ZedExDM's Learning Log

This is so true! I had a bad session last week where I just couldn’t switch between particular chords. I reluctantly hung my guitar up and the next day, nailed it on my first attempt.

Hi Zed, wonderful the nice things are happening for you with your guitar playing. Keep working on it. Thank you for sharing, specially of you playing with your dad. For the drum machine is very good as accompaniment for your songs and also can be good for working on keeping with a rhythm. Try it, if does not help right now, it may in the future.

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I know a bit about Torque amps;
Torque was founded by Jim Edgeworth, it began in retail shop in Darlington (UK) in the early seventies. Early amplifiers were made in small quantities for retail sale through the shop. A major UK national distributor commissioned a range of amplifiers under their own brand name to replace their existing range, which had been imported from the far east.
This first major contract initiated the formation of the limited company in 1978 and a move to a 2,000 sq. ft. ‘starter workshop’ on the Chilton industrial estate. Within a couple of years the company expanded to a 5,000 sq. ft. factory in Darlington, but with only one customer and product line the recession of the late 80s led the firm to expand to other electronics and to promote amps and products to other international markets.
The Factory expanded again in 1990 and in May 2003 manufacturing moved to China.
Hope that’s of interest.

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Fun times and good memories, making music with your Dad, Zed. Thanks for the picture.

Next up pictures of the amp and rhythm box, plus - of course - some recordinbg to hear how it sounds :grin:

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I’m building up the courage for my second video! I’ve tried recording myself a few times recently but every time I hit record, I mess up spectacularly. I will persevere!

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I’m now at the consolidation stage for Beginners Course Grade 1 as of today.

The last set of lessons for Grade 1 were really interesting. I’d naturally been playing quieter/louder in choruses and verses and also playing open strings between some changes as I thought it sounded nicer so was pleased to have Justin confirm this was ok!

Things I have to work on before progressing:

  • Dm and C chords. Not so much the chords themselves, but changing to and from them.

  • Playing songs from memory.

  • Playing more in front of others (you unlucky lot!)

  • Up-picking. I guess they’ll be more work on this at later stages but it doesn’t feel remotely natural at the moment.

It’s the ‘from memory’ part that I haven’t really practiced before as I usually have my peepers focussed on the app screen. That said, I’ve got the following pretty much embedded in the noggin’…

  • Ben E King ‘Stand by me’
  • Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’
  • The Kingsmen ‘Louie Louie’

And my other 2 will most likely be:

  • Edwyn Collins ‘Never met a girl like you before’ (as it has switches to and from Dm)

  • Creedance Clearwater Revival ‘Cotton Fields’ (Really up-tempo tune that I like adding/missing strums from but will be more complicated to learn ‘from memory’)

Not sure if I’m going to go down the music theory and ear training route just now but will check out the intro videos. The word ‘theory’ is sending shivers down my spine if I’m honest. I’m absolutely loving playing the guitar and I worry, at this stage, that it may be a chore and diminish my enjoyment. I guess I can always go back to this aspect later.

But this week I face my biggest challenge… I’m on a training course in the city for 3 days, a couple of doors away from a guitar store. Must not get distracted! :joy:

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Congrats on progress made, Zed. I’m looking forward to recordings. Good luck with staying clear of the guitar store.

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Hi Zed,
Nice log and good job,…but when I just believed Justin that the (most) theory ensures that you play better faster my life really started to become complete, I’m already forgot some stuff because I went through it way too fast, but the nice thing about how this community works now for me I automatically look back a lot of things,…sometimes that is quite handy … most of it is just fun… …
Small steps man, but go for it, a little bit of music theory never made anyone sick,
sometimes temporarily maybe just unhappy / despairing :blush:, but that will be over after some good music :sunglasses: :wink:
Greetings and wish you a lot of fun…And Nice with your father there :sunglasses:

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Hi Zed. Just watch the intro videos and allocate some time here and there for the theory and the ear training. Some things will start to make more sense after that. I am doing the ear training and it is something that I do not think you can push ahead. It does not work until you can hear it. I am happy I succeed with S1 wihout cheating. Not too much success yet with S2.

About the memorization of a song. For me it is not one memorization. It is several memorizations, the structure of the song, the lyrics, the chord changes, the strumming pattern(s). Once I have all the memorizations done (someway automatized) then I can put all them togheter. I would advise to go by memorizing a song by sections.

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Solid advice there. Thanks :slight_smile:

Yesterday, in a moment of weakness, I bought a Boss DS-1 pedal.

On one hand, I couldn’t put my guitar down for around 4 hours last night. On the other, I’m not sure if I learned anything. Playing Stand By Me at max distortion didn’t sound great, but it was a load of fun :joy:

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I’ve been putting it off a while, but today I successfully re-strung my guitar. Boy, what a difference it’s made.

I cleaned everything at the same time, oiled up the fretboard, cleaned the frets and tightened screws up, etc. Was quite an enjoyable exercise.

Then the fun started… Intonation. I dabbled with this when I first got my guitar but was never happy with the results as I was tuning with a mini headstock tuner. Now I have the iRig HD 2 and a few apps, I can probably get it a little more accurately tuned so I gave it another shot.

2 hours later (!) And I’ve got it to a point I’m happy with it. YouTube tutorials to the rescue!

Tonight is the open mic night which I’m looking forward to watching and tomorrow, I’m going to ‘self- graduate’ beginner grade 1 and move on to beginner grade 2 :grin:. I think I’m ready… :thinking::joy:

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Good on you @ZedExDM , wish you all the best for grade 2, you’ll progress in leaps and bounds no doubt, it’s terrific to see your progress. I was out tonight but also planning to catch up with the OM, I’m sure it went well for all involved!

Strumming love to all.

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Another milestone to celebrate, Zed!

Now I hope the next milestone on the road ahead is performing at OM9 … go on!

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Still plugging away at beginner grade 2 module 8 and have really enjoyed playing along to Brown Eyed Girl. Such a fun song!

Almost got the Wish You Were Here tune sorted, but still working on that.

Still struggling a bit with the C major chord but I will get there. I seem to have regressed on it a tad. Why, I’m not sure, but will spend some extra time practising it.

As an aside, I’ve been exposed to a bunch of new music while learning guitar - music I never previously listened to. So much so that I went to the store today and bought an acoustic to match these new (to me) songs. Nothing fancy, just a cheapie Fender.

Boy is it hard work going from electric to acoustic! I’m constantly dropping the pick and the slightly longer scale (compared to my short scale Mustang) means I’m having to stretch just that little bit further.

On the plus side, when I picked up my Mustang again, it did feel infinitely easier to play so I guess it’s helping me somewhat.

Here’s a pic of my new guitar :guitar::guitar::guitar:

New wall hanger arriving tomorrow - don’t worry, I won’t leave it balanced like that!

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Happy NGD Zed. Make sure you fix the bracket to the wall securely. My nephew recently fitted his flat screen tv to the wall (ok, considerably heavier than a guitar) and woke up during the night to an almighty clatter. He ran downstairs thinking he was being burgled only to find the tv lying smashed on the floor.
He’d fitted it to the plasterboard wall using wall plugs. He should of course have screwed the bracket to the wall studs behind the plasterboard.

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Enjoyed your learning log. I can relate to seeming to regress on some chords as you progress into grade 2. I am having fun adding the things I am learning into grade 2, but there are things that I could do easily that seem to slip.
Nice new guitar too, I switch between my electric and acoustic, so I don’t notice which is harder to play.

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The guitar collection grows… new acoustic looks great Zed.

Don’t worry about regressions on chords, it’s happened to me too - just build them back into your song and practice routine and they will come along. C is one of those tricky ones early on.

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It really is! I’m ok with C while practicing but it all goes to :poop: when I’m playing a song. I’ll just keep at it :sunglasses:. In a few months I’ll look back to these early stages and have a laugh about it all I’m sure!

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