Lesson 54 Tuesday 11th February 2014

This lesson again I started with the Oasis song “The Importance of Being Idle”.

I started off with the intro.

  

Again my changes from chords are very slow and it does not flow. My teacher made me slow the pace. When I did that if gave me a chance to change the chords at a more comfortable pace and not sound so bad.

I then went through the Rhythm of the song.

I had been practicing this all week but probably because I was rushing through it I had adopted a slightly different rhythm. I obviously have not got my ear in on the rhythm so I needed to take a bit of time getting it right.

I played through the rhythm a few times. My main problem was that I was not getting the chord B7 correct and the change to E was very slow. We practiced a while again slowing down the speed so that I am playing more smoothly.

We then had a look at the chorus.

This is played in two bar chords.

Playing these chords is hard enough but I have to sort of mute the sound by taking my fingers off slightly then putting them back down again to play the next strum. This is proving very difficult.

I finally looked at the songs riff part that I had practiced.

At first I was one string too high and it sounded very strange. Once I was playing on the correct strings the tune sounded correct but I need to get the sort of bounce that you hear in the song.

Plenty of parts to practice.

Lesson 54 Tuesday 4th February 2014

I started off the lesson with the Oasis song “Importance of being Idle” intro.

I had been practicing this for a while now and have got the idea of the palm mute but the change from Am to Em is very slow.

I then went onto have a go at the main rhythm of the song.

I had been practicing this rhythm at home. Unfortunately it still is early days for me and the change from the different chords is very slow and I sometimes miss the strings.

My teacher went through the rhythm and we slowed it down so I could get the changes much better. As usual the rhythm appears to be the main area where I have the problem with too many or not enough ups and downs.

After a while of playing slower I did find that the changes linked a much better.

For the final part of the lesson we had a quick look at the solo riff.

We only looked at the first part of the solo before the bending. As to be expected my first few goes through this does not sound nothing like the solo. I will have to practice more to get the flow of the solo.

Lesson 53 Tuesday 28th January 2014

We started off this week by going through the Oasis Song "The Importance of Being Idle".
I showed how much progress I had made with the intro that I was shown last week.

My attempts where very slow and it is not flowing very well at the moment and there was a few times I forgot to palm mute too. But on a positive note I did hit the right chords.

We had a few goes through this and after awhile it did flow a bit better.

My teacher then showed me the main rhythm.

It took me awhile to get this rhythm correct but after a few goes I got close if not very slowly. This rhythm is used with four bars of the chord Am then one bar of chords Fmaj7 and C.
The sequence is then finished off with B7 and E in a slightly different rhythm.

Again I could piece it all together but it needs a lot of work on.

The final part of the lesson I showed How well or not well I was getting on with the Intro to the Oasis song "Wonderwall".

It is getting there but I am changing too soon or too late so I need to look at that.

A great lesson with my hour going past far too quickly.

Lesson 52 Tuesday 21st January 2014

This week I had been practising a lot on the Intro from Oasis "Wonderwall". It has been a real pain as I would practise it every day. But come practise the next day I would forget everything and it would sound rubbish.

So the start of my lesson we had a look at Oasis "Wonderwall".

My first times at doing this would fall apart when I would get to either the chord Dsus4 or the start of A7sus4.

As the first part was going OK my teacher decided it was best to focus on the second part.
The second part I kept adding in too many down strokes when I would get to the A7sus4. After a few false starts I did start to get it. We then put both bits together and I did actually play all the way through it. I played it a few times to make sure it was not a fluke. Even though I did get to play through it a few times it was not flowing for me at this moment in time.

We then looked at starting a new song again by Oasis called "The Importance of Being Idle".



We just started off with the intro.

My teacher showed me how it was done with the palm mute.

My first go at it I could get the first Am but the second section I was putting in too many down strokes. Also the change to the Em was not very quick. The Am chord also was not clean as I kept on muting the second string with I think finger three.

When I got home that night I played my new bit I had learnt and asked my wife if she knew what it was. She had not idea. Looks like I need to practise more on this then.

Guitar Stand

I decided that it was time to get myself a guitar stand. At home between practising I have to place one of my guitars that I am using in a safe place that will not get attacked by one of my many hyperactive young kids. A stand will allow it to be placed in an area of the house and still be at hand.

I looked around and a chose a Stagg SGA108BK foldable Universal A Accoustic and Electric Guitar Stand.

It is a universal "A" stand for acoustic or electric guitars.

• Steel Construction

• 2 Cradling hooks & back rest with soft rubber covering to hold guitar securely & prevent it from scratching.

• Spring loaded lock-pin mechanism to keep stand safely open.

• Folds flat for convenient storage and portability.

• Adjustable width: 20 to 34 cm.

• Weight: 1.5 Kg

The stand fitted the acoustic guitar no problem.

I have also tried my electric guitar in it too and it fitted that well too.















I was a bit concerned that my kids may knock it or something but where it is they leave it alone and it is very convenient for picking up and practising with.
Which is good because I need loads of practise.

Lesson 51 Tuesday 14th January 2014

I had spent a lot of my practice this week trying to crack the intro from the Oasis tune “Wonderwall”.

I would play it in sections and try and build up the rhythm bit by bit. I had even gone through all of the excersises for the changes which isolated I could do no problem. However put it all together it would sound a mess. My eldest son even commented that what I was trying to practice did not sound nothing like the song. But I will not despair the reward when this does work will be so much more due to my blood sweat and tears.

I started off showing how great (bad) I was at the intro. After a few false starts and messing up a bit my teacher suggested that I slow the rhythm down. By slowing down the rhythm I was able to think a bit and I could get the first line of the rhythm part correct but not the second. So we focused on the second. After a while I could get the second part going no problem.

We then had to put both parts together. After a few wrong bits I was able to play the tune all the way through and it did not sound too bad. I had to have a few other goes just to be sure that this was not a fluke. The intro is not totally in my head yet but is sounding better and I now have a technique to finally get it.

As that was very taxing we decided to look at some of the other tunes I have been doing.

We looked at the Radiohead Song “No Surprises” the capo 15 version.

 This is the part that most people would recognise. It took me a few minutes to remember the sequence but I was pleased that it came back so well.

We then had a go at the riff in the Oasis song “I’m Outta Time”.

 I do like this riff and even though it is not perect it does sound all right and got better the amount of times I did it.

We also had a little play of the rhythm for this song which I quiet like playing but had forgotten parts of.

We then looked at the riff in the Cream song “Sunshine Of your Love”.

How we had played it before was not totally correct as an acoustic cannot make it sound right. As I had an electric guitar now I liked the idea of trying the real version.

I cannot remember all the details but it would start on the third string, go up one string for the three notes played in a row, then up to the sixth string. Then down to the fifth string again and finally back to the six string on the same fret. I had a go of this a few times and on my electric it sounded close to what it should be which was good.

Lesson 50 Tuesday 7th January 2014

My first lesson of the year and my first lesson for two weeks and exactly one day off of a year of trying to play the guitar.

In my two weeks off I had been practicing each day. Maybe not as much as I would have liked but I had been trying to play. In that time I had played a few tunes I thought my parents (who grew up in the 60’s) may recognise some of the tunes like The Animals song “House Of The Rising Sun” or “Maggie May”. Unfortunately they did not so I think I may have to improve of them a bit then.

We started off the lesson going through the intro from the Oasis song “Wonderwall”.

This has been proving a problem to me and I have tried to build up the song but once I get to the Dsus4 it all goes bad and the A7sus4 is a disaster.

My teacher decide to get me to slow down on the tune so that I can get the idea. It took me several attempts just to get past the first bar which I can only assume is because I was nervous of getting it wrong. By slowing down it did give me time to hit the chords correctly and I did get better and I even got through the whole intro without a mistake.

Even though we did practice through this part for a very long time with me making many mistakes sometimes on parts that before I had spot on. I have to say I did enjoy myself and the time went by so quick.

Near the end of the lesson to give me a break from the intense practice I was doing on “Wonderwall” and probably to give my poor teachers nerves a rest too, we had a look at how I was doing with “Maggie May”.

  

The intro I still have problems with but I am managing to push through it.

The main song is getting better but the bridge chord hgh still slows up the flow of the song. But the rhythm and timing appears to be correct which is great as this has been a problem with me keeping the rhythm and speeding up too much. It is not perfect though and I can see many areas to improve on like the old favourite of changing chords cleanly and on time.

A great lesson for the new year. If I look back to 12 months ago I knew nothing about the guitar. I had no idea about chords, how to do a rhythm or anything. So even though I am no Jimmy Hendrix I am pleased with my progress and look forward to another 12 months on improvements. The thing I have come to notice is that the improvements are not instant but subtle and its only when I think back to how I used to be I can see a progression and me being more comfortable playing (mostly badly) the guitar.

Lesson 49 Tuesday 17th December 2013

This was my last lesson of the year as my teacher was having Christmas off work the same as I was going to.

We started off the lesson looking at how I was doing with the Intro on Oasis "Wonderwall".

I had been doing this part for a while and I did not feel like I was getting it right. After my teacher went through the chords a few times I had several attempts at the correct rhythm before I got it. The good thing was that I was not doing the bouncing rhythm bit so in a way an improvement.

As it was Christmas the teacher thought it was time I knew what the chords where for the intro.

It starts off with a new chord Em7 

Then changes on the up stroke after the fourth down stroke to G with the down stroke just before the G only having fingers three and four kept down.

After the G there is another down stroke played with just fingers three and four down and the chord Dsus4 starts on an up stroke.

Then another down stroke which has only the fingers three and four down followed by the upstroke in the chord A7sus4.

Then the last down and up stroke have just the fingers three and four down.

This intro is proving very difficult as the changes happen on up strokes instead of down strokes. I would either concentrate too much and panic and mess up or come in too late.

I spent a long time trying to build up the intro by starting with the first part and then see how far I could get. We then spent a bit of time just getting used to the changes as a big problem of mine is that not all the fingers land at the same time so that the first part of the chord would be half right.

We went through the intro many times and at a slower pace to help me get the correct rhythm. This worked but did take many attempts and I am not feeling it at the moment.

With two weeks now off I have plenty of time to try and polish this off and start the new year well.

Lesson 48 Tuesday 10th December 2013

I was a bit worried the day of my lesson as I had bruised my finger (number one finger) at Karate training the day before. It had swelled up and closing it was difficult and making a fist impossible. So at the start of the day I did try out some chords to see if I could do them. I could play them just as bad as I could the week before so that was a relief.

The lesson started with my version of the Rod Stuart song “Maggie May”. I had been practicing this song a bit and trying to get the change over from one chord to the next correct. I started off with the intro.

For some strange reason my first play of this I added in a few more up and down strokes. It would sound ok but not correct. This makes me wonder if when I have been practicing all week I have been playing it wrong. Once my teacher went through the rhythm once I got myself back on track. The changes did not sound too bad until I hear the teacher play it. Maybe my finger was impeding me (I wish).

Next we went onto the main verse.

 After my first run through it was obvious that I was playing the up strokes too close to the down stroke so that the rhythm has a bouncy feel to it. I think it’s because I am trying to race through the song. What I need to do is have a more robotic constant rhythm. After many attempts my loose rhythm stated to tighten up to the correct timing.

We next looked at doing another song. My teacher selected the Oasis song “Wonderwall”. Being an Oasis fan this is a favourite of mine so I apologies in advance Noel Gallagher.

We started off with the intro.

The rhythm has a very different make up. It took me many attempts just to get the first line correct and once I did get the correct sequence my old friend the bounce came back. After many more attempts I managed to put the bounce back in its box. The next step was to try the second line which at first seemed impossible to get. This is because of the sort of pause where the two up strokes are next to each other and I have to do a down stroke without touching the strings. Sounds easy. For me it was not. As I have been used to always doing a down stroke to not do one proved a bit of a challenge. After a long while I did manage to fluke a couple.

With this success the teacher thought it a great idea to put both halves together. Suffice to say it did not go well first time. I did manage to get so far but once I got to the two ups the part after I would miss out strokes. Looking on the positive side I was managing to get that far into the rhythm which is not bad for a first go I suppose. However after sweating blood I did manage to get all the way through twice. I don’t think Bonehead has anything to worry about as it probably took me a hundred goes to get them two.

I foresee loads of late night swearing. I mean practice.

Lesson 47 Tuesday 3rd December 2013

I started my lesson with the Rod Stuart song “Maggie May” which is lucky really as this has been the only thing I have been practicing this week.

I started with the intro.

As usual I could not get the rhythm correct for the first four times. I seem to be adding in an extra or missing out a down stroke. My teacher could see the problem and corrected it quickly by playing through the intro. Once I could see and hear where I was going wrong I managed to get this corrected.

We then went onto look at the main verse of the song.

I have been practicing this a bit and remembering what chords come after which, so I was a bit frustrated and disappointed with myself when the first few times of playing it I was all over the place. I kept on missing strings or catching them on the strumming and not landing very well on the chords. The other problem my teacher noticed was that on the last up strum would be just a bit too close to the last down strum. This would then make a sort of springy country type sound to the end of the bar. I feel this is happening because I am trying to give myself some sort of subconscious signal that this is the end of the bar go to the next chord. I needed to get the up and downs to play at the same time in the rhythm. Once I was aware of what I was doing wrong the rhythm started to sound less springy.

I managed to get through the entire tune a few times. We then played it with the song and even though I had played some very bad chords as my fingers would not set correct I was in the correct timing as the song which was very encouraging.

My main problem is that my fingers are just not fast enough moving from one chord to another. For example moving from a G to a D finger two can sometimes be a strum behind finger one. Sometimes I would even forget to take finger four off until near the end of the bar.

So to combat the teacher has given me an exercise to look at. 

The idea is just strum once a chord goes through the transition on the next two strums and then be totally on the next chord. I had a go of this and because of my rubbish co-ordination I find this part (which is crucial I get right) very difficult. I am starting off very slow and I am hoping with loads of practice I can speed up and make this more fluid.

On a positive turn my bar chord in this song F#m once I am on it is sounding clean every eight out of ten times I do it which is better than not so long ago when I could not do this chord for love nor money. Moving from the chord Em to this chord though is proving much more of a challenge. Maybe the big pause while I change to that chord enhances the song. Maybe. Maybe.

Lesson 45 Tuesday 19th November 2013

This lesson I concentrated all lesson on the song "Maggie May" by Rod Stuart.
I first started with the Intro.

At first I had trouble getting anything together on this part as I think nerves had go to me. Why I do not know as it was only me and the teacher and I know he is there to help and guide. Once I relaxed I got a few goes under my belt.
I was having the same problem as last week with not getting the rhythm correct or even not changing quick enough. After listening to a recording of the song and watching for the changes that my teacher was doing I started to get some sort of tune going.

I then had a look at the chorus.

This part is very rough and I did spend a lot of time just getting used to changing from Em to F#m which is another bridge chord.

The change over is difficult to do smooth but on the good side once I am on the chord they are starting to sound much more crisp.

Lesson 46 26th November 2013

I started off this lesson again going through the Rod Stuart song “Maggie May”.

I started off with the intro.

This has started to get better but it does seem to me that it takes me a few times round to get the rhythm correct. What I mean is I am strumming correctly but it’s like the timing is just slightly off. Once I hear the teacher go through it once or maybe twice I sort of get it. Some parts of this are not very crisp with me being too late on the D from the G. However after a fair bit of practice I did get very close.

The main part is made up of four verses with no choruses.

It took me a few times to forget the intro rhythm and play the main songs rhythm. The main had parts have been the change from G to D again and also from G to A and of course the Em to F#m thing. We spent a lot of time just getting the structure of this part and getting use to the changeover. Doing this part slow and getting the changeover correct was a good idea but there was something inside of me wanting to strum along at the right speed even though I probably would go too fast and make a pig’s ear out of it all.

After practicing this till my fingers where bleeding the teacher wanted to see how I was fairing with the Animals song “House Of The Rising Sun”.

Well the easy answer to that would be not very well. I have to confess that I have been practicing but most of the time on Maggie May so this song is still in it’s very raw (by that I mean sounds very bad) state.

I went through the first part and we looked at the position of my strumming hand the directions I was plucking. After a few times it did sound better but still very raw.

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.