20-Time Comes to an End

Well, 20-Time has come to an end. To be honest, I'm having trouble deciding whether I'm happy or sad about this. Let me take some time to explain why.

I'll start with the positives. I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am that I was able to be a part of this project. Before, I would see Papaw at church putting his heart and soul into whatever song he was playing. He would close his eyes, and just feel the music. Anyone who was watching him could tell how much joy he got from playing just one instrument. I wanted that so much. Because of this project, I have been able to experience it. Learning guitar has always been a dream of mine and this project allowed me to pursue that dream. I never seemed to find time to play before and I wasn't ever motivated enough (it was a difficult time). Now I felt like I had to play, even when I  didn't want to. Even though I didn't reach my original goal 100%, I still felt like I achieved something great. I now know that I am ten times closer to being a pro than I was when this project first started.

This project has also made me a happier person. Every time I play I just get so much joy. I know it sounds strange when I'm just playing a weird object with strings, but it's true. I love it.

 Not only has it affected me, but I also feel like it has affected my parents. About 2 years ago is when my dad bought me my GORGEOUS guitar. I could tell that he couldn't wait until I got started.When he found out I was doing this as my project, he got so excited! He told me that he knew that this would make me happy and that I would be great one day. It was so great knowing that he believed in me and knows that I can do it. Now, my dad wasn't the only one that was affected. There has been multiple times when my mom has put a huge smile on her face and clapped when she heard me play (she's so cute). She says something like, "That sounded so good Lauren! I'm so proud of you! Ahhh, I'm so happy for you!" Seeing her so happy, makes me happy. Sometimes I think, wow, that's so strange how people could could so excited over their daughter doing something they love (I know I did). Well, I guess we won't fully understand it until we are parents.

Now you're probably wondering why I'm debating over whether I'm happy or not that the project is over when all I've said are good things. Well, here comes the negative.

Okay, there was many aspects of this project that irritated me, I'm not going to go into detail about what specifically they were, so I'll just do an overview.  I felt like there were some parts of the project that shouldn't have been graded when they were. Also, I just wanted to play guitar without worrying about whether or not I was good enough to present to the class at the end of the year. Also, I hated SSR time when I read Guitar For Dummies. I'm not going to lie, I got really bored. I tried really hard to pay full attention to my book, but it didn't work most of the time. It would've been much easier if Guitar for Dummies wasn't so boring. And... that's basically it for the negative portion.

After writing this and thinking it through, I decided that I'm in the middle between happy and sad (probably more towards sad).  I think that's reasonable! Alright, I'm not done yet!

Even though the project is over, I am DEFINITELY going to continue learning. As I mentioned earlier, it makes me happy. I can not guarantee that I will continue posting, but I will try my best! Thank you to the few people who followed my blog and stuck with me through my journey, it means a lot! Here's a photo to end my post:

Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for reading!

Lauren

3:00 A.M

KHey everyone! This week has been a pretty great week! 

Dan taught me a new song! The song is called "3 am" by Matchbox 20. I've never heard the song before he showed it to me. When he told me it was an old song I  was prepared to hate it (sorry all you 80s lovers). Surprisingly, I actually really liked it. It's an easy song to play and I can't wait until I get to playing the song quickly! 

That brings me to another topic. I never know what to do when someone asks me to play for them. You'd think I'd you know, play a song (that would be great). The reality is, my songs don't sound very good yet. A BIG problem is that they're really slow. When I move to another chord, I have to think about where my fingers are going to go next. The song then sounds off because everything isn't linked together. It gets that you-don't-know-what-you're-doing sound (I'm sure yall know what sound I'm talking about, right?). I'm sure one day (hopefully soon) I'll get  good enough to play everything together. I can't wait until that day! 

Today is almost the last day for 20-time in class until the year is over! This has been a very fun, interesting project that I will never forget. If it wasn't for this project, I wouldn't be talking to you all right

 now. Have a great week!

Lauren

Motivation is Lacking

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog, Guitar Glory! 

    Alright, so this week has been a struggle for me. My motivation to play guitar has gone downhill. Even though I haven't had much time to play, I always just sit and watch TV when I do have time. It's VERY frustrating. Part of the problem is because I feel like I won't get anything done. I feel that even if I play it multiple times, I won't get any better. It's that I-can't-do-it mindset. Then I get frustrated with the sound or the pain in my hand. All of this leads to no guitar playing. 

   In order to get past this "phase" (I guess you could call it that), I just need to keep playing more. At this rate, it's going to be very hard to pick guitar over something else. Despite all of my problems with guitar, I still want nothing else but to play it without thinking. I just want to get there without the effort. That's obviously not how it works. After this post, I am determined to get back at it and lose that I-can't-do-mindset.

     On a happy note (get it, "note" like guitar) , I did learn another song at my last lesson! Dan taught me "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I've actually been wanting to learn this song because it's a common one for beginners. I also think it'll be really fun to play once I have it down! The chords are pretty easy to play as well! I mentioned the chords in my last post. Of course it'll take a while to get it down, but I can't wait till I do! That's pretty much it for this week! 

Thanks for reading! Have a great

 week! Hopefully by the next post I'll be 10x better at "Sweet Home Alabama." 

Lauren

Almost There

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my blog! For the past couple of weeks I have been documenting my progress on the guitar. If this is your first time here, I welcome you along my journey towards success.

Now, let's talk about my actual guitar playing. On my last blog post I talked about my first lesson with my new guitar teacher! So far he has been absolutely wonderful and I've learned quite a bit from him. On my last lesson he gave me more exercises to practice at home. One of them is the tune to a song called "A Horse With No Name." Weird name right? I thought the same thing. Who would title a song that? However,  I figured it wouldn't have made a difference if I asked. The conversation would probably have gone something like this: "Dan, why is the song named that?" "Well, I don't really know." See, that wouldn't have been much help. Anyways, the tune consisted of two chords: Eminor and A9/F#. He mainly used this song to teach me strumming. It sounds super cool, but it's also really easy to play.

To be honest,  I don't understand the A chord used in the song AT ALL.  I understand the letter, but I am COMPLETELY lost on the number portion. I also don't understand why it is paired with a F#. I asked about it and he told me that for now I should just play and not focus on the name of the chord. Okay, that will be easy (I thought). 

Dan told me to buy this tablature book so he could write all his lessons in it and I could practice at home. When I was with Mike, I was basically just memorizing everything. It's really nice to write it down. It sounds strange, but it's true.  I LOVE the tablature book. I can't wait until it gets filled up! It has that I'm-better-than-any-other-book look to it. Here's a picture: 

To end this blog post, I just want to say thank you for everyone that has come to my blog. I hope you all continue to stay. If you have any suggestions on ways I can learn, please comment! I can use all the help I can get. Thank you all (again). Have a wonderful week! 

Lauren

Hi Everyone! During these couple of weeks I haven't really had the chance to play my guitar much. The week before spring break was crazy and I couldn't find time to play. For spring break I went to North Carolina to see my family! It was great to see them because I haven't seen them in 2 years. However, I couldn't bring my guitar with me because there was no room in my car. So that was two full weeks without gaining anymore skills in playing the guitar. It was rough.

I have some news! My original guitar teacher, Mike, recently got a better paying job and had to quit teaching guitar lessons. I only had 3 lessons with him! He introduced me to a new guitar teacher. His name is Dan. I had my first lesson with him last week and I actually really like him! He had a plan of what we were going to do before I even walked into the store. He gave me some different exercises to get my pinkie finger stronger. He is definitely going much slower than Mike did when I first started with him. However, I think that this is better because it gives me more stuff to work on. Below I have attached two recording for the two exercises he taught me:
file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/New%20folder/New%20Recording%2016%20(4).m4a

file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/New%20Recording%2017%20(5).m4a

I've also been practicing the song "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. So far, I have only been practicing the first 4 chords of he song because I want to make sure I get this down before I  move on to the rest of the song. It is very challenging to move from chord to chord. I've played the so song many, many times but still haven't been able to move fast enough. Here's a recording of how it sounds so far:
file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/New%20folder/New%20Recording%2018%20(2).m4a

This process has definitely been more challenging than I expected. Between school and homework, it is hard to set aside time to practice. But, I know I will reach my goal soon!

Lauren

file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/New%20folder/New%20Recording%2016%20(4).m4a

First Song

This week has been a very great week for me. My guitar lessons have been going very well and I'm really enjoying myself. My teacher's name is Mike and I know that I will have a great time with him!

The other day my friend Eline and I spent the day at the local guitar store. She taught me a song on the guitar called "Wanted" by Bon Jovi. I really like the song and I'm really excited to learn all of the chords! I'm having a hard time stretching my hands the way they need to go to play a couple of  the chords. However, I have been practicing every day and I hope to get better soon! Eline and I also sang the song "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran while she was playing the guitar. We actually sounded really good and it made me even more excited to learn more.

Practicing at the guitar store was really inspiring. Being surrounded by so many beautiful guitars made me more eager to learn it. I was able to play multiple different guitars and get a better feel of the instrument. Also, hearing other people play the guitar so confidently made me really jealous. I can't wait to get to that point!

This was a great week and I hope you all had a great week!

Lauren

Guitar for Dummies

This week I haven't been able to accomplish very much of importance toward my guitar skills. I have been very busy with ACT preparation and with cheerleading. However, this week I will have much more free time and I plan to get much more done with my guitar. I do have my first guitar lesson planned for next week. I am very excited to meet my teacher and see what is in store for my learning.

This week I finally picked a book that I want to focus on for my project. I have been reading the book called Guitar for Dummies. I just finished the first chapter entitled "So you want to learn guitar?" I have learned quite a bit about the basics of guitar. For example, the book went over tablature. Tablature is a notation system that graphically represents the frets and strings of the guitar. I have also learned some of the basic chords.  I have a feeling that it's going to take me some practice to fully understand the chords, but I'm willing to put in the time and effort.

I plan to sit down with my guitar this weekend and start playing the chords. I plan to memorize them by the end of the weekend. I hope to become a great guitar player one day

Thanks for reading my blog! I'll keep y'all updated!

Lauren