This is my first attempt at playing Hey Joe. I continue to struggle with my chord changes between C & G, but they’re slowly getting better. I apologize for the foot tapping in the background. I need to invest in a small metronome to keep me on the beat. I also think it’d be a good idea to start playing along with the recording. Here’s the recording, just in case someone is not familiar with the tune.
I took my second French class last week. This is my reflection on the class and a few of the key points we covered. My pronunciation practice is at the bottom. Please let me know how I’m doing! This was straight forward. I just need to remember the linking with j’habite and vous habitez. Once we started looking at the full conjugation, it got a little trickier. Basically, I just need to remember that vous and the plurals (nous, ils, and elles) all link with a z sound. Also, the endings all sound the same except for the nous…
This video captures where I am with my guitar studies this week. I’ve struggled with chords C & G for months. Honestly, I got so frustrated that I put the guitar down for about a month, and I have only recently started drilling myself again. I need to speed up these changes before I feel confident enough to start learning more chords. I’m making progress, but it’s slow.
I took my first French class! I want to use this blog to reflect on the experience of being a language teacher in a foreign language class. I’m hoping it will deepen my learning and lead to more empathy for my ESL students. At the end of each post, I will upload an audio file where I practice my French pronunciation. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how I’m doing! We started the class by sitting around a long table and learning how to introduce ourselves. The teacher modeled the correct pronunciation, and we went around…
I took a vacation a couple of weeks ago, so I haven’t been practicing as much as I would like to be. That said, my changes between these minor chords (Am, Dm, & Em) is slowly speeding up. I feel more confident with Am & Em, and I’m beginning to get the feel for Dm. Like always, if anyone watching this has any tips, tricks, suggestions, or feedback of any kind, I’m all ears. Thanks!
I’m finally beginning to learn more chords! This past week, I started practicing Am, Dm, & Em. Little by little it’s coming together. The fingering on these minor chords is much easier to get after initially learning A, D, & E. The only chord that’s a little tricky is Dm because it’s a new finger formation to learn, but I’m slowly getting it. As I watch this video, I have no idea why I keep looking back at my strumming hand. I guess I’m focusing on strumming more evenly, but I wish my focus was on the chord formations. Hopefully, over…
I’m teaching myself how to play the guitar, and I’m trying to learn a few simple songs. I’ve been practicing the chord changes for the Buffalo Springfield’s song For What It’s Worth this past week. Here, I’m really just focusing on the changes & the rhythm instead of trying to play the whole song. When I watch this, I can tell that I’m focusing on strumming the chords more evenly than last week’s Take 1. I still have a long way to go, but every week I hope I’ll get a little bit better. Please leave a comment if you have…
I’m teaching myself how to play the guitar. I only know three chords, and I’ve been practicing my chord changes and trying to play simple songs. This is my first attempt at playing For What It’s Worth by the Buffalo Springfield. I only tackled part of the song and left much of it out. Feel free to watch and laugh. As I watch this, I realize that I need to practice strumming evenly across the strings, and keeping time with my right hand. Rhythm has never been a strong point for me, so I’ll try in the future with a…
I’m teaching myself to play the guitar. I’m learning how to play Three Little Birds by Bob Marley because it’s supposed to be a great 3 chord song for beginners. This is my second take on the song. This time, I didn’t use a metronome, and I realize that I need a lot more practice setting a steady rhythm with my right hand. I’m posting this (embarrassing) video because I want to document my learning process and track my progress over time. Hopefully, I will see slow improvement and will one day look back and laugh. If you have any…
I’m learning the guitar, and this is my first attempt at playing a song. The following is my first take on Bob Marley’s famous song Three Little Birds. I’ve been told that Three Little Birds a great song for beginners because it’s only three chords and the strumming pattern is fairly straight forward. As you can see, I have a long way to go. I need to continue working on my right-hand rhythm while changing chords with my left. It feels like I’m trying to pat my head and rub my belly at the same time, but I’m gonna keep at…