Rock & Roll 101

June 23rd, 2015

Emily did a good job tonight. We recorded it a few times, and I uploaded it to Facebook.

Thanks Emily!

June 16th, 2015

Emily was feeling a little bored tonight, I think. A bit distracted, but she kept at it.

One more week and I think it could be ready to video-record!

June 9th, 2015

Emily really nailed the Hanging Tree, so we added the left hand, and she picked it up quickly. I recorded it a couple of times with the camera, but she wanted to wait until she had some time to practice, then we'll video it next week.

June 2nd, 2015

Emily did a really good job today. She was attentive, enthusiastic, excited even. Quite the contrast! :)

We did the hanging tree, from Hunger Games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKAM_Hk4eZ0

May 26th, 2015

Emily and I started with the scales that she'd been practicing... she hadn't remembered the other stuff, so hadn't practiced it.

We worked through the reading again, and I reminded her how to figure it out herself.

I'd like her to make it sound flowing, and musical.

May 19th, 2015

Sandi came in Emily's spot this week.

May 12th, 2015

Emily and I reviewed the song she 'wrote' last week, and then she wanted to write a new one.

This is good practice for her reading, but I'd love it if she focused a bit more-- I had a bit of a challenge getting her to not be silly today.

Perhaps for her it would be best to pick up a song book at Renaissance to work through?

May 5th, 2015

Emily and I played through a song we'd been working on (she said she hadn't really played anything last week).

Then I had her call out some notes and we made them into a melody-- and added chords.

I asked her to combine the two melodies, and to practice making them smooth.

April 28th, 2015

Emily and I worked on the noted song I wrote out for her but she was struggling with it, so I showed her a program I wrote to help students learn to read.

http://readsheetmusic.info/games/read-notes/

April 21st, 2015

April 14th, 2015

Emily forgot her book, so we worked on scales. We started with chromatic scales, both hands, all the way up and all the way down, hands apart and hands together.

Then we did C scales, up and down.

Then we did inversions, for C, D, and A major.

Then we added a new scale, which uses a strange fingering:

123,234,123,234,123,234,1232

The notes are

CDEDEFEFGFGAGABABCBCDC

April 7th, 2015

Emily and I reviewed last week's melodies, and added a couple of more melodies including Star Wars, and Beethoven's ninth.

We also added the chromatic scale, to do with both hands.

March 31st, 2015

Emily was fairly optimistic today.

We worked on reading notes-- I explained her the treble and bass clefs, and how to read the lines and spaces.

FACE and EGBDF are for the treble clef.

I loaned her a book to use to help with learning.

I wrote out a couple of simple melodies for her to work on.

March 24th, 2015

Emily and I worked especially on playing the A minor chord with the right hand shape. She was stubborn, but I was stubborner. ;)

I suggested she play the chord 100 times in a row every day. She'll be comfortable with the hand shape in no time!

March 17th, 2015

Emily is away this week.

March 10th, 2015

Emily and I worked on this song some more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ1mGto22SY

She wanted to add a new song, but it was a little hard, so I suggested she work on it some more.

I showed her how to fir the left hand with the right hand-- if she can get it to work on her IPOD, this might make it easier to learn.

March 3rd, 2015

Tonight was a bit of a challenge for Emily, I think. She seemed down on herself, and frustrated with the song. We decided to start a new song, and I picked one that has a video showing how to play the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ1mGto22SY

I wrote out the beginning melody for her as letter names, but I recommend she watches the video and tries to copy it as well.

Hopefully she feels better!

February 24th, 2015

Emily played through 22, and did quite well. The chorus has a hard syncopation, and we worked on it a bit together-- I suspect it might be just a little too hard for her, but we'll see how she does.

I asked her to add the left hand in this week.

February 17th, 2015

Emily was a machine today. She played through the song she was working on with the recording, and had no issues.

We then did it with the left hand, and she nailed it- was even able to play with the recording, only making minor mistakes here and there.

She wanted to learn a new song, so we added 22 by Taylor Swift:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgFeZr5ptV8

A lot harder, faster, so we just did the verse. She'll need to work on this one for sure. :)

February 10th, 2015

Emily was amazing today. She totally nailed the song and was able to play along with me on the guitar, at tempo. I'm so impressed!

Add the left hand in this week as you practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1oM3kQpXRo

February 3rd, 2015

Emily was really keen today again-- and I've been so impressed with her stick-to-it-ive-ness. She used to give up when things got hard, or didnt want to repeat a song more than once. She's now working her way through it and willing to do it even if it's challenging!

Way to GO EMILY!

January 27th, 2015

Emily went over Blank Space with the recording, and we then added a new song, We Are One by Connor Ross

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmMkwwYaN1E

January 20th, 2015

We reviewed Clean, and added the additional section, and went over it with the recording.

We then added a new song by Taylor Swift, Blank Space, and went over the left hand and right hand parts.

She tried the accordion for the last few minutes as well.

January 13th, 2015

Emily was quite eager again today... we went through the left hand of Clean, and she seemed excited to put it together to use both hands.

January 6th, 2015

Emily and I played through Auld Lang Syne, and then she wanted to do the song Grace is working on: Clean, by Taylor Swift:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MzExrN1QFU

We went through the chords together a few times. it's not the whole song, but this chord pattern is used often in the song.

December 30th, 2014

Email and I reviewed We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and then I worked with her on just the left hand a bit-- helping her to commit it to memory.

We then worked through inversions, (we'd learned C, A minor and G minor already. We added E minor today.

We then reviewed the C scale, and added the G major scale.

We then added Auld Lang Syne right hand only.

December 23rd, 2014

Emily wanted to do more inversions, so we added the A minor inversion.

We also put chords to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

December 16th, 2014

Emily was in a spectacular mood today! We went over the Deck the Halls song, and she wanted to add chords! Amazing!

We played it through together, and she did it on her own a few times-- she's such a trooper :)

We then added another Christmas Song, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," but she didn't want me to write the chords in yet for that one. LOL

December 9th, 2014

Emily came in tired today-- I found out later a little under-the-weather.

We went over the songs she'd been working on, and she hadn't really improved much in the left hand, though she was strong in the right (Let it Snow).

I'm thinking of pulling bit a back in learning the left hand until she's ready for it, because she seems to really avoid it.

We went over the magic scales, and she has significantly improved in the opposite movement- she could use more work on playing the same direction with both hands.

We added a new song, "deck the halls" -- I'll likely leave it to right hand only. I asked her to play it with the same types of fingerings she uses for the magic scale.

December 2nd, 2014

Emily did a pretty good job today, and was focused throughout the lesson with a minimal amount of checking the time! :) LOL

We added the chords to Let it Snow, and went over it separately and together (with both hands). I encouraged her to use the magic scale when playing the notes so she's not always using one or two fingers. This will be a challenge motivating her to do it I think. :)

We also worked on the magic scale separately, and she's coming along well. She should work on doing it faster in both directions, with both hands.

November 25th, 2014

We went over Jingle Bells first, and she did quite well. I asked her to continue to work on it so that she isn't pausing between chord changes.

We reviewed the "Magic Scale" and she hadn't really worked on it with her left hand as much, nor with both hands-- though she didn't realize I wanted her to try both hands, (and I may not have asked her!)

I asked her what song she'd like to choose next, and she selected "Let It Snow." I wrote out the melody for her and we went over it together a few times. Next week we'll add the chords.

November 18th, 2014

We reviewed Brokeness Aside, and I showed her the left hand-- she wants to play the chords only with her left hand, but in this song, the right hand should play the chords.

She played through the verse and the chorus, and should practice them this week.

Continue to practice the magic scale, and this time include the left hand as well.

We added Jingle Bells, and she should play this with both hands as well.

November 11th, 2014

Emily and I reviewed the songs she's been working on the last couple of weeks. She tends to want to take short cuts on things, but I was a little relentless, and made her do it again until she was doing it without the shortcut... much to her chagrin, I think.

We kept at it, and I think she was pretty happy by the end. :)

November 4th, 2014

Emily was keen to show men what she'd learned on the piano, which is such a nice change from guitar!

She was avoiding putting both hands together, though, which may be the next hurdle we need to face.

Once we get away from melodies, and start playing piano accompaniment, she may find that less difficult.

October 28th, 2014

Emily seems really bored with guitar, so we decided to try piano out.

Though she wasn't too keen on using "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as a learning song, once she got going with both hands, I noticed a really improvement in her enthusiasm. I think the lack of pain while playing will help her out lots too.

I'm going to share a couple of songs for her to print out using Google Docs.

October 21st, 2014

Emily and I went over the scale from last week, and I encouraged her to try it on other strings. We did it on a few other strings, then added the full "G" scale.

She should practice it going up and down, and try not repeating the notes at the top and bottom when she does.

October 14th, 2014

We added "We Are Never Getting Back Together"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4iX5D9Z64

Then I gave her some simple scale notes do do on one string. We'll add to that in the future.

October 7th, 2014

We reviewed Invisible, and she really did much better on the C... she's using the C add2 chord instead of a full C, but I'll take what I can get. If you can encourage her to work on the real C, that'd be great.

The new song this week is Red by Taylor Swift:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlot0i3Zykw

September 30th, 2014

I think Emily struggled at one point to not cry... we were going through the Taylor Swift song, and I was calling chords out to her. At the end I looked up from the chart, and she seemed misty-eyed... hope I didn't cause any problems.

She is struggling with switching chords fast enough-- maybe in her practice time she should just focus on the chords she hates; C, F, F#m, etc.

We added a new song today, Invisible by Taylor Swift:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJbLTPVvEbk

September 23rd, 2014

Emily seemed tired today... good focus for the first 20 minutes, but the last 10 she had her eyes on the clock-- LOL! She's so funny.

We worked on 22, by Taylor Swift... she wasn't too happy about the C chord, but was quite determined to get it as long as it wasn't too fast.

The strumming of this song is a little different in that it has two down strums, a slap/rest, then two down strums again on a different chord. G_ G_ rest D D_

She will get it if she keeps working! :)

September 16th, 2014

Emily and I went over Trouble, and she did really well with the B minor! I found if I told her the chords and how long to play them for (G for 4, A for 4, Bm for 2) then she was able to keep up much better than if she was trying to read along. We'll do that more.


She'd like to learn 22 by Taylor Swift next, and I recommend she put together a list of songs to learn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niVVIOP2pms

September 9th, 2014

Emily and I reviewed all the chords (or the main ones anyway) that we'd learned from last year. We then went through Collect for Purity from the black binder.

After that she wanted to learn a new song, so we picked Trouble by Taylor Swift. The capo is on the fourth fret.

We went through the strum pattern that she uses (do do, rest, do do, rest, do) a number of times before playing through the verses.

We ran out of time before getting further.

June 24th, 2014

Today was our last lesson. We reviewed the songs for the kid's band on Saturday.

June 17th, 2014

We went over a song from the kid's worship band. Emily had a lot of questions today.

June 10th, 2014

Emily and I worked through some of the songs for the week she's playing in the kid's band.

June 3rd, 2014

Emily wanted to learn "Blackbird," but was upset that it had a few chords in it she didn't really like.

We talked about alternatives, but she was dead-set on doing the song, but dead-set against playing C.

Eventually she came around, and it turned out fine.

I asked her to play in the kids band, which she is excited to do. I'll send you a list of songs soon.

May 27th, 2014

Emily was a bit distracted / topic-changing for the first half of the lesson, but after a bit we were able to get her interested in reviewing chords, and we added a couple others to the list.

It was hot, clammy, so I don't blame her! :)

May 20th, 2014

Emily and I reviewed the two new songs from last week, and tried to think of another one to learn.

We considered One Republic - Love Runs Out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE5WscjdNZs[1]

Cruise - Florida Georgia Line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXX0iIwYY8o[1]

May 13th, 2014

May 6th, 2014

Emily and I went through Down by the Bay together, and added a couple of others including "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea," "The Other Day I Met a Bear" etc.

April 29th, 2014

We started with review of a song she was feeling frustrated with, because it didn't sound right to her.

Aferwards, Emily didn't feel like continuing with the John Denver songs we added last week, but was interested in learning some camp fire songs. We added "Down by the Bay," and went over it a few times. We found a couple of recordings, and played along with them.

April 22nd, 2014

I guess Emily's notes weren't saved for some reason, so I'll try to remember what I wrote.

We went over the country road's song (she didn't wanted to work on Taylor Swift this week) and we added two more songs by John Denver: Annie's Song, and I'm Sorry.

She was just a little distracted tonight-- we counted guitar picks, and stuff like that. LOL

April 15th, 2014

Emily and I went over Country Roads without the music and with, and then thought we'd try Taylor Swift, "You Belong to Me":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuNIsY6JdUw

She could maybe try to pick 10 or so songs that we could learn over the next while.

April 8th, 2014

Today was Emily's last day at 4:00 p.m. ;-)

We reviewed Hey Brother, and I was really impressed at how well she's doing on it! That's what I love to see!

We tried adding one in E, which once she realized it had C#m and B in it, was less eager to do. So we talked about some others, and settled on "Country Roads" by John Denver.

April 1st, 2014

Emily added a new song today, by Avicii

Hey Brother:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIiPLVR6NA

She was full of beans again this week, but I'm getting better at going with it, eh? ;)

See you guys Saturday!

March 25th, 2014

Emily was full of beans today!

We went over the Dark Horse song by Katy Perry, and then tried a few others which were varying degress of 'hardness,' or they had an F chord in them.

We tried Pharrel Williams. Happy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM

Imagine Dragons, On Top of the World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8PrTzLaLHc

Then the Lego movie's Everything is Awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StTqXEQ2l-Y

We settled on Brave by Sara Bareilles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAfjUHlFSM

March 18th, 2014

Emily and I added Dark Horse by Katy Perry today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9S-88WxPdE

She's really coming along well. She needs to work this week on loving that F chord! ;-)

March 11th, 2014

March 4th, 2014

Emily and I finished up "Let it God," which she is really doing well on, and added "Roar" by Katy Perry.

February 25th, 2014

Emily really nailed her new song this week, "Let it Go:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHue-HaXXzg

I was really impressed at how well she switched between chords on this brand new song!!

Keep it uP!

Learn F and Cminor a bit better.

Watch the dynamics of this song (loud and soft parts), and match the band's beat.

February 18th, 2014

We went over "Let Her Go" a few times, and tried to sing it without stopping or slowing down.

I feel sometimes like I'm not doing a very good job with Emily. I'm not sure how to communicate with her in an effective way-- if you can give me any help at all, I'd appreciate it.

I guess my question is how to deal with it when she argues with me? I'm not sure how to best handle that.

February 11th, 2014

Emily and I added a new song, Passenger "Let Her go:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufEejvMEP64

February 4th, 2014

Emily and I went over "Say Something," and then talked about a new song for a moment.

Perhaps you can help her think of something else to learn.

We then added a chord, and reviewed a bunch of chords.

January 28th, 2014

Emily is really doing well! I can tell she's working on those chords, and B minor is SO CLOSE.

Her hands are small, so it's normal to be discouraged and feel like it doesn't sound right. As long as her fingers are in the right place, the rest will come eventually.

We added a new song by Great Big World, called "Say Something," something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2U0Ivkn2Ds

January 21st, 2014

Emily and I worked through Wrecking Ball some more, and I wrote the chords on the lyrics for her.

She's coming along quite well!!

Thanks so much for the drum from Cuba!!

January 14th, 2014

Emily and I went over Wrecking Ball - we focused on switching to B minor to D, and Em.

Getting closer-- when she's got that, we'll be able to go along with the song.

January 7th, 2014

Today Emily and I started with review of chords, and then did some strum patterns along with a drum beat. She's doing much better at not speeding up. When she switches chords she does lose the beat somewhat, so we'll need to focus on that.

We then added a song to learn (Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjpvVGvsTj4

It takes a capo on the 3rd fret, which she was uncomfortable with.

December 31st, 2013

December 17th, 2013

Emily and I reviewed the newest chords, and added a new strum pattern. We added the chords to Santa Baby as well.

December 10th, 2013

We added "Let It Snow" today, as well as a few new chords.

December 3rd, 2013

This week we learned about 5 new chords- Bm, Asus, Asus2, C7, Dm9

We also went over an Imagine Dragon's song, called Demons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQYaoiIFh8

Great job!! We can record it if you can change the chords faster.

November 26th, 2013

Emily has a real passion for learning chords!!! I'm running out of chords to teach her!

She's doing much better, today was a very rewarding lesson. I love her enthusiasm.

Perhaps you can encourage her to think of some songs she'd really love to learn.

November 19th, 2013

Emily and I went over the chords she's been learning, played through the songs on her sheets, and added a couple of new chords (B7, D7, C major 7).

November 12th, 2013

Emily was a little crazy near the end of the lesson. Please let me know if I can do anything to help calm her down, or to not get too crazy.

We added A7 and E7, and played through the songs and chords she's learned so far. She has got most chords to 2 seconds, which is terrific. She should try to get to 1 second as soon as she can.

November 5th, 2013

Today we wrote another silly song, but with a melody to play along on the butterflies.

I had forgotten about the book being separated into two parts, sorry!

I wrote out D minor for now as well.

I'm not sure what to do about Emily's hesitance to hurt her fingers.

October 29th, 2013

We added two songs today, one that we wrote together about Pizza, and also Jingle Bells, Emily's choice.

I put some of the chords in brackets, which means she doesn't have to play them this week. She should try to get switching fast enough to be able to play without stopping.

October 22nd, 2013

Today Emily and I reviewed the 6 chords she's been learning, and added a new one, C.

We then added a new strumming pattern, and talked about 3 beats in a bar briefly (counting in 3, instead of 4 at the beginning of a song).

Then we talked about the "home row," and I had her play the single note on the third string of the last butterfly.

We then did a chromatic scale, and I introduce the topic of sharps and flats.

October 15th, 2013

I was late for the beginning of Emily's lesson today, so we started 15 minutes late and went 15 minutes over. This worked for Oliver, and Sydney had cancelled today.

We learned three new chords, D, Am, and A major, and some new strum patterns.

I also recorded a video for her.

October 8th, 2013

Emily and I had our first lesson today, learning the parts of the guitar, and three chords: Eminor, E major, and G.