Thank you @Notter .
I have found that for me, I have been holding the guitar wrong! I was watching Justin’s video on the problems of converting from sitting to standing and playing, when he mentioned that some guitarists have the guitar on the left leg not the right. This makes the guitar sit in the same line as when standing. I tried it and I find for me it is more comfortable and my fingers and wrist seem to prefer that angle as well. So I am going to try this aleg for a while.
I have found another benefit, my leg that marks the beat always defaulted to might right leg and I had to force the left leg to mark the beat. I can now use the right leg without worrying about it jogging the guitar. Result!!
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Reviewing week 5 of my guitar journey 13-19 February 2023.
Due to a cut on the end of a finger on my left hand last week, I missed a couple of days of full practice, just doing it in small steps. I am still not happy with the accuracy of my chords when practicing songs. They are OK when I am practicing them on their own, but go to pot when I am using them in songs. I am hoping the more comfortable position of the guitar and therefore my wrist placement will help improve this.
I have started module 3 in JasonGuitar’s beginners lesson to keep the interest going. I will probably not learn any of the songs in that module yet as I want to keep practicing the songs I need to have mastered by June.
By the end of next week I hope to have increased the speed of the songs by another 10% and be more accurate on the chord notes while playing the songs. I am also going to start learning a scale and start some ear learning.
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Getting frustrated now. I seem to be going backwards rather than forwards. By the time I come to do the song practice, my hand is tired and I cannot get the A chord right. I am going to alter the order tomorrow and do the finger stretching exercise from module 4 first and then the song work second. I can the follow with the technical work after that.
If the technical side falls to bits, I will then know that I will have to cut down the practice into smaller segments.
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Tony @TonyHS
I sympathise with your problems with the A chord. Justin’s anchor finger is great but I found that when needed it in songs I just could not get my fingers into to the right places and fast enough for the chord sound out anything decent. So I went to a different fingering that worked for me, although I stuck with Justin’s anchor fingers for grade 1.
Michael
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Hi Tony, out of interest how long is your practice routine at the moment? I too recall phases where, with so much emphasis and focus on improving OMC my hands (wrist, arm, brain!) were overwhelmed. It’s all about building muscle memory at this point and with the work you’ve been putting in a dip now and then is inevitable.
But rest assured it does not at all mean that you’re not still learning and yo most certainly are not going backwards. I think you’re making a good choice in shaking up the order of your routine a little. Songs, and the smiles that come from playing them are super important so do make sure you enjoy the fun stuff. If you end up breaking up practice into smaller segments then that’s fine. Small steps and all that.
Unfortunately there are periods of frustration, we will all have tales of the same thing at many points in our learning, but (sick bag ready) they do help us grow 
All the best and keep at it, you’re doing great and making music, always remember that 
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Sometimes we all run into frustrating moments, Tony. Good thing is that you are observant and reflecting on things, figuring out solutions. Keep at it and you’ll get through this for sure.
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Tony, don’t get frustrated. I think, most of us know, that’s a permanent up and down, sometimes you hit plateaus and nothing seems to progress. But be sure, with a little patience and perseverance, you’ll progress. Sometimes after some “bad” days it makes a sudden “klick” and things fall into place. Give yourself time! Keep on practicing and most important, have fun!
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Hi @Notter I was doing about 40 minutes in one go. I am going to divide this up to 3 15 minute sessions a day. As you say my muscle memory is still in progress.
I am sure that as the guitar is being used that the gaps between frets is shrinking 
I did something by accident today and what an eye opener! I thought I was recording myself playing with a backing track for review afterwards. I accidently pulled the lead from the tablet playing the backing track from the amp so only the guitar was being recorded. Boy, did it show up the dead notes or what!!! Now going to do this more often, it is far more instructional on where the errors that need to be corrected are!
Warning dodgy guitar work, do not listen if of a sensitive nature.
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Week 6 review.
I had hoped to get into ear training and scales a bit last week, but only really scratched the surface. I am not happy with my accuracy of the chords still. I am OK when just playing the chords so I know I can do it when I concentrate on them just not when my brain gets overloaded when playing songs. Still the fact that I can do them well in chord practice, means it should get better when playing songs.
The accidental recording without backing tracks was an eye opener and I will do that a couple of times in the coming week. I will, however, still record sometimes with backing tracks to remind me that some errors can be hidden behind the backing track providing I keep the rhythm going.
In the coming week I would like to get the songs to 70% speed with reasonable accuracy and I might even try a module 3 song.
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Week 7 since I took up a guitar. Finally got to keeping up with the song (almost) at 100% speed. Points to work on, strumming and keeping time. This was the first time I wasn’t watching the app to keep time. Must do better. Still quite happy with the progress so far it was even good enough for YouTube to recognise it as a copyrighted song !
Oh, and I might try smiling next time !
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Tony, I see you’ve posted here in your Learning Log and in the AVOYP Beginners Topic. Our guidelines are not to post up duplicates. In this case I suggest you pick either one. As an option post in AVOYP and if you’d like to make note of it in your Learning Log then post about that including a link to the reply with the recording.
Hi Tony,
He (David) has already also done some cleaning up there (not me), maybe you had already read some of the things typed and some confusion 
…I myself (usually) don’t like it when people talk in the name (?)of me, but I think it’s safe to say 
… No need to say sorry Tony…just say “thanks for explaining” or something 
…
most of us …at least I do …learn new things every day and to do/say something else wrong tomorrow that sometimes is and sometimes really isn’t worth a sorry… and sorry for this long story
And here’s one more time…well done keep it up 
Greetings…
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No need to apologise, Tony. Getting familiar with all the conventions is a learning process. And I’m happy to support along the way.
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Week7 since I started learning review.
Quite pleased with myself this week. I can now play That’s alright mama at 100%, strumming on beat 1 with fair accuracy on the notes. My strumming is still not automatic and tends to go to pot if I have to think too much. Must practice more on strumming.
Goals for this week coming, start module 4 and strum to beats to a bar on the Elvis song and still keep the accuracy of the chords.
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That’s great, Tony. As I often say ‘keep on keeping on’!
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Wow, that was fun. I have been doing Justin’s theory coarse and one of the lessons in using a major chord was to just play any notes in the chord to the backing track. It worked! I was jamming! Alright it was very stilted but that’s the first time I have finished a lesson with a grin from ear to ear.
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Today I completed a challenge. The challenge on the Class of 20223 Facebook page was for grade 1 beginners to post a video. For my personal challenge, I also tried to get the feeling of preparing for a gigi. So, I set myself 2 days to learn a new song using AD & E and post a video of it on Sunday.
Willy and the hand jive - Community Recordings - JustinGuitar Community
The main things I got out of it were that I could set myself a date and work to it. Obviously the video still shows how much of a beginner I am, but I am happy that I could do the challenge I set myself.
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