Hi Efe and family! Wishing you a great weekend!

Below are the items I’d like Efe to work on this week.

Ode to Joy

  • The circled areas on the sheet music only. I’d like these played more fluidly.
  • 68bpm.

Blues

  • I haven’t revealed the note names or the frets for this piece. The exercise is to locate the notes on the guitar. We did this in class and Efe did well on it. Doing this at home is a fair challenge for him.

Little Drummer Boy in D Major

— Listen to this.          (This line should provide you with a link. If it doesn’t, then search up Little Drummer Boy by Pentatonix.) This is a modern version of the song. The key they perform it in is different from ours. Ours is in D Major. (I’ll talk about keys in more detail next time.) I just want you to get to know how the song is supposed to sound when sung with at least one voice.

— Play this song at both 70bpm and 115bpm. 

— The 2 pictures in the above Google Drive link have the strumming pattern and the sequence of the chords.

  • I’ve shortened it; this way, you’ll be learning the main parts of it.

— The strumming pattern is the exact same all throughout. Every chord has the same strumming pattern. The only difference is the last bar, which is just an open D chord; I’ve highlighted this in green.

— The first strum is circled. It should be the loudest one for each bar; so, strum it the hardest :)

— The only tab I’ve written is the frets for each chord. We looked at each of these 3 chords in class today so holding them down properly should not feel new.

— Try this song both standing and sitting.

  • In both ways of playing, remember to push the guitar head outward from your body. (Or as I usually say, forward.) Remember the triangle analogy from today. Point your guitar and your left hand out from roughly the centre of your body. Doing so will help you maintain proper posture in both of your wrists.

Good work this past week, Efe. Keep it up! See you in a week!