Lesson 17 Tuesday 30th April 2013

I had been practicing a bit this week and going with all the good advice I have been getting I had taken great care to practice the rhythm.

The first song we practiced was “Songbird” by Oasis. 

I have noticed that my finger tips are now hardening up with all the playing and I suppose my hand has got to condition it’s self for these bar cords now.

The problem I have had with is song has been the change from G to G/F# to Em and Em to G/F# to G. I would get so anxious about this change that I would be too late or too early. Sometimes I would seem to get my fingers all caught in the strings.

The first few attempt of this song did not go well I think it’s a case of trying to warm up and relax. My teacher started to help by at first singing the words so I could hear the words I would need to hear for the change. Even though I was trying to keep my strumming at a constant it was apparent that when the change happens I was speeding up so after the song I would be strumming too fast. My teacher decided to try and combat this by playing the base guitar with the rhythm that I would need to follow. This seemed to work for me. I was able to keep time better and the changes where happening at the correct time too to my surprise. I managed to get through the whole song a few times at sort of the correct rhythm. However the cords are not all correct and some sounded really bad. My teacher was happy with the progress through and informed me that we will not practice this one at lessons any more as I have the basis of it now and I can practice this on my own. My teacher assured me that the song would get better as the cords I am playing I will be playing in other songs so this one in time will get naturally better. It is hard myself to tell if I have improved on this song but my Mrs thinks that it has improved a lot which is encouraging to hear and I certainly will be using this song in my practicing.

We then went onto have a look on my progress on the Green Day song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”. 

This song again I have been playing a bit and was hoping for some progress on too. At first things were going well, but then I would almost mentally full asleep or something as I would lose my way and forget that I have to change to G. Once that mishap would happen I would go to pot with all sorts of funny cords appearing and I am sure none are real. Again once relaxing a bit the rhythm flowed a lot better and the song sounded nearer where it should be.

As things where not going too bad it was time to play the Oasis song “Half the World Away”.

 It took me a very long time to get the correct rhythm as I kept on reverting to the Songbird rhythm. I struggled through this at first feeling a bit disappointed with myself. I suppose this is going to happen as you cannot always get it right and once (again) I relaxed a bit I gained some respect on my playing.

The last thing we did was to practice some bar cords. 

We first started with Bm which after a bit of moving of fingers I did to my surprise nearly get the cord. 

I then had a go at the other bar cord of F. This one proved to be very difficult and a dull thud was all I got for my efforts. After a few minutes I had to stop this part as my hand was hurting.

Lesson Sixteen Tuesday 23rd April 2013

I had not had much chance to practise this week so I did not think I would have much progress this week.

The first song we started to practise was Songbird by Oasis.

I have been having problems with this song and the change over from G to E. I would either be too early too late or miss it completely.
The teacher explains that if I listen for the words that will give my the signal when I need to change. Unfortunately I have been concentrating so much on my rhythm I never hear the words.

We did loads of practise of the song with me playing along to a recording of the song and trying to get the changes correct. There was some success but it seems in my apprehension to get it correct I start off at the correct rhythm then I will speed up. The teacher tried to get me on track by clapping  the correct rhythm out and when that did not work playing his drums that are just behind me. These tactics did have some success with me getting the change over on time a few times.

We worked on this song for a vast majority of the time and I still need to get used to the changes and not feel so nervous doing them.



For the last part of the lesson we went through the Green Day song Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Again this song seems to be a problem with a change from G to another cord, this time being D. The problem I have on this one is the fingers three and four need to be able to move easier and when holding down the notes they need to be straighter so I can get a clearer note.
The rhythm on this song sounded about right even with the record playing but sometimes the cord changes are very heavy and don't flow and I am guessing that's because I need to relax a bit.

I am hoping this week I can get much more practise and iron out some of these problems ready for lesson seventeen.

Lesson Fifteen Tuesday 16th April 2013

My lesson started off looking at the Oasis song "Songbird" that I am learning.

I had been practising this song but the changes in cords are proving very difficult and I would keep missing when I needed to change.
I would either be too quick to change or too late. I suppose it's because I get so zoned into doing the rhythm of the cord the change seems to be a bit of an unwelcome event. As well as changing not on time I could get my fingers caught in the strings which was a bit embarrassing.
Again it was a case of relaxing and the teacher would play the song many times and clap out the rhythm to help me with a louder clap to signal the change. This I did for a long while with some success. The Changing cord also needed to be slicker and the change of rhythm for the change is proving a big challenge.








The next song I practised was the Green Day song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" I seem to be getting a bit better on this one but the change from G to D is my real problem.

I also need to slow the rhythm down a bit and stop trying to chase through the song.

The last song was the other Oasis song "Half The World Away". I have been practising this one for a while so I was hoping to show great improvement. Unfortunately it took me a bit of time to get the rhythm correct as I had the rhythm of Songbird still on my finger tips. I managed to get some respect back on the song but rhythm is the main thing I need to practise.

Lesson Fourteen Tuesday 9th April

My fourteenth lesson started off looking at the the song "Songbird" by Oasis.

The rhythm as been giving me trouble in my practising and there has been some cords like G/F# and F# that I was not aware of so I found I could only strum away in a G or E minor.
My teacher gave me a new cord that I was to use instead of G/F# or /F# which is called F#/Dsw4.

This I tried to use and I found the change from G to this cord another new challenge. My fingers one and two seem to not move quick enough or if they do they miss the string that is needed. Adding this into the song I kept missing the change as I could not remember what the timing was to change. The teacher informed me that I must use the words to see where the change is and he wrote down some for me to see.

This did help but every time I got near this part the rhythm would slow down as I was thinking about the change.

We then looked at the other three songs that I am learning. These had mixed results with trouble with rhythms being the main thing. The big problem was I spent so much of my hour lesson on one song with that rhythm that I would drift into them on the other songs.

Food for thought though and plenty to practise.

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.

Lesson Twelve Tuesday 26th March

Tonight's lesson I went with  the same guitar as last week so that was a good start to things. The teacher tuned the guitar for me as I am scared to tune it after what happened with my other guitar. It seems as if the strings have settled down a bit now and that the tuning is sounding a lot better (well in the teachers hands it does).

Once the guitar was tuned which sounded a lot better than last week I started the first exercises which was the REM tune “Everybody Hurts”. I went through where I had got to which was mainly doing the D and G then the Em and A.

 I needed to link these cords together and for it to flow so I spent a bit of time doing this. Sometimes it would not sound too bad and I can see the benefit of it for getting my fingers in the right place for a cord. My D is coming along and is getting more crisp but I am still having trouble with the G.

The teacher added in another section for my to try this ends with a use of finger three then two on the top string. I will need to practise a fair bit adding this all together.

I next went over the other main song I am learning which is “Half The World Away” by Oasis.

The first part of the song has mixed results with C not sounding too bad but F major 7 is still no where near right.

The next part is getting better but the change to F major 7 is still difficult. The teacher told me I was playing it a bit fast to try and get through it and I need to relax and enjoy.

We practised these two parts a lot and I was told that is sort of two thirds of the song with a difficult bit in the middle which I will look at soon.

To make me ready for that time I had two bar cords to learn. The first was B Minor.

This was very difficult one and it felt like my hand was twisting in many directions at the same time.

The next was a F bar cord.

 This one was no better. I have plenty to practise and if I could just make my hand move in several ways at the same time these bar cords should be fine.

Lesson Eleven Tuesday 19th March

In the day before my lesson lucky for me my new guitar had arrived. This time it was a blue one. 

New Guitar

The Old Classical Guitar

Not really my favoured colour but it was the only one they had in at such a short time scale. Regardless of the colour I was relieved that I would not have to take the classical version that I had. 

I did not have a chance to have a strum of it but I could tell even to my much untrained ear that it would need tuning, which I was very reluctant to do.

I went to my lesson and before revealing my new guitar explained to him all about what had happened. He had a look at the instrument and to start tuning it. This took a fair while as apparently the fret board was too straight and this was making some strings stick to the frets themselves and make a buzzing sound when you play them.

He explained to me that the board sort of needs to curve slightly away from the strings so that when they are tuned and are tight the tension will always make sure that the strings are still away from the frets. 

Allen Key Slot for adjusting Fret Board

There is an Allen key slot to adjust this curve just inside the sound box of the guitar. The teacher started to adjust and tune as best as he could to this (let’s be honest) cheap musical instrument. While he struggled with my new guitar he gave me his one to practise on.

The teachers guitar as you could imagine is very good but sadly as I went through my exercise it was not my old cheap guitar that was making it sound bad just my poor ability.

I played “Half the World Away” which I do think may be improving. I went through the R.E.M song “Everybody Hurts” which was slow and needs a lot of improving on when it comes to playing in G.

After tormenting the teacher’s guitar he announces that he had done his best. He showed me that it was in tune but there may well be a buzzing sound on some strings but they would still ring true (just sound a bit crap that’s all) he thought as the guitar settles down it would be fine.

It did not matter really as once I had a go of it none of the strings rang true and that was nothing to do with the instrument. My next exercise was going through the Green Day song. 

This one still eludes me I had to go through practising changing from G to D and back. The teacher added another part to this song.

Cord B7 x = don't use this string

This is at a very different tempo and since trying to practise it I cannot get right and with yet another cord to learn which is B7.

Another lesson finished and I am sure there was some improvement but I will wait for trying to tune a guitar for a while though. It’s just proving to be too much hassle for me and my poor teacher.