Rock & Roll 101

June 24th, 2013

It's been a great year, Jessica! I have really enjoyed teaching you, and I'm so glad you didn't quit and give up-- I know you were close, and congratulations for hanging in there. It's worth it, and you've grown!

Hope to see you next September!

June 17th, 2013

We added Working Man by Imagine Dragons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4SBGLtJvPo

There's a lead part in it near the end, that maybe we'll learn next week.

June 10th, 2013

Jessica really was amazing today! She was tempted to throw in the towel at the beginning of the lesson-- "I Can't Do It!" she insisted, but after some patience and practice, she really got good.

Get it up to speed, don't give your mom a headache, and you'll have it all done by next week.

June 3rd, 2013

Jessica and I added a new song that was a little easier to manage. I want her to keep working on the arpeggios of the last song.

The new song is Round and Round by Imagine Dragons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD92Ui_PWKQ

May 27th, 2013

May 20th, 2013

Tonight we went over Bruno Marz's song a number of times, really focusing on the Bb especially. I showed her the F minor, and have asked her to continue to work on this chord, however we're moving on songs.

We've added Whistle by Flo Rida, which is quite a simple song, and it gives us a chance to work a bit on some simple picking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS85AvLl9Ik

May 13th, 2013

Jessica added Bruno Marz's song, If I Was Your Man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZYCZ2UsscU

She is going to focus on the Bb and the G7, and look up the F minor if you forget it.

And don't forget, 2 weeks until you have Blackbird done.

May 6th, 2013

Demons Imagine Dragons was added this week, to give Jessica a break from Blackbird, but she committed to learn the Blackbird chords in 3 weeks. :)

April 29th, 2013

Jessica and I went over Blackbird-- I drew out the chord shapes for her here and there-- it seemed like she practiced, but maybe the video will help her remember how to play the details.

April 22nd, 2013

I am really happy with the progress Jessica has made over the last few weeks. She's getting more and more accurate, strumming the correct strings for the chords, and even throwing herself into learning some harder chords.

We've decided to up the ante a little bit, and she's going to learn Blackbird by the Beatles next.

GOOD JOB!

April 15th, 2013

Jessica added a new song this week - Everybody Talks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd-1AyZA33w

There's a new chord in it, called F#7. We worked on some techniques to play that chord more quickly. She's getting close but will need to spend some time on this to get it fast enough.

April 8th, 2013

April 1st, 2013

March 25th, 2013

We added C#m to the chords, and added the song:
Red by Taylor Swift:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lFSClNvnRM

March 18th, 2013

Johnny Reid, Fire it Up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGm27Ipsxjc

New chord, Dsus-- don't let your fingers move away from the basic D shape.

The best way is to use the pinky for the extra note... just lift your pinky for regular D, and put it down for Dsus.

March 11th, 2013

March 4th, 2013

Jessica left her book here last week so didn't practice the new song, so we went over it a bit, and she's really got it.

She needs to work on her F a bit, as she tends to play the low A string, and not press down both strings hard enough with her pointing finger.

We then added a new song:
Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oNToCIXD6w

It was quite easy, so we started looking at another song as well:
The Wanted- I Found You Lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOWSFRkMZA4

February 25th, 2013

Tonight we reviewed the Pumped Up Kicks song, and then added a new one, "One Way or Another" by One Direction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36mCEZzzQ3o

February 18th, 2013

Today we added the in-between parts to Pumped Up Kicks, and Jessica picked it up quite quickly!! We spent 30 minutes learning that, then added a new song and finished it as well!

Good job, Jessica!

February 11th, 2013

We moved on to Pumped Up Kicks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3ldsF65cLM

It's quite easy, so she should pick another song for next week.

February 4th, 2013

Jessica and I repeated last week's lesson, basically.

Work on the stuff that needs work, like the C# minor and the B7

January 28th, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEHsIcsjtdI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYY6k7cg5_w
Curiousity by Carley Rae Jepson

January 21st, 2013

We added Thriller.

January 14th, 2013

Jessica, work through the repeats-- you made a few mistakes in remembering where the repeats go.


DS and DC. to the sign, to the top.

NC - No Chord

January 7th, 2013

Jessica and I went over the song in her book. Glad You Came by The Wanted.

We talked about the road map of the song, and following repeats. Next week talk me through the whole repeat section.

And learn the chords to that song so you can play it back for me.

December 31st, 2012

December 17th, 2012

Jessica and I added a few more Christmas songs today.

She's doing quite well, but a bit sloppy on some chords... the G she tends to play just one fret too low, and the C she doesn't put fingers in all three frets nor on the top two sings.

Just tighten up the accuracy a bit.

We then talked about counting sylabells to write music. Each sylabel has a beat, which you count and make a pattern from, like

7, 6, 7, 5

December 10th, 2012

We added two new songs today for Jessica, Rudolph and Jolly old St. Nick.

I'd like her to keep working on the B7, C#m, and E chords, as well as perfecting the C chord for next week.

December 3rd, 2012

Today Jessica is sick.

November 26th, 2012

We added new chords this week: B7 and C#m, and revisted E after a long time.

Work on those chords, and learn the song I Knew You Were Trouble:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2eCHdqFYj4

Good job with last week's chords!!

November 19th, 2012

Today Jessica and I took an hour to do some recording, and finished "Teardrops On My Guitar," by Taylor Swift. I'll be putting the song up on the site soon.

November 12th, 2012

November 5th, 2012

She did awesome this week learning to switch betwween Em and C!! I am so impressed. It sounded great, and Teardrops is now perfect.

We'll try recording Teardrops next week.

Jessica and I added 2 new songs, Back Together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4iX5D9Z64

and starships
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9HmQPx5sqw

They both had only four chords and so she has no reason for them to not be perfect next week!!

Great amazing wonderful job!!

October 29th, 2012

E minor to C, without lifting middle finger.
Slapping knee 1234, with a tap on your foot on the one.
Doing it with the song (Tear drops)

Next week we're going to learn Star Ships by Glee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9HmQPx5sqw

Really work on playing your beats evenly, without speeding up.

October 22nd, 2012

Jessica is doing very good! Her D and Bm are much improved, but she still needs to work on it... also, the C could be much faster.

Love Story could use some attention in switching to the hard chords-- the D and Bm- if she focuses on improving those chords it will make a big difference.

I charted out all the chords for the song Tear Drops on My guitar, and now that she has a capo, she can focus on that, and learn the C chord.

We also learned the Asus chord and talked about suspended chords today.

October 15th, 2012

We added B minor today, so she could play the song Love Story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E

I wrote out the chords for the song for her. She's going to keep working on switching faster so she can play along with the music for both this song and the other Taylor Swift song, Teardrops...

Don't let those low notes on D and B minor.

October 11th, 2012

We went over the chords she has learned as review. She seemed to be a little behind in remembering some of the chords at this stage, so increased focus should be applied to memorizing the chords, like A minor and E (not just E minor).

After reviewing the chords, we put the capo on the third fret, and played Taylor Swift's Teardrops in G.

Since it was hard to get to C very quickly, we focused on just playing C, and I showed her the similarity to A minor, and how to use a starting A minor to help position the fingers on the C.

We played through the song very slowly together, and I told her to focus on :

1. Put her fingers in the right fret, especially for G and D
2. Play C faster, and switch between C and D.
3. Leave the guitar out where you can see it.

October 1st, 2012

Today we learned D and G, and we started Tear Drops on My Guitar, in the new key. This is so she can play all the chords (we haven't learned F yet).

Her timing is really good, she should continue to work on C, she can take her pinky off the lowest string to make it easier.

We took photos of all the chords.

September 24th, 2012

Today we reviewed Em, Am, and E major.

We practiced with the metronome

http://www.metronomeonline.com/

Practiced strumming between Em and Am, Learn the C chord
Strum on time.

September 17th, 2012

Jessica learned Am, Em and E major. We talked about the parts of the guitar, She wants to learn Tear Drops on My Guitar my Taylor Swift.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCek6_dB0M

Strummed, down, down up, down, down.

September 10th, 2012