I've been so bad!!

I haven't practiced for over a week. I promised myself that I wouldn't let work get in the way, even if I was only able to squeeze in 10 to 15 minutes a day. I did okay though, not great by any stretch of the imagination, but better than I expected. Wasn't a great practice session either, I was in the living room with Strider trying to play along with me. I really have to do this everyday if I am ever going to get better and learn new stuff. As it is I have to reschedule my next lesson because of work so who knows when I will get something new. I guess that is okay because I still have to get my chord switches to be smoother. This time I posted after I practiced so I won't end this post with now I have to go practice, I can just go chill.

Lesson 2

Nothing major with this lesson. We practiced a lot of movable chords and upstrokes. It was fun and interesting and I learned (well, was taught anyway) about the chords and their relationship on the fretboard. We tried playing Leaving on a Jet Plane together, and I just stunk it up. He was just jumping in with notes and rhythm and I just sounded so monotonous. Straight tempo, 3 out of 4 beats per measure, strum, strum, strum, skip, strum, strum, strum, skip... my guitar sounded like it was trying to be an annoying 5 year old bothering his older brother. David thought I did good, I just need more practice. (years and years more practice) It was fun and the next thing I knew it was over.

I start back to work tomorrow so it will be interesting to see where I can squeeze in practice.....

Have to admit I'm getting better

getting better all the time. ---It's amazing what 3 to 4 practices can do! I am not a guitar genius now by any stretch of the imagination, but I can really tell the difference. I started just playing the first 2 beats per measure before switching chords and then only with really looking at my left hand. Now I can do 3 and sometimes 4 (depending on which chords) beats per measure. The C chord is still a tricky one to switch to just because of the 3 different frets I guess, but usually it is the easiest to switch from.
With my chord knowledge limited to the major, minor, and D7, the number of songs I can do is fairly small. Especially because I don't have any B chords and because when I look up songs to play the were by Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Dire Straits, and other classic masters. I'll either have to ask David today about some basic songs or learn some more chords. Most likely I should do both. I did find Mother by Pink Floyd that was only basic chords, so I have added that to my repertoire.

I got up at 5:15 this morning to practice and I was able to get in a good 30-40 minutes before the kids needed me. I won't be able to do this everyday because I should be at the gym at that time, but today I have a orientation at 4 so I will work out then.

I have my second lesson with David today at 2:00. I can't wait to see what I learn today!

practicing

I have practiced a couple times since my lesson. It can be boring. Just switching back and forth between a couple chords is aggravating and monotonous. I think I get it down okay, go and work on something else, come back and make the same mistakes. I know I only have done it a twice since my lesson and I need to be more patient. Like everyone says "If it was easy, then everybody would be doing it".
You just can't hear the song as you play chords as you can with notes. One step at a time, I'll get there. It is fun even though it can be frustrating.
I still need to come up with some more songs to be able to play. Right now I have Leaving on a Jet Plane, Country Roads, and Take it Easy. I need to look on Chordie.com to check out Sweet Caroline and Dust in the Wind.

Lets stop talking about it and go upstairs and practice.

First lesson

I had my first lesson with David today. It was a little nervewracking at first. It was rainy and I wasn't sure where to go. There were 3 doors to the main house and one to a large barn. There was a light on in the barn and a couple cars in the driveway. David answered the door and everything was good from there on out.
He checked over the guitar and adjusted a few things on it then we got to work. I showed him some chords that I knew and he fixed the way I held the guitar. He asked what songs that I wanted to play and I told him Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver. He quickly got a songbook and wrote down the chord sequence for me to have. I started to play and he noted that since I take time to switch chords that I should change sooner. (I.E. instead of G,G,G,G,C,C,C,C just do 2 chords per 4 beat measure until I can change quicker.) He also wants me to chose 2 chords to switch back and forth between. Try to get to switch 16 times without problems and this will help me get better for those chords anyway. Another thing to practice is hold down a chord, play the top string then quickly play the bottom 3 strings then play the 4th string, hold, then the bottom 3 again. Alternating back and forth with the first and third bass string.
I also need to come up with more songs that I want to play for practice.

Lessons

This Friday I get to start lessons with an actual teacher. He is a friend of my aunts and lives fairly close by. She had contacted him before, but I bugged her again yesterday and she emailed him again. Last night around 9:30, he called me. His name is David and he says he has around 40 students. I am scheduled for 2 o'clock on Friday. I have to bring my guitar, of course, and a three ring binder for some instruction sheets and homework that I will have. I can't wait. I am going upstairs now to practice my chords. I wonder what we will work on first? Will we start off with chords or picking notes? Maybe both at the same time?

lets switch things up some

Back to chords! That's right folks, after saying I was going to go straight for the B string today; I didn't! My life is so full of unexpected twists, I don't know how I stand it. After talking with Mel about when she and her dad started to play; I decided to get into the chords again. It is much more difficult to find the chord strings and keep some type of tempo. I just need to look my fingers too much. I need lots of practice, and I believe that is the name of the game. It's hard to get used to a rhythm when strumming. Just another part of guitar that I took for granted and assumed was easy. I have to get my brain working on both hands at once. I can't get a good strumming rhythm when I am thinking about where my fingers are supposed to be for the chords. It will take a while before I can play chords to music.

Its funny because my middle finger and pinky are a little sore. With playing the notes only, I haven't been using those fingers.

moved my "studio"

Mel and I decided to move the guitar and gear up to the bedroom. I had been using the computer to listen to my lessons CD, but someone is always on the computer or wants to be on it or I have a problem getting it to work correctly or the kids are around making noise or getting in the way. I brought in an old CD player, the amp, and the guitar case. We have chairs and a coffee table in the reading area of the bedroom, and I set my gear up there. I went to play today and noticed that I can't sit in the chair and look at my lesson book, let alone work the CD player with the guitar on my lap. I ended up standing with the lesson book on the bookcase and the CD player on the bureau.

I had begun playing the guitar while standing and have worked my way to sitting at the computer to play. I didn't think I would have any trouble but when I was standing before I was just playing chords. Now with playing notes, sometimes when you strum the one string you are not pressing any strings with your left fingers so I had some trouble controlling the guitar. The guitar was also at a different angle because it wasn't sitting on my lap. This caused me to strum the wrong string or miss the E string altogether. So many excuses so little time.

I did start with the E string and worked up to the B. I used the music and did okay with B,C,D notes but again, when I got to the Two string rock song, I just couldn't get the flow and the timing it sounded really bad and just wasn't coming together. At that time Gram Gram showed up so it was a natural stopping point.

Tomorrow I will start right away on the B string.

new string B

after working on the E string for a few minutes today, I moved on to the B. I didn't play along with the CD I have so I could get used to the notes before worrying about timing. I practiced the 2 songs using the B,C, and D notes and did okay. again I didn't use the CD because my computer was slow and I couldn't get it to cooperate, but I did work on 3 songs that used both strings. It was tricky for the first song because it was just a "2 string rock" and I didn't know the tune, but the other songs were Ode to Joy and Jingle Bells. It was fun to try these familiar songs and see how I could read the music and play, albeit very slowly. I never thought I would enjoy this as much as I am.

Happy New Year

Resolutions-same as most people I am sure. Lose weight, exercise, be a good person... and practice, practice, practice my guitar. I have only practiced once since my last post and I did okay I guess. I tried to go up to the B string but that was a disaster so I quickly jumped back to the somewhat familiar E string. I plan on squeezing in a session sometime tonight.
I really want to try to get on some type on schedule. Get up at 6, exercise, have breakfast, play guitar. Simple as that. I'll tell you how that goes on the next exciting blog.