Michael’s Cover of Brown Eyed Girl - Instrumental - Ver 1

Community Recordings Audio-Video Of You Playing
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I thought it was about time I put my head above the parapet.
I am only on Grade 1, Module 5 but have been working on songs to pass Grade 1. I was hoping my first AVOYP would include me singing but unfortunately not got to the stage where I can play and sing at the same time, but I am working on it.
So this is just a part instrumental version of Brown Eyed Girl, Intro, verse 1 and 2 and chorus very much WIP. Didn’t want bore you with the whole song but I can play it all.

It is recorded on my iPad so sound quality is a bit suspect, I was using my Yamaha CG122MS and a Jim Dunlop 0.38 nylon pick with OF strumming.

Yes I have taken the G chord from Module 6, conventional fingering.

Some personal observations
1 Not all the chord changes or fingering are perfect it is very much WIP
2 sort of getting there with air changes despite it being a few module ahead of where I am.
3 Tempo a bit slower than original, I think
4 My strumming arm is not moving as much as Justin’s YouTube video of the song, not sure if this is something I need to correct
5 Also no stage fright when pressed the red button, which was good.
6 I have done some sound recordings of myself in the past but you can learn so much more with a video

All comments and criticisms welcome, positive or negative, don’t worry I am no shrinking violet and will not get upset, In my defence only just over 4 months into the journey.
I would not have got this far without Justin’s excellent lessons, and already exceeded my expectations, so a big thanks Justin.:+1:
Michael

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This is very good for 4 months . Your chord changes look clean , your chord grips are confident. Your rhythm seems good. Your right arm will probably start being like Justin’s just with more time. Enjoyed listening to you play

Making videos is a great way of learning. I’ve played for a while before we could easily make videos but it’s really helpful and documents progress

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Looked good Michael. Good rhythm and changes, definitely good for grade 1.

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Congrats Michael and great first AVOYP post. Looking and sounding clean, no issues with jumping around a few modules in my view.

The strumming arm movement will come with time and will serve you well as the continuous movement beds in.

Well done :+1:

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Definitely job well executed and sounding might fine for you to move on to G2 :slight_smile: few things to polish up but hey could be as well red light syndrome! Well done :clap:

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Great job Michael. Thank you for sharing-nothing boring at all. You have the right idea of recording yourself on video. You will look back at yourself and see tremendous progress as each week goes by. I would recommend giving it some more time if you want to play and sing at the same time. If you really want to give it a go, I recommend a 4 step process:

  1. Print out the guitar tab and note which word has each chord change
  2. Just strum once on each word that has a chord change while singing along. (Play only on the chord change, but keep your hand moving, simulating a strum) example of brown eyed girl: You are playing G on hey, C on did, then G after did, D on days while singing the whole line.

[Verse 1]
G C G D
Hey, where did we go days when the rain came

  1. After #2 is mastered do a steady down strum in time while playing and singing. This will help you have a steady rhythm while singing and playing.
  2. After #3 is mastered try strumming patterns.

Don’t rush or it will be frustrating. Learn the song and guitar part separately. Maybe try step 1 and 2 only for now.

good luck

Jeff

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Michael it’s an asset that you can be objective in reviewing your playing. You’re right about how much can be learned from a video.

You’ve noted the things you’ll change. Well done.

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:clap: :clap: :clap:

Bravo, Michael, making and sharing the first video is significant milestone and your playing was excellent for where you are and time spent on the path.

Over and above your and others comments on the playing, I thought your strumming was good. I liked the relaxed wrist, which means the hand is moving as well as the arm. I think at times you were strumming just strings 1 to 4, which is perfect for the D chord but loses the bass note on the G, C, Em chords. Not all the time but something to look out for if I am on the money.

Well done, and keep on keeping on!

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Hi Michael,
Congratulations on your first :partying_face:…you could have had that and it went well :sunglasses:,…all the good stuff has already been said,…so, have fun practicing and growing :grin: :sunglasses:
Greetings ,Rogier

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Congratulations on your first AVOYP posting.

Four months in and sounding great. That was nicely done Michael. Steady strumming and clean changes.

It’s also good that you can recognise where you think you are falling a little short.

Great work though.

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Good work Michael and vibes to you for your first AVoYP. Your personal observations are on the money and by recognising them you’re on the road to success.
Well done.

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Congrats on your first avoyp post Michael. Nice playing and self analysis for only a few months in.
I say if people can hum/sing along to it (which I could do with your playthrough), then it’s a solid foundation to build off. Keep it up!

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Well done Michael on your first AVoYP. You are coming along very well. You had good rhythm and changes. I liked how you mixed it up with a little bit of dynamics applying some all down strums to build up for the chorus. It’s great that you are analyzing your own performance and picking up on the things that you need to polish up on. With regards to singing along I liked @tony observation that this can happen naturally after you’ve been playing the song for a bit that it becomes robotic and you find yourself just singing along without thinking. I find it very useful and fun to play along with the original recording.

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First batch of thanks to you all for taking time to look at my first AVOYP.

@lewis2025
I am reasonably happy with the way I am progressing with chord changes, the difficult part for me so far was the strumming. It took quite a while to not do the up strum in OF. Without the video there are some things you would just not pick up if all you do is play by yourself.

@jkahn
I feel reasonably confident about where I am in Grade 1. Have got a few more modules to navigate before I get onto the next Grade. Working on the other four songs but not ready to post yet.

@Notter
I didn’t really intend to jump around but the G Chord is one my fingers remembered from more than 50 years ago when I was a teenager and messed around with a guitar, but never got very good. It was muscle memory; no perfect chord practice or the G Chord in OMC is was there straight away. C chord was similar.
Strumming, that was the hard part for me but still working on that.

@adi_mrok
Thanks, a bit more work before Grade 2 but I see it looming into sight.

@SDKissFan
yes, I am committed to singing as well. However, I started from a point of never having sung before, and I mean never. The only way it was going to happen was to get singing lessons which I have started on a couple of months ago. The teacher has been very patient, when I look back on my first lesson, I was terrible no more than just speaking the words. However, I am a lot better now but not good but improving. The teacher is great as well is doing the things she wants; I am also doing the four of the songs for Grade 1. Learning the words was hard, not an age related thing, I hope, could never remember poetry when I was at school, complicated formula no problem.
Thanks for the advice on how to proceed with playing and singing, done item 1, I think I got a little ambitious and tried to sing playing four down strums per bar, I will definitely try what you say in Item 2

@batwoman
I am really glad I did a video, I have learned so much from it. I think more encouragement for beginners to do video’s even if they don’t post them up.

@DavidP
Thanks for the input, I was a bit nervous on how people would view my AVOYP, when it was only a really a WIP version compared to other peoples that are really well done. However, I am really pleased I have done it, I have learned a lot, apart from the guitar, as a novice like me on social media, getting the video posted on YouTube was a real learning curve.
Yes, I did pick up in the video about not strumming all the strings on some of the chords, so it is definitely something to work on. Not cracked muting the 6th string on the C Chord.
When you reviewed my learning log you suggest I post the Grade 1 Riffs, still working on that but it is few weeks off as not started on “Come as you are”. However, been working on the intro riff for Brown Eyed Girl which is starting to come together.

@roger_holland
Thanks, lots of distractions in the last month family wedding, holiday, important football match all of which has curtailed my practice time but bit more clear time coming up to get down to more regular practice.

Will respond to others later

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For a first post in AOVYP and only 4 months in, that was great. I can’t add to what’s been said and your honest self analysis pretty much had most things covered. But that was a very good start.

Don’t worry about the singing and playing. Its not a natural thing to do. For some it happens easily, for some it takes years. For me it took decades and I kid you not !!
Check out Justin lesson on what to do and bank it for the future.
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/singing-playing-at-the-same-time-te-901

Looking forward to your progress,

:sunglasses:

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Congrats on your first AVoYP. It was pretty good for 4 months playing. Its a hard song to play at full tempo but you are doing well.

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Hi Michael,
Good job, for 4 months in it looks and sounds like you are progressing nicely! Keep up the good work and be well.

LB

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Second batch of thanks to you all for taking time to look at my first AVOYP and comment

@SgtColon
The effort in doing the video and uploading it has paid dividends, without it I was not really sure how I was progressing and what I was not getting right or wrong.

@sairfingers
Yes, knowing your faults gives you the chance to put them right.

@Dro_1
It is a very catchy tune and well recognisable, unfortunately I remember when it was first released, actually one of the reasons I chose it for one of the songs for Grade 1. Just need to crack the singing bit, already working on the intro riff.

@Socio
I am pleased with my progress thanks to Justin. The build for the chorus I took from Justin’s lesson on the song. so cannot claim any credit for that.

@TheMadman_tobyjenner
Yes, Toby only a start. As for the singing, really hope it is not going to take decades.

When you look at Justin’s lesson on Playing and Singing, the key word is AUTOMATION not sure I have quite got there yet, so more practice needed.

@skinnyt
It is a fast tempo. When I play along with the app, I tend to get ahead of the chord changes. I find it much more difficult to do things at a slow bpm, when Justin says start at 80bpm I find that difficult but if I go to say 120bpm then I am much better, very strange and a bit bizarre!

@LBro
Thanks for the encouragement.

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You will get there Matt !
:sunglasses:

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Michael congrats on posting and I thought that was mighty fine given where you are in your learning journey. For anyone that knows the song you could tell it was Brown Eyed Girl. I don’t think you were far off on the tempo required (it felt right when I was singing along to it).

Good to record and review and get that self analysis of where it feels it’s working and where not. As you’ve identified more work to get those chords really clean. I wouldn’t worry about air changes that will come naturally. You strumming arm probably isn’t moving as much because there is a little tension in it…once you start to relax more the arm will move more freely. It all comes with practice and time so keep doing what you are doing.

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