Here on February 1st, 2020, I am presenting my first blog post for learning the guitar in EDCI 306A! In this post and all subsequent ones to follow, I will be outlining my progress in the criteria for learning the three songs that I specified in my Musicianship Goals Action Plan.

Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash

Criteria (Indicators of Success)
  • Chord Memorization:

So far, I have memorized the Am, A, Em, G, D, D7, and C chords. I still have yet to memorize G7 for the Alphabet song.

  • Chord Transitions

For “Slow Burn,” I can transition between Am and Em and G nicely. The hardest two transitions for this song are the Am to C and G to D. In “Happy Birthday,” it is difficult to transition between G and D and G and C. I have not learned the transitions for the Alphabet Song yet.

  • Strumming Patterns

In “Slow Burn,” I have memorized the strumming pattern. It is “Down, Down. Down, Up, Down, Down.” I have not figured out the strumming pattern for “Happy Birthday” yet but I will be using this video to do so. For the Alphabet Song, I will be using this youtube tutorial video to learn the strumming pattern.

  • Ability to Sing at the Same Time

I am not able to play and sing just yet although I attempt to sing a very slowed down version of “Slow Burn” while playing the chords. For the other two songs, I am not fully able to sing and play at the same time yet either.

What I Have Learned So Far

Thanks to our classtime instrument session, I learned a lot from my classmates who have previous guitar knowledge and skill. I learned that when a chord sounds wonky, muffled, or weak, even when my fingers are in the correct place, it could be from not pressing down on the strings hard enough. D chord used to never sound right to me but after my classmate Maddy told me to press harder, it has been working beautifully ever since. I really valued our classroom collaboration time and cannot wait to see what else I will learn during the next one. I have been staying on track with my 10 minutes minimum per day, 6 days a week guitar regimen and I can feel my fingers getting stronger and more used to pressing the strings. I also feel my hands becoming accustomed to stretching out and using all of my fingers in different places (something I never really did before). All in all, my guitar practicing has brought me some significant progress since the middle of January leading up to this first blog post and I am excited to see where the rest of the semester takes me!