Great! 
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Thank you so much, Eddie!
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Thanks, Dominique!
Sounds great, Oleg. Switched from picking to strumming and back again smoothly.
If possible would be great if you stepped just a little further back from the camera so we could see the whole guitar.
Note that in the Community we ask for only one topic per person in a month in AVOYP in order to manage the number of individual topics. You are welcome to add additional recordings to the topic in a reply and update the title accordingly.
I will do this for you.
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I’m sorry for multiple topics, David. Didn’t know about the rule, got just too excited 
Won’t happen again. Thank you!
Don’t worry, Oleg, not a biggie and not obvious unless you read all the pinned topics which are not super visible. Keep up the excitement!!
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Gosh Oleg, I wish I could ‘struggle’ like that. Great playing and voice. Reminded me of Pink Floyd the way you play and sing Song To The Siren.
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Thank you so much, Jim, it’s very kind of you. But I think every level has it’s struggles and it’s kind of hard to evaluate where exactly you stand. I’m currently in Beginner Grade 3 and Justin talks about chord shapes exploring, linking chords with scales, ear training, transcribing, rolling chords, etc… And I can’t do any of that, so of course I’m not confident about my guitar skills at all.
Sometimes it feels like if JustinGuitar were a college, then I would have flunked Beginner Grade 3 and been expelled And I see that there’re three intermediate and one advanced grade ahead, so… well…
I wasn’t being kind Oleg, just honest. I really enjoyed your singing and playing in that song. I think sometimes we’re our own worst critics. I record myself often, and replay to listen as well as watch to see what I’m doing. I replay it later, down the road and compare my own recording to the next one. I’m generally happy with how I’m progressing. It’s a great way to measure progress and success. It’ll all get there eventually. Just has a zoom session coming soon that sounds like it will cover a lot of what you mentioned struggling with. One day at a time, one piece of the puzzle at a time, and it finally will all come together. I’m half way into grade 2 on JG and feel it’s coming along. I try to look at all I’ve accomplished vs. how far I have to go. Never give up.
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Thank you, Jim!
Hi guys! Just yesterday watched Justin’s lesson about change in loudness and dynamics (“The Falling Leaf” concept). Tried to apply it to a Wicked game by Chris Isaak, though when I listen to my recording, I don’t really see that much change. I feel pretty good about my singing, but I’d appreciate any feedback and critique about guitar.
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Oleg
Well played. More variation in the stroke of your hand/fingers will create change in dynamics might be more audible: your strumming is so consistent - which is a good place to start from - that there is little if any change to hear or see; varying the size, speed and shape of your strum will change the dynamics. The next trick is becoming familiar and confident enough of those changes to use them and keep in time. Look forward to seeing and hearing your next performance.
Brian
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Thank you very much for your feedback, Brian! Yes, I can hear that there’s little if any change in dynamics, it existed only in my head It’s just so hard to think about guitar when all my attention is consumed by singing.
I think you’re capturing the melancholy feel of the song really well Oleg! One thing you could do to change things up a bit is to add some incidental notes - for example when you go down to the ‘E’ you could mix E sus4 in there occasionally (unless you think it ruins the feel of the song 
It’s a matter of personal taste…)
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Wow, thank you so much for the tip, Phil! I’ll definitely try to mix in Esus4, I would love to make a song a bit more interesting. And I don’t think that some incidental notes will ruin the feel of the song
Hello Oleg. I was quite impressed with all of your songs, singing and playing. You mentioned about dynamics. I’m not the greatest at that, but have you tried adding the dynamics on beats 2 & 4? It may help you to be more conscious of where to add it. I also say you are probably better than campfire-ish even though you have only reached Grade 3. You seem to have the abilities of higher grade techniques. But of course, go through all the lessons to continue to learn and improve.
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Thank you so much for the compliments, Pamela! And for the tip. Yes, I know about adding the dynamics on beats 2&4, I play Coldplay’s “The Scientist” using that pattern. In Wicked game I wanted to try do quiter-louder thing (Justin calls it “the falling leaf”). I just didn’t succeed in doing it
Nice work man, well played! Finger picking and singing is no easy task.
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Wow, Oleg! So well played and sung!
Sorry I don’t have any critics…
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