improve my guitar playing

I have made a lot of progress on this goal since I started taking lessons a couple of months ago. Sadly, yesterday was the last lesson I’ll be having (for a while, anyway), since we’ll be moving from the area in a couple of weeks. Still, I think my instructor gave me plenty that I can work with on my own until I get to a place where I might want to take lessons again.

The one area where I’ve improved the most is in reading musical notation. It’s not the reading music that was the problem; I’ve been able to do that since I was about four years old. But I never learned where the notes are on the guitar, and it seemed like something I never would be able to learn. Not true, apparently. My instructor forced me to start reading from notation (without looking at the tab; I actually have to cover it up in order to do this, or my eyes can’t help but drift down and look at it, because it really is SO much easier), and slowly but surely, I figured it out. YAY! I now know all the notes in first position, and can sight-read (sight-play?) simple songs. In fact, I prefer it to tab now; tab is for wusses. ;) I am pleased and proud about learning to do this. :)

Another thing I’ve worked on are partial chords. A few of them, anyway. I figured I wouldn’t have to learn anything like that – I can play full barre chords, after all. Turns out that sometimes partial chords are actually better, especially in classical style playing. A full “F” uses up all my fingers; the partial leaves me with fingers left over to do other things. So, that was fun, too.

I’ve also achieved one-third of my original goal. I wanted to learn three new songs, and just this afternoon I finally “mastered” all of “Blackbird” by the Beatles. (I still need a bit of practice to be able to play it without really thinking about what I’m doing, but I can play the whole thing AND sing along. That was tricky at first). So, one down, two to go. Even though I’m not taking lessons, I still intend to play regularly. In fact, knowing me, I’ll probably play MORE often now that I don’t “have” to practice for my lessons. :D

I’m moving forward with this – I have started guitar lessons (I think I’ve had three lessons, so far). I’m enjoying them, and my instructor decided to put me on a “classical” track, rather than playing rock music. (Which is mostly what I’ve played in the past). So, we’re doing Bach instead of Zeppelin, which is fine. Only one problem now – I’m not practicing as often as I want to be practicing. So, next action: Make an effort to practice at least four days a week.

My son is interested in taking guitar lessons, so I recently bought him a guitar (since all the ones I own are in another state). And finding myself with a guitar (and no other instruments) in the house has got me interested in playing again.

I think I’m going to start taking lessons, too (from the same teacher), in the hopes that I can improve my playing, especially my finger-picking. I think I’ll set a goal here to master three new songs in order to consider this goal complete. I think “Behind Blue Eyes” will be one of them; I’ll choose two more once I start my lessons. I’d also like to be able to play “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” all the way through (right now, I can only play the first couple of sections).