Lesson Thirteen Tuesday 2nd April 2013

It may have been my thirteenth lesson but it was not an unlucky one. I also have a feeling that the sounds that I create from my guitar are not now sounding like curses.

I started off with showing how I have got on with the three songs that I am learning at the moment.

REM Everybody Hurts

I always get very nervous at the start of the lesson having to show what I have been practicing so the first tune or song always goes horribly wrong at first. So after the fifth attempt to pluck the correct string I managed to get the D sounding sort of correct and the G was not as bad as it could be.

I need to make the change flow better though as there is always a very long pause between cord changes. I have also got to add in the Em and A cords with the change notes.

Oasis Half the World Away

The intro I had to start several times but once I warmed up (relaxed) I got near the right sound that I wanted. 

The next part which has had me completely confused for a while we went through.

This part is C then F major 7 then C then F major 7 again which comes before a sort of change part (my wording for it not the official one I bet). These are done in the rhythm that I had already been given but (obviously) did not understand its meaning. Each cord goes for one bar. 

The teacher had previously added these numbers above the notes as they appear on the song to help me. I had been wondering what they were there for and now this makes sense. The part of the tune I call the change bit (where the asterics is) is half a bar which I now can understand where that part is in the song.

I know that the teacher has already explained this bar and half bar thing before but being dyslexic my learning curve can be very different. It probably is much more frustrating for me than to the teacher on the way I learn and I know I should ask more questions or voice that I don’t understand but thirty five years of struggling through is hard to turn off.

With this knowledge now understood I could link the song a bit more and a sort of tune is happening. I am not ready yet to sing the song at the same time though as just getting my fingers in the right place is proving very taxing.

Green Day Boulevard of Broken Dreams

The next song to try was the Green Day tune. This has been a big torn in my side for a while now. Changing from E to G has been a nightmare and G to D also proves hard too and once I have gone wrong a bit the whole thing goes to pot.

Trying to relax I played through the tune. My change from G to D has got better I think and the G to D also. However as I carry on with the song I do go wrong a fair bit and there are more bad notes than correct. The teacher seemed pleased though explaining he would like me to get the rhythm right and the cords will come with time. I know he is right and I have only been doing this for a short while. I also need to get my fingers in the correct shape (more fingers three and four) so I only touch the one string.

New Tune Oasis Songbird

The teacher decided to add another tune for me to learn this was Songbird by Oasis. I have always liked this song so was keen to try this one.

I was given the rhythm and the cords that I would need for this song. It has a lot of cords in it I have been learning so I am hoping I can make a good go of it.

 Learning a new rhythm after doing Half the World Away proved to be a bit of a challenge as I kept falling into the rhythm of the other song. I was also playing too fast which again is a sort of nervous habit of trying to get through it quick without cocking up. I will listen to this song on my iPod a bit and get the right rhythm.

I think I am improving but as some friends at the weekend can confirm I have got a long way to go. Hopefully soon my friends will not take the guitar away from me because of the noises I am making on it. I made the excuse for the bad playing that it was the plectrum but they always say a bad craftsman always blames his tools.