Guitar
Watch me learn the guitar!
2009.12.15 09:07 PM
Good evening,
Now, you’re probably thinking “Why on Earth would I want to watch you learn the guitar?” — and that’s certainly a great question! I’m not sure why you would want to watch me learn the guitar either, but that’s okay. I’m not doing this for you; I’m doing this for me.
Hmmm... thinking about that last line, you may *still* be getting the wrong idea. I am certainly not one to think that everything I do is interesting to everybody else, and I’m not doing it because I want my 15 minutes of fame on the Internet. No, I’m doing it for the same reason that I am posting my workout goals and progress.
You see, for many years I had been working out off and on, mostly off. When I started posting it on my blog December 31, 2008, though, I all of a sudden became accountable to somebody other than myself. It’s much easier to give up on something when you’re the only one who knows about it. Well, 2009 was the best year I’ve ever had in terms of workout consistency. I’m hoping to have the same effect on my guitar playing.
I really want to learn to play, I just often don’t think to take the time to sit down and practice. It’s also much harder because I am teaching myself with video instruction. If I had a real instructor, then I’d have somebody checking on me and making sure that I’m practicing. Well, now I have you to do that for me, and the best part is you guys are free!
I’ve just started studying using the lessons included in Garage Band ’09, included with iLife ’09 on my new MacBook Pro. The lessons look quite good for a beginner, and it’s nice because Garage Band has a backing band. At the end of the lesson, you get to play along with the instructor. You can also turn on or off individual tracks, like the instructor’s voice, his guitar, or the backing band. What I can do for these videos is have only the backing track play, and then I play along with it. This will help me to keep a tempo as well as make it more interesting than just banging out chords all by myself.
Also, in cutting this first video, I saw that recording myself and then watching it again is a fantastic way to see where I can improve. Boy, is there an awful lot of room for improvement! I always thought that I could keep a decent rhythm. When I was in band class in high school, I certainly could. Apparently, it’s gotten much worse in the 13 years since band class. I also have issues with consistent volume. I think it’s because I feel myself getting rather self conscious. I also don’t want to be too loud because I’m a very quiet person in general, so playing at a clear solid volume feels uncomfortable.
I never would have picked up on these growth points without watching myself play - this is fantastic!
There are nine Garage Band lessons:
After that, we’ll see how far I’ve progressed, and where I should go next. I don’t have a schedule defined yet, nor do I have goals of where I want to be at a given point in time. That was also key in my workout plan, and so I should make firm goals here too. For the time being, though, I’ll aim to complete and be comfortable with one lesson per week. At the end of the week, I’ll take a video of myself and post it here again.
Now, you’re probably thinking “Why on Earth would I want to watch you learn the guitar?” — and that’s certainly a great question! I’m not sure why you would want to watch me learn the guitar either, but that’s okay. I’m not doing this for you; I’m doing this for me.
Hmmm... thinking about that last line, you may *still* be getting the wrong idea. I am certainly not one to think that everything I do is interesting to everybody else, and I’m not doing it because I want my 15 minutes of fame on the Internet. No, I’m doing it for the same reason that I am posting my workout goals and progress.
You see, for many years I had been working out off and on, mostly off. When I started posting it on my blog December 31, 2008, though, I all of a sudden became accountable to somebody other than myself. It’s much easier to give up on something when you’re the only one who knows about it. Well, 2009 was the best year I’ve ever had in terms of workout consistency. I’m hoping to have the same effect on my guitar playing.
I really want to learn to play, I just often don’t think to take the time to sit down and practice. It’s also much harder because I am teaching myself with video instruction. If I had a real instructor, then I’d have somebody checking on me and making sure that I’m practicing. Well, now I have you to do that for me, and the best part is you guys are free!
I’ve just started studying using the lessons included in Garage Band ’09, included with iLife ’09 on my new MacBook Pro. The lessons look quite good for a beginner, and it’s nice because Garage Band has a backing band. At the end of the lesson, you get to play along with the instructor. You can also turn on or off individual tracks, like the instructor’s voice, his guitar, or the backing band. What I can do for these videos is have only the backing track play, and then I play along with it. This will help me to keep a tempo as well as make it more interesting than just banging out chords all by myself.
Also, in cutting this first video, I saw that recording myself and then watching it again is a fantastic way to see where I can improve. Boy, is there an awful lot of room for improvement! I always thought that I could keep a decent rhythm. When I was in band class in high school, I certainly could. Apparently, it’s gotten much worse in the 13 years since band class. I also have issues with consistent volume. I think it’s because I feel myself getting rather self conscious. I also don’t want to be too loud because I’m a very quiet person in general, so playing at a clear solid volume feels uncomfortable.
I never would have picked up on these growth points without watching myself play - this is fantastic!
There are nine Garage Band lessons:
- Intro to Guitar (and E chord)
- Chords: G, C
- Chords: A, D
- Minor Chords
- Single Note Melodies
- Power Chords
- Major Barre Chords
- Minor Barre Chords
- Blues Lead
After that, we’ll see how far I’ve progressed, and where I should go next. I don’t have a schedule defined yet, nor do I have goals of where I want to be at a given point in time. That was also key in my workout plan, and so I should make firm goals here too. For the time being, though, I’ll aim to complete and be comfortable with one lesson per week. At the end of the week, I’ll take a video of myself and post it here again.