ShawnE

After 8 months I've had my first go at singing while playing... it's definitely about 2 or 3 years too soon 😂 - but I figured it'd be good to get these early attempts recorded & documented to also look back on & laugh along with the rest of it in 10 years. Kept it simple... simple song.. simple chords... still bloody tough! I wasn't expecting to even be able to attempt this sort of thing until around the 2/3 year mark to be honest so super stoked to be giving it a bash after 8 months. Need to get a general update/progress video done soon as I'm nearing the end of my time on the current module I've been going through since the start of last month.

Apologies for the two months absence - super busy with life stuff! I hope anyone who's still around from last year are keeping well & have had a good start to this year! On my front.. bad news is I didn't have time to record updates or really progress much through modules... However.. good news is I still managed to put in circa' one hour practice pretty much every day which has just helped me further cement the early foundational stuff as well as the new things learned in the first module of grade two, which I've now completed between the start of Jan & now... In the next module I'm about to start I (finally) start taking a first look at the F.

This is just a video of my general review on the online course I'm following now I've completed grade one... might be a useful little watch for anyone considering learning guitar or looking for opinions of an online course who may stumble across this thread (now or in the future).

Short snappy update as I come to the end of a consolidation phase... much bigger & newer things to come in the next week or so.

I couldn't help but get a little festive. Been practicing stuff that should well & truly annoy my family during the live performance in mum's living room in a couple weeks time. 😁

100 hours officially completed... couldn't help but put together a little compilation. Still rubbish but on we march!

Took a step backwards this week in hopes of eventually taking several steps forwards by mainly focusing on songs that work the two chords I find most difficult - C & D.. well, save for Dm.. but I'll tackle more of that another time. I think another couple of weeks consolidating this type of stuff & then I'll feel more ready to move onto the next chunk of learning. I'll next be reflecting on my first 100 hours & then after that it'll be December so... I'd may as well start practicing with a few Christmas bangers.

Month three - now entering a consolidation phase until I feel comfortable enough to move onto... you know... that F thing & the second grade of the course I'm following.

@Caevan O’Shite Oh yeah.. ongoing for life! Good job I got myself a million picks to get through the years 😂 @Larryz Cheers Larry! Yeah I'm aware of the G fretting... to be honest I prefer the way it sounds this way without the index finger... to me, the traditional G sounds a bit muddy while this sounds a bit cleaner & the fact it's way easier to play is just a bonus... the middle finger mutes the 5th string so there is no A note. With that said, I do still practice forming it the more classic way you described using the index finger on the 5th string as I know there'll be certain times when I'll prefer the G to have a bit of that muddiness for some songs.

After 72 hours I reckon it's fair to say I now know the cowboy chords... even if changing between them still requires a lot of work.

Overcoming that god-forsaken guitar quitting phase.

I promise I'll be bearing all of this in mind! I have seen & felt the result of how much easier things are with less tension & a more relaxed approach... I find changing these basic chords to be a lot easier when that left hand is very relaxed... but oftentimes doing appears a lot more difficult than saying while it's all still pretty foreign 😂 I'll certainly keep at it & fortunately it can surely only improve with time, practice & all this useful advice!

Cheers for that.. all inputs of advice are massively appreciated! The reason I've anchored my pinky in this video is mainly because in the lessons I'm following I was advised to try a bunch of different things to see which felt more comfortable.. these riffs are being run as basic first-base finger exercises rather than trying to play them as songs etc. - I note you said this is the first video you've watched - in some of my previous videos I'm running the same riffs but without anchoring the pinky at all. As it turns out I prefer playing them without anchoring the finger... though haven't yet found the ideal comfortable spot... sure it'll come in time!

10 weeks in... not too much change as I've mainly been going over the same things for the past 2/3 weeks... hopefully just some small improvements with bits & pieces. The polishing of chord changes, technique, strumming, picking, rhythm etc. continues.. onwards & upwards with the G chord next. Thanks for watching!

This one isn't for the squeamish... if you don't like looking at calluses forming you may want to give this one a miss... If you're morbidly curious like I am then you may want to give it a watch... 😂 Short 6-7 minute documentary outlining the 54 days it took for my calluses to develop before settling down.

Well.... I learned the C chord this week. However, with that opening me up to an abundance of new songs I was immediately reminded that I have to work on continuing to polish up not only the chords I've previously learned but also the action of changing between them all - of course, I'm aware certain changes are more commonly used than others so it makes sense to at least prioritise those for now - namely the changes that specifically take place in the songs I'm practicing. So, it took all of 10 seconds into a new song to discover that I'll be putting a ton of work into the changes between Em and D, Em and C, and C and D (just as a main focus - still doing all other standard practice stuff & whatnot) for the next week or two before I reassess. I don't expect to vastly improve these within a matter of weeks but I do want to feel more comfortable with them before introducing yet another chord (.....G!). Thanks for watching!

@Caevan O’Shite Well damn... it seems I didn't pay attention to the tab 🤦‍♂️😂 It was a song thrown in with other Am, Dm & Em minor songs so I just assumed & didn't check hahah... well that puts a big void on the whole video but so far you're the only person to have had the knowledge of that song & clocked it! Thanks for letting me know! At least it's served a purpose & helped me with practice a bit 😂

@Larryz Yeah my lessons have suggested that I learn it this way first using the little finger on the B string. It is pointed out that it's often played with the ring finger but reasoning for learning with my pinky for now is as it starts using that finger early on & is typically easier to reach the fret than it is with the ring finger. Though it does also note that further down the line it'll be useful having the ability to play it both ways depending on the upcoming chord transition in a song... so I am giving practice time to both ways behind the scenes. Same with the A chord we discussed I guess & it's 3 or 4 different popular ways of forming it!

This is after 7 weeks of learning. For the second week in a row I put the main focus on the Am, Dm & Em (I wasn't comfortable enough with them last week to move onto new stuff) so now we have a little run through of the 5 songs I've been practicing once a day to start getting to grips with them. Took me a little while to warm up so there's plenty of mistakes in the first 3 songs in particular but pretty happy with my run through of the last two songs - overall I'm pleased enough after just 7 weeks. Still doing all of my other regular practice of course, playing through these songs is just what I do at the end of my more technical exercises etc. This coming week I look at the C chord for the first time.

Wait... so are you all basically telling me that things only get more & more difficult from here on out...? For crying out loud. Just kidding... I am very aware that the road ahead is mega bumpy 😂

Introduction of the Em, Am & Dm chords. Still have plenty of work to do with these minor chords (particularly the Dm) before I'll be comfortable enough to add the next chord & whatnot.

@Larryz Awesome, cheers Larry - I'll 100% dabble with the alternative formings of the chord behind the scenes so it's not foreign to me later down the line. I'll still mostly use the finger pattern I've first learned so as to not deviate too much from what the lessons I'm following are teaching me but can fully understand how I'll benefit later down the line by introducing alternatives now. Much appreciated! Plenty of fun being had thus far!

@Larryz Thanks for the input Larry, appreciated as always! This was also mentioned to me recently by somebody else so it's something I have started playing around with! I've been taught to finger the A chord this way as a beginner so finger 1 acts as an anchor on the 3rd string between each of the A, D & E chords. I haven't found any problems with it thus far (well, apart from the first couple of weeks learning it) but understand there's merit in also getting to grips with the way you mention as it could be useful when it comes to transitioning to & from other chords (perhaps some more complex ones) in the future.... would that be correct? I am guessing that learning both ways over time would eventually arm me with the ability to choose which way I want to best finger the A based on the next upcoming chord in a song... I guess this could also be the case for a number of other (all?) chords... @KuruPrionz That makes sense & I guess again all comes down to the chord that is to be transitioned to next.... I haven't reached the point of learning the G or C chords yet so unsure as to how I'll be taught (though it's all online lessons thus far so I can easily skip ahead to quickly check), I suspect I'll reach those within the next month or so. Will certainly bear all of this in mind, though! Much appreciated!

A little run through update of the "easy" songs I've been going over (& over & over) to drum these 3 chords into my unmusical brain - Of course, I've still been doing all of my slow daily technical practice (probably up to around 45-60 minutes of total practice per day on average) & often practice these songs at a slower tempo, certainly at first. I also introduced Am & Em chords last week & a couple of new "easy" riff practices to get my fingers working in new ways. As of yesterday I've also introduced the Dm chord, a simplified version of the spider finger exercise to ease me into that & a slightly more difficult strumming pattern to work with (the "old faithful" - missing one downstrum for the first time - D-D-U-x-U-D-U). Of course, with these new minor chords I have a few new practice songs added as well - I have a LOT of different things in my routine now so will see how I get on over the next week & will then look to condense the exercises & songs in the routine so as not to overwhelm myself with a ton of different things every day - maybe split things up into alternating daily exercises &/or pause things I'm more comfortable with & focus more on what I feel needs work. I'll reassess & see. Could be a good few weeks before I'm comfortable enough to progress onto a new chord & such - Will put together a video update of all of this in the next week or two. Thanks for watching!

One month update… I take a look at the progress I’ve made during my first month by comparing clips from day one through to week four. Continued working on D, A & E while also introducing a cheeky upstrum or two to a couple of my practice songs this week.