26Nov26 - since I have been working on fingerstyle in my acoustic guitar practice for Module 19, I thought that I would add a couple of recordings of simple fingerstyle (just pattern 1) with nice fretwork from a book I have been using Fingerstyle Guitar From Scratch. I am only on page 9 but I like the arrangements with interesting chord voicings. I played both exercises through twice and in both cases the second time is the charm. Some day I will get over camera shyness.
Excercise 9a:
(Note: I have small hands, so the F chord with thumb and transition to the D7/F# was difficulty for me. Fortunately I wasn’t picking the high E or string 1).
Exercise 9b:
(I tried the second time with stiffer fingers and firmer attack with better volume)
We both are working on grade 3 since a few months, so I enjoy reading your learning log from times to times. We are almost at the same place, since I started module 20 pratice today.
I found some modules really fun like Greensleeves and Blues lead fingerstyle and some other modules less fun.
Did you have some motivation problems too in grade 3 ? Maybe I’m not the only one haha ?
Anyway, I need to keep my focus and stop procrastinating as I trust Justin’s learning plan. I want to start 2024 with grade 4 as there are modules about barre chords and blues.
@math07 Thanks for taking the time to look at my learning log. I do have motivation problems, but keep a table of my practice progress and return to the schedule after doing something else. I am going the regular practice schedule every other week and will start module 20 in another 2 weeks. I plan to start on grade 4 next year also. Good luck with staying on track and progress getting to grade 4.
You are making good progress, Steve. Your fingers and thumb on the righthand look quite tense, or maybe just the angle of thethumb and the way it curls up.
I suggest sticking to the technique in the first video. It was loud enough and the second seemed to get some extra string buzz, maybe through the use of a heavier action?
The thumbover technique may improve over time. Certainly in my case it was totally beyond me for the first few years of playing and then at a point I could manage the D/F#. Nothing specific done, just a result of the playing and practice over time.
Enjoyed listening to these Steve, as they are similar to some of the folk finger style patterns I have been working on. Good advice from David but I would add for the buzzing in the 2nd recording, I think it is due to your fingers being a distance from the fret, especially when fretting in both 3rd and 1st. The teacher of the Blues Acoustic course I have been doing this year often shows the fingering using the pinkie instead of the ring finger for those shapes. Also allow for bass runs to be played on the 6th and 5th while the 3rd string rings out. Took me a while to get used to it but not having to finger full chords for this type of playing gives you options. You may find it useful.
@DavidP David, thanks for taking the time to look at my learning log videos. Your comment about my thumb was interesting, since it was pointed out to me early in my Justin Guitar journey by @Tbushell that I had a “hitchhikers” thumb. Here is my picture from Module 0, How to Hold a Pick that illustrates the point (first picture):
I appreciate your observations and advice. I’ll probably avoid trying to fingerpick harder, especially when I get my Rode NT1 condenser microphone set up.
27Nov2023 - I started review of Grade 2 videos on the JG app today. I will alternate between Grade 2 review and continuing with Grade 3 on alternate weeks. As i come to items that are on my Grade 2 consolidation list I can record and close out that item if I think the progress is sufficient. This is my big push to finish Grade 2 consolidation. Hopefully when I finish Grade 3 in about 6 to 7 more months, then I will have finished Grade 2 consolidation and be ready to focus on Grade 4, with eventual review of Grade 3 material. My grade 2 consolidation will also include memorizing and recording 6 to 7 Grade 2 songs, with 3 songs that use electric guitar, something I haven’t done in the past. I also plan to record the Rockschool Debut and Grade 1 electric guitar exam pieces (5 to 6 each), since Rockschool Grade 1 roughly corresponds to JG Grade 2. If I finish Grade 2 consolidation before finishing Grade 3, then I will start learning a few songs from Grade 4 so that i will have 3 levels of song from Grades 2, 3 and 4.
28Nov2023 - I realized while rewatching the Muting Strings Deliberately lesson in Module 8, that I had completely forgotten the intent and content of this lesson. I thought it was about muting strings while playing chords. Wrong! This is about deliberate string muting while playing scales and single note riffs and phrases. I will have to rewatch this a few more times and get it fixed in memory and try to practice. I remember SRV saying that part of his signature tone was due to lots of deliberate string muting while playing his blues solos. I found that with my fat stubby fingers string muting comes easily with my fretting hand, but pick hand muting will take some time. At least I only have to use pick hand muting on ascending lines or phrases or playing from to 6th to the 1st string.
4Dec2023 - I am finishing up Module 19 this week with intro to singing. In all of my other videos I haven’t focused as much on my singing, but more on my guitar playing, but thought that it was appropriate at this time to add some of my notes on my vocal practice as a video of tips for singing since I have had university vocal training and a year of private voice coaching. I also I made a short video of a vocalization exercise using the electric guitar to play a short movable major scale pattern on the electric guitar. I don’t have the training to teach voice, so this is like the advice from a more experience amateur.
Since it is in the holiday season, I wanted to post a soundcloud clip of my singing from the my younger days. This is the only time I will do this and only because I am studying the module on singing. This is my solo of O Holy Night, done 35 years ago at a Christmas cantata in a large church in front of hundreds of people backed by a professional orchestra and church choir.
This was back when I had more power and projection to my voice. Now, at 68 years of age, I have to work more on getting tone and expression in my voice…
Here is the clip. I’m no Andrea Bocelli or Josh Groban but I sounded OK back then. Also this was digitized from a cassette tape 20 years later:
Good suggestion for those who sing and play to warm up with the vocalisations, Steve, which also delivers some guitar practice.
Your tips video is also helpful. My singing learning has all been via Chris Liepe’s programmes, first the free intro and then the Discover Your Voice course. Made a huge difference to my ‘singing’.
You certainly did sound OK to me back in '88, though I am not a listener to Bocelli or Groban, not my thing.
David, thanks for listening. I should have included the late Freddy Mercury of Queen in the list, since he would be recognizable, but I was focusing on male singers from the last 20 years who are also known for Christmas albums. Josh Groban was the most popular 10 years ago in the US where he has multi platinum albums including Christmas albums. Andrea Bocelli, the Italian tenor, is also popular in the US, but has been popular all over the world. I saw in his wiki page “ As part of the 2010 leg of the My Christmas Tour, Bocelli gave two concerts in The O2 Arena in London, and the Manchester Arena in Manchester and a concert at The O2 in Dublin. His sold-out concert at the O2 in London, was the most attended show in the venue’s history, with 16,500 people attending the event.” As a singer, I tend to remember singers. You may not know their names but you have probably heard them sing for events like the televised Grammy awards ceremonies, the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics or perhaps in the annoying holiday music that stores like to play to put you in the holiday shopping mood.
Hi Rogier. Thank you for listening to my videos and sound clip and for your kind words. I hope my tips are helpful when you focus on singing in a few months.
11Dec2023 - I finally started on Grade 3 Module 20 today. As I stated in my post on the 19th of Nov., I started Module 19 on the 21st of August, but I did a lot of consolidation activity along the way which spread out the completion time for my 12 days of Module 19 practice. (I sense a holiday theme in that sentence ). I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for Grade 3, but it will be 6 months away, at the minimum. At the end of this though, I will be able to confidently say that I have finished beginner grades (1 and 2) consolidation and move on to Intermediate studies.
31Jan2024 - I am still on Module 20 in Grade 3 and decided to create my own lesson on chords in keys so I can use more barre chords in my practice. This is just a lesson going one step beyond what has been taught in Grades 1 and 2, which gives the chords in the key of C, and finding the rest of the minor chords for the keys G, D, A and E. I had to edit and remove the first 1 1/2 minutes of intro to keep the length under 15 minutes. I edited on my iPhone not too precisely, so the video starts with a sentence fragment.
My chords in keys for CAGED keys lesson:
I don’t want detract from Justin’s content and I have lifetime access to the PMT lessons. This is just practical information and not much theory, so for more info go to Justin’s theory lessons. This just a small step beyond what was taught in Grades 1 and 2, but certainly not as advanced as the material in the Grade 3 Module 20 lesson. I am not a guitar teacher and don’t intend to put this on any other public website, so I am just putting this out here for myself, since I have been thinking about it for the last year and for anyone else who might find it useful. It is like when you play something for a year and just want to put it in a recording so you can put it behind you and move on. I don’t plan to create a long (almost 15 minutes) video again. I really takes too long to upload to YouTube. From now on I am sticking to shorter videos of me playing.
I decided to also include my original video lesson. It is a little more unpolished with hand written notes, but in this version I actually had a little arts and crafts project and created a spinning note circle to demonstrate the concepts.
I even unintentionally added some sound effects to the process of spinning the note circle, so I am keeping this for my own amusement. It made me remember the song “Spinning Wheels” by the group Blood, Sweat and Tears.
5Feb2024 - New guitar amp day - I got a Positive Grid
Spark GO miniature amp this past week I like the portable size and the volume is all I need for practice.
I can store behind my computer monitor and grab and plug in when I practice:
9Feb2024 - I made my first good recording from my Strat though the Spark Go clean (rhythm) channel preset into Garage Band. I made some earlier recordings and forgot to turn off the internal microphone in the laptop. This is the Wish You Were Here intro from my Grade 2 consolidation. It is not up to tempo (just 70 bpm) and had a few minor mistakes, but overall I was pleased with mostly playing on tempo with the click track and the tone of the chords with the guitar-amp combination:
I also played on acoustic guitar and recorded on my iPhone with Justin’s metronome app running:
in background:
There are a few mistakes and I got off the tempo a few times but this is a good start to build on and hopefully I can record a better version in a few months
12Feb2024 - I am starting Module 21 today from Grade 3. I realized when looking at Justin’s practice routine description again that I have not tried to learn any Dreamer Songs in my practice routine. I probably am just staying away from the more advanced songs because I had gotten discouraged and given up. I have been practicing Campfire Songs and Developer Songs, which I will define as songs from grades I have completed and songs from the grade that I am currently practicing. So Dreamer Songs would be songs from grades ahead of me. It is time to attempt a few grade 4 songs in my practice routine.
To give me more time to practice songs, I have decided to change my practice schedule of alternating weeks of grade 3 practice and grade 2 consolidation and add a 3rd week of repertoire development with addition of practice material from videos and books outside of Justin. This will prepare me for Grade 4, since I have decided that is how I will structure the practice in Grade 4. The extra week will allow some flexibility in recording the final grade 2 repertoire and finally spending some time playing along with the original recording as I had resolved to do in January but sadly did not follow up on.
My grade 4 dreamer or challenge songs will all be acoustic guitar based songs. My electric guitar playing still lags my acoustic by at least a grade level since I have spent most of my life just playing acoustic. I am focusing on electric guitar in my grade 2 consolidation and continuing to record RockSchool Debut (Grade 1 level songs) with backing track.
25Feb2024 - I have decided to learn The Rolling Stones song “Angie” for my first dreamer song. It has been on my list for a LONG time. When I got interested electric blues guitar in 1999 and started buying everything on the blues I could find, I got this issue of Guitar Techniques:
Notice the featured song is Angie. I tried to learn a few times but didn’t have the patience or the good practice routines and learning practices that I needed. Hopefully from what I have learned from Justin so far and from pages 96-99 in the Vintage Songbook, I can master the intro some day.
… your qualities can also be heard in some of your current songs 
