Stuff
When I first started playing I would hear Justin and others encourage me to play along to the original song / video. I just couldn’t do that so I’d play the song my way. In my head it was close to the original, in reality it was a fair ways off. It was just such fun to be playing old favourites. Now I’m much more able to play along to the original song yet don’t feel compelled to always do that. I’m proud of several of the songs I do that are along the lines of the original song, and also love it when an artist reinvents a cover. One example of that is the Civil wars cover of Billie Jean.
Completely different to the original and yet awesome in it’s own right.
After I’d been playing for a while, I noticed many of my songs sounded too similar. Justin has commented on this in a number of his lessons when he talks about the D D u u D u strumming pattern that’s very common, esp among beginners. So I started looking for songs that forced me to mix up the playing styles I have. At times I’m a bit lazy about this and that doesn’t worry me too much as I’m doing this for fun, not for a career. I’ve got a friend who has an enthusiastic exuberance with his playing that’s quite infectious, yet he seems to have only one strumming pattern and all his songs have that same sing songy feel to them. Hearing that sameness in his songs helped me to recognize the same in my own.
When I started playing, I tried using a metronome from time to time and at first it just didn’t gel with me. Trying to stay in time with it really sucked the fun out of my practice. I’m not suggesting learning new things is only fun and games but there’s a point where it becomes such a chore that I lose motivation and that’s what happened the first time I used a metronome. So I ignored it and tried it again some months later. Same thing. It wasn’t till I tried it a 3rd time, probably a year later, that it finally worked well for me. I had a real fun moment when I experienced the silent metronome effect that Justin talks about where your timing is so aligned with the beat that you don’t hear the metronome.
Along the way, a friend who’s a very experienced musician agreed to do a small set with me at a local open mic. We got together for our first rehearsal and played the first song. I thought it went well and asked him what he thought. He explained to me that I was speeding up through the song and he was trying to pull back my tempo through the whole song. Bummer. The next weekend I pulled out the metronome and played the song to the metronome dozens of times. Next rehearsal with him, we played the song (without a metronome) and when I asked him how it went, he said I’d nailed it. Accordingly, I encourage any / all to become friends with their metronome. I picked up a Boss DRS-01 acoustic drum machine which is more enjoyable than the various metronome apps you can get on your phone.
When I later formed a duo with one of our music club members, when we’d rehearse, the metronome came out when either of us struggled with the tempo of a particular song in our set. I really appreciated his willingness to grab the metronome. In my perspective the metronome tells the truth as to tempo and it’s your choice whether you want to ignore or listen to the truth. I’ve heard tell of others experiences in group rehearsals where people’s egos got hurt when even the suggestion of using a metronome was made. I remember being amused when I asked a musician friend purely out of curiosity if they used a metronome and their response was that they didn’t need to as their tempo is pretty good.
If, when listening to some of the tracks I share here on the forums, you notice my tempo isn’t as good / stable as it should be, using a metronome is a discipline and I’m far more lazy at times than disciplined. I don’t want to give anyone the impression I practice with a metronome all the time. Far from it. Recording songs via a DAW is useful as it’s easy to have the metronome / click track going when you record.
My initial passion was fingerstyle. After a while I started using a plectrum on some songs as there are songs that just cry out to be strummed. Also when jamming with others, it’s nigh on impossible to hear my fingerstyle over the sound of a dozen other strummed guitars. I remember watching a video where Mark Knopfler held up a pick and described it as the best / cheapest amplifier for any guitar. I still predominatly play fingerstyle. My wife often comments that she prefers the mellower / quieter sound of fingerstyle as compare to strumming. As we’ve traveled together on this guitar journey, she saw the immense pleasure I was getting from playing the guitar and decided to learn to play the ukulele. When we’ve played together, the quieter sound of my fingerstyle made it easier for her to play along as she could hear her own uke sounds over the sound of my guitar.
I learned a few fingerstyle patterns, and they were all fairly straight forward, even timed patterns. Then I learned a syncopated travis picking pattern and have had a lot of fun incorporating it into various songs.
So I learned this as a pattern, much as I learned the other finger picking or strumming patterns that I play. Then I’ve come across various lessons on Travis picking and it’s typically taught differently to how I learned it. They start with the thumb and introduce alternating bass notes and only after that’s mastered do they go on to the fingers. This wasn’t how I learned is and it made me wonder if I had the thumb independence that’s fondly talked about.
Several years ago at a post festival jam my wife and I were privileged to have another musician introduce us to what he called his favourite song. Guy Clarke’s The Cape. This song very much reminded us of our youngest son. He never actually jumped off the roof of the garage as described in the song, but the essence of the character in the song reminded us so much of him.
So I decided to learn to play The cape. And our son’s 30th birthday was coming up so my goal was to play it for him at his 30th birthday party. It took me 8 months to learn the song, quite a challenge. Along the way I discovered that I well and truly have that fondly discussed thumb independence. I also started using a thumb pick and now use it for most of my fingerstyle songs. I’d tried using a thumb pick a few times previously and it just didn’t work / gel for me, but with this song it made all the difference.
My version is quite similar to Guy Clarke’s version. One time I played it to someone we know and they commented, that’s not a song, it’s a workout.
When I was able to play it for our son at his 30th birthday party, it was another one of those experiences I described earlier where all the hours, all the frustrations, all the discipline of learning something difficult musically was completely and totally worth it. Such a buzz. Halfway through the performance at his party our 6 month old granddaughter became captivated by my playing as well. It was all I could do to maintain my composure. A moment I’ll remember for a long long time.
My wife has commented to me on numerous occasions how thankful she is for that day I decided to finally pursue the dream of playing guitar. The people we’ve met, the experiences we continue to enjoy, have definitely enriched our lives. For me, it’s become a lifestyle. If, on reading this, it makes you ponder taking it up, I encourage you to go for it. Don’t be concerned about how long it might take you to learn. That time will pass regardless so don’t let how long it might take factor into the decision. For me, the first few months were the biggest challenge, to maintain the motivation doing those early techniques like changing from the A chord to the D chord 60 times in one minute, feeling like your fingers have a mind of their own. For me, once I could play my first (admittedly very simple) song all the way through gave me the reward and motivation to keep at it. For you, it might be learning a simple riff or melody, but you’ll get that spark that tells you that yes, you can do it. After that it’s still a challenge at times, but it’s a fun challenge and you are doing something amazing. Making live music!!!
Some of the things I’m working on…
Blues. I’ve long been a fan of acoustic blues. Yet when I started playing and even after many years of playing, I didn’t have any blues songs in my repertoire. I realized it was partly because I was having such fun with the sing along songs that I play. I’d say about 3/4 of the songs in my repertoire are well known songs that many will sing along to. The remainder are songs that I’ve fallen in love with for one reason or another, typically less known folk songs. One of those is Motherland originally done by Natalie Merchant. The first time I saw Natalie perform this song (NPR Tiny Desk concert) it just grabbed me and I just had to learn it.
I’ve now got several blues songs in my repertoire and will continue to expand on that over time. When I first started playing the blues I kept stuffing up the timing. It was more like I was playing the 11 1/2 bar blues. So out came the trusty metronome and mostly I’m playing 12 bar blues finally. I’ve written a song - “I’ve got the 11 1/2 bar blues” but I can’t seem to play it in 11 1/2 bars now. Ha. On the subject of tempo, a friend of mine learned a song that I play, but in one of the verses, he dropped a beat out of one of the bars. He suggested we play it together and I struggled because his timing was different to mine. He seemed to feel bad about it. I put it to him this way, it doesn’t sound bad at all. When you play it that way, it works so don’t beat yourself up for missing a beat. It’s only when you play it with others that it becomes a challenge.
This leads me to discuss the challenge we all have when we compare our playing to others. DON’T!!! I’d even encourage you to not compare your playing to yourself. It’s a rabbit hole that’s not worth going down. There will always be others that can play far better than yourself, unless somehow I’m lucky enough to have Dave Rawlings or Tommy Emmanuel or Justin Sandercoe reading my ramblings. There are times I hear others play and I’m in awe of what they can do with their guitar. When that happens to you, be in the moment and enjoy their performance. And when you are playing your own guitar, be in the moment and enjoy the moment and realize you are doing something amazing… making live music!!!
Another challenge for me is more complicated strumming patterns. The blues has been useful because it’s taught me the swing beat. 16th note strumming is my current challenge. 8th note strumming is easy enough, but strumming on songs like Wish you were here is currently doing my head in. I’ve got a good exercise I do that incorporates quarter note, 8th note and 16th note strumming into the one exercise. Hopefully I’ll get out of lazy mode on that soon.
Another dream is to be able to play Doc Watson’s version of Deep River Blues. I’ve experimented with it and realize it’s within my grasp. I suspect it will be, for me, a bit like learning The cape, a long term effort.
Songwriting is another dream. I come up with lyrics quite easily, it’s turning them into melodies and complete songs that is my challenge. My suspicion is that I find this difficult for 2 reasons. First is I’m not really putting the effort into doing it, i’m too busy having fun with honing my current repertoire. The other reason is I’m primarily a rhythm player so I don’t focus as much on the melody with my playing. Yet I know with my singing I’m certainly in touch with many melodies. I’ve started Justin’s ear learning course as part of this. I’m not keen to see these comments generate any debate, it’s more of a timestamp of my perspective on where I’m at.
Also in the longer term category is learning to play lead / do improvisation. I’ve bought Justin’s lesson(s) many years back on Music Theory and on Mastering the major scale and have spent countless hours learning scales. And I’ve played a fair bit of improv to backing tracks. My efforts there underwhelm me in how they sound. I do play a lead break on one song in my repertoire and I keep at it and have several that I plan to do in the future. For me, so far, the countless hours spent on scales have been a colossal waste of time. Again, this isn’t meant to generate debate, just my current perspective. And also meant as encouragement to others who struggle with scales. You are not alone.
Music and mood
Like a significant percentage of the population in this day I suffer at times from bouts of depression. Music, specifically playing live music, has been a real benefit for in managing my depressive moods. If I’m having a down day, I can grab my guitar, start playing and singing and within 15 minutes or so I almost always feel noticeably better. It’s not a cure by any means, but certainly is a nice salve. I also noticed that the vibrations of the acoustic guitar against my torso are an important part of the experience. I have a Yamaha Silent guitar which is great for playing when I don’t want the noise to disturb others. Yet I noticed when playing it that for some reason the experience just wasn’t quite as enjoyable and I eventually worked out it’s the lack of vibration that was making the difference.
Dealing with mood is far too complex of a subject to be dealt with here and by a rank amateur like me, it’s definitely in the domain of qualified professionals. So if you suffer, like me, please seek professional help. Medication, exercise, sleep management and professional help are most important. Also pick up your guitar and have a strum and a sing. It certainly can’t hurt things.
Music Theory
I have a chequered past with music theory. When I first attempted to learn and went to beginner lessons with a guitar teacher, they told me I HAD to learn scales and it just didn’t work for me. It sucked all the joy out of learning and was definitely the wrong thing to teach at the wrong time. This was during my first attempt to learn about 30 years ago. When I started again 10 years ago, I avoided any theory like the plague. I was really focused on learning songs and just knowing the chords, the rhythm and the lyrics was all I cared about. As I progressed, I remember attending a Guitar Master Workshop and thoroughly enjoying the experience. During the workshop, the guitar master there would bring up various topics around music theory and such and that’s what triggered me to change my attitude and embrace learning as much theory as I can.
I recall my wife asking me why the change of heart. I explained that at the workshop discussions were happening that centred around music theory and I couldn’t even understand them, much less join in the conversation because I’d been avoiding it. I’ve certainly gained a lot of knowledge that I enjoy and that helps my musical journey now that I’ve embraced theory, I’m certainly no expert in it and there are times when a new theory subject really does my head in. Sigh.
My suggestion is if theory interests you, go for it, if it doesn’t, enjoy the music and have fun without worrying about theory or being pressured to learn it.
Highlight
Several months ago, when this now live community forum was still in its early / beta stages, there was a post about submitting a photo to Justin Guitar and a release form associated with it. I submitted the form and was pleasantly surprised to get a personalised response from one of Justin’s assistants. I responded to that post with a short testimonial about Justin Guitar and the difference it’s made to my guitar journey. I was quite pleasantly shocked to get a response asking if they could use my testimonial as part of their Star student series on social media. Such a buzz for me, here are the links.
Justin Guitar community forum - where this learning log was started
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