I’d say your internal metronome is right on! That’s like 65% of the struggle.
I’m not an artist, but now I’m working on what note or chord is next like in: I’m playing X but thinking Y, the next change in the song. In practice I’m getting better thinking, or anticipating one step ahead. Btw, I’ve got Squier very much like yours…what year is yours?
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Thank you! I’m starting to see that myself. It’s been a struggle. There’s the part of my brain that just knows and is responsible for the good stuff whenever the other part of my brain doesn’t get in the way. Then there’s that other part of my brain that struggles to keep up with the part that just knows. And I think this is the part responsible for making the genius of the part that just knows reproducible upon request. To say getting the two parts on the same page is challenging for me would be an understatement.
I picked that Squier up about two years ago new. Not sure what year it was made. I got it with the idea I would switch to it and learn lead stuff as my fingers got sore from the acoustic. That never materialized as I struggled to maintain any consistency with practicing at all. Only in the last little bit have I gotten more serious about practicing consistently but I haven’t even thought about that squier. It just sits and collects dust while I focus on the acoustic and getting those two competing brain factions to cooperate.
Hi Ed! Enjoyed your cover of this song.
One of the things that helped me bring the “two brains” together was to manifest the tempo with some part of my body i.e. the foot tapping, or head bobbing or some other manifestation of “feeling” the metronome and expressing it outwardly somehow. It was frustrating at first but I found if I stopped and worked the foot tap into the song I soon abandoned the idea of what came next and simply moved through the chords.
A lot is also repetition and just doing it over and over again.
Anyway you’ve got the rhythm down and the playing and singing at the same time is no mean feat either!!
Well done and keep strumming!,
J.
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Thanks Jeremy! I do incorporate all of the above only I’ve not yet incorporated it into a complete routine. I’ll do it when listening to a song and singing along. I’ll do it when just playing. I’ll do it when I’m visualizing some melody in my mind. But so far when I try to include it in the complete package it becomes to much. Eventually I’ll get there.
I think I’m having to defragment my mind. Everything I need seems to be in there it’s just difficult to recall as needed. For years I’ve referred to my brain’s storage system as a giant pile of yellow sticky notes. There’s a lot of stuff in there, it’s just stored chaotically. I’m working on that and as I do I’m realizing just how disorganized everything has been all these years.
Years ago I worked at a salvage yard. There was no organization. I worked with a guy who knew where everything was in all the giant piles of parts. Someone would come in looking for something and he would know exactly what pile it was in. It was always there but it took time to dig through the pile. That’s the way my brain is. Unfortunately songs aren’t forgiving enough to allow me to go dig through piles in my mind while trying to play. I’m working on getting all those piles organized so the things I need to play will always be right where I need them rather than having to always go dig. I feel like the repetition is one of the tools that is helping.
Thanks again for the kind comments!
Ed
I hope you guys don’t mind but I’m tossing another video out there. I think it’s about taking on some fear more than anything. I’m still a bit too unsure and scared to attempt anything in front of people. What better way to build up to that though than put out what should be my worst performances for critique?
I’ve spent most of the day working on getting organized as far as guitar learning goes. I went through a probably two inch thick stack of songs I’ve printed out to learn and have a much more manageable number now I want to break down and really work on. This is one of them. I decided to just give it go without any thought. It’s simple chords and I’ve heard the song so many times I have a pretty good feel for it. I screwed up a couple of times but managed to get two takes that I think aren’t half bad considering. I don’t know that the strumming pattern is correct but I think it’s close. I’ll put some real work into it soon. Yes my phone rang midway. I apologize. Also the weird movements aren’t drugs, just me trying to loosen up and get out of my own way.
I’ve noticed my strumming seems to always be up at the front of the sound hole instead of the middle. I don’t know if there’s some adjustment I need to try and make or if it’s just the guitar and I ultimately need one that better fits me. I still struggle with pick movement too. I’m getting considerably better and making in flight adjustments but have yet to figure out how to get it to stay put better. I’ve tried several different ones. The one I’m using in the video has a rough texture where the fingers go but I still find it moving. Part of that I think may be some inconsistency I still have with regards to how “hard” I’m hitting the strings. I also have a terrible habit of hitting the guitar with the pick on the down stroke. I haven’t figured out how to remedy that just yet.
Hi Ed ,
absolutely no problem at all, feel free to post a song every day,
read this and you will also find that you should create a topic per month and you can place as many songs/posts in it as you want, for now you don’t have to do anything and soon the moderator will merge your topics, but now you Once you have read this, you can post the following songs in this topic below, Great that you are so busy making music,
Greetings and have fun,Rogier
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Sounds like another good one to me. I don’t know the song but it sounded like a keeper.
Have you watched this lesson? He has good advice on how to hold a pick. I had problems with “pick- clicking” noise. I’m hoping I’m doing better now, but haven’t recorded a video since I have tried to improve on it. It may also help you too.
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Thank you!
I think I’ve seen the video t if it’s the same one from grade one. I’ll watch it again to see if there’s something I missed or forgot that’s helpful.
I am super late to the party. Bro that was rad. You did killer. When I started learning just late last year, i set out to accomplish a few things. Sing and play and also stand up when doing it. Bro!.. you did both. To me thats a huge accomplishment and super cool. I haven’t even gotten the balls to post any of my stuff yet so you are well on your way.
So rock on man i am really stoked for you. And I really hope you keep hanging out here and keep contributing at justin’s.
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Thanks for the kind words Jason! I’ll be around lurking always as times permits and hopefully posting some new and better stuff sometime in the near future.
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