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James Shibley
Past Notes
March 13th, 2020
Today Jake is taking Uke lessons. It took a bit to get him into it but before too long we were working through Bad Guy and he did a great job! I'm amazed how he came around, actually.
I counted strums (16 for the first chord, 8 for the next, 8 for the next, then repeat), and he was able to change chord right on the beat.
Good job!
March 6th, 2020
We reviewed Hurricane, he did well playing the chords, but needs me to call them out - the next big jump for James is to do better at reading along.
We added Beautiful Crazy.
Luke Combs, Beautiful Crazy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZJNTRKqT4A&ab_channel=lyrictube
This also requires a capo, but I transposed it down 2 halfsteps to make it playable with the YouTube video.
February 28th, 2020
We reviewed Beer Never Broke My Heart, and it was pretty good, but his chord changes were a little slower than usual.
We added a new song, called Hurricane by Luke Combs. It's also in a weird key, so a capo would be really helpful for next time. It's not necessary if funds are tight tho.
February 14th, 2020
It's good to be back - it's been a few weeks, because of PA days and snow days, etc.
We started out by James tuning his guitar up.
We went through Big Green Tractor, and other than messing up the C#m, he did really well on it. We reviewed the C#m afterwards, just to be sure he remembered, it will come up again, so not too worried today.
Beer Never Broke my Heart is in a key that guitars don't play as open chords, so we would need a capo for it - if you can buy James a capo from the music store, that'd be great.
I transposed it down one half step today using the YouTube transposer plugin in chrome which I have .... he could always do that too if you don't get a capo.
Good job today, James!
January 24th, 2020
Jake came in today (is it going to be every second week now? If so perhaps you can let me know so I can bring in my uke?
We went over Spirits by the Strumbellas, and added the bridge. He wasn't very fast on G chord - maybe not quite enough practice this week?
To help keep his attention we added a new song - he said he wanted to learn Bad Guy by Billie Eilish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqi4GBxmwgg
This has THREE new chords, which I wrote in the book. Gm, Cm, and D7.
I guess James will be coming next week?
January 17th, 2020
Today we added a new song called "Big Green Tractor"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0UXGVpJ7ts&ab_channel=LilP
It has a new chord, "C#m" in it, which is the same as a B minor, but starting on the fourth fret.
Next week we can add a new song - maybe James can think of another couple songs he'd like to learn?
January 10th, 2020
Jake was on Uke today - we went through Jingle Bells together, and then started writing out a new song.
First he thought he'd do Candle Candle, which Izabella is doing, but then mom came in and suggested Spirits by the Strumbellas - this is pretty easy, and perfect for the Uke.
Jake was getting antsy by about 10 to 9, wanting to go out to play, so I asked him to stay with me for five more minutes before he left - I hope this is okay!
Here's the song btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpv-vGScrvU&ab_channel=RobotsReadingReddit
December 20th, 2019
James did well today, even though he said to me that he hadn't practiced. We went over We Wish You a Merry Christmas a few times, and then added a new song, Jingle Bells.
This adds some new chords, D7, and E7.
Keep playing over the holidays, and don't forget to keep the Christ-child in Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
December 13th, 2019
Jake did Uke today - we reviewed Happy Birthday, and then added Jingle Bells. With it, we have added some new chords. G, Dm, and C7.
We also added the 1st verse (Dashing through the snow).
Jake wanted to be done at 8:55, and didn't want to keep working on Jingle Bells, so I let him go - I hope that was okay, he looked kind of desperate to go out and play.
December 6th, 2019
Good job today James! James is a pleasure to teach.
He again tuned the guitar at the start - I'm surprised at how well he's got this. It's often a struggle for students.
We reviewed Forever and Ever Amen - he said his performance of it for his aunt went really well and that a bunch of people sang along. :) How fun!
We decided to add a new song, and he suggested "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," because someone he knew (his uncle maybe?) could play it on the piano and then they could do it together.
I added a new chord (A7) to his list of chords.
He should play through this and try to keep the song at a constant speed without stopping to find the next chord.
Great job!
November 22nd, 2019
James tuned the guitar himself to start the lesson - he did really well!
We went through Forever and Ever Amen three times, each time we sped it up , first 53%, then 63%, then 73%! Amazing.
We also did Thunder half-way through before running out of time.
James is going to work on the B7 this week, and maybe try to get it up to 83% this week!
Good job James!
November 15th, 2019
I'll write Jake's notes in James' slot, rather than create a new student profile, cancel James' slot for the day, put Jake in the slot, etc. etc., etc.
We drew a picture of a Ukulele and pointed to the names of the parts, like bridge, nut, neck, body, sound hole, etc. I quizzed Jake on it, and he was quick to learn the parts.
Then we wrote out three chords. They were C, Am, and F. Help him to practice these chords this week.
Then we added a song for James' birthday, "happy birthday!" I wrote an A minor instead of a G because he hasn't learned G yet. But after he learns G, then he can switch it out.
We sang it through a number of times to practice strumming and switching chords.
His fingers got tired at the end of the lesson, and he wanted to take a break (at 8:55 - pretty good for the first lesson!)
November 8th, 2019
James said he had a hard time with the F chord this week, and keeping up with the pace of the song. We slowed it down to 60% so he could play along.
Don't forget the first part of the song is just a single note, not a whole chord. Just "C" and then just "F".
After playing through the song, his mom said that he wanted to learn Forever and Ever Amen by Randy Travis because it's grandma's favourite song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ohFLeWijl4
This is quite an easy song,though also fast moving, so we slowed it down as well to go through it, to 55%. We added some new chords such as B7.
October 25th, 2019
I was so impressed with James' ability to play through Seven Years Old! Really good sense of rhythm along with clear playing of the chords. The F#m maybe is a little "burry," but it's coming along nicely.
We then added Imagine Dragons, Thunder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFhs7WVvuXk
This requires a new chord "F" - it's a little harder chord, but he's getting it!
October 18th, 2019
We reviewed Happy Birthday, and then added some new chords to practice every day
Esus E and D7
then we added F#m so we could play Once When I Was Seven Years Old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J161D6GuJ8c
Practice everything every day. Each chord, each song.
October 11th, 2019
James is doing SO WELL on the chords! I was really impressed with how fast he could switch to them.
We added A minor today... and also wrote out E minor and C because they were in the old book.
We went over Happy Birthday- no problems there!
Then we added a new song called Something Just Like This by the Chainsmokers. Hope that's okay with mom!
It only has two chords in my version right now (if he plays Bminor instead of D). But work on the b minor so we can play it correctly.
Also work on switch to the A faster, so we can add that into this song on beat 4 of each bar.
Make a list of songs that you want to learn.
October 4th, 2019
So James forgot his book, so we used another one - copy the notes into your old book.
We then wrote out B minor, G, A, an D. and raced to play them and switch between them. He got about 2 seconds per chord except G and C.
We then wrote out Happy Birthday, and played it through for him, me, grandma, and Eric.
September 20th, 2019
Today James showed me all that he'd been working on - he got his E minor really fast, his G is better, can still use some work.
We added A minor and C - C is hard, so it's okay if you have trouble with that one.
Try to get them all down to 1 second if you can. And even faster if you're superman.
September 13th, 2019
Today James and I talked about the names of the parts of the guitar.
We learned G and E minor
We did strums, and talked about differences between notes and chords
He should practice switching between chords.
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