Fingers no longer hurt, at all. However I have discovered about 30 to 50 minutes practice for me is enough, After that everything I try to do just goes to S@$%, No idea why but nothing gets better.
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OK, so my second attempt at 3 little birds. It felt a bit easier. https://youtu.be/cPlkAAGzN0o
trying to vary the strumming a little.
Still struggling with the strumming but I keep practicing the old faithful pattern.
As far as practice is going Im on module 5. During the stretching exercise I name each note on each string as I fret it so that it helps me learn the notes on the fretboard at the same time. You see men can multi task, lol
Also learning âFor what itâs worthâ Slowed it down at the chorus big time to get those chord changes in but not ready for a video yet. lol 
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Just reading through this and also watched a couple of your vids 
I think youâre making great progress 
well done and keep at it 
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Thank you for your feedback it really helps
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OK, So done music theory 1 + 2 and probably going to sign up for more.
Added ear training to my practice routine.
Just checked Justins video about how to pass grade 1. I can do most of the check list but I think itâs gonna be a few more weeks before I could consider myself as passed.
- Tune the guitar Done
- 8 open chords in any order from memory. Done
- Play them perfectly at least 50% of the time. Done
- 1 minute changes at above 30 per minute. Done
- Play old faithful strumming pattern at 80 bpm in a consistent manner. Maybe sometime this century.
- Memorize 5 easy songs. 1 so far.
- Play in front of someone or upload a YouTube video of you playing. Done
- Ear training. (working on) Theory. Completed 1+2
- Have fun. Hell yeah, Ive blown this one in to next week.
OH and Ive discovered Arpeggios, Oh they are lovely, D minor is so sexy
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Hello Gary!
Looks like itâs all going wellâŚ.apart from Old Faithful. It wonât take you the rest of the century though - I dare put money on it!
Itâs all about the timing. Play along with Justinâs lesson and listen to the sound youâre making. Youâll soon nail it.
Youâre having fun, keep it going! 
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Well tonight I decided to plug in Lily Rose and do my practice plugged in for a change.
I usually do all my practice on Eve Mary (acoustic) as itâs more difficult for me to play acoustic.
Had a blast, my chord changes etc are so much better and smoother.
Granted I did have the Lack of talent dial up to 5 for a bit of it (gain dial)
Now I need to decide when Justin said that learning 5 songs before moving on meant singing as well?
I have 3 little birds and For what itâs worth and they are both going OK.
Im looking at Sunshine of your Love as I have a tab for that and between the chords and picking it is a challenge.
Others I was thinking I used to Love her by GnR and maybe the scientist by Coldplay.
Actually managed 3 full minutes of old faithful with no mistakes this evening.
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Well done with old faithful Gary. And itâs still only 2023 !
Memorising the 5 songs with singing isnât a requirement. (some of us canât sing 
) but if you want to do it - then do it!
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Thank you, I know itâs just time practice and muscle memory, Im getting better at this stuff as I get older lol.
I just wish I was more like a drum machine than a drummer where you only have to punch the information in once. lol
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Well tonights practice has let me know that I have a lot to learn about Amp settings lol.
As one of my 5 songs to learn before progressing I have chosen Sunshine of your love. I thought I would post up a video of my first attempt so I can hopefully see improvement in the coming weeks. Sunshine 01 - YouTube
Sunshine 01 - YouTube
Cannot seem to embed the video in the post.
Hi Gary. You have two options for copying a link to a video in a post. If you copy the link directly with the text you are typing itâll show a preview of the video when posted. If you use the chain icon and paste the link in the first box of the Insert Hyperlink dialog you wonât get the preview but the orange letters with the link or the optional title. Depending of what youâre posting one way or the other can work better.
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Sunshine Of Your Love is sounding good as is recognizable what youâre playing. As you wrote, playing with the settings, gain, bass, treble and middle knobs can improve the tone. Some amps have several presets and some are fully programable to achieve that.
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So I am doing the theory as well and am on stage 3, Learning the major scale. How it all ties together with the practical stuff is very good, actually understanding how it all works is a massive bonus for me although I will have to slow things down a little to take all the information in.
Currently playing position 1 at 75 bpm so in the next couple of days Im going to try some improvisation over the supplied backing track
Oh and I can now hammer nails in with the finger tips on my left hand.
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Been practicing old faithful and to day for the fist time I actually played 3 little birds sang (of sorts) and did chord changes pretty much all OK with the old faithful pattern.
A bit more practice and I may do another video so I can see the progress from my first attempt
The strumming pattern feels a lot more comfortable now. Just putting it all together is still a bit tricky, I have a guitar by the sofa so during adverts I have been prating the pattern for a few minutes several times a day xxxx
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Maybe the strumming SOS-course is a good idea. I took a look at it quite in the beginning. Obviously Iâm still far away from âgraduatingâ, yet it really helped me. And practicing a new strumming pattern with metronome at a comfortable speed - say 80 BPM or 100 BPM - for five to ten minutes is actually super relaxing.
Set myself a challenge yesterday with âdry strummingâ three different strumming patterns with the metronome increasing speed by 20 BPM every 40 seconds. It really was fun, even when I always fall off at something like 160 BPM. Recorded those exercises and noticed that Iâm actually not doing too badly. Many things to improve, but getting there.
You can play that scale at 75 BPM? 
Iâm so impressed. Mine is at a crawling speed of maybe 30 or 40 BPM. Apparently this weekâs pain point for me 
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I have been doing the theory lessons as well as my normal practice and have found the whole process very interesting and most helpful.
Just completed the lesson where you learn the major scale, (in G) and towards the end it suggests improvising over a backing track. However the lesson also tells you not to try anything to fancy like string bends etc and to only use the middle two strings D and G.
Here is my first effort. G Major scale improv - YouTube G Major improvisation
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One thing I do with scales is practice them at a very slow speed and then try to play them a little faster, however before finishing the practice I always go through the scale at a very slow speed making sure I hit every note correctly before moving on the the next thing.
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Something to keep in mind. I will give that a try 