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.

Lesson 43 Tuesday 5th November 2013

I went to this lesson with a fanfare of fireworks. Not because I was living now as some rock god but because it was bonfire night. With the fireworks going off it was a welcome change for something else to be scaring the local wild life rather than my playing.

We started off with the Madness Riff from “Our House”.

This still has problems for me with my fingers not getting in the correct place. Things have improved though as I am trying hard to pluck only down and keeping my hand in the correct place. I still need to remember to lift my finger off after I pluck the string though as if I don’t the sound still rings through.

I then went next onto looking at the song by Rod Stuart “Maggie May”. 

 I have practiced this but I don’t seem to get the rhythm correct. After a few goes and listening to the song and the way the teacher played the song I would sort of get the rhythm. I need to change from one chord to the next much quicker. The teacher gave me a guide of fingers so that I would not have all the fingers down for the last strum on the bar so that it would give me a chance to get to the next chord quicker and it makes this a sort of transition strum.

After many goes on the intro we looked at the main rhythm of the song. 

The rhythm is just a little different.

I had a go at this rhythm but kept on getting the intro rhythm instead.

Lesson 42 Tuesday 29th October 2013

The start of the lesson we warmed up the fingers by playing the Animals song “House Of The Rising Sun”. I can see that this is a good tune to get me to play the chords clean as you pluck the individual strings and you can then know if you are holding them right or not.

As usual it took me a few goes to get it right even on chords that in practiced I had got fine. After a few false starts the notes did start to ring out with A and C sounding ok and even D sort of passable too. However I did get stuck on F which does not ring out but gives a depressing thud.

The F has been a bit of a problem form me mainly because finger one has to hold down strings 1 and two while fingers two holds string three and finger three holds down string four.

While doing this I think I am not putting enough pressure on finger one or I put loads on and the other two fingers are not straight so that they bend and mute out other strings. I have been practicing this one a lot and even though it is not there I think it has improved.

I run through the tune a few times. At the moment there is a big gap between each chord and the strumming of them is slow and deliberate. I have tried to speed it up and make it flow better but at the moment when I do that it sounds worse with loads of missed notes. My major problem is as ever movement from one chord to another which I feel is getting better slowly but surely.

We next looked at my progress on the riff in the Madness song “Our House”. 

Again this took several attempts to get part the first few plucks. I was resting my plucking hand on the bridge which did make things easier. My main problem appears to be that I want my eyes to be in both places. Either looking at where my left hand fingers are or what string I am plucking. My teacher thought it would be better if I just pluck downwards as I have a habit of just doing up plucks which I then have problems finding the next string. This did help as I could get past the first part.

For the final part of my lesson we looked at the song “Maggie May” by Rod Stuart.

We only really had time to look at the intro of the song.

The E chord is played a bit different.

What I did find is that I could play all of the chords without having to take finger 3 off. The rhythm for this took me a few moments to get too.

I had a few attempts and there was some notes ringing out. The main one I was not happy with was D. I went through the chord and could not understand why it had such a bad buzz to it. Upon looking at me doing it my teacher could see that I was not muting the top string with my thumb. As soon as I did this it made a big difference.

I feel that holding down chords is getting easier and sounding better. However I still need to practice the moving from one to another as I do have to sometimes have a big thinking space to remember where my fingers must go.

Lesson 41 Tuesday 15th October 2013

It’s been a few weeks or so since I have added an entry to this blog. I have not given up on learning playing the guitar it has been more a case of family business taking up my time. It seem to be a tradition in our family that as soon as my kids go back to school one by one they get some bug or another which causes chaos in our house. This means that after running around to sort things I am just too tired to type.

However I have been keeping up my lessons which are like a little bit of me time for the week. I also do exercise classes through the week but they are more to keep me fit and well and are more of a task than a pleasure. I have been practicing and now that I have an amp to use my kids are regularly asking me to put head phones on so that they cannot hear it, so I can only assume I am still not playing well.

I started off my lesson with the song “House Of The Rising Sun” by the Animals. We have been playing this because you pluck out all of strings on the chords which lets me know if I am playing the strings correctly.

The chords are Am where you pluck the 5^th string then strum strings 4, 3 and 2. Then pluck strings 1 then two and three. You then play C plucking and strumming the same strings. Then D but you pluck the 4^th string and strum strings 3, 2 and 1. Then pluck strings 1 then two and three. I then have to play a new chord to me which is an F plucking and strumming the same strings as the D. The F chord I am having difficulties doing correctly. It is almost like a tiny bridge chord and bridge chords are proving a problem to me. The last and final chord for this song that I have to play is E. For this one I pluck string 6 and strum 5, 4 and 3 and then pluck strings 1 then two and three. With each of these chords I have to make sure the last string struck which is string 3 has to be played open. This is then used to help me move my fingers to the next chord. Moving my fingers has proved a problem as my fingers do like to lock in place. Practicing this I am having to try doing it at a slower speed to try and get the technique correct. I have been playing this song for a few weeks now but I am nowhere near perfecting it.

I next had a practice of the bridge chords I have been struggling with.

Fmajor 7 is starting to sound better but is not all there.

Bm chord will ring out after coaxing my fingers in the right direction.

B chord also needs much work on it.

The final part of my lesson was to go through the lead riff from the Madness song “Our House”.

This is the part that is played about 2 minute 14 into this video.

I have been playing this a lot and I still have to take about seven goes before it starts to sound better. I also get a bit lost at times and start playing the first part when I want to be playing the second part. My teacher corrected the way I rest my plucking hand on the guitar. I have been plucking where the top pickups are which means I sort of hover my hand above the strings but rest my little finger on the base of the guitar. The teacher showed me that the better place was to rest the left side of my hand on the bridge of the guitar and this allows me to pluck the strings by just moving my wrist. This did make more sense and was easier to control. Did it make my playing any better, well not yet.

Lesson 34 Tuesday 3rd September 2013

For this lesson I took my new Amp and Footcontroller to show the teacher and learn a bit on how to use it.

I was shown about the different sounds. We had it in clean and and crunch and the two different types of overdrive. The amp seams to give out a good sound even though it is not that big. We added the Footcontroller and tuned the guitar with the tuner on the footcontroller. Tuning on the Footcontroller was easy with the name of the string being struck shown and a light on the left or right depending on if it was too low or high and a light in the middle when it is tuned. You can also save in sounds into the footcontroller which I will have a practice at doing






I started off practising the Oasis Riff in the song "I'm Outta Time".

This is getting better but I have developed a habit when I strike another string which sounds out when I am doing the first bend. I have to practice more to get rid of this habit of pulling the other strings.

I next had a look at how I was doing with the Wet Wet Wet version of "Love Is All Around". I started off with the difficult capo 1 version with the bar chord.

Moving from A to Bm is still proving to be a problem. On the brighter side though I have managed to get the bridge chord sounding nearly right.

I then went onto the capo 3 version.

This one is starting to get there a bit but I have to remember that a lot of the chords I need to mute the top string with my thumb. The chords on them selves seam to be getting a lot cleaner. However moving from one to another my fingers need to hit the strings a lot more sure than they do now.

Amp For My Electric Guitar

I have been looking for an amp to go with my electric guitar. After looking around I decided to go for The Marshall MG15CFX.

I also went for a MG Series Footcontroller too.

The Amps's Features Are:

Outup(RMS) = 15 watts
Speaker = 1x8"
Channels (storable) = (clean, crunch, OD1, OD2)
Digital effects = (Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Delay, Octave)
Digital Reverb = (Spring, Studio)
Internal Frequency Dependant Damping
MP3/Line In Jack
Emulated Headphones Output
MG Footcontroller Compatible
Dimensions = 382x379x205
Weight (Kg) = 7.7
I have had a go on this amp and have got some sounds out of it but I do need to read the instructions on how this all works. The size is small but perfect to put in a small nook in my little house. The sound is still good and I have already had my kids complain that it is too loud.

I also got the footcontroller which is compatible with this amp.
The pedals can be programmed to different effects and sounds so for example a clean version and also a reverb version.
I have not used the pedal out yet as I think I need to work out the correct sounds on the amp which would be good to program in.

I have a lot of dials to learn now which will be fun to get used to.