Sevi's Sweat and Tears (aka learning log)

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41

25.10.2024
I had my ‘gig’ yesterday, where I played the version of “Über den Wolken” for my mum’s retirement, for her and my sister, sitting on the couch in her living room. I had to start three times, because first, mum’s mobile went off and didn’t stop, second the washing machine insisted loudly that it needs some attention right now, and third time was finally the charm, after laughing so hard I had to do a quick breathing exercise^^

All three of us were very tired, because the big retirement party and surprise were the day before, and it was a lot of moving parts that had to be juggled. I also did not know that “Über den Wolken” was my dad’s favourite Reinhard May song when he was alive, my mum only told me after. Suffice it to say, my hands and voice were shivering and cracking with emotions by the end, and all three of us were crying. But I played it through to the end, and I’m very proud of myself.

For everyone who speaks German, here is the final version of my lyrics, with help from @Lisa_S (the XXX are in place of sensitive information like names and places).

[Strophe 1]
In Göttingen, du warst noch jung / Dein erster Tag im Kindergarten. / Als Aushilfskraft in Vertretung / Was wird dich dabei wohl erwarten?
Und du siehst die Kinder spiel’n / Hörst ihr Lachen schon von weitem. / Und dann bist du mittendrin / Im Singen, Toben, Schubsen, Streiten.

[Refrain 1]
Ma geht zur Arbeit / Weil die Kinder das Wichtigste sind. / Für ihre Ängste, ihre Sorgen hat sie / off’ne Arme, off’ne Ohren und nie / ist was ihnen groß und wichtig erscheint / für sie nichtig und klein.

[Strophe 2]
Bald schon gibt es auch zu Haus / Kinderstimmen, die dich fragen: “Sag mal Mama, darf ich raus? / Wir wolln mit Mielkes Frösche jagen”.
Aus eurer Liebe baut ihr uns / ein Fundament für alle Zeiten. / Das Glück ein XXX-Kind zu sein / wird uns ein Leben lang begleiten.

[Refrain 2]
Ma bleibt zu Hause / weil wir Kinder das Wichtigste sind. / Für uns’re Ängste, unsre Sorgen haben sie / off’ne Arme, off’ne Ohren und nie / ist was uns groß und wichtig erscheint / für sie nichtig und klein.

[Strophe 3]
Geld ist knapp trotz Papas Job / Deshalb nimmst du Tageskinder. / Teilzeit kellnern war’n Flop / Doch du hälst durch, kannst’s ja nicht ändern.
Dann endlich gibt es eine Chance / Und du willst es nochmal wagen / Kehrst zurück in den Beruf / zuerst in XXX, dann in XXX.

[Refrain 1]

[Strophe 4]
Über die Jahre stellst du fest / du liebst die Arbeit mit den Kindern. / Doch drumherum der ganze Rest / ist nix für dich, leckt mich am Hintern.
Superfrüh aufstehen fällt bald schwer / Deshalb kannst du’s kaum erwarten / Heut machst du Schluss, bedankst dich sehr / Dein letzter Tag im Kindergarten.

[Refrain 3, 2x]
Ma hat jetzt Ruhe / und kann machen, was immer sie will. / Brote backen, schwimmen gehen (oder auch) / Sterne basteln, Hosen nähen (mit Bauch) / Schlafen wann’s ihr gut und richtig erscheint / Reisen mit Karin oder allein.

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42

What a coincidence (for me)…
I had just found the thread where you were asking for advice for exactly this song on your ma’s retirement. And I wondered how you got along and was close to ask you. Now I find your post and - being a german speaker, loving the song also) reading along the lines, singing your lyrics in my head with the internally memorized melody.

I loved it! You did very very well! And it’s great how you adapted the chorus for the different phases of you mum’s life. Congratulations!

All the best, Dominique

PS. It seems your learning went quite fast!
And - if you’ve got a crack in your guitar, you can ask for help in a thread here or bring it to a shop somewhere, so it won’t get worse.

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43

Thank you so much for your kind words! It took me a while to find the right words for the song, but I’m very happy with the result as well. As for my learning, yes, it went quite fast in the beginning, because I practiced and played for a few hours every day, but it did plateau when I did not have the time to do so any more. I think it’ll pick up now that I’m back to having more time, at least I hope so. I have some guitar glue for the crack, but I’m hesitant to do stuff with it, because I do not want to make it worse. Ah well, we’ll see, I guess.

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30.10.2024
I learned that acoustic guitars need a little bit of water, apparently, to stay at their best and not crack. Which finally explained why the crack in the sides happened, since I couldn’t remember it falling down or cracking against something. So now, my baby sleeps in a black plastic bag with a sponge, and it does sound a lot happier about it.

How do I know that? Well, for the first time in a long while, I had a music day today. It means I was browsing through music and tutorials, and playing difficult songs I hadn’t played in a while, like Tigerlily. They were quite a bit easier than I remembered, which is nice.

I also came across Justin’s lesson on Greensleeves, the first song where you have picking and chords together, and it was surprisingly easy to learn. I love that style, truly. I also realised I have been quite stupid, and finally looked up a tutorial for ‘Kiss from a Rose’ by Seal, one of my all-time favourite songs since I was a kid. And 'lo and behold, it’s also very doable. Not as easy as Greensleeves, but doable with a bit of practice.

I feel really good today, even though the fingers on my fretting hand are hurting for the first time in months. Experiment with less pressure in the future, I think.

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45

Eva, good progress in your learning log. I am also learning Free Fallin. If you can’t play the original rhythm for Free Fallin you are doing well.

I think the sponge and plastic bag will work for your guitar as long as the sponge does not touch the wood of the guitar. A little water or moisture is good for the guitar, but too much water is not good :slight_smile: I purchased a little fabric bottle with hydroscopic gel that clips to my guitar case for my less expensive nylon guitar which has a cheap cardboard case. I have also purchased moisture gel packs in a fabric bag that hang over the strings for my Martin acoustic guitar, which has a heavy wood case.

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Oh, I’m good with the rhythm for Free Fallin’; the shape of a rhythm is not a problem for me once I have puzzled it out for myself and counted through it a few times. It’s always more the changes and keeping a steady timing without a metronome that is the problem, especially when it’s fast, or supposed to be fast. How is Free Fallin’ working out for you?

Of course the sponge does not touch the guitar, that’s the whole point, isn’t it? I’ll have to think about how to humidify her properly once the bag treatment is over. Maybe I’ll do something for the whole room, since I also have a solid wooden chest in there that has cracked, and now I know why.

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47

My Free Fallin rhythm is coming along nicely. I am still working on making it automatic like Justin suggests. This song is one of my ten songs for grade 2 consolidation. I just documented the rhythms in my last learning log post.

48

Oh, I have to check this one. I had a go at another track from the same album… Wonder.

I liked this also. But how do you get along with the rolling chords? I have some difficulty with that!

Regarding the guitar and humidity, do you have a hygrometer in the room? That would probably help in the winter to warn you when the room’s going to be too dry.
As it’s not so long ago that you picked up the guitar (did you?) I somehow think that most of the damage was done in the years when the guitar was stored away somewhere. I mean, the wood dried out heavily over a long period, I don’t know if some mechanical damage was already happening, or maybe then just when stringing it up to normal tension and playing it.

49

This is the video I found most helpful, tbh, but you need to put the capo on the first fret not on the third because George Ezra has tuned his guitar down one tone for the song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Zfo0EnVD4&pp=ygUcdGlnZXJsaWx5IGdlb3JnZSBlenJhIGd1aXRhcg%3D%3D

I’m doing OK, I practiced the rolling motion from the video before, and it really helps me. I also love the tune, so I have no problem practicing it relentlessly^^

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8. November 2024
I finally fixed the crack, and it’s looking good. Sounds good, too, and I think that’s both the crack-fixing and the humidifying. Really have to find a way to keep that going for the long term.

As for practice, I’m loving Greensleeves atm, it’s just magical with the picking and chords together. And not too difficult to remember, either, though I’m struggling with keeping the rhythm steady at the changes. Metronome, maybe?

Kiss from a Rose is also coming along nicely, maybe I’ll try playing with the recording next, since I have no chance in hell of singing this kind of song, like, ever^^ I do need to do stretch exercises for this one though, which, ugh. But maybe I’ll do some, some time when I remember.

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51

This is a 100 % yes! Remember, the metronome is our friend. :smiley:

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I know, but sometimes I get frustrated by this particular friend, especially when I’m still looking for the notes half of the time, which means by all rights I should play this somewhere around 40 bpm, which is just nope. Ah well, get a bit better with it, then whip out the friend, I guess^^

18. November 2024
Since I’m only roughly following the course and learning more along the lines of what I need for the songs I want to play, I went through Grade 2+3 in order yesterday to see what I left out until now, and I discovered the blues! I really love it, and it’s not that difficult, since I practiced some shuffle strumming for some Rock’n’Roll songs already, and I already know D7, and the easy versions of A7 and E7.

I haven’t listened to much Blues to be perfectly honest, but I really like the groove. If you have Blues favourites, please feel free to drop me some links, I’d love to check out some songs and bands :sparkles:

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53

Now I get it. It’s better to have the song/piece memorized before practicing it with a metronome. So once you know it by heart and can play through (also true for parts) it at slow speed, you should add the metronome. It doesn’t make any sense to use it when you still look up what comes next (except you can sight read music). ^^

Have fun exploring the blues! :smiley:

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Hi @sevi Justin made a Blues playlist in Spotify a while back with a lot of the classic tracks on it in various styles.

I’ve been listening to Sue Foley recently (One Guitar Woman) if you want a more modern take. Also check out Joanne Shaw Taylor, Samantha Fish, Walter Trout and Robben Ford for different styles. The Spotify ‘Top 5’ tracks list on their artists pages will give you the most popular tracks.

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55

I agree with this. If I’m struggling to get my left and right hands doing the correct thing at the same time then adding the complication of trying to keep in time with a beat (whether that’s from a metronome or backing track) is unlikely to go well. No matter how slowly, I try to get to the point where I can find the notes fairly instinctively before adding that extra layer… it’s not to say that I hit them every time, but certainly more often than not

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Thanks so much, I briefly re-installed spotify for this, since apparently you cannot just listen to it (I hate streaming services like this, ugh). I’m definitely gonna check out the others as well, it sounds really cool. Thank you for the recs :+1:t5: :sparkles:

@mattswain and @Lisa_S I’m getting better with the chord changes for Greensleves, it’s starting to sound good. Not 100%, but it’s flowing alright-ish. I’m really not sure about getting the metronome out for this one; because I know the tune really well, I haven’t counted it out as I usually do, and I’m reluctant to do so. I’m just listening to Justin’s demo from time to time, and very much just play by ear, taking special care to not get stuck on the changes, or at least play all the notes where there’s no change slower as well so the rhythm still checks out.

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If it’s coming together for you then stick with what is working. I only resort to a metronome when I’m desperately lost with a song!

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@mattswain Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna be using the metronome for Greensleves as long as it’s working, you’re right. Generally, though, I end up using the metronome for every song at least once or twice some point, mostly when I have been playing it for a while, and I suspect that I have developed some timing ideosyncracies (is that the word? I mean little weirdnesses that are specific to me and the way I play). I do this not to stamp out my own style, but to check what I’m doing against the impartial tik tok of the metronome and decide if I like what I’m doing different or not.

28. November 2024
I listened to Justin’s ‘Perfectly starts Slowly’ video today (Grade 3 Module 18), and I think I figured something out about the way I learn. He talked about how much you can actually retain from what you learn, which is very little, and how always trying new stuff is not helpful in that regard. And he’s right, of course; I’ve heard this in other contexts as well, and my own experience does corroborate it.

Whenever I go on a ‘learn new stuff’ spree, and I’ve tried and figured out, let’s say five, new things that day, I only take one (or even none) of those things into my daily practice. This one thing I make permanent, the other four I ‘forget’. But do I really forget them? No, not really. Because after a few weeks/months, when I come back to these things I ‘forgot’, I (re-)learn them so much easier.

A song with a C to G7 chord change was really hard for me when I first tried it a few months ago. I tried it just now, and it was fine. The Rock’n’Roll or Blues strumming with the accent on 2 and 4? It was so fucking difficult to hold on to when I tried it first, so I dropped it after a few tries in frustration, after I theoretically knew how it sounds and how to do it. And now that I’m back for Blues, it’s not even something I need to think about much anymore. F barre chord I try sporadically every 4 to 6 weeks, and it gets easier every time without me having really practiced it. Not much, but a little bit every time.

I think once I figured out how something works in theory, and have tried it a few times in practice, it’s OK for me to ‘forget’ it for a while. The knowledge will kinda gestate in brain somewhere as I practice other things, and it will be easier to pick up in earnest at a later time. Because a) I’ve become better at playing in general through the practice I did, and b) I have already figured out the theory, and have had time to incorporate it into the big picture of how this guitar playing thing works.

Is this something, or is it just me that works this way?

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It’s to do with how brains work and strengthen memories. New stuff, when first learned, is stored in short-term memory. When we are asleep there’s a process (the myelin sheaths on the relevant neurons are strengthened) where the short-term memories are transferred to long-term memory (this only really happens when we’re asleep).

If we try and learn things that are too similar in nature then the last thing you learn is the one that tends to stick, but it also messes up anything similar that you learned earlier in the day - so the tip is to practice things in the same session that are sufficiently different.

It also seems that spacing things out and having time between sessions is important for memory retention, which is why things often seem easier coming back to them the next day or the next week (Google “spaced practice” if you want to dig deeper). The science seems to suggest the space in between an vary, keep it short to a day or couple of days early in the process but you can space this out to a week or couple of weeks when the material is more familiar.

After you’ve left a space it’s important to try and remember what you practiced before, and not to just look at the tab or the book or whatever. It’s the effort of trying to remember that reinforces the memory. If you look at your notes you won’t get the benefit.

So, yes, it is ‘something’ and is backed up by extensive research.

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@ziggysden So it’s not just me, very interesting. I could vaguely remember hearing about all of this a while back, but I haven’t really gotten into it in detail, and did not make the connection to my own practice habits until you pointed it out. What I take from this is to essentially keep doing what I’m doing, and maybe take care to vary what I check out on my learning sprees a bit more so it has a better chance of staying in my brain, for example check out a riff, a new strumming pattern, a new technique, and a new song, instead of five new songs.

That’s a really good idea. I’ve kinda tried it with a few things, but often I do end up looking up the video again because I’m too impatient. I’m gonna try and do without more, I think.

29. November
I decided I needed a new challenge, and after checking out Justin’s recommendation on the three types of songs to learn (campfire, developers, dreamer), I decided I need a new developer. I checked out a few, and landed on ‘Hallelujah’ by Leonhard Cohen, mainly because I love 6/8 and I need a song to force myself into practicing F barre chord regularly. I’ve also added the embellishments to ‘Country Roads’ (hammer-ons and alternating bases), and re-learned the bridge for it. I still like my easy 12 bar blues, but I know I need to learn some blues riffs or licks soon, or I’m getting bored.

I also want to tailor my repertoire more to what I actually like instead of what I think I can play, so let’s take stock for a first step.

Campfire: Yellow Submarine, I’m a Believer, Surfin’ USA, Three Little Birds, Keine ruhige Minute, 99 Luftballons
Campfire Plus: Über den Wolken, Mad World
Developer: House of the Rising Sun (fingerstyle) Country Roads (embellished), Hallelujah, Tigerlily, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Letter, Free Fallin’, Greensleves, Jolene, Father and Son, Kiss from a Rose, From the Aeroplane over the Sea, Bei Ilse und Willi aufm Land, Schlaflied für Anne
Dreamer: Scarborough Fair, Boulevard of Broken Dreams

I think I like playing Country; I like how you get to alternate bases, and do little hammer-on’s, and runs to connect chords, all these fun little things that makes you feel (and sound) so much more advanced than you actually are. I don’t really listen to Country, though, so I don’t really know a lot of songs. Maybe it’s worth checking out. Pop songs are alright, I guess. People know them, I probably know them, we all listen to them on the radio, and it’s no big deal learning them. It’s not my passion, though.

What I do listen to mostly is Rock, specifically J-Rock from the 90’s, like Luna Sea, Hide, X-Japan, early Miyavi. The problem I have with checking out their songs is that I don’t have an electric guitar, and there’s no way I’m going to afford one in the near future. Of course you can learn their songs on a nylon string, but let’s face it, it’s not really that much fun when it doesn’t sound like the original. I have no idea about Blues or Rock’n’Roll, if I’m honest. I know a few classics, I love the groove and that you cannot but move to them, but I’ve never delved deeper. I’ve never had someone in my life who was interested, and I’m having trouble getting there myself.

Where does this leave me with regards to building my repertoire? I have no idea, honestly.

I’m going to try and listen to more Blues songs that you all recommended, and I’m probably gonna check out more Country as well. I think I will be a lot more choosy which Pop songs I’m gonna learn from now on; only the ones I actually like will make the list, now that I know most of the relevant chords and can choose. I have no idea if I actually want to continue learning my favourite children songs and lullabyes. While I like playing them for myself, it’s not exactly something you play for your friends, but it would be a big hit with my family. I don’t know. I think I want to give this some serious thought, because up to this point, it was all ‘Ok, what can I play as a beginner’ and ‘What songs do my friends like’ whereas now it is ‘What do I want to play as a musician’. Big transition, if you ask me^^

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