Learning Log I read the Intro 2 Music Theory 4 Guitar. It took a lot of concentration to understand. As I went along, I played the notes, etc. to understand what the reading was referring to. Notes: C: CDEFGABC (natural tones) WWHWWWH (whole step between all natural notes except E-F and B-C, half steps) Accidentals: sharp ("#" half a step higher than a natural note), flat ("b" half a step lower) C# is also Db the note between C and D. There are no notes between E and F, so E# is F and Fb is E. This is a scale of twelve half-steps: C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C H H H H H H H H H H H H You can begin the scale with any note, and end it with the same note. This is the guitar neck, and the notes that can be played on it. (Fingerboard diagram) I learned about intervals and played along with the notes using the finger board diagram. I found music theory a little hard to grasp once it got to building chords. Notes: Interval: the distance in half steps between two notes. Can be ascending or descending. From every note there are many intervals, named by numbers and also by whether they are perfect, major, minor, augmented or diminished. Chords are three different notes sounded at once. They are named for the intervals they contain. Power chords (technically not chords) two notes, perfect fifth interval. I found a CD-rom in my house called Guitar Reality: Virtual Instructor. It contains 20 lessons. It begins with open chords. I have learned most of these before, but can’t do them well. I went ahead and looked at the rest of the lessons, which contain video. The first three lessons are five chords each and teach progressions which you play to a recorded beat. I tried playing the ones I knew to a recorded beat, and it was very challenging to keep time. The lift and place method, in which you place fingers down first one finger at a time then build until you can do all at once is just what I needed to learn to switch smoothly. I have started putting down two fingers in some of the chord formations. (Insert chord diagrams and progressions) I have not been practicing every day like the program recommends. It is so tedious to practice it for every chord. I have started trying all fingers at once. I also played the progressions. I don’t always keep perfect rhythm tapping my foot, though. I tried using the picking (arpeggio) that I learned two years ago on the chord progressions I know now. I find these pretty easy. I come back to things I have learned, like chords, but I have been doing some scales lately. I learned the chromatic: (insert here) It doesn’t sound nice, but it’s good finger practice. I also tried out the A (which I had tried two years ago) and D major scales. I have to do it slow and mess up a lot. I visited a site that taught tab. I already knew how to read it mostly, but there are some things like hammer-ons, pull-offs and bends that had symbols. I practiced these a little bit using the riff tabs they provided. (Put tab for the riffs) I surfed the web and found a site about effective practice. It advises that you practice everything exactly how you want to be able to do it. You have to be careful to keep tension out of your playing. You may have to start slow at first, but you build up. It’s sort of common sense, but I have to try to live by it every time I practice. The site has a playing exercise: (show the quick fingers thing) These are fun, but my fingers hurt after a little bit because it’s the same movement. I definitely had to overcome tension. I have just been practicing everything I have learned so far. It surprises me how even when I get frustrated, I keep going back. This one time I practiced for a few minutes (I think it was scales) then had to put down the guitar and shake my head, but I kept doing this over and over and it actually helped! I visited a tab site and tried out several different songs, including lots by Nirvana. There is one little riff in a song they covered that includes a bend. I tried it and it sounded perfect the first time! That was just luck. I had to practice it a bit to get it right again. (Include tab) I looked up tab for Bob Dylan songs. I found that they are mostly just open chords. They don’t give the strum patterns I tried out "The Times they are A-Changin’" and several others. (include some tab, the times, ) I tried out some strumming patterns using the chords I know and the progressions, but I messed up a lot. I couldn’t be coordinated enough to do the transitions along with the complicated strumming.
