My guitar and I have a complicated relationship. Sometimes I give it all the attention it needs, sometimes I leave it alone for weeks at a time. Sounds like some relationships at my high school. Speaking of school, since school started, I need something to relax every once in awhile. Don't worry, I'm getting my homework done. But I've come crawling back to my guitar. Fortunately, it accepted me back willingly. My calluses are coming back.
Oh, and I learned how to strum upward. What's that? That's right. An accomplishment. No, it's not a very big one, but I think it's pretty awesome I can play "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz all by myself because of this newly acquired skill. And the song that I wrote a little while ago called "Beautiful Girl" sounds a lot better when I strum upwards. Wait...did I tell you I wrote a song (of course I did. Right here.)? I've written two, but one was for my friend because she needed one to put in her story. She'll probably post it at some point. She's Rugphan's Fiction. The other song I wrote, though, actually has some meaning to how I was feeling at time. I'll have to record it sometime and post it.
But alas, I still know no barre chords. I'm so disappointed because this song called "Rhythm of Love" is an amazing, and it's really easy to play. As long as you can play chord B7. B7 is a barre chord. A relatively easy one, but a barre chord nonetheless. Curse you barre chords!
I don't really share my "accomplishments" to my fellow guitar players at school, because they're way ahead of me. One of them is learning similar songs that I'm learning, and he's encouraging. But when I told him I can strum up now, he laughed as he pictured me simply strumming downward. It's not like he hurt my feelings, but I realized he didn't share my enthusiasm. The other guy already knows guitar really well, but he plays metal. He's shocked whenever I tell him I don't know a band he's really familiar with. We clearly didn't learn guitar for the same reasons. I never want to play metal. I mean, if I have the capability at some point, that's fine. But I'd rather write beautiful music that can warm people's hearts or make them cry. Now that I think about it, he took the "guy" approach to music and I took the "girl" approach. Yes, I know I'm generalizing. You don't have to remind me. I know there are girls who play metal songs, and guys that write songs like "I'm Yours."
Anyway, I'm sticking to sharing my accomplishments with my blog. Because half the people who read this don't play guitar. So I sound like a genius. The same thing happens when I speak Arabic to people. I don't know that much, but I'm better than them, so I'm awesome at it. It's all relative. I'm happy with people being impressed by my writing, Arabic, and niceness. Guitar is optional. I'm already good at other stuff, so this is just for fun. Professionalism is not what I'm aiming for. My future career will hopefully involve computers. See? That will be another thing I want to be good at and can impress people with. Why bother with guitar when I'm good at so many other things? I'm just kidding. If I have kids, I'm writing their lullabies.
On another note, school is going well. I've never laughed so much at school. Sno-Isle is always funny when I'm not stressed. AP Lit always makes me laugh. It's hilarious because my teacher will tell a joke and start laughing. Then we're laughing because of the joke and because of his laugh. His laugh is the best bit. The jokes you wouldn't really get unless you've read Crime and Punishment. So, if you have, you can contact me and I'll let you in on some of my classes jokes. And modern fiction is funny because of the people I sit next to. They make me laugh constantly, even if I don't want to. They're just the kind of people who always make me laugh without trying at all. If I tried to explain those jokes, you wouldn't laugh. Trust me. The jokes we tell are usually only funny for a day. Except for "Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-apple juice!" See, it's funny because the song goes "Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol!" Get it? I told you that you wouldn't laugh.
To conclude, I have my first cold of the year. So yay for that. This is the first cold I've had with glasses. Sinus pressure in your nose + Glasses resting on your nose = not good. My head throbs when I stand up, but whatever. This is probably my cold's worse day. I'm only wearing my glasses at school. There's no real reason to wear them at home. When I think about it, if I take my glasses off for whatever reason at home, I don't usually put them back on. They're a nuisance. It's so much work to pick them up, put them on, all that stuff. What am I, active? Yeah right!
That is all for today. I'm going to back to grabbing tissues, complaining, and listening to my music collection. When I don't listen to my "favorites" playlist, me listening to music usually goes like this.
"Oh! Coldplay!" *listens* "Ok, no more ColdPlay." *skip skip skip skip* "Come on! Where's Basshunter!" *skip skip skip skip skip* "There he is!" *listens* "Ok, no more Basshunter." *skip skip skip skip*
Does anybody else skip a lot of songs when they're listening to music? Or do I have to delete a lot of songs?
So long for now. Stay healthy! Colds are no fun.
Showing posts with label guitar lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guitar lessons. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Guitar Lessons 6: Minimal Progress
I'm still working on making titles interesting.
So, there is yet to be a callus on my index finger from playing my first barre chord. There is another progressive guitar that I talk to sometimes and he said I wasn't pushing hard enough on the strings. I took advice and pushed my thumb into the neck so I would squeeze my finger harder into the strings. And alas, my finger hurt and this weird muscle in my thumb started getting sore. Well if there's one thing I've learned from guitar playing it's if it hurts, you're doing it right.
It's still a work in progress.
But I brought my guitar to school today so I could show my other guitar playing friend how terrible I am. The conclusion we've reached is that he's more of a finger strumming person and I'm more of a chord and pick person. And I can sing. After my hands stopped shaking I started playing "You Belong With Me" for practicing purposes. My friend was getting much more attention because finger strumming sounds way better than regular strumming even if you suck at both. I started getting more comfortable and sang the chorus to the song. It's not like anyone was watching me in particular so it wasn't as nerve racking. Then the person I knew that was sitting next to me turns and says, "I've never heard you sing before!" Then my guitar playing friend says, "I told you she was good."
Little things like that boost my self confidence. At this rate I'll be able to sing in front of small crowds by the age of..what...twenty?
Progress is minimal, but it's still progress.
On another note my eyes itch from allergies and summer started. Woot. Ok, I'm going back to Basshunter now.
So, there is yet to be a callus on my index finger from playing my first barre chord. There is another progressive guitar that I talk to sometimes and he said I wasn't pushing hard enough on the strings. I took advice and pushed my thumb into the neck so I would squeeze my finger harder into the strings. And alas, my finger hurt and this weird muscle in my thumb started getting sore. Well if there's one thing I've learned from guitar playing it's if it hurts, you're doing it right.
It's still a work in progress.
But I brought my guitar to school today so I could show my other guitar playing friend how terrible I am. The conclusion we've reached is that he's more of a finger strumming person and I'm more of a chord and pick person. And I can sing. After my hands stopped shaking I started playing "You Belong With Me" for practicing purposes. My friend was getting much more attention because finger strumming sounds way better than regular strumming even if you suck at both. I started getting more comfortable and sang the chorus to the song. It's not like anyone was watching me in particular so it wasn't as nerve racking. Then the person I knew that was sitting next to me turns and says, "I've never heard you sing before!" Then my guitar playing friend says, "I told you she was good."
Little things like that boost my self confidence. At this rate I'll be able to sing in front of small crowds by the age of..what...twenty?
Progress is minimal, but it's still progress.
On another note my eyes itch from allergies and summer started. Woot. Ok, I'm going back to Basshunter now.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Guitar Lessons 5: Burst of Inspiration?
So, I'm not really sure if this happens to all great artists or just the weird ones, but when I was playing my guitar a line of a song popped in my head. An original line. It came out of nowhere, it just hit me.
I've always been the type of person who would stare at a blank sheet of paper until I would get too frustrated to think. I wanted to write a song, but all I could come up with is a poem. Poems are nice and all that, but only a few can actually be turned into songs.
So anyway, I started forming this song in my head. It was actually a pretty common theme. It was about a girl (spoken of in third person) who was never told she was beautiful, so she feels worthless. This person isn't supposed to be me, but I get mad at the fact that the media has screwed everyone up. Lots of girls and guys alike feel worthless. I hate that. So this is a subject that has been on my mind a long time.
The lines to the song came really easy to me. Which was exciting, but also kind of freaked me out. I mean, would I feel the same about this song in twenty-four hours? I've also been the type of person to write songs in a couple hours and then hate it the next day. So when the lines just started flowing (and rhyming), all I could think was, "Is this going to sound really stupid tomorrow?" However, I wrote everything down anyway, tweaked it a little, and added simple chords to make a tune. Then I went to sleep.
The next morning I woke up and immediately looked at these lyrics I wrote down in a frenzy. Surprisingly, they still looked decent. I redid the tune of the bridge (which I still think sounds...off) and played through it a couple of times. The song didn't sound terrible. It wasn't the best song because I can barely play guitar, but it was better than other songs I wrote as a twelve/thirteen year old (don't ask...those are terrible). I kept playing through it, making minor changes until I was totally happy with it, for the most part.
So then at school on Monday, these lyrics were still circling my brain because I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell people or not. I'm not sure why, it's not like it was a secret. But not all reactions I would get would really motivate me to have them listen to it. So I kept quiet until sixth period. Then I just told this friend of mine randomly that I wrote a song in ten minutes. He asked what it was about, so I told him. He knows my style of writing, so he said, "Why does everything you write have to be so depressing?" For some reason, I laughed, and talked with him about how girls felt worthless even though they shouldn't be. He totally agreed with me, and talking with him made fury toward that attitude of girls rise again. Then I wanted to record it.
So I did.
It took me a good fifteen tries before I got it right. Twice I dropped the pick. That was embarrassing. And the final recording is in two parts because I ad to redo the ending and I did not want to start over. Again.
Anywho, I emailed the sound file to myself and am going to show it to a girl in my Sno-Isle class who also plays guitar and complimented me on my voice when I had her listen to my Jar of Hearts cover. For the record, I didn't tell her I was singing before she listened to it, so I'm assuming the compliment was genuine.
I wish I could post sound files on here, but alas! I cannot. So to all five of you who read this thing, I'll have to force you to listen to my sucky guitar playing individually. Wait...I think I just proved the theme of the song I just wrote. Well, what do you expect?
This is me we're talking about.
I've always been the type of person who would stare at a blank sheet of paper until I would get too frustrated to think. I wanted to write a song, but all I could come up with is a poem. Poems are nice and all that, but only a few can actually be turned into songs.
So anyway, I started forming this song in my head. It was actually a pretty common theme. It was about a girl (spoken of in third person) who was never told she was beautiful, so she feels worthless. This person isn't supposed to be me, but I get mad at the fact that the media has screwed everyone up. Lots of girls and guys alike feel worthless. I hate that. So this is a subject that has been on my mind a long time.
The lines to the song came really easy to me. Which was exciting, but also kind of freaked me out. I mean, would I feel the same about this song in twenty-four hours? I've also been the type of person to write songs in a couple hours and then hate it the next day. So when the lines just started flowing (and rhyming), all I could think was, "Is this going to sound really stupid tomorrow?" However, I wrote everything down anyway, tweaked it a little, and added simple chords to make a tune. Then I went to sleep.
The next morning I woke up and immediately looked at these lyrics I wrote down in a frenzy. Surprisingly, they still looked decent. I redid the tune of the bridge (which I still think sounds...off) and played through it a couple of times. The song didn't sound terrible. It wasn't the best song because I can barely play guitar, but it was better than other songs I wrote as a twelve/thirteen year old (don't ask...those are terrible). I kept playing through it, making minor changes until I was totally happy with it, for the most part.
So then at school on Monday, these lyrics were still circling my brain because I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell people or not. I'm not sure why, it's not like it was a secret. But not all reactions I would get would really motivate me to have them listen to it. So I kept quiet until sixth period. Then I just told this friend of mine randomly that I wrote a song in ten minutes. He asked what it was about, so I told him. He knows my style of writing, so he said, "Why does everything you write have to be so depressing?" For some reason, I laughed, and talked with him about how girls felt worthless even though they shouldn't be. He totally agreed with me, and talking with him made fury toward that attitude of girls rise again. Then I wanted to record it.
So I did.
It took me a good fifteen tries before I got it right. Twice I dropped the pick. That was embarrassing. And the final recording is in two parts because I ad to redo the ending and I did not want to start over. Again.
Anywho, I emailed the sound file to myself and am going to show it to a girl in my Sno-Isle class who also plays guitar and complimented me on my voice when I had her listen to my Jar of Hearts cover. For the record, I didn't tell her I was singing before she listened to it, so I'm assuming the compliment was genuine.
I wish I could post sound files on here, but alas! I cannot. So to all five of you who read this thing, I'll have to force you to listen to my sucky guitar playing individually. Wait...I think I just proved the theme of the song I just wrote. Well, what do you expect?
This is me we're talking about.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Guitar Lessons 4: A Change of Tactics
Oh hi, didn't see you there. Wondering where I've been? No, didn't think so, considering that only five people read this thing, and half those people are my parents. Apparently, I have some weird half-parent that makes up the .5 in my 2.5 parents. (See...because half of 5 isn't a whole number and...yeah....) Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, no one reads my blog.
Despite that being the case, I would say I've been making progress in this hobby I call "guitar playing." I do have a callus on my pinky, so that's one goal done.
Also, the G chord is a breeze now. I'm not perfect at it, but at least I'm as mediocre playing the G chord as I am playing all the other chords. So another goal is checked off.
And, the Ring of Fire? I'm..OK at it.... Actually my "Songs I Can Kind of Play" list has changed. These songs include and are limited to:
Songs I've been working on:
Oh yeah, barre chords. They're difficult. I now question my right to call the G chord difficult now that I'm attempting the F chord. It's almost humorous. Haha. Yeah, so humorous. Tell that to my fingertips that still turn purple when I'm on the guitar for more than ten minutes.
Goals for next blog post? Um..how about:
I really need to get out more.
That's all I have to say. Peace out.
EDIT (3/29/11): OK, the song "Hallelujah" had too many F chords so I have switched to playing "Jar of Hearts" which has five or so F sharp chords, which is the same as F chords, only a fret higher. I'm progressing at it. Also, I've been playing the G chord with the wrong fingers this whole time. That wouldn't be a big deal except in "Jar of Hearts" the transition from G to G minor would be way easier if I was using the right fingers to play. So I'm working on that now too.
**Hey, have you ever noticed how the word "applause" looks really similar to the word "applesauce?" I confused the two words once and now every time I'm reading and I come to the work "applause" I think "applesauce." Anyway, what was I saying?
Despite that being the case, I would say I've been making progress in this hobby I call "guitar playing." I do have a callus on my pinky, so that's one goal done.
Also, the G chord is a breeze now. I'm not perfect at it, but at least I'm as mediocre playing the G chord as I am playing all the other chords. So another goal is checked off.
And, the Ring of Fire? I'm..OK at it.... Actually my "Songs I Can Kind of Play" list has changed. These songs include and are limited to:
- You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift
- Mad World by Gary Jules
- You Can Do Better Than Me by Death Cab for Cutie
- Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric
- Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash (it's last for a reason)
Songs I've been working on:
- Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright
- I Don't Believe You by P!nk (again, last for a reason)
Oh yeah, barre chords. They're difficult. I now question my right to call the G chord difficult now that I'm attempting the F chord. It's almost humorous. Haha. Yeah, so humorous. Tell that to my fingertips that still turn purple when I'm on the guitar for more than ten minutes.
Goals for next blog post? Um..how about:
- Don't sound so terrible when playing F chord
- Oh, and progress on those songs will be good too...
I really need to get out more.
That's all I have to say. Peace out.
EDIT (3/29/11): OK, the song "Hallelujah" had too many F chords so I have switched to playing "Jar of Hearts" which has five or so F sharp chords, which is the same as F chords, only a fret higher. I'm progressing at it. Also, I've been playing the G chord with the wrong fingers this whole time. That wouldn't be a big deal except in "Jar of Hearts" the transition from G to G minor would be way easier if I was using the right fingers to play. So I'm working on that now too.
**Hey, have you ever noticed how the word "applause" looks really similar to the word "applesauce?" I confused the two words once and now every time I'm reading and I come to the work "applause" I think "applesauce." Anyway, what was I saying?
Friday, December 31, 2010
Guitar Lessons 3: A-chord-ing to My Records...
...I am very bad at making puns.
I started becoming less motivated recently, which caused my complete calluses on my middle and ring fingers to start peeling. So I figured I'd try it again. Eventually. Then my dad bought me some books on guitar playing, including one of just chords. I was already trying to play Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" but it was somewhat a hassle because I could only search how to play the chords via YouTube. Now there's a book I can look at. Books FTW!
However, I am finding that transitioning from a G to a C multiple times throughout the song is quite difficult. First off, the G chord is a hard chord in general. You have to keep your ring finger on the sixth string and your pinky on the first on the same fret. If I do play it semi-right, my pinky finger gets sore fast. I'm hoping it also develops a callus soon.
I am finally getting the rhythm of the song down. While that may be true, transitioning is vital when you want the song to sound well like the song you're trying to cover.
Also, after I get this Ring of Fire down, I can start playing several other songs too. Did you know a lot of songs use pretty much the same chords? I know, right? Who knew? So after Ring of Fire comes Mad World. Mad World's difficulty I think will come in strumming, since it is originally a piano song. The chords are simple, and most I know already, but I think the strumming won't just be all six strings at one. I'll probably have to fiddle with it to get it right. That, or look up covers on YouTube to see how their rhythm is. I'll probably do that latter.
In other news, I can pretty much play Whole Wide World without pausing now. I'm not sure how good it sounds, but it's better than when I first started. That's all that matters, right?
Goals for Next Blog Post:
I started becoming less motivated recently, which caused my complete calluses on my middle and ring fingers to start peeling. So I figured I'd try it again. Eventually. Then my dad bought me some books on guitar playing, including one of just chords. I was already trying to play Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" but it was somewhat a hassle because I could only search how to play the chords via YouTube. Now there's a book I can look at. Books FTW!
However, I am finding that transitioning from a G to a C multiple times throughout the song is quite difficult. First off, the G chord is a hard chord in general. You have to keep your ring finger on the sixth string and your pinky on the first on the same fret. If I do play it semi-right, my pinky finger gets sore fast. I'm hoping it also develops a callus soon.
I am finally getting the rhythm of the song down. While that may be true, transitioning is vital when you want the song to sound well like the song you're trying to cover.
Also, after I get this Ring of Fire down, I can start playing several other songs too. Did you know a lot of songs use pretty much the same chords? I know, right? Who knew? So after Ring of Fire comes Mad World. Mad World's difficulty I think will come in strumming, since it is originally a piano song. The chords are simple, and most I know already, but I think the strumming won't just be all six strings at one. I'll probably have to fiddle with it to get it right. That, or look up covers on YouTube to see how their rhythm is. I'll probably do that latter.
In other news, I can pretty much play Whole Wide World without pausing now. I'm not sure how good it sounds, but it's better than when I first started. That's all that matters, right?
Goals for Next Blog Post:
- Getting a callus on my pinky finger
- Progressing at Ring of Fire
- Playing the G Chord better
Monday, December 13, 2010
Guitar Lessons 2: Doctor, I Can't Feel My Fingers!
Well, two of them. Yes, day four is upon us and I am happy to announce I have an official callus forming on my middle fingertip. The ring fingertip's getting there, don't worry. I realized today while practicing that when I notice "fret buzz" (which is when the guitar string buzzes from not being pushed hard enough) I tend to push my middle finger down harder. Then when I played each string individually, I noticed it was the ring finger I wasn't pushing down hard enough, explaining the smaller callus.
Because of these calluses, I am also proud to announce that I can transition from the E chord to the A chord without it hurting as much. It still hurts occasionally when I hit the wrong spot, but it's certainly an improvement.
Speaking of transitions, I was also able to successfully transition today. Yesterday, I had to pause almost every switch to the A chord. Now I can do it more successfully. Certainly not perfect, but it is progression. Mostly today I tried to get through the song without pausing, ignoring any mistakes I will make. And while I can go from E to A easier now, I still need to pause more frequently when going from A to E. Not sure why. But sometimes when I did so, I hit the wrong spot on my fingertip so it hurt.
I tried to focus more on singing today as well. I have noticed this: Guitars hide voices well. Too well. I'm worried that when I get the nerve to sing in front of people I won't be able to hear my voice well enough to know if I'm singing on-key. I guess that's what microphones are for.
Oh yeah, about Open Mic. I'm having second thoughts. See, I have this thing where I'm really really excited to do something until about two minutes before I do it, then I chicken out, but do it anyway. And then when I do, I'm incredibly nervous and don't do as well as I could. My dad reminded me of this yesterday. Then I talked to my friend this morning who is also learning to play the guitar (about four months ahead of me) and he said singing and playing is way harder than it looks and I shouldn't do it.
Now, even though the whole reason I'm doing this is for Open Mic, I might not do it. I probably won't do it. I'm not going to do it. Not unless I can find someone to play the guitar onstage with me. Or maybe a group of five friends just stand behind me. Would that look weird? Yes. Ok, I'm not doing it.
I love speaking in front of people, though it does make me nervous. But when my voice gets shaky, I just cover it up by cracking more jokes, making my audience laugh which calms me down. If my audience doesn't laugh, or if I'm not playing a character (not in a play or anything really, but if I'm pretending to sell something or something like that) I do get really nervous. But I've never broken down or anything. And I do love presenting to people. Maybe I just love talking.
Anyway though, I'm not going to stop playing the guitar. I'm interested to see where it takes me. I'll probably do it for six months or a year or so, and see where I'm at. If I like it. It's better since so many people play the guitar, I can talk about it with a lot of different people at school and Sno-Isle.
Maybe next time I post I'll be able to play the song without pausing at all. Maybe.
Because of these calluses, I am also proud to announce that I can transition from the E chord to the A chord without it hurting as much. It still hurts occasionally when I hit the wrong spot, but it's certainly an improvement.
Speaking of transitions, I was also able to successfully transition today. Yesterday, I had to pause almost every switch to the A chord. Now I can do it more successfully. Certainly not perfect, but it is progression. Mostly today I tried to get through the song without pausing, ignoring any mistakes I will make. And while I can go from E to A easier now, I still need to pause more frequently when going from A to E. Not sure why. But sometimes when I did so, I hit the wrong spot on my fingertip so it hurt.
I tried to focus more on singing today as well. I have noticed this: Guitars hide voices well. Too well. I'm worried that when I get the nerve to sing in front of people I won't be able to hear my voice well enough to know if I'm singing on-key. I guess that's what microphones are for.
Oh yeah, about Open Mic. I'm having second thoughts. See, I have this thing where I'm really really excited to do something until about two minutes before I do it, then I chicken out, but do it anyway. And then when I do, I'm incredibly nervous and don't do as well as I could. My dad reminded me of this yesterday. Then I talked to my friend this morning who is also learning to play the guitar (about four months ahead of me) and he said singing and playing is way harder than it looks and I shouldn't do it.
Now, even though the whole reason I'm doing this is for Open Mic, I might not do it. I probably won't do it. I'm not going to do it. Not unless I can find someone to play the guitar onstage with me. Or maybe a group of five friends just stand behind me. Would that look weird? Yes. Ok, I'm not doing it.
I love speaking in front of people, though it does make me nervous. But when my voice gets shaky, I just cover it up by cracking more jokes, making my audience laugh which calms me down. If my audience doesn't laugh, or if I'm not playing a character (not in a play or anything really, but if I'm pretending to sell something or something like that) I do get really nervous. But I've never broken down or anything. And I do love presenting to people. Maybe I just love talking.
Anyway though, I'm not going to stop playing the guitar. I'm interested to see where it takes me. I'll probably do it for six months or a year or so, and see where I'm at. If I like it. It's better since so many people play the guitar, I can talk about it with a lot of different people at school and Sno-Isle.
Maybe next time I post I'll be able to play the song without pausing at all. Maybe.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Guitar Lessons 1: Let Us Make Beautiful Music Together!
By "us" I mean, me. By "beautiful" I mean mediocre. And by "together" I mean you get to watch me stumble through one song over and over again. Sound fun? All right.
So apparently school is starting this new thing called "Open Mic" in which students sign up for it, get up on this stage thingy in the cafeteria during lunch and pretty much do whatever. Because of Sno-Isle, I don't get to hear the morning bulletin, so I had no idea this was happening last Friday (when it was last Friday). After hearing a couple people play guitar, watching two students "rap", and listening to one kid reciting part of The Odyssey, a friend of mine was very excited and wanted to be in the next Open Mic.
I volunteered to sing with her, because I have zero self-confidence in my singing voice, and singing with someone that was playing the guitar would certainly be better than just me by myself....right? We were thinking of what songs to do, when lunch ended. This is when friend number 2 let me in on some news, friend number 1 couldn't sing very well. Now, I've never heard her sing, and I'm sure she's not terrible. But when friend number 2 told me this, I started thinking.
I told my dilemma to friend number 3 in history class, who promptly told me he could play this song I knew on the ukulele. This got me all excited, and I was thinking of doing that instead of doing a duet with friend number 1. Or I could possibly do both. Friend number 3 told me he couldn't play that song very well, and we started discussing other songs we could do while walking to our next classes. He said that if we could find a song he could play and I could sing, he'd do it. Then we departed.
When evening rolled around I told my dad this whole story (or at least the last part) and he told me I could easily play a song on the guitar on my own. I was skeptical, then he told me about the song "Whole Wide World" which was literally two chords. E and A. So I said ok, and here we are.
Currently, I'm at day three of guitar playing and I can't really feel the tips of my ring and middle finger. Hopefully they become calluses soon. I try to practice for an hour, but yesterday I could only do half an hour because my fingers hurt too much. I'm still working on transitioning from E to A. The pick keeps slipping out of my hand too. But, I mean, come on, it's only day three.
But hey, the next Open Mic is January 6. I have 3 1/2 weeks and during that time I have winter break. I'm sure I'll progress.
And since this whole guitar playing this is different from the "funny-things-I-notice-in-life" part of my blog, I'm making it a separate string of blog posts. By this I mean if "Guitar Lessons" is put in front of the title, then it's about me playing guitar. Get it? No? Your loss then, buddy.
Anyway, I'm going to go practice a little more for today. Maybe next time I'll have calluses and won't feel the guitar strings much. At least, for the E and A chord.
So apparently school is starting this new thing called "Open Mic" in which students sign up for it, get up on this stage thingy in the cafeteria during lunch and pretty much do whatever. Because of Sno-Isle, I don't get to hear the morning bulletin, so I had no idea this was happening last Friday (when it was last Friday). After hearing a couple people play guitar, watching two students "rap", and listening to one kid reciting part of The Odyssey, a friend of mine was very excited and wanted to be in the next Open Mic.
I volunteered to sing with her, because I have zero self-confidence in my singing voice, and singing with someone that was playing the guitar would certainly be better than just me by myself....right? We were thinking of what songs to do, when lunch ended. This is when friend number 2 let me in on some news, friend number 1 couldn't sing very well. Now, I've never heard her sing, and I'm sure she's not terrible. But when friend number 2 told me this, I started thinking.
I told my dilemma to friend number 3 in history class, who promptly told me he could play this song I knew on the ukulele. This got me all excited, and I was thinking of doing that instead of doing a duet with friend number 1. Or I could possibly do both. Friend number 3 told me he couldn't play that song very well, and we started discussing other songs we could do while walking to our next classes. He said that if we could find a song he could play and I could sing, he'd do it. Then we departed.
When evening rolled around I told my dad this whole story (or at least the last part) and he told me I could easily play a song on the guitar on my own. I was skeptical, then he told me about the song "Whole Wide World" which was literally two chords. E and A. So I said ok, and here we are.
Currently, I'm at day three of guitar playing and I can't really feel the tips of my ring and middle finger. Hopefully they become calluses soon. I try to practice for an hour, but yesterday I could only do half an hour because my fingers hurt too much. I'm still working on transitioning from E to A. The pick keeps slipping out of my hand too. But, I mean, come on, it's only day three.
But hey, the next Open Mic is January 6. I have 3 1/2 weeks and during that time I have winter break. I'm sure I'll progress.
And since this whole guitar playing this is different from the "funny-things-I-notice-in-life" part of my blog, I'm making it a separate string of blog posts. By this I mean if "Guitar Lessons" is put in front of the title, then it's about me playing guitar. Get it? No? Your loss then, buddy.
Anyway, I'm going to go practice a little more for today. Maybe next time I'll have calluses and won't feel the guitar strings much. At least, for the E and A chord.
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