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Connor Gouthro
Past Notes
January 31st, 2017
Today was the last lesson, and we worked on Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AXZQ0twvxg
January 24th, 2017
Connor wasn't ready to work on the song tonight, so we learned a new song, Would? by Alice in Chains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nco_kh8xJDs
We went through the tab together, then played along with the recording.
We put off the 15 minute extra class time to another week.
January 17th, 2017
Today we had a 45 minute lesson, to help make up for the snow storm last week.
We'll do the same next week.
We recorded a bit this weekend, and worked more on his new song. He seems to have found a new passion for it, and I'm glad!
We've decided to record as much of the song as we can next week. I asked him to write out the chord chart for this song so we can lay down a "scratch track".
He also brought $115 dollars with him.
January 10th, 2017
Connor wasn't' able to make it because of the snow storm. Next week we'll add 15 minutes to the lesson *to 6:15*
January 3rd, 2017
Connor and I spent some time talking about song writing, and also chords. We talked through various chords to play on the neck based on how to play them open, like Major 7ths, minor 7ths, sus4, add9, min9, etc.
I also encouraged him to keep writing, and not get hung up on the song he's having trouble finishing-- and to record his ideas.
December 27th, 2016
Connor didn't come this week.
December 20th, 2016
We started off talking about blues approaches, and modes. A mode is when you start a scale on a different note than the tonic, and play it in yet a different key.
I showed him a couple of examples; I'm not certain Connor really wants to apply these things we're learning-- he seems distracted when I'm trying to teach him things.
He wasn't ready to work on his song again-- I'm thinking he might be abandoning it, which is too bad, because it's really good! I hope he decides to finish it up. We're close! :)
December 13th, 2016
Connor was in the mood to do some classic rock. We started out with The Police, Message In a Bottle, and moved on to cover some ideas like Bon Jovi, Stairway to Heaven, and ended up with Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Under the Bridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9TunCtR3dQ
December 6th, 2016
Connor said he had a bad day and just wanted to do something other than write his song, so we learned two guitar songs by Seether:
Seether, Nobody Praying for Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFDtQTwaaBM
Seether, Same Damn Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmJgZoKkyVI
November 29th, 2016
Connor and I laid down some tracks today - drums and electric guitar, and a bit of vocals. He still isn't quite ready with the lyrics to the chorus, so he really needs to focus on that this week.
November 22nd, 2016
We spent more time today working on the melody and lyrics for his new song. Some parts were a bit pedantic, so we drew it out a bit, and worked on rhymes etc. It's going to be nice!
November 15th, 2016
Connor and I continued with the song he's been writing. We put the intro, verse, and chorus together, and then added a bridge. We played through the final progression a couple of times, and then recorded it.
The song now needs to have the words put together, and he just has the one verse. I asked him to finish it up this week so we can get the recording further along.
November 8th, 2016
Connor and I did some recording today of his new song that he has been working on. He also sang the verse for me that he's been working on. It's pretty good, and a great start.
We recorded three tracks as a type of test of what he's got so far. He just needs to get the layout and structure of the whole song done.
November 1st, 2016
We continued working on the song Connor has been doing. I helped him write out the chord progression for the 'intro' or verse, and then we talked about the structure of the chorus.
I drew a circle of fifths for him so he could see the relationship between the chords he's using, and know what other chords are at his disposal. I also connected it to the fret logic we've been learning.
We then talked about metaphors, and what's important to him- what makes him passionate, or feel moved. He came upon a metaphor of time- using various images like clocks, the hands on a clock, ticking, etc. to illustrate that he doesn't want to run out of time to do all the things that are important to him.
October 25th, 2016
Connor and I worked on some theory tonight-- it's not something he loves, but I think he started to get it.
He wants to write a song, so we talked about some of the rules involved in writing a song... 8 bar verses, choruses, and bridge, themes, made up of 2 four bar phrases, lyrics that use metaphors to describe ideas, that kind of thing.
We then talked about the circle of fifths and the chords that belong together in a relationship.
We wrote out the chords for E, A, and C as an example, and then Dm (which is F).
We talked about the relative minors of the four chords.
His homework is to try to write a song for next week-- to put together some lyric ideas, or if he's intimidated by that, to write chords using the 3 major and 3 minor chords of any key.
October 18th, 2016
Great lesson with Connor today-- we started with some blues, and he demonstrated the scales he's been working on-- we then talked about the two other scale positions that are left-- open fret scales, and the next up from here--
We also worked through Superstition by Stevie Wonder a bit.
October 11th, 2016
We reviewed the scales we looked at last week.
We worked through a Red Hot Chili Pepper's song, Dani California:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tvDAKfpx_4
October 4th, 2016
Connor and I worked on scales today- he already had a scale that he had learned, in two different ways (natural and harmonic). We also learned a scale a couple of weeks ago which I call the "home row" scale, which is a good beginner's scale. He hadn't been able to put together the concept of playing the scales in the right keys, or using the whole neck with the different scale systems.
We worked on that, and added another position for scales - on the 7th? fret.
I recommended he record some chording and then practice moving between the scale shapes while he listens to it.
September 27th, 2016
I had Connor play through Ariels, and he's coming along pretty good on it. Needs a bit of refinement here and there.
We then continued with My Disaster, by Seether, and found some tab to use to check we're learning it correctly.
https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/seether-my-disaster-tab-s396536t1?c=94697
The main verse section seems to be keyboards, but we're going to learn it on the guitar anyway.
September 20th, 2016
Connor came with a good list of songs he wanted to learn, so we started at the top, looking at System of a Down, Ariel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-iepu3EtyE
We then went through a Seether song, called My Disaster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT0nlD7a9Yc
Some challenging stuff, but fun to learn.
(Connor left his book here - he can come get it during a spare, or at lunch if he wants)
September 13th, 2016
Connor and I spent some time talking about the types of things he wants to learn. He played me some songs he loved, and some things that he'd made up.
I showed him the major/minor/minor/major/major/minor/minor theory, and the A shape scale, and he picked up the basics pretty quickly.
He is going to put together a list of songs he'd like to learn, and we're going to talk about the theory behind them as we learn them to flesh out his learning in practical and theory.
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