Thursday, March 13, 2008

Today's practice

I noticed that my hands are taking much longer to tire out than in the past. Trying to get up to speed on the songs for lesson 2.

Song notes 70-72 bpm
Song chords not yet 40 bpm

The chords are not coming easy. I can play the chords cleanly, but not in time. This is a struggle to change chords fast enough. It seams like the practice isn't helping change any faster. Must keep trying.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Late practice today

Better late than not at all.

I am feeling under the weather today. Pretty sure it has affected my practice. I was having difficulty keeping up with the metronome and my concentration is a bit cloudy.

Session 2:
Worked on finger exercises at the 7th fret with 58 bpm as usual.
Song notes 68-70 bpm
Chords not even 40

Tried to visualize the chord changes before moving my fingers. No immediate improvement there.

Also made a recording of practice. This makes me nervous also, so this could have also contributed to my bad practice today.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Today's practice

Worked finger exercises on the 7th fret at 58 bpm. My fingers still do not stretch to the frets.

Notes to the session 2 songs, I started on 68 bpm and ended up at 70 bpm. I stopped there because I was making too many mistakes.

Chords to the session 2 songs not even 40 bpm, and not looking like it's getting anymore closer. I was reading on the LMG message board that most new players have trouble changing chords quickly.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Second practice for today

Session 2

song notes: started at 64 bpm and ended at 68 bpm
song chords: not yet 40 bpm

Practice details

Working on Session 2

song notes: started at 60 bpm and ended at 65 bpm
song chords: not yet 40 bpm
finger exercises: on the 7th fret at 55 bpm

Monday, March 3, 2008

Practice details

Still working on Lesson 2. It's going steady.

Finger Exercises:
fret 7, 45 bpm
Not able to stretch all fingers fully to each fret, especially the third finger

Ode to Joy, Jingle Bells, London Bridge, Skip to My Lou:
Notes: 60 bpm
Chords: not quite 40 bpm
Played each song's notes and chords about 6 times each. I can change fingers in time for the notes with minimal mistakes. The chords are going to take allot of practice.

Also went off the course a little and practiced the A family of chords for a bit.



Sunday, January 6, 2008

This time I am going to take learning serious

    Guitar lessons are short and can be expensive. One worry I had was not remembering what the teacher said and going home without any further guidance. I could just imagine my frustration continuing to brew. Next I turned to the internet to see what available for guidance. Being a beginner, all the information was overwhelming. I didn’t know where to start or what to do. I purchased a book or two and just wasn’t staying motivated.


    So far this way of learning wasn’t working for me. I would start up practice for a week or two, become frustrated because I did not know how to structure my lessons and what exactly I should be doing. I didn't know how fast the progression would be, and if I was doing it right. Giving in to my frustration, I would stop practicing all together. 


This is something I really want to do. The only way to learn is to keep trying. Getting the courage to continually practice and to stay motivated wasn’t forthcoming to me. Learning to play the guitar is not going to happen just by wanting it. I need to turn my desire to play an instrument into reality by committing to practice.


    About a year ago while searching for a way that would help me learn guitar I started to look into lessons online. There were many courses to choose from. Many I saw claimed to teach you to play guitar in record time. I just don’t see how this hurry up approach could really work. Then I found Learn and Master Guitar with Steve Krenz. This is just what I’ve been looking for. Structured lessons, encouragement from other people trying to learn the same thing, and a teacher that I could replay over and over until I would understand. This would also allow me to learn on my own time, without having to run twice a week to lessons in town. I finally am able to purchase the course have high hopes that it will be just what is need to achieve my goals in learning the guitar.