LunaRocket's Learning Log

Hi Rebecca,
Happy NAD :partying_face: :sunglasses:
Have a lot of fun with it :sunglasses:

Oh yes, that reminds me of that new Bentley that I looked at last year and didnā€™t buyā€¦I go see Thomann and buy something :roll_eyes:

Greetings

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Hi Rebecca,
The Katana has a lot of capability. It took me a while to understand how to take advantage of it. As others have said, you will probably only use a small set of features most of the time but knowing how to experiment to get a tone/fx that you want is useful. Using the Tone Studio app helped me understand how the amp worked and how to set the small set of capabilities that I typically use via the control panel. Iā€™m PC oriented, vs phone or tablet, so I connect the amp to my PC via USB. This gives me the ability to use Tone Studio when I want to PLUS I can send PC audio to it to play along with tracks, listen to a Justin lesson, whatever with or without headphones. I can also send audio from the amp to the PC for recording. I donā€™t chase tone and fx (rabbit hole) often, but occasionally when learning a song I jump down the rabbit hole to get a particular sound. Each time I do, I learn more about how to use the amp.
Enjoy!

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Hello Rebecca,
Congrats on your new amp!

Iā€™m hoping that youā€™ll be writing about it here in the coming weeks. Itā€™ll be interesting to hear your thoughts on it as you give it a test drive because Iā€™m thinking of upgrading my own little practice amp before long and the Katana is top my list.
I watched Justinā€™s video the other night about the Katana Mk2. He gets a wide variety of great tones from it just by twiddling the knobs!
Well worth a watch if you havenā€™t already.

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Well, been home for about a month and Iā€™m still having a hard time getting back into practice. I blame having to start the veggie gardening and restarting work on the trim for windows and doors and baseboards, etc. inside the house. (Still donā€™t have central heat, donā€™t ask, but summer is coming.) We finished the last 3 windows and today the front door is trimmed and operational, having been nailed shut for the 2 years we have lived here.

So, Iā€™ve been trying to squeeze in guitar here and there but Iā€™m always so tired! I also discovered Iā€™ve been neglecting my new acoustic because the strings are so stiff and itā€™s so different from my electric. My F chord is really lousy on it, I find I can now nail it on my electric, but itā€™s hit or miss on my acoustic. So, the last few days Iā€™ve been ignoring my electric and only practicing on my acoustic. Even regular chords I know well (never thought I could say that a year ago!) have become harder but Iā€™m slowly getting the hang of it though the barre chords are going to take more time. Iā€™m also getting more wrist and elbow pain because Iā€™m not used to the shape. Thank goodness I didnā€™t get a dreadnaught! Iā€™m sort of treating the acoustic as if itā€™s my first guitar and trying to do more things like chord perfect practice to get a better feel for it. (I still may have to change to lighter strings in the end though Iā€™m going to stick with these 12ā€™s for now.)

I picked up my PRS for the first time in days and it is so much easier to play! lol Though my power chords are still lousy.

Another thing Iā€™ve been doing with the acoustic is ignoring the Song App entirely and trying to play some of my songs from memory and by ear. I can nail House of the Rising Sun, though still fairly slowly, and I tried Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, (yeah itā€™s only 2 chords, but I got the lyrics down, too, today!) As I mentioned above the F barre chord on the acoustic is so-so but at least Iā€™ve now got the chord progression and words from Have you Ever Seen the Rain pretty much nailed. And my go to song, Bad Moon Rising is doing just fine, though still better on the electric.

So, getting back to my electric, my rock power chords are still lousy, and Iā€™ve been in Module 12 forever, so I think tomorrow, (our day off from home building/improvement), Iā€™m going to start checking into the Module 13 Blues stuff which Iā€™ve been looking forward to for a while now. After all, I have all year to practice the stuff thatā€™s not so good.

BTW, on my new amp, I really like the crunch setting for more than just power chords. :grinning: Still so much to figure out!

Okay, back to your regular scheduled programming.

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Hi Rebecca, good to read your update! :slight_smile:

Acoustic and electric guitars are very different indeed. I find an acoustic much more physical instrument and overall more difficult to play, except when it comes to string muting. String muting with high gain sound is one aspect where electric guitar is more difficult and you might have already discovered this with your power chord practice.

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Rebecca @LunaRocket
Nice update, interesting things other than guitar but at least yo are back playing.
Michael

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Hi Rebecca, itā€™s always nice to read your log entries. You have a pretty full schedule with all the renovation works, I wonder, how you can find time to practice at all!
Changing from electric to acoustic and back might feel weird for now, but Iā€™m sure, as soon you have become more familiar with your new acoustic, you wonā€™t miss it again. I played both right from the beginning and change them all the time and it workes just fine. For me, going down in gauge from 12 to 11 and even to 10 on one of my acoustics made a big difference.
I wish you lots of fun with the Blues module, I loved it!
Greetings!

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Rebecca

As an old, acoustic-only player Iā€™m glad to hear youā€™re playing one too. Just to echo helen0609 you should consider using the lighter gauge strings and perhaps see if the saddle can be lowered. I use .10 - .41 strings and have the action really low: it makes playing quite a bit easier and sounds musical (sometimes even when Iā€™m playing)!

Good luck with your work on the house and the guitar.

Brian

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Well, long story short, doing too much stuff other than guitar has made my right arm hurt rather badly. Some sort of tendonitis, I canā€™t even lift a toothbrush without pain! So, no guitar practice for a couple days at least which is highly frustrating especially as Iā€™ve just started into Module 14. A brace is helping though and rotating my forearm at the elbow doesnā€™t hurt quite as badly as it did 2 days ago.

Instead of practicing, I find myself perusing the forum more than usual and checking finger to fretboard placement for the new 7th chords in my head. May even look into the 2nd free course of music theory while I wait.

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ouch ! take care and let your arm rest if you want it to heal :slight_smile:

Maybe some transcribing ?

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Havenā€™t a clue how to do that. but for now a little whiskey will suffice. :beers:

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Still having strumming arm issues, Iā€™ve tried different types of elbow braces and a carpal tunnel brace for my wrist and sometimes things feel better and then I move my arm one way or another and bam. Iā€™ve got ice on my right shoulder now. Using a knife at dinner tonight rally hurt. Doctor appointment June 18th. I just hope my shoulder is not another need for rotator cuff surgery. That would lay me up for months. Fingers crossed.

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Hey Rebecca, sorry to hear youā€™re having problems with your shoulder/arm. I had persistent elbow pain for almost a year a while back. Sometimes you think itā€™ll never get better. (Took me 7 years to finally get a hip replacement) .
Good idea to delve into theory. Iā€™d imagine with an engineering/maths background itā€™d be fascinating enough even without playing :smiley:
No harm in making up little tunes in your head while youā€™re at itā€¦ and jotting down some silly lyrics :laughing:
Get well soon

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Okay, my arm has been feeling better and Iā€™ve slowly been working my way back into guitar playing, mostly slower songs so I donā€™t over tax my strumming arm and only 10-20 minutes at a time. Not picking up the acoustic for now as it puts more strain on my shoulder, but the shoulder is feeling okay with the electric so Iā€™m not pushing it. My elbow is a lot better, though it still bothers me for other things than guitar. Iā€™m also trying not to keep a death grip on my pick as it really strains my thumb, may have to look into fatter picks or something.

However, yesterday I had a mini breakthrough with the song Whatā€™s Up by 4 non-Blondes. I have not been able to sing at all with the new strumming pattern but I gave it a shot yesterday, without the App, and though Iā€™d lose the pattern now and then, I could get it back while I was singing! It was freaking awesome.

I didnā€™t try it today, but this time, for the first time, my husband, who is learning to play Bass with Yousician and has been practicing a simple bass line for Bad Moon Rising by CCR, joined me with the App and by the 5th time through we managed to mostly get in sync with the App and each other! Also freaking awesome! Not ready for an AVoYP yet, but maybe sometime this summer! :blush:

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Hey Rebecca,

Good to hear things are starting to flow again. Great to hear about you and your husband jammin together. Thatā€™s awesome!

Cheers, Shane

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I really enjoy reading your posts, especially since I think you started a few months before me. Itā€™s encouraging to see someone elseā€™s progress and so much enthusiasm. Iā€™m on module 8 (started exactly a year ago).

Iā€™ve been having similar problems regarding what to leave in and what to take out of practice sessions. Practicing is getting longer and longer. As soon as I leave something out for a couple of days I start forgetting how to play it.

Regarding the wrist/arm injury; please be careful and donā€™t push it. Try to stay as relaxed as possible. Tendon inflammation can be very difficult to cure.

I have been thinking that in the future I would also like to learn bass. Not so sure whether itā€™s a good idea to mix that with learning the guitar or not, or when I would actually find time to practice given my ever lengthening guitar practice sessions. But I would be interested to know about your husbandā€™s experience with the course you mentioned. Iā€™d jump at it if there was a course as fun as Justinā€™s.

What a perfect situation, as a guitarist, to have a partner that plays the bass! You are lucky. Perhaps I should try and persuade my wife to take up the bass, but I think she is unlikely to be that interested, despite being incredibly supportive of me learning guitar.

Finally, the most inspiring things in your posts are that you keep mentioning what you can do now that you couldnā€™t do a year ago. I have to keep reminding myself of that on days when practice goes bad. The other thing thatā€™s really motivating for me is to see what you are learning as that is just a few modules ahead of me. Iā€™m also really excited to get to those parts of the course.

Keep up the practice, the updates and good luck with your injury. Hope it gets better soon.

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Glad things are improving.
Playing and singing is not easy but like all things with the guitar it does improve with practice.
Michael

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Hi Rebecca ,
Good to read i am very happy for you for now :sunglasses:
Greetings and extra fun with :guitar: and bass :guitar:

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Hi Rebecca, I always like to read your log entries! Glad things are getting slowly better, itā€™s hard to be knocked out by pain. How great that you are able to jam together with your hubby, must be so much fun! Have lots of fun playing together!

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hey a fellow yousician player :smiley:

be carefull to not do too much with your injury
sometimes not waiting for the injury to heal completely just because oneā€™s feel better can just make it worse

patience is the key to not have long term consequences

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