Week 3 of my 20time project left me feeling a bit frustrated. It seemed that, despite my focused efforts, I wasn't making much progress with my comfortability on the guitar. My chord transitions weren't fluid, my fingers weren't finding the right positions on the fret board, and my strumming seemed sloppy and inconsistent. Also, playing the same 3 or 4 chords can get tedious really fast. As my interest and enthusiasm for this project started to wane, I began looking at the progress of my colleagues. One of the members of my 20time House, Megan Gonzalez, explained how she began learning the piano using a training game called Synthesia. While I read Megan's description of this program and how helpful this resource was for her, it occurred to me that I hadn't given these types of programs a chance for my project, and I remembered seeing an advertisement for a free program on www.Ultimate-Guitar.com called Yousician. I decided to check it out.
I wish I was the kind of person who had the patience and will power to practice chords or a song for hours on end, but that's not me. I'm the kind of person who needs parameters, objectives, and some kind of specified challenge. This goals-based approach to learning is exactly what I needed. The gradual increase in pace and complexity of each activity was just difficult enough to force me to stop thinking about where my fingers were and just play. This kind of encouragement to play faster and just beyond my comfort level is difficult for me to emulate on my own. I think that if I can log a few more hours on this program, I can make some substantial progress. This week didn't get me any closer to playing "The Scientist" specifically, but Yousician has reinvigorated my resolve to learn and has helped me establish gradual skill development goals. Hopefully by my next and final post, I can confidently display my progress in the form of a Youtube video.
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This video has been fantastic since its version of Bm7 is WAY easier and it also introduced me to a different strumming pattern that gives the song a little more personality. I've tinkered around with different strategies for practicing chord progressions. I've tried playing the same two chords in quick succession over and over again in order to get my clumsy fingers accustomed to those particular movements. I've tried looking away from the guitar as I move my fingers from one chord to the next, trying to train my brain to find the right location on the fret board without having to look. I've also just tried performing the song to see how much things would simply fall into place if I tried to put it all together. That didn't work out so well. What I found out is that trying to sing music lyrics while also concentrating on playing the guitar chords correctly was computation overload. As soon as I began singing, my fingers would forget what they were supposed to be doing. At one point, I took a break from practicing to see if watching other amateurs playing would help me visualize what I needed to do to play correctly. Here are two videos I stumbled upon.
This wasn't helpful so much as it was discouraging. I thought both of these renditions were absolutely terrific and suddenly I feel even further from reaching my goal. Nevertheless, I shall continue to practice until my finished product sounds something close to what I've found on Youtube. I remember reading about the "10,000 hour" rule in a Malcolm Gladwell book. The rule states that in order to reach mastery of something, one must dedicate 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. The way I see it, I only need about 9,990 more hours to achieve acoustic guitar mastery. Unfortunately, since time is finite and this project is only supposed to go on for 5 weeks, I'm going to be a little shy of that number. However, my plan is that by the end of week 5, I'll be confident enough with my progress to post a video of me playing "The Scientist" to the best of my current ability. For now, I'll spare you the auditory anguish.
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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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