Jen

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!

Jan 28: Sooooo… Oops?

Remember how yesterday I printed out the ballad and I was anxious about putting music to it?

Yeah, so that happened today.

I mean… It’s not all that impressive, really. I only needed to figure out the chords for one verse and they apply to all the rest. And then the chorus. But yeah.

It’s done. Took me like… Five minutes? Maybe ten?

If someone tells me that it’s impossible for my character to come up with music in such a short time, I’m going to shrug and say that I did it.

Wow.

I did it.

I also played my other two songs.

And I played Ce mur qui nous sépare. It definitely needs work, but omg I love it so much.

Super encouraging day today.

Jan 29: Progress!

I played my three songs today.

The first one went well, except I skipped the bridge for some reason? I don’t know, I don’t understand why.

The second one went well. I paid attention to my rhythms and I think I kept them straight.

The third one went really well, IMO. This was my second time playing it. I got tripped up on the chord changes in a couple places, so I marked up my lyrics sheet to try to help me remember for tomorrow.

Then I played the French song twice; once with the actual song so that I could try to get the rhythms, once without. It went even better than yesterday. The lyrics tripped me up a couple times… They’re very fast and my French isn’t fantastic, but I did better than yesterday, so I’m counting it as a win.

Overall, a good day of practicing.

Jan 30: Excited

I played my songs again today… I say as if I’m going to skip playing them…

Making the notations on the third song really helped with playing it. I made way fewer mistakes today. I’m enjoying the progress.

I also played the French song today without listening to it first, and it went really well. I played it a little bit slower so that I could sing all the words, but I still messed up in a couple places. That’s ok, it gives me something to work on.

I’m very pleased with today’s practice.

Oh, and my kids begged me to play Encanto songs, so I played those too. I really need to learn the B chord.

Jan 31: Gah

Do you know what’s frustrating about practicing guitar?

When my children decide to start doing things they know they’re not supposed to because they think I can’t pay attention to the music and them at the same time.

Gah!

I played my three songs. They went well, despite needing to pause several times. (Get off the bookcase, get out of the kitchen, stop touching Papa’s laptop, no you’re not allowed upstairs or downstairs without an adult you’re only 2, get away from Papa’s work computer… All things they know they’re not supposed to do.) 🙄

I played the French song, too. As my husband pointed out, I’m playing it more confidently. That’s nice to hear. I still stumbled over my words a few times, but I did better in some places that I stumbled yesterday.

Then I asked my kids for what songs they wanted to hear. Surprisingly, they did not ask for Encanto. Lol

Anyways, despite distractions, I feel like I had a productive practice today.

Feb 1: It’s a new month

I forgot to say the other day, but it was my 7 month anniversary on the 29th of January for playing guitar.

Observation: my right ring fingernail gets worn down more often than the others. I think I hold it a little bit lower than the rest.

I played my songs today. I still can’t quite get over the fact that they came from my head.

The ballad is kinda weird compared to the others. Because the style of song is primarily to tell a story, there’s dialogue in it! So that’s really different and feels awkward.

My husband gave me the idea to write a song for our next book (the cousin of Tommy, the songwriter in my books) so I’ll be thinking about that for the next little while. Randal (the new character) will be making up a walking song on the spot, so that should be fun to write. He’s been playing music since he was really young, so he’s got that as an advantage over Tommy, who’s only been playing for a year (at the end of the second book). I definitely relate more to Tommy than Randal in that respect!

Feb 2: Short fingernails

My right thumbnail ripped yesterday. Not painfully so, thankfully, but still quite low.

I rely on my fingernails a lot when I strum, apparently. So today’s practice was interesting until I got used to that.

I played my songs. I’ve decided I’m going to try to add full music to the first one. Initially I had it very basic at the beginning of the song because the character hadn’t had a chance to write the music, so he was testing things out. But I like the idea of having full music for it.

When I was putting everything away, I smushed a tiny part of my left thumb in the music stand. I have a blood blister now. It hurts.

Jan 22: Learning

I could hear that I was playing the chorus rhythm during the second verse of the wedding song today. I was able to change it back to the proper rhythm before the verse ended, so I call that a win.

I had some difficulty with strumming today; my fingers kept catching on the strings. It didn’t hurt, but it was annoying.

Jan 23: Nope didn’t happen

Guess what?

I didn’t play today.

I was totally planning on it, and then stuff happened and I ran out of time.

Jan 24: Progress!

I feel like I actually kept the correct strum patterns for the verses and choruses in the wedding song today. I tried really hard to pay attention to them and I think it worked. Woo! I love progress.

I also played all 4 Encanto songs that are on my song app (it’s the uke song app, but that’s only a problem if I don’t know the chord). It turned out better than I thought. I also played a couple other songs I hadn’t in a while.

It was a pretty good day today.

Jan 25: Shh quiet

My husband had a zoom meeting during my usual practice time, but he said I could still play, so I played quietly and tried to focus on my rhythms.

I also played a bunch of new to me songs from one of my Disney books, which involved learning songs new chords. I’m pleased with my retention of the chords from previous days. I can now reliably play C7, Cmaj7, G7, E7, and A7 as well as the ones I learned first.

In non-guitar news, I finished my second solo book, Winging It, last night. There are two songs in it; the wedding song and the ballad.

Jan 26: Earworms

After playing my songs, I decided to play some songs that have been in my head for weeks.

I mean, if they’re already there, I should find the rhythms easier to play, right?

Wrong.

But that’s okay, I’ll keep practicing them, because the Encanto songs are amazing and I love them.

Jan 27: Ooooh new music

I did a thing today; I printed out the lyrics for the ballad I wrote!

Meep!

No, it doesn’t have music on it yet, but by printing it out, I acknowledge that it will have music on it, and that’s a big step.

To me, anyways.

Now I have to figure out how rhythms go for a ballad…

I also printed out the music for a song that I adore: Ce mur qui nous sépare by Lou and Lenni-Kim. It’s beautiful. You can find it dubbed in English, but the French is just so perfect. You can listen to it here:

I can’t wait to try it tomorrow!!

I also played my songs today. I think I did well.

Jan 16: Audience again

I wasn’t going to play today. My back was in more pain than usual today.

And then I got to my parent’s house and was like… You know what? I’ll play for a bit.

So I borrowed my dad’s full-size, tuned it, and then played my songs. I also tried playing Mirabel’s miracle song from Encanto. I also played La Da Dee by Cody Simpson, just to get it stuck in my husband’s head. 😈 Mwahahaha!

Jan 17: Short

I had ten minutes to play today.

I played my songs (on my guitar) and wow, one day away from my thin, metal strings REALLY makes a difference. My fingers hurt.

After that, I only had time for one more song, and my daughter requested Kiss the Girl.

Well, technically, she first requested my new song.

I told her I needed at least twenty minutes to write the music for it.

I would say that’s a joke, but that’s how long it took for me to write the music for my second song.

Jan 18: Frustrating

Sometimes it feels like I’ve stalled; like I’ve hit the limit of what I can learn by myself.

Today was one of those days.

I played my songs, made mistakes, got frustrated.

Not a great day today.

Jan 19: Song stuck in my head

I have had a song stuck in my head since yesterday. It stayed with me even in my dreams.

Wanna know what song it is? 😈

It’s ok. I won’t tell you, no, no, no.

So I played La Da Dee to try to get it out of my head.

Spoilers: it didn’t work.

I also played my songs. I made a couple mistakes. I think I should record myself soon so that I can listen to the strum rhythms better and make sure that they’re actually doing what I want them to do.

My husband checked my posture while I was standing, and I’m doing it right! Well, most people seem to have the guitar slightly lower (like an inch) on their torso, but we decided that most of those musicians are shorter than I am.

Jan 20: Challenge!

My learning app had new challenges posted today. I did the chord and melody ones (lower level) and omg I did so well!? I didn’t even have to look at my hand when I changed chords! I felt so good about that.

Then I played the usual Sugar Plum Fairy song and I got gold stars on the middle part!!! First time I succeeded at that!! I’m so proud of myself!

I played my songs once each, trying to listen to the rhythms.

I’ve decided that the first song, Get to Know You, isn’t supposed to have a proper rhythm. I mean, the character wrote the lyrics in half an hour and didn’t even write music, he’s just kinda playing what feels right in the moment. So the chorus has a catchy rhythm, but the verse is a mess, exactly the way it should be.

However, the wedding song has had his music teacher critique it, both the lyrics and the music, and he’s been practicing it for two months, so the rhythm has to work properly and sound right. Fortunately, I have a lot of time to perfect it.

Today was a good day. I felt like I improved.

Jan 21: Attempt

I tried really hard to listen to my rhythms in the wedding song. I think I need to play all the verses one after the other so that I can make sure that my rhythms are the same, because I feel like I’m forgetting it when I play the chorus. I have been consistent over the days with how I play the rhythm for the bridge, so I’m pleased about that.

I also attempted We Don’t Talk About Bruno for the first time. For a song that has been in my head for weeks, I’m shocked that I don’t know the rhythms better. It was a real struggle (other than Dolores’ and Isabela’s parts, for some reason?)

I noticed a huge improvement in my speed and finger placement for the chords in La Da Dee.

Overall, considering I had a short practice today, I’m encouraged by my progress.

Jan 10: Taking it easy

I’m still not fully recovered, although I feel much better, so I only played the abbreviated version of my practice.

First, the learning app melody song. It… Didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.

Then I played my two songs. They sounded off. I don’t know why, they just did.

And then, because both kids begged, I played the wedding song again. It sounded better the second time, but my voice started to hurt halfway through.

I’m falling apart. I blame being in my late thirties.

Jan 11: Revisiting favourites

Today I played my songs. I tried to pay close attention to the rhythms in the wedding song. I think I did better making the verse and the chorus distinct from each other.

I’m going to consider that a win.

Then I played a bunch of songs from the ukulele app (same chord progressions, different finger positions) that I haven’t played in a while.

Omg I am SO MUCH FASTER at switching between G, C, and D now! Like…I don’t even have to look at my fingers anymore.

I feel greatly encouraged by this.

Oh, and I played some songs from Encanto. If you haven’t watched that yet, I hope you will get the chance soon. At the very least, listen to the music. It’s brilliant.

Jan 12: Cheerful

Apparently, if I don’t know the strum rhythm, I strum everything too cheerfully.

Or at least, I do that for Disturbed’s The Sound of Silence and Rufus Wainwright’s Hallelujah.

I mean, that’s kinda funny, tbh.

I guess I just need to listen to more music.

Oh the horror.

I also played my songs today. Those are supposed to be cheerful. 🙂

Jan 13: Ten minutes

What can I do in ten minutes of practice?

Play my learning app.

Play each of my songs (still only two with music) once.

Play Cody Simpson’s La Da Dee.

I really enjoy playing songs that I actually know and that I haven’t played since November. I can feel the difference in both my strumming and finger positioning. I know I have a long way to go, but progress is encouraging.

Jan 14: Rocking out

I played some new-to-me songs today, including Bare Necessities.

Bear with me (pun intended); I didn’t think I liked that song much. But to play it is a completely different animal than listening to it (pun intended again).

I did a pretty good job, imho.

I had a pretty good practice session today, in other words.

I love that my song actually sounds like a proper song. At least, in my opinion.

I think I’ll record it for you sometime soon. I’m feeling so much more confident in it.

Jan 15: C chords

I’ve been working on C7 and Cmaj7 chords. C7 requires all 4 fingers, but it’s not super complicated. Cmaj7 requires 2 fingers, so it’s actually pretty easy.

Anyways, I pulled out Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer today, and it had those chords, and it actually sounded kinda right. It was pretty cool.

I played a bunch of other songs that I had stopped playing before Christmas, and I felt very encouraged by how well I was able to play them.

I also played both of my songs. They’re a lot of fun.

Jan 4: Over an hour

I played today. Started with my songs, tried to play the How to Train your Dragon songs but my back decided to start acting up.

So I switched to playing songs I know in my song apps, but haven’t played since November (because Christmas).

And omg.

I can play them so much better now?

Like, my rhythms are better?

And I can switch between chords faster?

I was feeling like I wasn’t improving, but wow! What a difference!

I’m very proud of myself.

Oh, and I played for over an hour.

Jan 5: In a groove

I played my songs today. I really love them.

I also tried to play the last book I was given for Christmas; Songs of the 2000s. This book is MASSIVE. Like… My music stand cannot handle its size. (Insert innuendo?) So I decided that I would not play it today.

I just didn’t have the spoons.

I’ll try again tomorrow.

I played more songs from my app.

I really need to learn how to do a bar. My fingers just don’t want to, and so many chords require it.

Oh, I thought you might like to see my capo.

Isn’t it awesome??

Jan 6: Bars will have to wait

I played my songs again today and made way fewer mistakes.

Isn’t it funny that I can make mistakes on the songs that I wrote?

Maybe funny isn’t the right word for it.

Frustrating?

Anyways…

I also played the challenges for the week in my music app. I did very well on the melody one, not so great on the chord one. It just sounded like a bunch of noise to me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I didn’t play from a book today. Instead I looked for songs in my apps that had a bar in them.

I think I need a teacher to explain in person how they work, because I just could not get it.

Thank you very much to the person who commented on my last post about pulling back with the arm, but if my finger can’t straighten out over the fret board, what’s the point?

So yeah, I’ll wait until I have a teacher and then I won’t have to unlearn more bad habits. (Because I’m sure I have tons.)

Also, hi new people! Glad you like my capo. Sorry if I’m boring. I won’t be offended if you leave. 😉

Jan 7: Short but painful

Today I played one song from my app and both my songs.

That’s it.

My right shoulder has been hurting and I didn’t want to aggravate it further.

I did try to keep my rhythms steady. Not sure I succeeded…

Jan 8: Music in books

I don’t remember if I’ve told you why I started playing guitar. Buckle up, because this is a ride in being extra.

I wrote a novella at the beginning of April 2021, about a boy named Tommy who went to a science camp over March Break, and while there, he discovered he was gay. Originally, I had him play a song on guitar to the boy he had a crush on. I don’t even remember which song it was. (I think it might have been Stand by Me?)

About a month after I finished writing that novella, I was searching for how to properly include lyrics in books and that led me to an article that explained that if any lyrics were included in a book, royalties would have to be paid.

Like, 4-5 digits.

Lol.

Yeah no.

So I removed the lyrics and just wrote around the music.

It worked.

And then….

Oh, and then!

My husband said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you wrote a song?”

I dismissed it, of course. And then I started thinking, “It’s not like you found the perfect one when you were looking. But you could write one that would be perfect for them!”

At 3am, naturally.

And then it proceeded to write it for me, in about half an hour.

I repeated it over and over until I fell asleep and lo and behold! I remembered it the next morning (mostly) and wrote it down.

Then I changed the novella around to fit the new song.

And all was quiet for about a week. Then my husband made a comment like, “You know, you could write the music for your song.”

Ummm, what? The last time I played any music was when I picked up my flute like, a decade. And I don’t know how to write a song.

And then I thought about it for about two weeks, discussed learning the guitar with him for two days and asked to borrow my dad’s guitar.

A week after picking it up, I was hooked and went and bought my own guitar (¾ size rather than full). After about a month of learning, (during which the novella became an entire novel) I tried to write my song and I had zero idea what I was doing. So I asked for help from my music mentor.

Keep in mind, I had the melody set in my mind, so I sent him that file and he worked music around it. Chords I could play, too, with a little practice.

And poof! I had a song!

And that’s why I started playing guitar.

I played my songs today, once each.

Jan 9: Booster

I got my COVID booster yesterday. I thought I was fine, but I have a severe headache today, so I’m not going to play today.

I will look at my third song again today, though, and see if I still like it.

Dec 29: Fancy

I got a guitar strap and a shark capo for Christmas. They make me feel super cool, you have no idea!

Look at my daughter dancing. She’s so fast the motion capture couldn’t catch her hair or her hand.

I played my songs while standing today. I need to strengthen my back muscles (chronic injury) because I hurt now.

Ooooh and look at my cute shirt! It’s the title of my first solo book (fingers crossed the publisher accepts it!)

Dec 30: Ow

I played my two songs standing up today and my back pain went from a 2 to a 9.

To give you reference, normally when I’m playing guitar, it goes from a 2 to a 4 or 5. This is while sitting.

So … Ow.

Dec 31: Happy New Year

Someone told me that things we do on the 31st of December and the 1st of January set the stage and pace for the whole year.

Well, today I played my songs while standing and it didn’t hurt too badly, and then I played a bunch of Disney songs while sitting.

My kids sang and/or dancedalong.

It was fun. 🙂

I also plan on writing today and tomorrow, because I want that to continue in the new year.

Husband and I aren’t going to start our next book until our daughter’s virtual school restarts, so I’ve got another week to finish Tommy and Carter’s book 2, but I’m not stressing out about it too much.

Jan 1: First day

I played my songs today. And a bunch of Disney songs.

My parents arrived for new year’s day celebrations (within bubble) just before I started to play, so that added a level of anxiety.

I don’t know if I can play for an audience in the future. I’m going to need to play a lot more before then.

Jan 2: Ow again

I played my songs standing today. My pain increased a bit during the second song.

Then I played from the second Disney chord book I was given for Christmas.

This one:

There were lots of chords that I had to learn. Most of them were feasible, but I didn’t know them, which meant I had to spend a little of time bent over towards the music stand, trying to see what chord I needed to play.

So.

Ow.

I only played a couple songs before I had to give up.

I only have a few books left to try out before I’ve tried all of them.

And then, I think, my goal should be to focus on becoming more consistent with rhythms and memorizing more chords.

Because, you know, it’s hard to sight read if you don’t know the chords very well.

Jan 3: Friends

Picks and I are not friends, I have decided. I like the sound better without them, I keep my wrist looser, and I just find them annoying.

The Frozen 2 music book and I are not friends either. The chords are way too unnecessarily complicated. It will be a “once I’m better at this” book.

On a more positive note (ha! accidental pun), I wrote my third song yesterday night and tidied it up this afternoon. I’ll let it sit for a couple days/weeks and then put music to it.

It’s a ballad, a love story about the Phantom and the Wraith and how they met, except fictional. So my character is writing filk about two other characters.

Which I find hilarious.