Yeah gonna try this next session and slow the pace down again and work on that next, cheers
1 Like
Thanks for the update, Tom. Keep practicing, keep improving, thatās how we rock n roll.
I can see the improvement in the finger-picking. I agree with @Socio, as much as we want to play it so it sounds fluent and at a decent tempo (even if not the original tempo) one will get there faster by starting slower, in the long run.
I know others mentioned the hyper-extension on ring and pinky when forming the G chord. That is good news for future barre chord playing, for now Iād suggest trying to arch the fingers more to get those fingers coming more straight on.
Keep on keeping on, good work!
2 Likes
Been practicing alternate picking of the C Major scale and was finding that I wanted to pick down on each new open string when moving down and Justin said somewhere itās really good to say 'Down, Up, Down Up, Down Up" out loud, which definitely helped.
Just had a go at writing the pick direction on the string positions as well for me to look at whilst I practice which is also helpful - please let me know if I made a mistake 
I made a down pick for the C on the A string which I think is the idea we want to start on that note for a Down, but again not 100% sure
Alright time for a weekly round upā¦ So in the last week I probably practiced an average of 1.5 hours per day if I had to guess, although I might start logging my time as I find tracking stuff super interesting and inspirational so thatās a thought for next week.
Chord Changes
These are just coming along well, I donāt do a huge amount of drilling on some of these chord changes from Grade 1 but theyāre being used in song practice and just general playing seems to be speeding things up.
I fixed the weird bend in fingers 3 & 4 that you guys spotted in the G chord when using all 4 fingers and have been working on thumb being behind the neck and not letting the neck rest on my fretting palm. Still happens a bit but Iām way more conscious and stop as soon as I realise and re adjust so that is getting a lot better.
Also added in a couple of F chord changes into the mix, going to work on this quite a lot of the coming weeks to get those changes and F chords sounding good, but I feel like iām taking to it reasonably well after reading a lot of horror stories about this one!
Rhythm
I have been practicing all songs with the metronome and starting out so I can play them good at low speeds then just slowly increase them. Strumming certain patterns at low speeds is a challenge to keep the correct rhythm, but I just keep working on it every practice session.
I have had a few āAHAā moments recently where I get the strumming hand to be a lovely pendulum working in sync with the metronome and it feels like it is itās own entity and the sound is sooo much better when you keep the strumming hand moving the whole, like Justin says about 100 times in the course. I donāt always get this feeling though, in fact I would say about 25% of the time it feels spot on, so just gotta keep practicing.
I got the strumming course addon and mastered patterns 1-8 so far at various BPMs and they feel solid, when strumming just 1 chord it seems to feel very easy, throw in a few chord changes and the brain starts trying to multitask and then mistakes happen 
Songs
Brown Eyed Girl (without fancy intro) is now sounding OK at 100bpm (sounds like the original is at 150bpm!)
Dance the Night Away (only A and D chords) - Iām doing a DU DU DU DU pattern for this one and the challenge is to maintain clean changes and also accent beats 2 and 4 to give it flow, and the last āupā strum I do where I lift off fingers sometimes sounds a bit messy - also needs to be increased in BPM but trying to iron out these other things first
Good Riddance - trying to make all notes sounds clean, still on 85bpm (half speed!!) been doing some practice on this but will only up the speed once I get all notes ringing clean
Baby One More Time (Britney) - Just started on this one, very simple song only a few changes but it includes a quick change to Dm and then to E, Dm is a weak one for me but Iām getting better and this tune came out when I was a teenager so lets just say itās a tune I know well! Haha
Bad Moon Rising - was on 105bpm, now 110bpm, still needs speed so bumping it up slow to keep the chord switches sounding good
There are also about another 5 I dabble with as well but not gonna list everything
Lesson Riffs
The riff from Calafornication from the lessons - oh boy that F shape with the first finger leaving the G string open was something else when I first tried, but I keep practicing this and then strumming the few chords with the F in rotation to keep that being worked on - coming along pretty good now. Also doing the Wish you were riff and chords from Justinās lesson, that one also going pretty good.
Overall going well, dipping into some Grade 2 stuff but mainly still working on polishing what has already been learned to make it better. Absolutely loving it though, I have to say!!!
Since seeing Green Day in Huddersfield in June, I have spent a major part of my life fingerpicking Time of your Life . It was the last song, one man one acoustic guitar, one Hellamega memory. Time well spent I think. Have got it up to about 75% speed. Very rewarding, keep at it!
2 Likes
Hey Tom,
Sounds like youāve taken all the advice on board and making good progress with consolidating everything that you have learned so far in the course. It will hold you in goodstead for continuing with Grade 2. Keep up the good work mate and look forward to hearing the songs that youāve been working on as part of the consolidation process.
1 Like
Oh cool!! Yeah I was a massive fan back in the day, looking forward to learning power chords so I can jam along to some of the old tunes!
Great job on your progress with the tune, I will keep dabbling with it and master it one day!
Wonderful update Tom and it sounds like youāre moving along really well!
Dance the Night Away is a bugger to get right cleanly at full tempo, itās deceptively difficult!!
Iām another big Green Day fan, you certainly will enjoy the power chords module when you get there. I think I got lost in that for 6 weeks or so!
Keep on keeping on 
1 Like
Hey guys, just a general question re: fingerpicking technique, when it comes to the flow of playing, muting all of the strings really breaks up the sound and does not sound good and letting the notes ring out in unison sounds a lot better, especially when finger picking over a chord shape, BUTā¦ when I change chords there is a sound when i release the current chord shape, almost like a really quiet pull off on each string. Is this normal? Am i pressing too hard? Is there any way to get rid of this? Cheers guys!
It will keep you on track.
Tom, that may be the case. You may also be lifting off at an angle and effectively almost āpluckingā the string with the fretting finger. Generally speaking this is just one of those things to address through really deliberate practice.
You didnāt mention if you are playing acoustic or electric. If the latter with the amp turned up a bit that may amplify the issue.