a smile, so also thanks to Andrea … Thumbs up for that :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

Greetings

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Glad to have you back, Rebecca! And what a great update this was.

Coming out of a rut with a garage band is definitely a great solution! :grin: That sounds like so much fun - enjoy it to the fullest and keep it going. Making music with friends is invaluable. :smiley:

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I can only imagine your joy in starting a garage band Rebecca! How fun! Will we see you at Coachella in a couple of years?

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Well well Rebecca @LunaRocket I thought you had been quiet for a while. Let’s not dwell to on your diminishing practice routine but the great news of the Garage Band, have you got a name for it yet, looking forward to a AVOYP.
Playing with others is really going to develop your guitar playing. The key ones are keeping in time with the others and remembering how you have collectively agreed on the arrangement. There is a world of difference between playing at home by yourself and playing with others as you are no doubt finding out.
Enjoy yourselves.
Michael

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