This week Sophia came back and joined me for our video. We decided to work on changing chords again as that seemed to be the biggest challenge for us. Earlier in the week we found a resource that was a lot of help for us. This resource changed our mindset from focusing on our left hand (chord hand) to focusing more on our strumming hand. The idea behind this is that the music or people that are playing with you aren’t going to wait for you if you need to pause to change you chords. Doing it this way you might have a beat or two that aren’t right but it is better to do that then to pause and try to catch up and find the rhythm again. The other aspect of this theory is that it will eventually force your left hand to speed up.
In this video we just chose our own basic strumming pattern of just strictly downward strumming, switching our chords every 6 strums. Going from an A major to an E minor is a very easy transition so this was a good spot for us to star at with the easy strumming and easy chord change. For the most part I thought it went fairly well but it shows that we have a long way to go.
In this second video we decided to focus on a different strumming pattern. We found a video that shows 7 different strumming patterns that work for almost any song. Sophia picked out the pattern for us as well as the chords that we would be working on. In this video we are going from an E major to an E minor which is actually even easier than our transitions in the first video. That is fine though because we are incorporating a slightly more difficult strumming pattern. Again, I think it went alright but there is lots of room for improvement. I do think that I am ready to start using more difficult chords for my transitions.
I am currently trying to figure out where I think I need to put most of my energy into. I would like to try practicing some songs as I think that I could eventually learn how to play a song if I just focused on that. Or, should I be focusing on different strumming patterns to become more well rounded. I think I am going to try to incorporate both. Either way I think that I need to start taking bigger steps each week. Finding time to work on this skill has been more of a challenge than I was hoping it will be but my goal for this week coming up is to dedicate more time to practice than I have in previous weeks. Thanks for reading and watching.
I love that your daughter is learning with you! Also, where did she get her guitar…she wins coolest guitar award…lol.
Good job on learning some new chords and patterns. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to save your videos….especially the strumming pattern one.
In my next blog, I’ll have to share a video of how I learn a new song with a new pattern. I start by covering all the strings so that they don’t make a sound, and I practice strumming over and over again. My ukulele experience helps me with the chord transitions, but learning new strumming patterns and rhythms takes up ALL of my brain power. It feels a lot like patting your head and rubbing circles on your tummy at the same time! I usually run through a song for a long time without any chords so that I can practice the pattern and the singing first.
I see you were wondering if you should try a song. I know everyone is different, but I’m finding that the songs are what make it fun for me. They also push me to practice more often. Horse With No Name is recommended by a lot of people as a first song because it’s only 2 chords over and over. You could try that…one of them is Em, so you’re halfway there!!
Thank you for your feedback, I think it will be very helpful, as I stated, I am not really sure where to go from here. I like you idea of just going through the song strumming first while holding the strings. I think I saw that in one of the videos I watched but I haven’t tried it yet, I will have to give it a shot. I actually borrowed the guitar that Sophia is using from school. There happened to be an extra one laying around, and of course she loved the look! And of course you can use the my videos how ever you want. I’ll be sure to check out your post. Good luck
Hi Russ, great to see Sophia is back, and you are learning together. As you noted in your other post, YouTube is a plethora of learning resources! I have never strummed a guitar (except for comedic effect), so I know nothing about this topic – are there other online free resources the equivalent of YouTube videos that show finger placement, strumming techniques, etc.?
Great work Sophia and Russ!
I have enjoyed watching your journey together. One day, when you 2 make it big as the Daddy Daughter Duo, you need to remember where you started and remember your EC&I 831 family! How has your patience been tested with not only trying to learn how to play guitar, but also teach your daughter at the same time? I know with my students this would be easy, but with my own kids I might find it difficult haha. I am here to help be your band manager if you two need one! Keep up the great work DDD!
Russ what a great idea and bonding experience by learning alongside your daughter! These are videos you’ll need to share at her graduation, wedding and so on- reminding her of how she spent time with good ol’ dad before she inevitably becomes too cool for this. 🙂 What is her favourite part of this experience? And does she have any songs she’s really motivated to learn?
Thanks so much for sharing!