I have reached the end of this project. it is week 12 of Genius Hour and this is the final post. Improvements across the board have been made, and I am rather proud of what I was able to accomplish. Was I off track at times? Yes. Did I procrastinate? Yes. But did I meet my goal? Yes. Many guitar players have an arsenal of different licks, but not very many actually know complete songs. I attribute that to boredom and patience because learning a cool lick can be accomplished in a day if you really practice it. Now this can vary depending on your level of playing skill, but it generally doesn't take long. Learning a whole song however, is challenging. Probably the most difficult part of this project was trying to incorporate practicing into my schedule, a thing that many a guitar player struggle with, and this wasn't what I was expecting to be so difficult. Before this semester started, I typically had hours of free time a night with the opportunity to do all sorts of things, and because of that, I expected to practice a good amount. This was not the case however, because 2 things happened: #1 my school load got heavier. Now I had anticipated this ahead of time, but I didn't think much about it. The final few weeks were especially hectic due to hours of competition practice and school studying. Who knew one AP exam could take up so much of my time? The second thing that happened was that I started to get bored pretty easily. Keep in mind that I basically played one song for 12 weeks straight, and as I've mentioned in other blog posts I tended to just not play the song at all and learn other songs. On top of this, there was a part in the song that always stumped me, and when I came to it, it made me want to quit playing the song altogether. That was actually something that delayed me because, not to toot my own horn, things have come pretty easily all of my life, and I am not going to lie to you when I say that when things become a little difficult I sometimes lose enthusiasm and want to move onto something else. I'm sure many of us can say that, but it is especially true for myself. But I eventually got over this hump and just began grinding away at the song. I improved a lot along the way as well, because the constant playing made my technique smoother. Is the final product of the song going to be perfect? Absolutely not because it's gonna be the first time playing in front of my peers. But I m going to do my best, and this project has overall taught me not give up or move on from something just because it seems difficult or boring. Practice doesn't make perfect, but it does make permanent. For the final video of the journey, I am going to just be playing the guitar, as I am writing this with my brother asleep. I hope you can see the improvement in my playing and how far I have come. There will be a little compilation in another week, as it takes a while to put together, but I will post it to YouTube showcasing where I started to where I ended.
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This post is gonna be a little bit short, and that is because most of my explaining is actually done in the video itself. This week was kind of weird for me. I was practicing an OK amount, and my vocals didn't sound too bad. I was more fluid on the guitar as well, and I can definitely tell that I am improving in my skills. But when I recorded the video, I sounded off and unlike my normal self. I even forgot an entire section of the piece. It really is crazy, and that is because I have sang that song probably a hundred times, yet I skipped an entire section in the video. I'm telling you, when you add the mix, it completely changes things, and makes your mind go crazy. Like I said before, the video will go into more detail on the subject. That basically describes the practicing I've been doing now, as I know the song pretty well at this point and now it is just repetition. I do have to use words sometimes though, because sometimes I get them mixed up, because I've said it is a whole new world when you begin singing and playing guitar, and that honestly is what makes the greats so good.
So, this weekend was exhausting, but not because of the playing. I had a talent competition for my church at our conference Friday night and all day Saturday. I sang in a few categories, and I came out 3rd in one and 1st in another. The entire week was devoted to training my voice for this competition, and it paid off too. In both categories I was able to qualify for nationals, so I am going to be heading down to Jacksonville, FL in the summer to compete. It basically took a lot of the time away that I had to practice. I'm still on track though, but even though I say that every week at this point, it is true. I was actually pretty ahead of schedule on the project itself in all honesty, even if I did procrastinate a little bit here and there. I'm pretty confident in myself for the last three weeks of the project, because I have nothing major coming up (except studying for the AP world exam, which is probably going to kick my butt). I was originally going to post a video this week, but when I was practicing I really and truly didn't improve much. But it is alright, and in the last couple of weeks I hope that there is a big improvement in comparison to the video that I posted last week. Anyways that is all for this weeks blog it really didn't matter, the fact that I didn't get a real good chance of practicing this week. On Sunday, when I finally did practice, it just flowed. Seriously, I have about 4 weeks to perfect this song, and that puts me right on schedule. Now 4 weeks may sound like plenty of time, but in reality it's all that I can get. Like I've stated before, the last 10% of perfecting a song is by far the most difficult, and that was that wall that I hit last week. So to make it a little easier on myself, I decided to drop the song down a half step, as it makes the song lower for me to sing. Mayer has got himself a range, and it is very difficult at times to sing the higher parts of the song, so when I dropped it down, it did make it easier. Ditching the track was also something that I needed to do. This gave me the opportunity to try it out for myself with no help (except for lyrics). What this also did, was help me to kind of make my rendition of the song my own. Mayer, and many other guitar players, sometimes like to play the same song a little bit different each time. That's kinda what I am doing with this song, as there are certain picking patterns that can be used throughout the song that I came up with. And it sounds pretty good! That is one thing that I do love about guitar, is that it really allows you to express yourself in whatever way you see fit. In the video below, you will see that I am obviously not perfect in any facet of the word, but that I do have a grip on the overall song. I didn't use any track, like I said before, so I am a little off sometimes. And like I said at the beginning of the project, this is really the first time that I am singing and paying at the same time, and throughout the beginning of the project I was focused on learning the song. This video is really the first time that I am really practicing singing and playing, and boy is it a challenge. Overall, I didn't practice much, but I'm still on track and I'm getting more and more confident, as I've started to hit a climb when it comes to learning the guitar itself. Despite what the title says, this was the week in which I practiced the least. I have about a month to go for this project, and honestly, I am feeling rather confident, despite the fact that I barely practiced. There are some problems however, and that has to do with my upcoming schedule. Next weekend, I have a big part on Sunday at our church for Easter. The following weekend, I have to go to Greensboro for a competition also involving my church, and both instances actually span a combination of Friday/Saturday/Sunday, so my weekend schedule is going to be pretty hectic.
That's where the problem lies, as the weekends are when I normally practice, as my school schedule doesn't quite allow for the practice time that I wish for. This past weekend was no different. On Saturday, we were gone half of the day, and the other half was spent cleaning and tidying up the house/practicing for Fine Arts (the competition that involves my church in a couple week). And Sundays are never good days for practice because I am constantly at the church. Now you are probably thinking why the title says 'Real Practice' when I didn't get much done, and that has to do with the fact that the really difficult stuff is about to start. When you are learning a song, you first start with the basics and taking it at your own speed, that way over time you can begin to perfect it. That is that stage I am in, and it is very difficult. I have almost all the chord shapes and melodies down, as well as the vocals. But lining everything up, keeping everything in time, and correcting minor to major mistakes is quite challenging, and it can be frustrating as well. Like I said before, I still have a month to go, and that is why I'm staying optimistic and am choosing not to worry. I'm where I need to be. You know, normally I will practice throughout the week here and there and mainly do a lot of the practicing on Saturdays. Well, that didn't happen. This weekend I happened to be off at some friends houses and I really didn't sit down and make time to practice. So, in reality I'm still where I was about a week ago.
This is alright however, because little bumps in the road are what make journeys interesting, no matter how small they are. I believe that I can get back on track easily, but I noticed something this week. In the small time I played i actually got pretty bored pretty quickly. Now this typically happens, especially for guitar players. For us, we like to have periods of crazy growth where we are learning lots of new techniques and licks. But there are also many periods where you hit a plateau, and those can be very tough for the guitar community. This is why not a lot of people continue with it after a few months, and you really have to apply yourself, as even if you don't feel like you are going anywhere, you are. If you feel that you are constantly playing the same licks over and over, you are still improving. Guitar takes time, and a lot of it. I've had to keep telling myself this, as this doesn't pertain to just my Genius Hour project. Typically, if I want to pay an instrument, it would be the guitar. But all week I have been wanting to just play some chords on the piano, and I have no clue how to do so. Anyway, the project is a little over a month away, and I still have things to perfect. Time to get back to work. I decided to do something different. Towards the end of the week, I decided to try and play along with the song, in order to help me clean up some rough edges or to help me figure out some picking patterns and chords within the song that I hadn't caught before. Not to toot my own horn, but it was a really good idea. Although I have a very long way to go, in practicing I found out that I'm only at the halfway point and I'm pretty much where I needed to be when the project first started. Now even though I practiced with the song, that doesn't mean that I sang. I decided to just try (key word try) to perfect the song as best I could before I started really adding the vocals. And this honestly helped me a pretty decent amount. An issue that I found in playing that I had previously looked over was the issue of tempo. Since I am not fluent in the song yet, as there are still some chords and patterns that I have yet to be able to tackle, I noticed that I tend to speed up when playing. This is common for most musicians, and it typically comes from either focusing too much on the notes themselves, or nerves. This is why playing with the original recording is a good idea. As you can see in the video below, I missed so many things it was hard to count. But I was proud of myself, because I actually did better than I expected too. I have a lot of room to grow, especially when it comes to the final bridges of the song, as I didn't practice those much (and you could definitely tell), but overall I'm still improving, and that's what really counts. This spring break panned out to be exactly how I imagined it would go: nowhere to go and nothing to do, and this allowed to me to practice more than any other week so far. It also made the song easier, and the project is running right on schedule. Things are starting to pick back up. The best thing that I found this week were a couple of tutorials on youtube that detailed the whole song. Because of this, I was finally able to move past the intro and began practicing the entire song. That was actually a big step, because then I learned most the song failry quickly. One of the drawbacks this week however, was school, and this is something that is expected. But that doesn't give me an excuse, and aside from spring break, that is something that I need to account and plan for in the coming weeks.
Another big improvement was that I was able to test out singing and playing, and it gave me an idea of the difficulty that it would truly be. Although it wasn't easy, and I got off beat within seconds, it wasn't too hard either. I could still play the rythyms to some degree, and I was able to maintian the chord shapes as well. Now I know that doesn't sound like much, but it was pretty cool to say the least. You have to remember that I have never played and sang at the same time in my life, so this is a big deal. So based on the difficulty right from the start, I think I shoudl be able to have the singing down withing a couple of weeks. I'm excited with what the next few weeks hold, and a video compilation will hopefully happen by the end of the project. Until next week, where I have the entire spring break to practice, I am gone. For this week, I decided to step away from the guitar for a little bit (although I obviously played and practiced) and chose to work on the vocals. I have a very low voice, and John Mayer can hit some crazy lows that I can hit but he can hit some pretty impressive highs that I cannot. Stop This Train is a song that showcases a little bit of his highs, so when it came to getting the vocals down, it wasn't easy. Now I have to say that knowing the song before hand helped tremendously, as I really didn't have to learn many lyrics. The video down below is actually what my voice sounded after a week of singing, and that is why it doesn't sounf the best. The best singers on the planet are always training and refining their voice, and that is what I will be continuing to do in the following weeks. This works out good with the guitar playing, as upon closer examination, it is actually a pretty repetitivive song when it comes to the chords, so the syncopation and coordination might not be as hard as I had previously thought. Back to the singing, it is not an easy song as I have previously mentioned. This is a song that is really gonna test my range and control, even though it may not be as high as a lot of other people can sing. So I'm getting there, and I'm still working towards the goal, and hopefully I will be able to give a live performance. Oh and sorry that the video screen is all black lol. Now its starting to get a little difficult. I understand why this project is going to take so long, and why it's named "What Have I Gotten Myself Into" for a reason. At this point in the project, learning the entire song is rather challenging, because I am a beginner, and I do not know how to read tabs that well, and these tabs are the only ways I can find a step by step guide to the fingering of the song itself. At the beginning of the project, I had expected by the end of this week to be done with the guitar playing, thus making my way to vocals. This is absolutely not the case.
I had not previously thought about how difficult learning a song is without anyone there to guide you. I had originally thought that I would be able to learn the song off YouTube tutorials, yet almost all of the tutorials focused on the intro, and not the entirety of the song itself. This isn't good because covers of the song don't give you a step by step analysis of the song. Also, I don't have any close friends that know the song fully, so getting tips from them wouldn't really help. However, with what I had learned, I was able to hone it on it and perfect those specific parts. The intro does sound pretty nice and almost identical to the original. But there is one thing that I do notice when it comes to playing, and that is after a while, you can very easily get sidetracked and begin playing a lot of other songs, as practicing the same song over and over can get boring. I have to say I have struggled with that at times throughout that week, and maybe that also has played into my not progressing like I should. Hopefully in this next week things will change, and that I will be able to get back on track. |
AuthorAspiring guitar player who loves the blues and finger-style. John Mayer is the man ArchivesCategories |