Rock & Roll 101

April 14th, 2025

In Sadie-Lou's lesson we went through Paper Rings a few times up until the keychange before working on that part especially.
We started with a review of the chords, like we did last week, then on the transitions between chords, then played it through slowly. We then tried playing with the recording at 60% speed.

This took us to the end of the lesson, whereupon we decided next week to learn Champagne Problems.

April 7th, 2025

Today nan Kim came in with Sadie-Lou.

We continued with Paper Rings, and focused on the E, C#m, and B7 chords of the keychange part. We drilled on them and practised getting faster times.

March 31st, 2025

Sadie Lou played through All Too Well with me, and did great. After that, we added Paper Rings by Taylor Swift.

In the second half of the song there's a keychange to E, which we talked about but didn't really go over. I wrote out the chords for her, but they're a lot harder than some other chords, so we'll see what we do with them next time.

March 24th, 2025

We reviewed Anti-Hero, and then added "All Too Well" this week.

March 17th, 2025

We started with a review of The Man, and so we wanted to review the chords in it to be sure she remembered them. She did some drills again with me, and then played it through.

After that, she wanted to review one of the first songs we learned, Shake It Off (Taylor Swift). We went over the chords for that again and then played it through.

After that, we added Taylor Swift, Anti-Hero.

March 10th, 2025

March 3rd, 2025

We started out with going through Mean, by Taylor Swift, and then added a new one, also Taylor Swift, called Man.

She was unsure of F and A minor again, so we worked on drills for those a bit first.

We went over it at a slow speed - I think 70%

February 24th, 2025

We wrote out the bridge for mean, and went through it four times or so, and then reviewed Cinderella Snapped for fun

February 10th, 2025

Sadie at the specialist this day.

February 3rd, 2025

We added a new song today, by Taylor Swift, called Mean. Capo on the 2nd fret, in the key of D.

We ran out of time before getting into the bridge.

January 27th, 2025

We resumed working on Tim McGraw by Taylor Swift. It has an F chord in it, which is a challenging chord, so we spent a good part of the lesson just working on it, both with Race Drills, and with playing through the song slowly with just me.
At the end of the lesson we had time to play 2 thirds of it with the recording at 65% speed.

January 20th, 2025

We reviewed You Need to Calm Down, Maroon, and Cinderella Snapped, and then added Tim McGraw

January 13th, 2025

Sadie played through Maroon with me, and then we added You Need to Calm Down by Taylor Swift.

January 6th, 2025

It had been a couple of weeks since seeing Sadie. We started with reviewing Picture to Burn, and going over the A minor a bit to help her remember it.

We then added Maroon by Taylor Swift.

Good job!

December 30th, 2024

Sadie is sick today.

December 23rd, 2024

Sadie isn't coming in today.

December 16th, 2024

We started with reviewing Lavender Haze, which was a bit challenging for Sadie because of the E chord, so we spent half the lesson trying to improve on it and drill getting to it.

She then wanted to add Picture to Burn by Taylor Swift, so I wrote out that and we went through it a few times at 55% speed. (It's fast!)

December 9th, 2024

December 2nd, 2024

We played through Last Christmas, and then added Trouble - which (ironic, right?) Sadie-Lou had trouble with.

We gave up, and added Lavender, but didn't have time to go through the whole song.

November 25th, 2024

Sadie wanted to learn a new song, so we added Last Christmas by Taylor Swift.

November 18th, 2024

We just reviewed older songs today, starting with Bad Blood, then Welcome to New York, then Youngblood.

November 4th, 2024

Sadie Lou brought a ukulele with her today, and we worked on Jeremy and Jazzy, You Can Be Anything:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xblw5qQ4VM

She's doing this at school, in a video, and so I'm helping her learn the chords.

October 28th, 2024

We worked on If I Was a Cowboy for all of Sadie Lou's lesson today. We worked on getting the C to A minor without moving all of her fingers, and then strumming the E minor 4 beats before returning to the C to start again.

October 21st, 2024

We started out trying to learn a new song, Me Too- but skipped it because it was a little too hard for her.
We then added Miranda Lambert, Bluebird
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_hxYUbBkC8

and then added Miranda Lambert, If I Was a Cowboy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HjnLtDVLec

October 7th, 2024

Sadie went after Sawyer today. We reviewed Austin, which we started last week, and then went over Cruel Summer, Welcome to New York and a few other older songs.

September 30th, 2024

We reviewed Cinderella Snapped at first a slower speed (75%) and then regular speed. After that she thought it would be fun to do it at 125% and 150%, but the latter especially was a little too fast for her. :)

She then wanted to add Blank Space (which we've done before), so we played it over before running out of time.

September 23rd, 2024

Sadie continued with Cinderella Snapped, and we worked on the bass part, as well as playing along and getting it faster and faster. We got it up to 96% by the end of the lesson.

Her chords can still be a little in accurate, wandering outside of the frets. Also she isn't pressing down as hard as she needs to all of the time.

September 16th, 2024

Sadie took part of Sawyer's lesson because Sawyer had hockey.

Sadie Played through Cruel Summer, and then we added Cinderella Snapped - the song her sister is learning. We spent some time figuring out the technique of playing a single note like in the verses. We didn't finish it, and I gave a really broad overview of playing it, as there are different approaches on the different verses which we didn't learn.

September 9th, 2024

We started by reviewing a few chords to see how she was doing with remembering them.

We then went over some songs from last year as review. We did Bad Blood and Cruel Summer before running out of time.

June 27th, 2024

As the last lesson activity, we decided to play over some of Sadie-Lou's favourites from the year. We did Bad Blood, Youngblood, Keep Up, and You Belong With Me.

June 20th, 2024

Sadie played through August with me for the whole the lesson.

June 13th, 2024

We went through Youngblood three or four times, and decided to add August by Taylor Swift. We ran out of time before we had a chance to do it, but it's capo 3, with chords D | G | Em | A

June 6th, 2024

Sadie is enthusiastic but a little careless with her chords. She can change quickly, but oftentimes to the wrong chord. I think she might be a bit on autopilot, and not paying 100% attention? Anyway, we kept working on Youngblood today, and I worked to get her to focus on changing the chords accurately and to the right chord. I think she was frustrated initially, but as she started to improve, I saw a self-satisfaction in her eyes.

May 30th, 2024

We started out with Youngblood, and she did really well on it.

I can't remember whether we did another song after that.

May 23rd, 2024

We kept working on Alicia Keys, Girl on Fire, and instead of going into the next section, we added a new song, 5 Seconds of Summer, Youngblood, which Sawyer started last week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwhrqd3UaKo

May 16th, 2024

Sadie-Lou was resolved to not learn a new song today, but wanted to get really good on Sunroof. We went over it twice, and both times were excellent. Eventually I convinced her to try another song, and we settled on

Alicia Keys, Girl on Fire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc-VoftQQUs

May 9th, 2024

Sadie said she didn't practise at all this week, but did fairly well on Sunroof. The D chord was even closer to being on the right strings more of the time!

She then wanted to review Taylor Swift, Love Story.

May 2nd, 2024

We reviewed Green Green Grass, and then Dark Horse.

We then added Sun Roof by Nicky Youre and Dazy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWUt8UZunOE

April 25th, 2024

Sadie did the full lesson again today because Sawyer's hand is still messed up.

We reviewed Honey I'm Good, Blank Space, and then added the chorus only to Green Green Grass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBsttFDJB2o

We then added Dark Horse by Katy Perry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtoHuHgS9_o

April 18th, 2024

Sadie took the full hour again this week, since her sister hurt her hand.

We started out with doing some chord drills, and then resumed the songs in her book.

We did Honey, I'm Good,
Cruel Summer,
Bad Blood,

and added

Taylor Swift, Blank Space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkkEi4p-Thk

April 11th, 2024

Sadie-Lou took Sawyer's lesson today. We went through Honey I'm Good, Cruel Summer, and then added The Archer, also by Taylor Swift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWfZ5bfQfSs

April 4th, 2024

Jessie J, Bang Bang featuring Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HU129T9tJM

Andy Grammer, Honey, I'm Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaF4HSL9xak

March 28th, 2024

We continues with last weeks lessons, focusing on putting her fingers in the right place for D and C. I showed her how the patterns of the bars repeat and tried to encourage her to memorize what chord is coming next.

Taylor Swift, Cruel Summer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLJcHbYSlB8

March 21st, 2024

We reviewed the You Belong With Me, and I did points to help her not make mistakes. I took a point off for every misplaced chord, to encourage her to be careful about her Ds and As. She was able to maintain 100 points for the whole song!

We then added a new one, Taylor Swift, Cruel Summer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLJcHbYSlB8

March 14th, 2024

Sadie-Lou struggled quite a bit today with playing her chords accurately and playing quickly enough to switch between chords. If you can get her to practise more, I think it will help her a lot.

We changed songs again today to try to help her, doing Taylor Swift, You Belong With Me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgf9XDT846M

March 7th, 2024

Sadie found last week's song too hard (it did change quite quickly) so we went over the chords, but then added Welcome to New York by Taylor Swift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCCCHVHzFLw

February 29th, 2024

Sadie went first today. She wanted to learn a different song today, so we tried to learn 23 by Chayce Beckham.

February 15th, 2024

Sadie went first today, and was excited to show me how fast she could change chords for the song Bad Blood.

She actually was playing them twice as fast as necessary! We went through it once with her playing them at the right time, and I didn't point out that the D chord was misformed. After we were done, I asked her to show me the D, in two ways: after playing the fast way, and then the careful way. She realized she was playing it incorrectly, so I suggested she work on that at home more.

Then we added a song that her sister learned last week, Flowers. She was struggling with some of the chords in it so we took a bit of a side path to learn some finger picking techniques. Sadie-Lou is enthusiastic, but could be a bit more disciplined. :)

February 8th, 2024

Sadie didn't practise this week, but we continued working through Bad Blood.

First we just went over the chords, trying to strum them twice and switching as close to in time as possible.

Then we played along with the recording, at a slow speed (65% maybe?).

After that Rhys showed Sadie his trick for practising chords, and we then showed him our race games.

February 1st, 2024

Sadie Lou wanted to add another song, so we added Bad Blood by Taylor Swift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXKEdnasDto

This is pretty quick, so we spent most of the lesson just trying to get the chord changes working.

January 25th, 2024

Sadie went first today because she had to leave 10 minutes early to be a guest at an art class.

She said she had been practising Silent Night, and wanted to show me. We went through that together, and then reviewed Shake It Off and You Belong With Me.

January 18th, 2024

We continued working on Love Story and I wrote a few more chords to it - up until the key change.

Some of the chords are hard to get to quickly, and it would help if Sadie could practise getting to the chords as quickly as possible.

January 11th, 2024

We worked through Blank Space again today and then tried to find a song whose chords didn't change too quickly.

We settled on Love Story, also by Taylor Swift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=766dAHq7a0w

Keep practising!

January 4th, 2024

Sadie did really well on Shake It Off! I love her confidence. A bit of an issue with being careful about where her fingers go in the chords... she's so enthusiastic to do it without looking, that sometimes fingers end up on the wrong fret, or wrong string. Something to keep working on at home.

We added a new song, also by Taylor Swift, Blank Space:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHpcbSsPrRE

We put the capo on 3 to play in D.

December 28th, 2023

Sadie played through O Christmas Tree for me, and then we decided to add a new song, Shake It Off by Taylor Swift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BYQg_7Nx9g

December 21st, 2023

Sadie wasn't as eager to work on Santa Claus is Coming To Town, so we went over Last Christmas some more, and worked on the B minor. We did some drills to speed up getting to the chord, and then worked on playing it and giving her a few extra beats to get there.

She wanted to try that on the other songs, so we then reviewed Silent Night and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town that way.

Good job!

December 14th, 2023

Sadie did really well today! Initially she said she wasn't practising because she just wishes she was better already. :) In the lesson, though, she started switching chords without looking, and seemed pretty impressed with herself!

Great job!

December 7th, 2023

We reviewed Jingle Bells and Silent Night (after going through the chords). Sadie can practise looking ahead to the next chord so she can change on the right beat.

We then added a new song, Santa Claus is Coming To Town.

See you next week!

November 30th, 2023

Sadie-Lous is in Florida

November 23rd, 2023

We picked up where we left off, playing Jingle Bells and working on getting to the chords fast enough. This requires Sadie to look ahead in the book to see what chord is next, so she's ready to switch to it.

After that, we added Silent Night but ran out of time. We only went through it once.

November 16th, 2023

The girls are not able to come in today.

November 9th, 2023

We reviewed the chords and I encouraged Sadie to figure out the chords by using the diagrams. She can do it, but she seems to be intimidated by visualizing them for some reason. I take her a step at a time through them to help her undertand.

We then added Jingle Bells, and with G, C, A, and D.

November 2nd, 2023

We reviewed the chords she'd learned last week, and then I wrote out the chords for Bluebird.
This requires a capo on 7

We worked on switching between the chords.

To flesh out the lesson, we learned some new chords: Asus, Aminor

October 26th, 2023

We added Esus today. We also added C.
We switched between chords, and Sadie picked which ones to do next.
She sometimes mixed up C and A minor.
We listened to Bluebird, and it will take a capo on 6... but we didn't write it out yet.

October 12th, 2023

Sawyer and Sadie forgot their books today, so we spent the time just reviewing the chords and honing their switching abilities.

Sadie wants to learn Bluebird next, by Miranda Lambert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_hxYUbBkC8

I think it's doable, but we should have her book here to write in the new chords.

October 5th, 2023

We reviewed the chords she's been working on, and then added a song RaeLynn, Keep Up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_pQ78yc-7w

She's doing well. It's still early, but she should try to memorize her chords to make it easier in the long run.

I taughter he the A major chord, which her sister doesn't know yet, so I suggested she teach her sister that one (if it doesn't cause too much conflict).

September 28th, 2023

Sadie said she didn't practise much this week, and it did seem like she was struggling to play the chords and remember some of the things we did last week. She's got the parts of the guitar down well, has a bit of problem visualizing the finger diagrams for the chords on the fretboard.

We added the next chord, "D", and practised playing it some.

September 21st, 2023

Sadie Lou did really well with the names of the parts of the guitar. She drew a nice picture for me too!

After that we went through her chords, and did some more racing to help her execute them a bit faster. As soon as she gets a little further along with that, we can add more chords, and eventually get to a song!

Keep it up, and don't forget to practise at home every day! :O)

September 14th, 2023

This was Sawyer and Sadie-Lou's first lesson. Sadie took the earlier time slot today. She came with her grandpa, Mitch.

We started with learning the names of the parts of the guitar, and I asked her to redraw the guitar on a piece of paper, and use pencil crayons or crayons to colour it, and label all the parts to help her remember them.

We then learned two chords: E minor (Em) and G major (G). We played through them a while, and I took a bit of extra time to make sure she understood the chord diagrams, which she seemed to struggle with initially. (They can be weird to get used to!)

We practised switching chords, and doing so without lifting all the fingers between G and Em (the first finger stays on the same string for both).

September 7th, 2023

Sawyer and Sadie-Lou are starting next week.