Students
All Students | Info | Songs | Notes | Receipts | iCal Link
Alex Ankers
Past Notes
March 29th, 2021
Alex said he forgot to practice the new song, here it is again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPtE-7aNBns
We worked on it some more today, and he promised he would work on it this week.
March 22nd, 2021
We started off with Another One Bites the dust... much better than it was. Alex is making improvement.
Despite his improvement, he's still pretty scared to trying something new. We tried adding Every Breath You Take by the Police, he can do it, he just has to keep trying.
We did little bites, by first playing the song with just the kick, then again with just the snare. He didn't want to add the high hat, but then all of the sudden, he just added it! I try to really affirm these risks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPtE-7aNBns
March 15th, 2021
I accidentally deleted my notes from yesterday before saving. Oops!
Alex did a great job on his song. We played through 7 Nation Army before recording it, adding it to his recording of guitar and Ally's piano. It still needs bass guitar, and he wants to find a left handed bass.
It might make more sense to just have me record the bass, but it's up to you guys
Afterwards we returned to the Queen song.
March 8th, 2021
Alex has been practicing this week, and I could tell. He's improving on all his songs. We did another one bites first, and worked on the fast snare fill for quite a while. Everytime he did it, he got a bit better.
We then reviewed some past songs before returning to the Queen song.
March 1st, 2021
Alex said he only really practised once - he's struggling, and a part of that is because there's not enough time put in.
We worked through some problem areas together, and he really made progress! He can totally do this, he just has to commit to working on it. Actually, I see real potential, if he just spends some more time on it! Totally.
We spend most of the lesson working on Back in Black, and then the last five minutes on Bites the Dust, which was better than the first.
Don't lose hope, you got this!
February 22nd, 2021
We added two new drums songs today: Back in Black and Queen, Another One Bites the Dust:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kiq9HDUkNxg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ZRpdJ5VcI
Work on both of this this week.
December 28th, 2020
No Alex today. :)
December 21st, 2020
Together we cancelled lessons today, with no charge.
December 14th, 2020
Alex really did well on the drum kit today - he has the Seven Nation Army song nearly done... I showed him one other part in the chorus which he said he wanted to work on this week before we record.
We should be able to record next week if he's got that figured out.
December 7th, 2020
Alex worked on drums again today. We continued with Seven Nation Army, trying to work out the crashes in the middle part which are on the beginning of every 8 beats,
Alex got emotional during the lessons when he started struggling with the same mistakes. I have found that kids who are told they're awesome a lot, tend to feel that their failure to do a task might reveal that they're not actually as awesome as people have thought about them... it's hard, but failing at a task and learning to work through it can be the best way to come out of that. We've had the same issue with our own kids, so I'm not saying you did anything wrong, just to tell you my strategy in helping them through it is to help them understand they're not perfect, that they shouldn't expect to be either. :)
November 30th, 2020
We spent the lesson learning reviewing the drum part for Seven Nation Army - our plan is to record the drums along with his electric guitar parts (which Ally played on too).
This week at home, practice the drums on your knees, but don't forget to keep playing the guitar, as that's our main instrument to learn. Keep going over the chords, and switching between them.
Here's the drum help-video. Practice along with this on your knees:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3qy8H6-5WY
The part to practice the most (where you often screw up) is playing the snare on beat two ater the "CRASH - TOM, TOM, TOM, CRASH - TOM, TOM, TOM" part.
November 23rd, 2020
Alex was enthusiastic at the beginning, but seems to get discouraged quickly- I tried to keep it fun, while gently pressing him to learn the next thing.
Today we did a new chord sequence, starting in A to E minor to G -- try to go to D after that.
Also we learned E, and he can start it on the 1st, 6th, and 8th frets.
November 16th, 2020
Alex brought in his electric again today, and we spent the whole lesson switching chords, from A minor to C, to G, to E minor. This is a good pattern to learn because as you switch, you can just change a few fingers each time.
Restarting it is hard to do, though, going from E minor to A minor, so he should keep working on that whole loop of chords.
November 9th, 2020
Alex started learning the kit today. We went through the names of the parts of the drum, and then how to play a quarter note beat. we then worked through 7 Nation Army, and learned how to play the various parts of that song.
We then put it together, and played through it a few times. He can practice it on pails or pots, with pencils or sticks from the yard.
November 2nd, 2020
Alex came in first today. He had an electric, and we rehearsed, and then recorded the seven nation army song, before running out of time.
October 26th, 2020
Alex played through Seven Nation Army for me, it was fantastic! He knew all the parts, and played them on the right beat. Next week we're going to try recording it. (He wants me to ask if he can get a left hand electric guitar for that). :)
October 19th, 2020
Alex did a good job on 7 Nation Army - we went through it with the recording, and he was able to keep up fairly well most of the time.
We added two new parts: the chords (G5 and A5) and the instrumental part
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY
October 5th, 2020
Alex did very well today! We reviewed the chords we've been working on and went through each one, playing them for 32 beats. I was impressed with the strumming pattern, which is much clearer than last time, and despite him saying he hadn't really practiced, he did well. I asked him to explain about not practicing, because you had said he was, and he said he just makes his own songs during practice instead of working on the chords.. so that explains it. :)
We went over seven nation army again, and he didn't remember how to read the tab, so we reviewed it and went over it... he felt like it was too hard at first, but I broke it down into tiny chunks, and that seemed to help.
We then added a new chord, A, and then did some race timing exercises on all the chords.
September 29th, 2020
Alex is still struggling with the chords - I think he's maybe not spending as much time practicing as he could.
The normal place to be by the fourth lesson, he should be able to play the chords correctly and switch between them without too much difficulty.
We continued with the same four chords today, and practiced switching between G and E minor quite a bit, trying to get the change as smooth as possible.
September 22nd, 2020
Alex was much more focused this week, but his fingers were hurting, so wanted to try out the drums near the end of the lesson. I let him try the electronic and acoustic set in the last 5 minutes.
We went through all the chords we've been learning - he said he hadn't practiced this week, and it was evident, but we used the lesson time to go over the chords until he was able to get the E minor in 2 seconds, the A minor in 3, and the G in 5.
We added the D chord today as well.
I asked him to spend some time every day working on it so he can improve and we can learn some songs.
September 15th, 2020
Alex was a little bit hard to get focused, as he wanted to talk to me about video games and game systems.
After starting a little late because of that conversation (it's fine with me if that means he feels like I've listened to him, and care about what he cares about), we reviewed the chords from last week, as well as the names of the parts of the guitar, etc. We also added a couple of new chords and I showed him how chord diagrams work,
September 8th, 2020
This was Alex's first week on the guitar. We started with the the names of the various parts of the guitar, and then learned two chords: E minor (Em), and G.
We also strummed the basic strum pattern of down down downup down... and Alex picked it up really quickly. We then added a more complicated slap rhythm, which he was surprisingly fast getting!
Web Development by CrookedBush.com • Login / Logout