10May2026 - I have spent a couple of weeks practicing the finger style for Landslide and decided to record a first version playing along with the song to get a first look at what I need to focus on for progress. This is the first time that I have tried to play along with the original song and found that I need to slow down the YouTube version to 85% speed to feel comfortable. I found out right away that I need to get more comfortable with the song structure. It didn’t help that the songbook left out a line of the chord progression between the second verse and the chorus, but the tab has the correction. I had practiced by playing the 2 verses and the chorus from the Vintage Songbook and just the simple fingerstyle pattern with no embellishments. I was mostly playing the progression from memory, so when I hit a wrong chord, It took a couple of chords to get back on track. I need to slow down the song and get all the chords and the song structure locked into memory before I record again. Anyway I was pleased with my finger style on the first version, but fatigue started in after the first version [EDIT: I meant to say verse, but the previous 2 unrecorded versions or takes probably contributed more to the fatigue], so I need to put in more practice to increase my endurance
I did a little improvising with playing at the end to close out the song, so I decided to softly finger-roll the chords and finish with the root G.
Oh, I also kept thinking that another verse followed the solo, instead of the chorus, so again, I need to learn the song
Your accompaniment is pretty good, the odd fluff here and there despite which you keep playing. The vocal is not so audible: you could look at changing the mic position. For ‘work in progress’ this is very good.
@Silvia80 Silvia, thank you for listening to my progress recording. I appreciate your kind and encouraging words. I will continue to have fun, practice and learn. Even if I don’t get much better, I will gain a deeper understanding of the music and increase my enjoyment
@beejay56 Brian, thanks for taking the time to listen to my progress report recording. And providing feedback. I didn’t use a microphone, except for the microphone in my phone. The vocals and music from the song were coming from the speaker in my tablet. Notice that I leaned in at first to increase the volume I still don’t have much experience playing along to the original songs and i had trouble hearing the song playing on my tablet, so I can see why people use earphones. I think when I do the final recording, I will try to use microphone and DAW and put everything on seperate tracks, so I can level the volumes.
I posted two covers of California Dreaming to the AVOYP section, with both strumming with a pick and then with finger strumming., both while singing. This is an update to an earlier AVOYP that was just the intro and a transcription of the flute solo, that should have been in my learning log and posted when I was more of a beginner in the community. California Dreamin - Intro and solo - SteveL Apr2023 - UPDATED Dec2025 with covers - #10 by SteveL_G99
In the six months of structured practice, I finished up the rest of the the grade 4 lessons and the Intermediate Method book foundation stage 2 practice elements. I decided to use my one week of classical to learn to sight-read the classical pieces Justin put in the Intermediate book. I posted the results of the sight reading on Feb. 7 and 8. Steve L’s Learning Log - #290 by SteveL_G99Steve L’s Learning Log - #291 by SteveL_G99
I completed going through the Belwin (now Alfred) Guitar Method 2 books and the Belwin (Alfred) Rock Shop 2 bonks.
I have mostly completed the TruFire Blues Method 1 and Rock Method 1 courses.
I am halfway going through the lessons in the university level Beginning Guitar course by the Great Courses company. It is more classical guitar technique and scales and theory, but it has some interesting supplementary material, but it doesn’t have lessons for any any modern songs.
I have listened to the introductory demos for all the intermediate (grades 4, 5 and 6) song lessons on the JG website and create a spreadsheet of preliminary notes for all the song, identifying song that might be easier for me to learn or songs on my must learn list.
I’ve made a lot of slow progress in four years, but then I only average 30 minutes of practice at the beginning of each day and another 30 minutes of listening to music or lessons or other things like participating in the JG community. Other members of the community who practice an hour or more a day could accomplish this in 2 years or less. But I’m happy with where I am, since I m finally advancing beyond any level that I have reached in the last 50 years. I now feel comfortable think of myself as a beginning intermediate guitar player. I am looking forward to participation in the BLIM starting in 2027.
12July2026 - I had practiced Dust in the Wind for 2 weeks back in 2025 following Richard’s finger-style lesson in the Vintage Club and recorded my playing the intro and the first verse in Dec. 2025. I recently spent another 2 weeks practicing and even reviewed some of Richard’s lesson focusing on the proper chords and fingering. This time I tried to listen to the original song in YouTube and realized that I couldn’t do some of the trickier chord changes quickly enough playing at 50% speed, so I have made another progress recording without the backing of the original song. I had a cut on my index finger and had a plastic bandage on the tip of that finger, so it caused unwanted string muting a couple of times. I really flamed out in the bridge with the Am barre fragment at the 7th and 5th fret. I believe I detected a sigh of dread and anticipation just prior to the bridge I’ll need to do some Perfect Fast Chord change excercises between the G chord and the exotic Am chord fragment up the neck. Here is my progress video warts and all:
At least I did a better Am to D/F# transition and played the Am/G with my pinky. I also recorded the entire song with intro, all 3 verses and instrumental bridge section and outro, even if some of it needs a lot of work. That’s why I do these recordings, it really shines a light on my weakness and where and what I need to focus on in practice. One of my weaknesses is my short crooked pinky. I finally realized I needed to place my pinky first and then form the rest of the C chord shape for the Cadd9 chord, because sometimes my pinky caught on my ring finger. It is interesting that the image YouTube randomly selected for the opening image shows my stubby crooked pinky playing the D/F# chord. Also my chording is not as fluent because I have been focusing on grade 4 blues techniques of scales and riffs. That is why I am playing a little slower than in the video that I recorded in Dec. 2025. I’ll get a little better as I focus on songs in the next few months.
A bonus is one of our dogs photobombing the video at the 2 minute point
15July2026 - I am finishing up my review and consolidation of the Grade 3 lessons this week with finishing the transcription lessons. I was so excited to find that I can actually transcribe riffs that I have listened to over the years. I started the week by transcribing Day Tripper riff, but that was Jon challenge since I havd already learned and played in the past.
I transcribed the riff from Beat It today and was surprised how easy it was for me. I wasn’t able to export the mp3 or mp4 audio file from my iTunes list, so I just listened to the beginning of the song on my phone and wrote out the TAB one or two notes at a time with multiple playing of the beginning riff. What really struck me was that the riff was not that hard to play when I finished transcribing. I recorded a video on my phone and extracted the audio so that I won’t temp others to cheat before doing the transcription
I don’t think that it is revealing too much to say that the key was determining the first note of the riff, since that is usually true in general, but in this case it suggested something you need to do to the guitar and locates the position on the neck.
I just recorded the rhythm riff sequence that repeats throughout the song. I made no attempt to find the right tone for the song. I just played my Mex. Strat on bridge pickup through the single playable default (2nd track) on my Positive Grid Spark GO, which is probably more suitable for rockabilly Also, this is the first time that I have played using a new Jim Dunlop Big Stubby 1.0 mm pick.
I thought it sounded pretty recognizable and mostly accurate, considering that I only spent 30 minutes total time on transcribing and recording the riff.
17July2026 - Today I transcribed the main riff for Crazy Train. Again, once I listened to the song on my phone and found the first note, the rest of the riff was easy for me. In fact, I had heard this so much before (there is a brass band arrangement of this song that our local university pep band plays at every game ) that I was able to transcribe to TAB from my memory of the riff. I recorded my playing the riff with the same setup as last time, except I used the 3rd default tone in my Spark GO. I don’t use that tone as much since it has so much reverb. Here is the short audio clip of the riff:
You can hear the reverb when I stop playing, but surprisingly it doesn’t seem to be too obvious while I am playing. I think because I have been a singer all of my life (since 5 years old) I have an easy time memorizing melodic riffs without extra harmonizing notes. Transcribing does make it easier to play, since I had never tried to play this riff until today and recorded the riff after 10 minutes of practice.
Later I will work to get better tone, but this shows the transcription of the riff.
I also transcribed Do I Wanna Know - Arctic Monkeys, to finish transcribing the 5 song riffs for Module 22 to end grade 3 lessons. This turned out to be the longest riff to transcribe and i had to listen to the song in YouTube at 80% speed to pick up on a few of the nuances like the hammer on at the beginning. I didn’t have time to record this one, so maybe later.
The notes are OK and the rhythm is close, but I rushed the riff a little since I didn’t play along with the drum track. I didn’t leave enough space between the different parts of the riff. Maybe at some time I will get better at GarageBand and redo this with a drum track. Also the tone is a little more twangy than it should be, since I am recording from my iPhone and picking up the sound of the guitar strings. On second thought it is also probably due to picking closer to the bridge than usual. I am mostly an acoustical guitarist that is dabbling in the electric guitar, so I am still pretty much a tone noob
I’ll need to do some Perfect Fast Chord change excercises between the G chord and the exotic Am chord fragment up the neck. Here is my progress video warts and all: