Thanks for sharing the picture of the books and the good vibes of optimism! 
Thanks for sharing your literature, it is hard to keep the urge jumping to it straight away and abandon whatever I’m currently working on steel strings. One day .
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I well know the feeling! But don’t do that…I know you won’t…your acoustic sounds lovely
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Thanks Silvia. I fell victim of pursuing too many ideas/song at the same time, I guess some people can do this and be successful but for some focusing on one thing can bare better results.
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Update time!
CLASSICAL GUITAR
The lifelong adventure through Legato and Staccato has just started this past month. I hesitated not a bit to turn the page to this piece I’m sharing, as the symbols on the musicsheet started being too many and it felt overwhelming; then I listened to the Duet Video on YouTube and these notes started happily waltzing in my head and I started working on right hand legato and staccato as suggested by the teacher.
CHORD MELODY
I’ve been soo happy of all the positive feedback on my late Wind of Change AVOYP 
Here’s how the musicsheet is evolving - I’ m very inspired to get Guitar Pro at a certain point, btw, not sure when!
STRUMMING
I’m finishing this month to work on the Strumming Foundations Lessons. I’m quite happy I’m learning to make the pick glide over the strings and get a nice sound. Also the movement of my forearm is starting to go on autopilot and while playing I can feel the difference when it is or it’s not. To test myself I went to school with “the big guitar” yesterday - the children were happy as they didn’t see it since the Christmas party. I strummed our usual little tunes with the pick and also Do Re Mi (italian lyrics) which is one of those few songs that I just know without needing to revisit …we had a fun time and I thought I was doing well as the sound of the strings was pleasing! I recorded Do Re Mi in the afternoon (sorry for the nasal voice - I’m just recovering from a bad cold) - if you have a listen please let me know about this aspect: the quality of the sound of the pick on the strings…and also if you see I’m doing something wrong!
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Thanks for the inspiring post Silvia, both pieces sounds lovely 
.
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Thank you Radek for checking it out and take the time to give the videos a listen
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Fabulous update Silvia. Do-Re-Mi came across really nicely with your impeccable picking at the beginning blending nicely into the strumimng. Very nice pause to pick up your pick!! The strumming was very consistent and the sound was very good, as I’d expect really.
The one thing I would have a look it is how you’re holding the pick, it’s difficult to see properly but it seems your holding only a very small edge of it? I wonder if that may make it feel a little unstable for you? Only you know that but just my small input
Perhaps take another look at the photos from Justin’s early module on this - https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/how-to-hold-a-guitar-pick-b1-106
Ps - I so love your singing, it’s really soothing to my ears!!
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Both recordings sounded lovely, Silvia.
You did really well with the pick and guitar tone sounded good, well done.
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Hi Silvia, you’re progressing well on your two avenues of learning.
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@Notter Hello Mark and thank you for your feedback!
You’re right here, I still have a lot of practice with the pick before finding my way. If the surface of the pick on the strings is wider it’s easier to make it glide over…it’s a bit challenging to tell the truth.
Thanks David for taking the time to listen and offer feedback, it means a lot, especially on the sound of strumming.
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Thank you Andres
Your classical guitar journey is moving along nicely, your making great progress with it. It is good to see that your chord melody for Wind of Change is progressing well. The Do Re Mi performance was lovely, better than Julie Andrews singing it to the children.
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Thank you James! Now, I think you’re too kind, yesterday I told my colleagues your words of appreciation for my Do Re Mi and they have been calling me Julie all day just to make fun out of me 
Love them…how sympathetic eh
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The Rhythmically Challenged - Nerd like approach 
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CLASSICAL GUITAR
The big news this month is that I found a super enjoyable way to practice my legato and dynamics and stuff without feeling overwhelmed by technique…ooops I’m not even holding my guitar, a short demo in the video: I’m listening to, reading and singing music connecting with the piece by using my vocal strings which turns out to be way easier and more natural than by using my guitar strings 
I think I wouldn’t be able to list all the goodness and pros of such practice! What actually counts is that I really enjoy singing melodies a few times before playing them on the guitar
CHORD MELODY
A lot going on with my Wind of Change arrangement, this is gonna take ages…I don’t even know anymore why I started…ah yes, because I love it and I will learn in the process more than I actually expect
I felt there was something wrong in the musicsheet and while tapping it was clear there was a 2/4 bar…and as I didn’t know it could be when the song is in 4/4 I ended up getting a bit crazy. Big thanks James and the other Community friends who pointed this out. Now as the musicsheet needed to be re-written I took the chance to re-listen to the whole song and re-work out the dynamics to keep the verses quieter before the chorus and gradually introduce more strumming. The goal now is to work on mistakes, applying Justin’s “deliberately make the mistake” trick and also get a nitid/clear mental picture of what the song is to this point; most of all being able to play it all without getting stuck with the Rhythm, notes accuracy will suffer a bit from this.
Now…aren’t my dots getting smaller and tidier on the staves?! 
I have no idea how to write the strums though 
STRUMMING
I completed the Strumming SOS lessons and I enjoyed exploring the strumming patterns. The first pattern I worked out is DU U DU U: as an act of rebellion for not being able to accent 2 and 4 I thought I could get rid of them I’ve been able to easily apply it to a few of the kids songs on the Uke, then I found out this is Proud Mary pattern and I had great fun in playing along with the original on muted strings. Now it’s time to test myself: am I passing? I think I am but I want to give some proper time to the testing phase so that I can move on more confidently. And last but not least, I took @Notter input and trying to get in the habit to hold a bigger part of the pick, thank you Mark! I love the sound of strumming with a pick and I’m very happy I’m learning to use it!
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Your updates are always such a delight to read, Sylvia, and loved the video clip with the singing of the melody before playing.
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Thanks David, I’m so glad you enjoy my updates as I love writing about the steps of my journey and share, it’s motivating and very useful too
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I feel … felt … the same, Sylvia. I just seem to have slipped into an annual update, which I suppose is in harmony with the fact that I am mostly just enjoying learning the odd new songs and rehearsing for Community or local in-person OMs. 
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