Eliana (link)
What to practice: Savior by Rise Against, The Offspring guitar solo, G major/modes (check your dropbox for the updated version)
How long to practice: 15-20 minutes daily
Keys to effective practice: The transition from the intro into the verse is our main focus for Savior. Check out the “Savior Rhythm Study” in Dropbox and you’ll find in written form exactly how we tackled it during our lesson, with a few extra points to help out. If you build it back up like this, one step at a time starting with getting your picking hand comfortable, you’ll have more confidence while playing the full riff as you won’t have to juggle multiple things at the same time. While playing the Offspring solo for now focus on bending the notes to be as in tune as possible, and remember here it is perfectly okay to have your thumb wrapped around the other side of the neck, this is referred to as a Blues position (which is the mother of all bendy notes music). Finally, there is an updated Modes page on there called “7 Modes Off One Root” which may be beneficial to practice in conjunction with your other modes handout as it will allow you to see how each one is similar and different.
I’m throwing a lot at you Eliana and you’re handling it well, keep going and you will keep growing. You got it!
Aarnav
What to practice: Everything up to page 9 including “World Beat”
How long to practice: 10 minutes daily
Keys to effective practice: At first you may want to call out the note names in the song before playing, this can be done as fast as long as it’s accurate! When you’ve completed this remember to count the beat (1-2-3-4-) while performing, holding each note for its full length. Take it slow enough that you can play with confidence. Be sure to review the diagrams at the beginning of each chapter too to be sure you’re playing the correct fret for each note, otherwise you may be practicing something while unknowingly playing the wrong notes!
Keep up the good work Aarnav, it’s paying off!
Aarna
What to practice: Everything up to page 9 including “World Beat.”
How long to practice: 10 minutes daily
Keys to effective practice: Essentially, I want you to approach practicing the same way we do in our lessons – we are practicing, and simultaneously practicing practicing! So, think of how we tackle a song and emulate that: call out and recognize the note names, look for anything differing rhythms to pay attention to as well as patterns, then begin performing while you count the beat as you play (1-2-3-4-). Also, it will be good at this phase to check the diagrams at the intro of each chapter to make sure you’re fretting the correct frets for each note, ie: open E for E, first fret for F, 3rd for G, etc…
Really happy with how you’re progressing with this material Aarna, keep going!
Simon (link)
What to practice: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Autumn Leaves, G Major Modes/Modes off of G (check dropbox for new handout)
How long to practice: 15-20 minutes daily
Keys to effective practice: I think the most effective way you pick up on things is through hearing and imitation – which is fantastic as its the root of plenty of music traditions. For Autumn Leaves you may find it beneficial to listen to and play along with recordings – both playing the chords and the melody. You will notice that some musicians take liberties with both of these things, adding notes, changing a chord here and there, etc… do your best to pick up on what’s going on and imitate it. This is an incredibly effective skill to have a musician akin to a Painter looking at a landscape and being able to reproduce it on canvas. Now, that being said, do use the lead sheet as well as our chord guide as a sort of “legend” on how to navigate the song. This will mean that on top of playing along it will likely be useful to first go over the tune with these references first, to get them fresh in your mind and fingers, before attempting. But, experiment and find out what works for you!
Good work Simon, you’re picking up on some harder concepts on the instrument nicely and your effort is paying off.
Albert
What to practice: Tuning the guitar, String Names, and Our intro riffs! – Smoke on the Water, Seven Nation Army, Come As You Are, Sunshine Of Your Love, etc…
How long to practice: Ideally if you can practice a little each day it’s better than doing a lot on one day (but don’t let this discourage you from doing a lot on one day either) For now if you can pick up and, tune, and play for 10 minutes you’ll be golden.
Keys to effective practice: For now I just want you getting comfortable with playing and having fun making music. I put together a pdf of the tunes we played during our lesson with everything we played as is on the first page, with some additional songs and different fingerings on the second page (these ones are in the same key as the songs actually are). If you get stuck with any rhythms listen to the song itself to get it fresh in your head. Additionally if you need a refresher with how to read tab you can check this video out: How To Read Guitar Tab
Great meeting you Albert! Very stoked to under go this adventure with you!