I’ve been working a chord melody out on the paper and in my head and I’ve been fingerpicking in the air (and mixing it with strumming too!) for two days now while walking in the nature…I can’t wait to put my hands on my guitar again and check if it’s really as it seems, which is: I see no reason at all why it shouldn’t work! Well, let’s see
July recordings are Dee and the video for the summer thread where I re-worked out Sapore di Mare, I had made it with the 123 123 123 123 Rhythm which for some reason seemed easier at that time; now I tried to give it a 123456 123456 kind of feeling which would be more faithful to the original recording.
Listening to some of my favourites by Tarrega and following the notes going up and down the staves on the musicsheet, analysing where the melody is, the dynamics and how different performers approach it.
For Recuerdos de la Alhambra I just tried to analyse the structure of the first section; I was curios about how one approaches such an advanced piece and checked the lesson which isolates a few aspects and it all made sense…maybe just the first section could be a good -very long term- project for me…soo beautiful!
Capricho arabe I could kind of follow the first maybe 12 bars hahaha…
I can work out melodies by ear using the open position C and G Major scales and I can easily find the notes under my fingers in those positions/keys and play them in the context of chords
I can train my ears, work out a melody and re-work it out slowly many many times relying on the sound going up and down the Major Scale (avoiding my beginner mistake to rely on cognitive memory!) - and I identified a few tricks when I can’t recognise a note straight away
I can transpose to those keys and use a capo so that I can rely directly on the original recording anytime I need it
I know what chords tones are and how a chord is constructed and I can apply that knowledge quite easily in those keys
I developed strenght in my pinky and I can reach out the notes of the scale while holding the chord shape with little effort, though it’s far from being perfect, I’m developing more and more control over my fingers
To a certain extent I can sometimes add slides and flick-offs to better serve the melody - even if they sometimes sound innacurate
I can predict if a song I know is “rhythmically easy” for me to decode and how nicely or not the melody sits in the rhythmical flow - for some reason (I might be able to tell it) the well defined cadence of 3/4, 6/8 and 12/8 comes easier to me
I can play fingerpicking patterns and sing at the same time and with some dedication I know I can add variations to the patterns and dynamics (the arrangement I made to accompany my singing for the song If I think home proves I can do it and I need to remind it to my ownself)
I can read Standard Music Notation to a level that is enough for my present needs and which makes it easier for me to intuitevely pick the Music Theory knowledge in my brain in the moment I need to apply it on the fretboard, as well as to take all the Rhythm information I would be lost without
I can find triads under my fingers, or at least find my easier solutions to simplify and avoid a complex chord or when the melody gets up to the next octave and I need to play it up in the neck as well.
At a beginner level I can identify a structure and some elements in a Classical Guitar piece and this helps hugely with making sense and memorising…and as a natural consequence with performing it
I can listen mindfully
I’m developing the skill to sing internally and bringing it out to life on the guitar
I can apply a basic fingerpicking pattern or work out one that fits to pick a melody - after having worked and re-worked the melody out by ear enough - through the rhytmical flow
In other words I’m able, to a certain degree, to play intuitevely and let the Music flow, by combining skills and aiming to be both focussed and relaxed at the same time - though this is not always easy, especially when my skills haven’t reached the required level of automation
I can tap my foot while fingerpicking and when (often) I cannot I slow down and practice to be able to because I know it’s crucial: am I Rhythmically Challenged? Yes. Can I skip it? No. Simple.
Finally I’m able to have a good laugh at my ownself when the donnut doesn’t come out with the hole as expected!
WHAT I CAN’T DO AND WISH TO ACHIEVE
I want to proceed in due time and be able to both arrange and perform in other positions. The D open chord is going to be the next starting point- a choice that makes sense to me. But before that I feel I need to consolidate other skills
I can’t cover whole songs, both because I seem unable to stay focussed on the playing as long as required and because getting to further sections on a song requires adding dynamics. On dynamics I know I can work; on improving my ability to perform longer pieces of Music I’m not able to tell if it’ll actually be possible.
I can’t pick my melody through strumming…and I want to learn this so much! To tell the truth I had a few attempts and while the first one on Wind of change wasn’t actually too bad I found it so very challenging and I never persevered enough in that.
I can’t add percussive elements to my works, a single downstrum here and there when it feels good is all I can do; another thing I hope I will be able to develop.
I can’t completely understand the logic of the picking hand fingerings: classical guitar alternated picking or modern fingerstyle assigning pima to the strings? At the moment my best guess is that I shouldn’t pick just one technique but decide for each piece/arrangement which of the two works best relatively to that piece of Music
I can’t play Scales’ Patterns except for Pattern 1, although I can’t make Music out of it and in general I tend to play vertically and struggle orizzontaly (also with fretting hand technique). I want to be able to use scales to link chords and to add chromatic passages to my works
I’m not able to rely on my internal timing yet to a degree that makes me feel comfortable; on the contrary there’s always a latent lack of confidence
It’s not clear yet if there’s a ideal way to use patterns to make arrangements and how: insofar I did what came intuitive to me
Slides, flick-offs, hammer ons, vibrato: I need to improve all these techniques
Hicups and innacuracies: I seem unable to play without, it often feels like “there’s too much” going on for my little burning brain: simplyfing, decreasing expectations, self-indulgence…a little bit of all might be useful along with consistent meaningful practice.
The list of what I can’t do might be endless, but through that “and I wish to achieve” I can make it short enough to maybe be manageable.
And right halfway between what one can or can’t do there’s always a legit fun approach: that of pretending!
The recording below seems a good example to summarize the can/can’t dos
THE 6 AREAS TO PRACTICE (JG lesson grade 3 - module 15)
This lesson has been a real eye-opener to me and the immediate thought here is that a chord melody is a real “total body workout”, involving practice in all of the 6 areas, which are worth to be mentioned:
Technique
Knowledge
Repertoire
Ear Training
Time
Improvisation
These are my referring blocks, and it seems a good idea to do my best to proceed gradually in all areas, though it’s challenging to find time for all and I tend to neglect Improvisation (when I’m able to understand the impact it can have on both musicality and esecutive skills development). I’m also much doubtfull to keep going through Music Theory when my Technique on the fretboard to use it efficiently seems quite poor. I need to just keep on practicing and improve a little bit here and there and be able to put it all together and proceed at my snare pace. Again, Chord Melody offers so many opportunities in this regard.
FREE CHORD MELODY EXPLORING
It’s what in the end I will keep doing to consolidate my skills, but aiming to clarify my doubts and to achieve more tools for my exploring I felt the need to start a structured path which hopefully will both give me some direction and new ways to explore and make Music. I made some research on the Internet, considered a couple of Fingerstyle courses and a few books and when I bumped into this one I felt it was exactly what I needed
It’s in italian, but surely you can pick things through the lines.
I’ve started working on it this month and I’ll share more of my practice on it in the end of month update.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
there’s so much to learn from the Classical Guitar beginner pieces and I’ll keep my Classical Guitar journey going - slowier than ever
Fingers strumming: I’ll keep on exploring sounds but I actually need to consolidate my skills before learning anything new.
I need a good plan for September: now I’m practicing about 2h/day with 4 or even 5 sessions, it’ll be reduced to 1h…I need a good plan.
As you can tell if you look at the oldest notification , you can see that I had some catching up to do and did it… didn’t have the time and the type energy at the moment to neatly say a lot and to applaud the way I should , so it’s going to be a big standing ovation (hey… is a biggy for me … )
The festively decorated schoolyard gave me an amazing, really good feeling again
I posted it thinking of you to be really honest because I knew it would! And I’m happy the good vibes reached you! (I remember you liked it so much when I posted it last year) It’s not a schoolyard btw.
A standing ovation from you almost breaks my heart and puts it all together immeadiately with great joy!
AUGUST UPDATE
I’ve been very happy with my guitars this month as I could find as much time as I wished for practicing and playing!
JGIM (JG Intermediate Method): I finally started working on the book right from the beginning- 15minutes everyday focusing on Major Scale Pattern 1 and the E shape Bar chords.
The Scale was already memorised so I focused on keeping the fingers well curled and alligned and avoiding the flying fingers I’m quite happy to say I seem to have developed good control over my fingers - in September I’ll introduce the Metronome in the Scale practice and I will do the Minimun Movement Exercise as well. It’s not time yet for me to be able to make Music out of it…developing a good technique is a priority now.
I’m really happy I’m finally refining my Bar Chords as they were so clumsy, my fingers all crooked and bent toward the headstock and in the minor shape middle finger was all over index to add pressure to the barre. I focused on the right position of fingers and on how to get clean notes - that problematic third string on the minor shape gave way less problem than expected and while going super slow I feel I’m fixing a lot of the problems I had and I’m finally learning to do things correctly. I feel now ready to move to the one minute change for the Major shape and for the Minor shape I feel what I need to work on is prolonging the time I hold the chord down with clean notes, consolidate the right position of fingers and wrist and develop more strenght.
A.T. (Arranging Techniques):
The book seems designed for guitarists with a more advanced knowledge and skills than I have, notheless I can get so much out of it and I think I’m able to decide what will remain there on the page and what I will put the effort to bring to life on the guitar. The short clips in the video below will show better than words what I’ve been practicing - a few considerations:
a. surfing through the different keys has been a very good exercise for my ear
b. the D shape chords are not too much stretch for my fingers, what I really need to work on is keeping a stable angle of the wrist while transitioning
c. I feel ready to start exploring the key of D, I already had a go in the past with Hey Jude but never recorded that - I have a pretty decent, though basic, knowledge of where my notes are on the fretboard: the time is right to gradually learn to use that knowledge in a practical way to make music for real!
d. I will have now to make a progression of mine and create a little arrangement starting from the chords as shown in the example in clip 1 in the video below
CMFE (Chord Melody Free Exploring) I invested some time in this too and developed what I had been imagined in my mind while on holiday, but actually quite differently from what I had imagined hahaha. A real connection with the instrument is not easy to achieve but that’s what I’m aiming too and I’m happy to develop it a little bit everyday through chord melodies even if the result is always a bit rough…ooops…
Classical Guitar: Siciliano! Now that I know how I can bring out the Music I feel more and more the need to refine my Techniques and learn new ones as well…to bring it out effectively and accurately and make it sound sweeter and sweeter to the ear! I also enjoyed my very small Repertoire including more practice on Dee!
Noodling Around: I tend to have one or two days a week off from Guitar…but I just wanted to play and learnt two new songs! One for strumming, which I’m not sure I’ll be able to record, and one for fingerpicking ( a little bit of it at the end of the video
And here’s the video to document and keep track of progress
I first needed to get used to keep contact with the strings while switching Emajor Shape Barre Chords (my fingers always toook the - and then I could do the 1minute change ex properly
as regards the Eminor Barre Shape I noticed that while I could make that damn 3rd string ring out cleanly the buzz was to follow really soon, so I figured out in my mind I had to focus on keeping the hand really steady in order to avoid the buzz and I practiced accordingly - it might not be actually about pressing harder, but about keeping the correct position and avoid the subtlest movement.
I think I did quite well on the Major Scale Pattern 1 and I’ll try to use it for improvising in October - I don’t feel ready at all but objectively my technique seems good enough and I can confidently play the scale to a click with rare mistakes…wish me good luck!
16th notes strumming: the feeling in my hand seems to be consolidating well and I can develop from the 8th notes all down strumming to the 16th notes strumming naturally and smoothly - next step will be being able to apply proper 16th notes patterns to songs consistently…I picked the pattern Justin uses for She’s the One quite intuitevely and played it both with and without the metronome, but as soon as I tried to apply it to a song I wasn’t able to do it, my hand kept on adding strums when the real beauty of that pattern is its being sparse. In the first clip it shows how my 16th notes are still wild, but I’m happy I improved to keep the hand moving consistently
A.T. (Arranging Techniques):
Second clip in the video is the intro of the same song in clip 1, Io Vagabondo…and I figured it out by ear
As the book introduced the concept of a Walking Bass and mentioning also that it can be mixed with the Alternated Bass, I’m now trying to apply it to Io Vagabondo and make my chord/melody arrangement. It’s taking sometime, it’s not so easy, to be honest because of my not so well developed technique I think.
I made my attempt which…miserably failed
Clip 3 is based on last month exercise but introduces the walking bass more explicitly and some embellishments too.
Classical Guitar:
One clear goal: improve my fretting hand technique and focus on that aspect only; in the video how I practiced accordingly.
Something magic finally happened and it made me hear a voice saying “Ah! This is such a big deal!”…but this post is already too long and I want to take all the time I need to tell you all about it - super happy I found my way to finally keep hammering on a new amazing basic skill
What a nice update, Silvia! It seems your practice is coming along nicely in all the areas.
Io vagabondo is one of my favourite Italian songs and you made me really happy with sharing your clips! It sounds quite nice already. From what I recall from my learnings with 16th note patterns is that is takes some good time to sink in and get so smooth and automated, that singing along won’t disturb too much. On the other hand, introducing a few ghosts strums - as Justin calls them - here and there, really help to bring a feel of dynamics and human touch to it instead of rigidly following the pattern. By the way, did you know Gianna made a cover of Io vagabondo? I love it: https://youtu.be/_2eLxHy5DEA?si=tPkMIes6fZ637-n4
Thanks Lisa…I kind of remembered you once mentioned being acquainted with this song…I didn’t know Gianna’s cover …really a rock style one
I’m keeping working on them this month, I think I’ll do a lot of play-along trying to keep the pattern consistent and join the singing when ready.
Agree…and a whole lot to work on!
I’m afraid it might be a bit dissapointing of me as probably I should be expected to have already got to this bulb of light in my head way before…but it came just now … so I guess I should be grateful for it instead of getting crazy at the fact that I couldn’t understand it before.
It was very simple… I was listening to Meraviglioso errore and I thought: “new released song - no chords to be found on the Internet”…but then as I was listening I happened to think “if it were in the key of C this would be a F for sure…oh, a G…C again…and this is a Dm no doubt!” and I was so happy! Next day I grabbed the guitar and capo in order to play the chords in the key of C, but I immediately realised the song was actually in the key of C…yay! The beginner’s luck I thought And then I started doing single downstrums as soon as I thought I was recognising the chords and I recognised a few. And after this I got so frustrated because I realised I wasn’t able to tell when exactly the chord was changing, I thought “if I tap my foot anything will fall into place”…and got even more frustrated because tapping my foot to that song didn’t come natural not even a bit. It took me a few days to get over the frustration and free some nasty ghosts from the past from purgatory and send them definetely to hell…but after this was done
This is definetely a new amazing starting point for me! I know I probably should have been more aware of the sound of chords before, but somehow I’ve always been focusing on something else and never actually on the sound only at a deep level. That’s really a lot for me!
Just playing catch up… both the August and September updates continue to show an upward trajectory. Your detailed A4 practice sheets are doing the business. The only thing that is missing from your updates is the electric guitar section.
I’m also doing some catch up. I did see your September update last time I was on the forum but didn’t have time to reply properly.
I was so curious about your magic moment! It really is a big deal and would feel so great!
I also think most of us have some times of a lot of frustration and maybe dark thoughts. I try to remember to tell myself that this is when a lot of growth happens, - although it is much harder when you’re in the middle of it
You’re doing so great, and you play beautifully
I love your earrings too
Thanks for checking in and your encouragment James
The electric guitar I bought for my husband is its box now, unused. I’m pretty sure I’ll put my hands on it one day…who knows maybe at my next rut with the Acoustic or the Classical guitar?! The good news is I have a plan: get back to all the Blues lessons I “diligentely” skipped in the Beginner Course and learn to mix Rhythm and Lead as Justin shows in his latest lesson, which is so so cool!
This is so true Jasmine, thank you for reminding me!
And that is part of the journey as well and I’m learning to be more rational with myself. This for example
Last week I was thinking in the morning "no no, better to start off without a backing track, that’s too difficult for me…and then in the afternoon I pushed myself to try using it and as the rational part of me had expected I was able to do something!
Thank you so much for your encouragment !
It’s a Christmas present from my husband I wear them everyday to go to work
Just have watched your September update - and I enjoyed every note of it
It was such a treat to listen to! I love your Italian songs with your beautiful singing, the classical ones - and that lovely snippet of “Morning has broken”
You make such an awesome progress. And I’m impressed by your well structured and detailed practice schedule.
I really have to try that, too. Each month there is more and more to learn, practice and revisit.
I also loved the picture of the beautiful landscape by the sea at the beginning of your video. Is this where you live? It’s lovely
Thank you so much for sharing your great performances
Me too! It always blows me away.
I keep thinking I have to try something like this too, but maybe if I just make one change at a time it will stick It doesn’t seem to otherwise
Hello Gunhild, I hope being late not to be a big issue here as I’m myself so often late, both when commenting and in my replies too
You’re so kind to check my LL and way too kind with your words of appreciation…but you know, some extra kindness is always welcome so a big big thank you for that
It’s Recco, which you might know for the Focaccia al formaggio Recco was completely destroyed by bombs during WWII and has been re-built so it’s not so typical as Camogli which is adjacent and is just beautiful!
I live 9 kms from it in the hinterland. I took that picture at the beginning of September, I had to go downtown for work and decided to take my last sea bath of the season after work
I usually can’t find time for all those items of practice daily. At the moment I’m giving some priority to Acoustic Guitar and practice it everyday. To that I usually can add one more practice session and I have to pick either Classical Guitar or Arranging Chord Melodies.
We are all different and I think it’s right to approach learning differently. What really works great for me is planning in advance for the month and using a timer. And also committing to update this LL monthly and make a video, even if it’s only a few clips of practice, it really helps me to better define the goals for the month without feeling overwhelmed… and you saying you’re enjoying my clips… that’s priceless
we’re finally breathing the cool air of the mountains in Aosta Valley 
, you can see that I had some catching up to do 
and did it… 
… )
It sounds quite nice already. From what I recall from my learnings with 16th note patterns is that is takes some good time to sink in and get so smooth and automated, that singing along won’t disturb too much. 
On the other hand, introducing a few ghosts strums - as Justin calls them - here and there, really help to bring a feel of dynamics and human touch to it instead of rigidly following the pattern. By the way, did you know Gianna made a cover of Io vagabondo? I love it: 
…really a rock style one 
It doesn’t seem to otherwise 
Recco was completely destroyed by bombs during WWII and has been re-built so it’s not so typical as Camogli which is adjacent and is just beautiful!