Recording my Progress

I thought it was about time that I recorded my progress to get an idea if I have progressed. The great thing about recording is it will show to me exactly what is happening rather than my feelings of how the practice is going.

So I decided to use my iPhone to record my progress and then record each week at the same time to see if there has been any improvement. Being a poor PC owner I need to use some software to edit the MOV file that the iPhone would record in. I used “Wondershare Video Editor” to do this job. The software works very well and enabled me to upload this to You Tube.

For my first recording I tried to keep it to some sort of structure, so I started off with the cord of E minor. I then try to do the cord of A. This then goes into the first exercise I was set of going from E minor to A and I think you will agree I don’t do it very well at all. I then go onto the cord of G with varied degrees of success. This is followed by the cord of D with I do have trouble with. I then put this all together going from E to G to D to A in the exercise that’s suppose to sound like the Green Day song. I then attempt a C cord followed by the near on impossible F major 7. I then attempt what I have been shown of “Half the World Away” which needs loads of practice still. I finally finish with two riffs that I have been shown which are Creams “Sunshine of your love” and “The Simpsons” tune.

I am hoping that with more practice these videos will get much better and maybe then I will show my face. At the moment it would just be me grimacing with the pain I am putting my poor guitar through.

Lesson Seven 20th February 2013

I started off my lesson with the Theme of The Simpsons that I had been practising. It did not sound too bad, it was slow at times and I kept on hitting the wrong string sometimes but on the whole it was not too bad. The teacher thought it was OK and gave me some tips on moving my fingers and assured me that as time goes by I will know where the strings are. I think there has been improvement as at times I can sort of hear the tune coming out. The teacher seamed please so far with the progress and talked about maybe in a few weeks looking at another song to practise with lead sections. I was given two options.
House of the Rising sun by the Animals

Or
Radiohead Street Spirit (Fade Out)


Being a big Radiohead fan I picked Street Spirit though at this stage it seams incredible to be able to play this.

I then went through how bad I am at practising my cord changes for the Green Day song. I was all fingers and thumbs and there was massive pauses between each cord change and the up and down strokes where in not particular timing at all.

The teacher decided that I need to slow the tempo down. He had a computer software which he could take the song I was to learn and slow or speed it up and take out instruments so that I could hear the part I need to learn. This did help a bit but I still had big trouble trying to find the strings for A from D mostly. I was thinking that I may see if I could find some sort of metronome app for my phone to help practise with.

We then talked about songs to practise. He asked me if there was any I would like to learn as if there is a song you like it would make it more fun to learn. I thought about it and said I would like to learn an Oasis song like Wonderwall or Half a world away. It was decided that Half a world Away would be the better one as there are cord changes that I have already been given and some that I have not yet which would be good for learning.


I just started off this one with the first two cords and changes. This would be the cord of C followed by playing just strings 1, 2, 3 and 2 then cord F major 7 and the same single strings to play. This is just the intro part. I had a go and the teacher said it sounded all right but I need to get the cords sounding far more crisp.

A good lesson with plenty to work on.

Lesson Six 12th February 2013

I went to this lesson not having practiced as much as I would have liked as I had been ill most of the week with some sort of virus. So that’s the excuse I am using this week for how bad my cords are. To be fair I think they are getting slowly better but it just seems that when I think I have cracked a cord all of a sudden I can’t play it at all. I need more practice to get my fingers in the correct shape.

We went through the changing cord rhythm exercise again and I feel so slow and clumsy at this. I then got another exercise to practice, this one again would involve changing from one cord to the next. I would start in D with two downward strokes, then finger three on the second string (second from the bottom string) and finger four (little finger) on the first string and one up stroke, G with two down strokes and repeat. This did not sound good.

My teacher then talked about what song I would like to learn. I must admit I had not thought of a song to learn at the moment I could not even get a cord to play right first time. He explained to me that it would be a simple one that would help me practice the changing of cords and rhythm.  To get an idea he asked what sort of music I liked. I like many different types of music but sort of guitar based could be anything from Oasis and Radiohead to Pink Floyd and the Beatles.

Thankfully he made the decision for me which is great as I don’t think I am ready to play “Wish you were here” at the moment. The song was going to be “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” from Green Day.



This would have four Cord Changes that I had done so far. It would go like this, E minor with two down strokes, finger 3 three on the second string (second from the bottom string) and finger four (little finger) on the first string and one up stroke, the cord G with two down ward strokes, again one upward stroke with fingers three and four down on strings one and two, D with two down strokes, one up stroke with no fingers down and then A with two down strokes.

The teacher showed me how it would work while playing the song. When my turn came it sounded nothing like the easy rhythm song that he had played. It sounded more like someone having a nervous breakdown on a guitar. Clearly it is going to take a while to get this right.

The last part of the lesson I was given another TAB tune to learn. I had a choice of two, both where designed to use all my fingers. The choices were a song by Bruno Marrs or the Simpsons theme. The choice was simple it was going to be The Simpsons. My kids like that program and I am sure they would love to hear me play the theme tune.