Lesson 44 Tuesday 12th November 2013

I started off my lesson with the Rod Stuart song “Maggie May”. I have been playing the intro a lot at home. 

After many hours playing it I even played the intro to my wife. This song is one of my wife’s favourites, so I was a little disappointed that she had no idea what the song was until I told her. I am guessing that my version is not up to scratch and she was just being polite when I told her what it was.

I always get nervous playing for the first time at my lesson like I am in an exam or something. My teacher does help me relax though but it still take me several goes before I forget myself and just go for it. After the first few goes at the intro it comes apparent that I was getting the rhythm wrong. I was missing out a down strum at the start of each bar after the first D. 

Having now got aware of it I was having great trouble getting rid of it and playing each chord too. To combat this we just went through the bar several times on just one chord so I could get the correct rhythm of the bar and feel it. This took an awhile to do but after I had it I had to get onto the other problem of the change from chord to chord.

I have been trying to practice the technique of taking most fingers off on the last strum of the chord to help get to the next chord. The problem has been that I am too late every time. I am coming off on the first strum of the next bar not the last of the bar before.

We practiced this many times and I built up the process from chord to chord until I could get all the way through once. Unfortunately the intro needs to go through the pattern twice. On the second runs I would go too late again.

We practiced this for a while and I am very close to cracking it. I just need to relax and go with it.

The final part of the lesson we went through the riff Madness on the song “Our House”.

This is still working progress. My main problem seems to be that I want to look in both places the neck for the fingers on the frets and also what string I am strumming. I need to get the feel of where the strings are for strumming I think that way I can concentrate on where my fingers are on the fret board.