Rock & Roll 101

February 23rd, 2021

We went over the blues scale and focused on that for most of the lesson, using different blues backing tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bDXFieSkdI

We returned to the HIP, and worked on New Orleans is Sinking

February 16th, 2021

Fraser decided to learn a Tragically Hip song, called New Orleans is Sinking. We learned the basic E minor and G pattern for the whole song, and then talked about the blues scale, which can be used to noodle the leads throughout the song.

December 22nd, 2020

We worked on Iron Man some more today, and added the next part - I guess that's the verse.

We will be going into lock down, so lessons will be back online, or postponed until this is over. If you're fine with online, I am too... we can try to do the same time as we're doing now.

December 8th, 2020

We reviewed Seven Nation Army, and then added Iron Man by Black Sabbath.

In the process of going through the intro, Fraser didn't remember an E minor chord, which is the first chord we learn... i may be an indication that he's forgetting about practising the basics, and I would encourage him to put more effort into his guitar over the week.

I recommend my students to spend at least 10 minutes a day practising.

No lessons next week, as it's my wife's birthday. Have a nice week!

December 1st, 2020

Fraser asked me to send him this, so please print it out for him, thanks!
https://rockandroll101.ca/images/guitar-chords-chart.png

We worked more on Seven Nation Army, and I wrote out a higher e-guitar part.

I asked him to work on getting the power chords part cleaner, and to make the whole song tighter without the mistakes or mis-aiming on notes.

Also: pick a new song for next week that he'd like to learn on guitar.

November 24th, 2020

Fraser brought his electric tonight, and I tuned it up for him, and then we learned "Seven Nation Army"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY

This is a good beginning guitar song, because it's quite simple, and very repetitive.

November 17th, 2020

Today we wrote out the chords for Jim Cuddy's Too Many Hands. We ran out of time doing much with it last week.

We worked on the intro and I put all the chords down for him in his book... work on the new chords this week.

:)

Good job.

November 10th, 2020

We finished up Happier today - we played it through, and Fraser did really well. Keep working on the hammer ons for those chords so we can use htme in future songs.

We then talked about metaphor when writing a song, as Fraser would like to.

Finally, we added "Too Many Hands," by Jim Cuddy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy_iBs3XeTY

We will do more with that next week.

In the meantime, practice D, F#m, G, A, and Bminor

November 3rd, 2020

We continued working on the happier song, and we made a couple of small break-throughs with chord buzzing - Fraser wasn't holding his left thumb in the right place.

We'll keep working on it - don't quit! :)

October 27th, 2020

We added a new song, Happier by Ed Sheeran:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8_XYeQeVP0

It has the same three chords repeated, but it's a tricky little Hammer-on that makes the neat trademark sound to this song.

If Fraser focuses on just that, he should be able to get it by next week.

October 20th, 2020

Fraser seemed a little tired tonight - he said he had been at hockey all afternoon, so that makes sense! :)

We worked on the finger picking a bit more, but his heart wasn't in it, so we talked about hammer ons and pull offs, and the blues scale, and we played some blues together. Hope that's okay.

October 13th, 2020

Good job, we're getting closer every week!

We worked through more of the chords and finger picking today, working out some details that either Fraser had been practicing wrong or didn't understand from last time.

Great!

October 6th, 2020

Today we continued with the fingerpicking of One, by Ed Sheeran. Fraser is very committed to doing the hard work of learning it right, and for that he gets my applause. It's a hard new thing to learn, but he's determined.

Keep working on that fingering - thumb, first, ring, middle, first ring middle, thumb, first, ring, middle, first ring middle.

See you next week!

September 29th, 2020

We spent the lesson unstringing and restringing the guitar with new strings. Fraser has a classical guitar, so it's not straightforward. I showed him how to tie the notes on the nylon strings, and wrap the L angle on the bottom of the wrapped strings, how to wind the right direction, and then get the pitch approximate.

NOTE: the guitar will NOT stay in tune for the first few weeks, until the strings are done stretching.

September 22nd, 2020

We continued with One by Ed Sheeran, playing through first at 100% then at 75% speed. He was struggling with playing the chords in time at the full speed, so something he'll need to practice more and more.

He wants to learn to finger pick this song, so we started out working how that goes... we covered the finger pattern, tapping on the side of the guitar (thumb, ring, middle, first, ring, middle, first, ring)

September 15th, 2020

We wrapped up Hold Back the River today, and added One by Ed Sheeran:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afusUyiYOwk&ab_channel=DopeLyrics

Fraser has made quite a bit of progress lately, and I'm quite happy with his ability to play chords. There are a few that he doesn't remember from time to time, which he should have committed to memory by now, but he's making some big strides lately, and I'm satisfied with his progress.

September 8th, 2020

We spent the lesson finishing up Hold Back the River by James Bay. I asked him to work on this all week, but that it will be the last time through. We'll play it once through next Tuesday, then add a new song.

He should also spend some time find another song to learn this week.

June 23rd, 2020

Thanks very much for the nice Tim Horton card Gift!!

Fraser did a great job today. We finished up Hold Back the River by James Bay. Added to the finger picking part is an A chord and a D chord.

I'll be opening up spot again in September. I hope Fraser continues coming back, as he's got a lot of potential.

Happy Summer!

June 16th, 2020

Fraser is doing well on the song, we worked through some of the details, and I tried to give him tips for making it sound smoother... for example, not lifting fingers but sliding them, and holding them down for the whole length of the note.

June 9th, 2020

We continued working through the song together - Fraser had the first three notes down, but hadn't moved past them. I showed him again how to play the next 8 or so notes, and he was able to do it all by the end of the lesson!

We'll meet at my studio next week, which is 4362 Amelia Street, in Sydenham, across from the legion.

June 2nd, 2020

We added Hold Back the River by James Bay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZBJD8zYOo&ab_channel=CharlieButler

May 26th, 2020

Fraser played through Bloodstream for me, both alone and with the recording. It was better than last week, but still not quite on the beat with the song.

He wanted to keep working on this one, and to learn some of the finger picking part of the song.

I showed him how to play if by keeping the lower three strings of the B minor (nearest the floor), pressed down the whole time, and to just move the bass note on the top string (nearest the ceiling).

I made a video and am uploading it to help him this week.

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab5-5wmFMKU&ab_channel=RockAndRoll101

May 19th, 2020

Oops, forgot to take Fraser's notes yesterday.

Our lesson went well. We worked through both songs - Bloodstream still needs to be brought up to speed.

We also worked on Happier together.

May 12th, 2020

We continued with Bloodstream, and tried to get it up to speed, though Fraser wasn't ready to play it at the same speed as the recording. I'd like him to continue working on that.

We added Happier by Ed Sheeran.

May 5th, 2020

Fraser did a good job today working through the chords for Bloodstream. We worked on speeding up the transitions between the chord changes. I think by next week he should reasonably be able to play through it at regular sppeed.

April 28th, 2020

We added a new song, Bloodstream, by Ed Sheeran:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIJHg1XWR7o&ab_channel=EdSheeran

I shard the charts with him in Google Drive.

It has a Bminor in it, which was new to Fraser... it's written in the chart.

April 21st, 2020

April 14th, 2020

Today we added the next section to Let It Go, and I wrote out an easier and a harder tab version to it - one which alternates between the B and G strings, and one which does not.

Fraser found the harder one a bit challenging, that's why I made an easier version, but once he gets the easier version, I recommend he try working on the more challenging way to do it. It sounds more like the recording, and is more fun to play too!

See you next week!

April 7th, 2020

Fraser played through the intro for Let It Go but didn't remember the verses or the pre-chorus, so I showed him again, and wrote out the tab in a Google Doc, which I shared with his mom.

Joanne, if you want me to share that with another email, let me know.

March 13th, 2020

Fraser said he's lost his capo, which is too bad - but I made one from a pen and let him use mine.

We went through the intro, verses, and added the pre chorus today, so we're getting there!

Since there won't be lessons for 3 weeks now, feel free to bring him to my studio for makeup lessons. If you send me an email, we can work out the when and where.

March 6th, 2020

We continued with Let It Go by James Bay, and he's got the first half of the intro done. The second half of the intro is almost exactly the same.

I wrote out the tab for him on a piece of paper.

We briefly went over the verses, which are quite simple. Once that is done, he'll have 75% of the song done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npDIVZFOXpc&ab_channel=JoeEh

February 28th, 2020

Fraser's first time at 9 today - he wanted to abandon Circles, and start to work on a song for the recital in June.

He suggested James Bay, Let It Go - which is a beautiful song to play, but not really like anything he's done so far-- so we spent most of the lesson working on the finger picking part for the intro, and for the verse.

This song requires a capo - we both forgot our capos, so played it open for now. I think the capo goes on the fifth or sixth fret, and it's play in G there.

At one point Fraser said it was just too hard, but I convinced him to not abandon it yet - he needs to push himself much harder in music, he's coasting way too much. He can do it, I know it, and I think he does too.

He decided not to bail on this song. I'm really proud of him for deciding to do it.

February 14th, 2020

Fraser is sick today.

January 24th, 2020

Fraser was a bit late today - I guess he forgot about his timeslot.
It wasn't a big deal, and we went a bit over regular time.

We started with playing through Circles. He'd forgotten some of the things we'd worked on, so we learned the C maj7 and Fmaj7 chords again. We spent a good amount of time working on the chord strumming pattern, which he got the hang of better, the more we did it.

We played through the song after that, at a slower speed, and he's about at about 60% in his ability to play it- it definitely needs more work this week (he has two weeks, as next week is a PA day).

After that we reviewed the blues scale some more, and play a bit of blues together. He's better at playing on time, on the right beat- once I really highlighted that for him, he seemed to understand what I meant.

Have a nice weekend!

January 17th, 2020

Beginning of lesson, Fraser showed me his blues scale, and we did a jam in G. He needs to pay attention to the speed, so it matches the rhythm of the song.

Here's a video he can play along with for that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgyVXkyFAFM&ab_channel=Bluesnoodle

After that we added a new song, which has two new chords in it: C major 7 and F major 7:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sca9FP6zl8&ab_channel=PopularMusic

We started at 50% speed and moved up to 75%. He needs to watch the middle finger doesn't get misplaced.

January 10th, 2020

Fraser is away this Friday.

December 20th, 2019

We had fun in lessons today - we started with reviewing Silent NIght. Fraser wasn't too keen on the song we addd last week, so we instead practiced Silent Night a bit more, and then talked about the blues scale some, and how to play the twelve bar blues.

There aren't lessons for next week, obviously, so maybe there will be enough time for him to practice. I suggested to him that he work on stuff that he hates, because usually you hate the stuff you're not very good at yet. :)

Merry Christmas!

December 13th, 2019

Today Fraser forgot about his lesson, so I had to go looking for him - unfortunately we didn't get started until 11:45.

We reviewed the Christmas songs we'd been working on, and he wanted to add another church carol, so we added O Come Let Us Adore Him.

I simplified the chords a little bit, to make it easier to learn.

I went over time a bit but we didn't get the full 30 minutes in.

December 6th, 2019

Fraser did well on Silent Night today - we went through it two or three times before adding "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," which introduced two new chords: B7 and A7. I wrote them in the margin.

This song is also in 3/4, meaning that you count it 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, instead of 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, etc.

This is the same count for Silent Night.

We did the song a few times, and then added Jingle Bells, also in G. I noticed a problem with keeping the timing even through the strums, so reminded him to play only downbeat strums on each count (each number of 1 , 2, 3, 4, ) until he was more even.

Fraser is a great kid!

November 22nd, 2019

We went over Silent Night about 50 times together, with me singing and him playing.

The 3/4 beat is a bit of a challenge for Fraser to stay in time - I recommend practicing with a drum beat like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_py9Zrh_dc

If he plays this video on repeat (right click and select loop), then he can practice keeping in time.

November 15th, 2019

I took Fraser in early today since he was going to be away at noon.

We went through Afire Love, and then tried some different Christmas Carols before settling on Silent Night.

I wrote it out for him to practice. If we do a Christmas recital, then this will be the song.

November 8th, 2019

We added a new song for Fraser today, by Ed Sheeran. It's called Afire Love:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JznXx1Ns374

It has a new chord: Bm7- I wrote it out for him. the capo should be on the 3rd fret.

We also added a new strumming pattern which is pretty challenging, but feel free to simplify - feel free to slow the song down too. We went to 82% in the lesson.

Great job!

October 25th, 2019

We went over Photograph again, and learned the bridge this time, which isn't really that hard. And then Castle on the Hill.

We ran out of time, but work on the new chords, which are B minor and A. You're close to playing those quickly now, so it shouldn't be too much work to be able to play this song.

It is a little faster than the last song, but you can do it. Just get used to changing chords.

Oh, and don't forget to count. You seem to be getting lost a bit in the where you are in the songs.

October 18th, 2019

We went over Photograph, because Fraser was at hockey all the last two weeks, and didn't practice the Castle on the Hill song, and seems to have misplaced the music. See if that can be located.

At the end of the lesson, Fraser showed me his book, so we can start to use that from now to help not misplace music.

I wrote out a bunch of new chords for him to learn, and I would also like him to practice getting to the F chord faster.

October 11th, 2019

Fraser will be away today.

October 4th, 2019

Fraser and I went through Photograph together and he's doing well with it. He could still press harder on some of the strings, because they're not ringing.

We then added a new song by Ed Shrerren, called Castle on the Hill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytb7J0ciBcE

We added a B minor to his chord list. He should continue to work on memorizing all the chords he is learning.

Good job!

September 20th, 2019

We continued with Photograph. Little Ed is doing well, but needs to press a bit harder on the strings so they sound. Also watch that other fingers don't get in the way of the strings that should be ringing.

We learned a new chord, Gsus (Je-sus lol), and it shows up in the chorus. This chord is only for two beats, before resolving to G.

Practice at least 10 minutes every day.

September 13th, 2019

Teaching Fraser was a real pleasure. He is a polite, responsive, eager student, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him today.

We started by getting up-to-speed with what he's learned so far. He showed me a song he wrote and performed last year with Marco and a vocalist.

We then talked about what he'd like to get from the year. He said he wanted to play pop songs, and learn more complex chords.

I wrote out a number of chords to learn, including some he already knew, and asked him to work through them over the next week.

We then listened through Ed Sheeren's song, "Photograph," and I notated the chords for the intro and the first verse and channel using a capo on the fourth fret.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSDgHBxUbVQ&ab_channel=EdSheeran