Rock & Roll 101

October 19th, 2022

October 12th, 2022

Gavin didn't make it today - I hope everything's okay with the little guy!!

October 5th, 2022

Gavin is still feeling unwell, so won't be able to make his lesson today. No charge.

September 28th, 2022

Gavin had surgery this week.

September 21st, 2022

I missed Gavin tonight.

His book is still here, btw.

September 14th, 2022

September 7th, 2022

We started out by reviewing Gavin's chords, and then added a new song today, by Ed Sheeran called Photograph:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkUzCuwAPvM&ab_channel=TajTracks

I also wrote out 5 new chords for him to learn

June 28th, 2022

Gavin and I worked through the last four or five songs we've added recently. He wanted to put off the two that have F in them because he doesn't feel comfortable with F yet. He said he'd work on it this summer

We then reviewed a few past songs 'just for fun' before wrapping up.

See you in the fall! Have a great summer!

June 21st, 2022

We reviewed Mood and Drunk, and then added three new ones:

Silent Child - Heart Attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDn62at7OJA&ab_channel=7clouds

Tai Verdes - A-O-K
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egUTc3nhwgE&ab_channel=AuraEpics

Tenille Townes - When's It Gonna Happen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSP5LhebH8c

BTW, Gavin said he'd like lessons in September at 5 on Tuesdays. Let me know if that works.

June 14th, 2022

Gavin didn't have the tab part down yet for Fancy Like, but we played through it anyway and then added a couple of new songs to work on over the summer.

They were Mood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPBzPzbuwc4&ab_channel=1MILLIONDanceStudio

and Drunk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzJCGNFmLWw&ab_channel=Hip-HopWRLD

June 7th, 2022

We played through Fancy Like, and I wrote out the next part of the tablature of the intro thing.

We then made a list of songs he'd like to learn over the next coming weeks.

May 31st, 2022

Gavin said he didn't practice as much as usual, and was pretty tired from the heat etc.

We went over Fancy Like, then reviewed some chords (especially the minor sevenths).

See you next week!

May 24th, 2022

We went over Wake Up, and it's SO FAST, so I suggested we try another song which is a little slower. We settled on Walker Hayes - Fancy Like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ-XurHfOGM&ab_channel=CountryParadise

May 17th, 2022

Gavin did a great job on Smash Mouth at 100% speed!

We added a new one after that, Avicii, Wake Up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_KJAg8bHI

Very fast song, but work on it at a slower speed.

See you next time! :)

May 10th, 2022

Gavin isn't coming today.

May 3rd, 2022

Gavin did really well on Shape of You... after going through most of it at 75% speed, we did Smash Mouth, All Star:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT5JaB5agSE&ab_channel=BUGGLyrics

I think we got this up to full speed, but I can't remember now if that was this one, or Shape of You.

April 26th, 2022

Gavin is in Niagara Falls today.

April 19th, 2022

Gavin is in Niagara Falls next weekend, so won't be here for lessons.

Today we wrapped up There's Nothing Holding Me Back, getting it up to 100% speed!

We then added Ed Sheeran, Shape of You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoMQcUKYrPM&ab_channel=ClassicLyrics

Great job! Keep 'er going!

April 12th, 2022

Gavin is doing so well! We went over Old Town Road, Counting Stars, and then Circles before adding a new one: Shawn Mendes, There's Nothing Holding Me Back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmXVPbqqzwA&ab_channel=LazyFox

April 5th, 2022

I missed Gavin today... hope all is okay.

March 29th, 2022

Gavin was tired of working on Down by the Bay, so we started adding some country songs today. We actually added three:

Old Town Road:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ae5Ap77b7k

Circles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sca9FP6zl8&ab_channel=PopularMusic

Counting Stars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzMGDIU_-ow&ab_channel=TajTracks

Don't forget to make a list of songs you'd like to learn.

March 22nd, 2022

Did you and Gavin forget today?

March 15th, 2022

Gavin came in with his "Nanna" today.

He didn't have his book for the last two weeks, and said he didn't practice much- but he's doing quite well on the chords. I wrote out three more to work on and asked him to improve the middle line of chords.

We then added Happy Birthday and Down by the Bay, and I wrote out more of Perfect.

Good job!

March 8th, 2022

Gavin is feeling unwell today.

March 1st, 2022

Gavin did very well on his chords this week, obviously been practicing!

We wrote out four more chords to learn, which I think were E, C, A, and B minor.

We then started working on our first song, which is Perfect by Ed Sheeran:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDDMYw_IZnE&ab_channel=DopeLyrics

It uses a capo, so if you get a capo, you can play along with the recording at home. (on the first fret).

February 22nd, 2022

Today we reviewed the chords from last week, E minor and G, and then added A minor and D

We did some "racing" where you try to get to the chords in under X seconds.

We also played between chords over 8 beats... do that for each of the chord combinations.

See you next time!

February 8th, 2022

Today was Gavin's first lesson. We started by talking about the difference between folk and classical guitars, with the latter's wider necks, nylon strings, no pick guard, etc.

We then named the different parts of the guitar, and I asked him to make a picture in his book for next week with those all labelled.

We then learned two chords: E minor and G.

We talked about the difference between minor and major chords, and the difference between notes and chords.

Mom (Melanie) paid cash, $100.
See you next time!