It's week 2 and I've been itching to get the guitar back in my hands. This week, I picked up where I left off by accessing the "chord trainer" tool in Garage Band, but I quickly found it frustrating due the fact I seem to be playing the chords correctly and yet the program is telling me I'm doing it wrong. Because of this, I decided, instead, to start researching the chords necessary to play "The Scientist." Through YouTube, I quickly came across this video compliments of Mahalo.com.
Once my capo arrived, I immediately dove back into the YouTube video from Mahalo.com. I learned that, in order to play "The Scientist", I only needed to practice 4 chords with 2 chord variations: B minor 7, G, D, A, and Dsus2 and A7. I consider Dsus2 and A7 variations since the only difference between them and D and A is you play with one less finger on a string (with my finger placement, both are played without the middle finger placement). Trying these chords out in the proper order got me excited since I could hear the tune of the song! I feel so much closer to my goal! My biggest hurdle now? B minor 7. Bm7 is a bar chord, meaning the index finger goes across all but one of the strings. Additionally, for Bm7, a finger also goes on the second string of the third fret and on the fourth string of the fourth fret. To learn this god-forsaken chord, I used the YouTube video below. But when I say I used this video to "learn" how to play Bm7, what I mean is that I know where one's fingers should be. I have yet to figure out how in the world you can get your fingers to stretch and bend far enough to actually play this chord. I spend a solid 10 minutes just trying to get it to sound right but no matter what I do, one of the strings ends up getting muted. In other words, I'm putting weak pressure on a string so that it comes out flat when I strum. I decided to take a break from Bm7 and play the other chords instead. I'm still having trouble transitioning from one chord to the next. My head swivels back and fourth as I concentrate on my strumming hand and then my chord playing hand. I think my plan moving forward will be finding a resource that will help me speed up my transitions. It's also clear that I just need more practice. Also, I'll need to set aside time to solely work on the dreaded Bm7 chord. Lastly, I may want to look into finger exercises that might make bar chords not seem so impossible.
That's all for now. See you next week.
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After only a few minutes of practicing the "G" and "C" chords, the tips of my fingers on my left hand were killing me. I've heard that it takes awhile to get your fingers acclimated to playing the guitar, but I didn't think I'd last such a measly amount of time. I persisted awhile longer but after 10-15 minutes, I had to call it quits out of concern that my fingers would forever be marked with guitar string indentations. The next day, I picked up where I left off , practicing "G" and "C" and learning two new chords, "A" and "D." My fingers had a raw quality before I even began and I was able to practice for a lot longer, although I didn't feel like I made much progress. A guitar is a foreign place to my fingers. Even the pick seems to try and squirm out of my hand as a awkwardly try strumming. The sounds coming from my digital teacher's guitar, on Garage Band, sound far superior to the "noise" I'm making. Fortunately, I stumbled upon another helpful tool on Garage Band: a chord trainer.
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AuthorOn this page, I will document my progress throughout my 20% Project. The purpose of this activity is to see first hand how a 20time project can be used in education. Archives
May 2016
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