Guitar Lessons Part 37

Feb 3: Chord progressions

I played my songs today, and then I played Let It Go, which I haven’t played since before Christmas.

And I noticed immediately that the chord progression is the same for Let It Go and The Ballad of The Phantom and the Wraith.

So that’s pretty cool.

Feb 4: Ten minutes

How much can you practice in ten minutes?

If that’s all the time you’ve got, you make the most of it.

I tuned and then played my three songs. I didn’t even have time to play the French song.

I tried to put more strumming in Get to Know You. It sounded weird.

I paid attention to the rhythms in the wedding song. My voice kept wavering and cracking and I’m really glad I wasn’t performing it today. Yikes.

I tried to keep my rhythm steady in the ballad. Ooooh the ballad! I sent that off to my music mentor last weekend to get his opinion. I literally sent him the recording of the very first time I played the song the whole way through. He got back to me last night.

He said, “You have great lyrical structure and the chords and melody work great. It tells a great story, and I think story telling is a lost art in our music industry today. Made me think about some of the great musicians from the 70s who spun some great yarns, but maybe didn’t get the limelight they deserved.”

😍😍😍

Totally made my day.

He also gave me tips on how to improve it with dynamics, chord extensions, and changes in rhythms.

Therefore my first goal is to get used to the song structure. Then I will figure out how to change things up a bit so that it makes sense.

Despite only having a few minutes to play, I had a good day today.

Feb 5: Everything hurts

Well, maybe not everything. My fingers don’t hurt.

But my strumming arm does. It hurts to lift my arm past my shoulder.

I played my learning app and only made one mistake in Sugar Plum Fairy!

I then played my three songs.

I’m mostly satisfied with how I played today.

Feb 6: Tried new challenges

I looked through the classical options for level 5 in my app and tried a bunch of them out. This is the same level as the Sugar Plum Fairy. I played Vivaldi’s Winter (meh), Debussy’s Clair de Lune (will continue), and In the Hall of the Mountain King (SO HARD, I can’t wait to master this!).

I also played my songs. I’m finding it difficult to keep up the fast rhythm for the Ballad. I’ll get better, certainly, the more I practice. I’m much more consistent with my rhythms for the wedding song. I think I’m almost at a point where I feel comfortable recording myself playing it.

Feb 7: Gahhhhhhhh!

The new challenging songs on my learning app are HARD! I gave up after one attempt. My brain just isn’t moving fast enough today.

I played my songs. They’re coming along nicely.

Kinda want to write a new song without lyrics to include in the book launch video. Should probably talk to my publisher about that…

Feb 8: Voice

I think my singing needs work. My voice kept cracking today during practice.

I played the 3 songs on the learning app. I actually got 3 stars on the mountain king first part, which I’m very proud of. And then I floundered and failed two seconds into the second part. I’ll get there. It’s hard, but omg it’ll be so worth it when I manage to play the whole thing!

I played my three songs and the French song as well. My rhythm felt much improved for the ballad. I noticed a few places where I missed the timing, but that’s much better.

I’ve also noticed that my D chord is not consistent. I need to practice getting into it quickly.

I’ve thought some more about talking to my publisher about making the music for the book trailer. And then I talked to him. And he said yes! So I’m going to try to figure out a theme for Kennedy that sounds like her.

As my 5yo daughter says, she likes pink. How do you play “pink”? Lol

In all seriousness, I want to try to come up with a theme that sounds friendly, cheerful, and optimistic, with an undercurrent of hesitancy.

Right.

I’ll get right on that. 👀

I am not a composer, people. I have no idea what I’m doing.

Other than challenging myself, I guess!

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