Rock & Roll 101

June 23rd, 2016

June 16th, 2016

I guess Melina didn't make it this week.

June 9th, 2016

Melina brought a friend today.

We added a song the friend liked, by Taylor Swift. It used a country-style strumming, so we learned to do that and went through the song a couple of times.

Taylor Swift, Mean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYkcNCe0dWw

June 2nd, 2016

Today we went over the melody making again, for solos, and Melina made two or three really pretty ones.

We then tried playing along with these chords:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoGjUTHX0p0

May 26th, 2016

We continued with our 'ad libbing' this week, and Melina wrote her first melody.

It was quite beautiful, though she wasn't convinced. :)

I asked her to keep working on making a couple more melodies in the same way, using A B A C patterns.

May 19th, 2016

We started by working on River Flows In You:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsTjI75uEUQ

We then spent some time talking about ad libing in the key of D, using the E and A strings as bass.

I encouraged her to work on making up some melodies this way, using patterns.

May 12th, 2016

Jason was sick today, and asked to postpone.

May 5th, 2016

Melina and I continued with Hotel California, and worked a bit more on ad libing (for solos). We talked about melodies and patterns, and making patterns more and more complex as you get better.

She should practice playing the notes without muting them (with her left thumb) as she plays the next one.

April 28th, 2016

Melina had a new "Flying A" electric guitar today. We went over the Eagle's Hotel California and she made a video with her step mom's phone of me playing the finger picking part of the chord progression.

We went through the song and then talked about the solo - I explained Pentatonic scales to her and their foundation to modern music scales. We ran out of time, but went over a bit as I showed her the "home row" scale approach.

April 21st, 2016

We continued with Lukas Graham's 7 Years today, then added a new song:

Eagles, Hotel California:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqODbP1T3nk

April 14th, 2016

Melina brought her electric, but wanted to work on the acoustic song we have been doing by Lukas Graham.

We went through it a few times. It's coming along very well. She's really improved over the last number of weeks.

April 7th, 2016

Melina must have forgotten this afternoon.

March 31st, 2016

We reviewed Back in Black, and decided it was time to move on.

She wants to learn TNT by AC DC next:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR6pxe8jaMs

March 24th, 2016

Melina braved the storm to come and learn a new song by Lukas Graham called 7 Years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCob76kigA

She's decided to learn the melody in the intro as well! Great!

March 17th, 2016

March 10th, 2016

Today Melina and I worked a lot on the little "lead" thing in Back In Black - I was really pushing her to just throw herself into it, and not care about getting it perfect- to be rock and roll about it.

It was a struggle, but I think she can do it if she stops caring about it being perfect! :)

March 3rd, 2016

Melina had her electric guitar today, so we continued with Back in Black. We worked through the other part of the song, (A E B, A E B, G D A, G D A).

She's getting close to having it done. THe little lead needs to be focused on a bit more.

February 25th, 2016

February 18th, 2016

Melina didn't have her electric guitar with her, so we added an acoustic song to work on when she's not staying at her dads.

The song is Hello, I'm In Delaware, by Dallas Green (City and Colour).

February 11th, 2016

We continued with working on Back in Black - she's coming right along!

February 4th, 2016

Melina brought her electric, and we added "Back In Black" by AC/DC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAgnJDJN4VA

January 28th, 2016

Melina forgot her book, but remembered the song she wanted to learn.

We added Wake Me Up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uk2O5Gxd6g

Great song! It's fast, but we did it at half speed to get used to it. She should try to speed things up.

January 21st, 2016

I forgot to take notes last week-- apparently we did Funky Town:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax68rWI4Tuk

We went over it again a few times, focusing on a couple of hard parts.

We talked about the next song we're going to learn - I wrote the name down in her book, but can't remember it right now.

January 14th, 2016

January 7th, 2016

December 31st, 2015

December 17th, 2015

We went over the parts of Stairway to Heaven that Melina was having difficulty with.

She's coming along, but it could be a lot faster! :) Sorry to hear she was sick.

There won't be lessons next week, but there are lessons on the 31st.

December 10th, 2015

Melina and I continued with Stairway to Heaven. It was a tad rough this week, so after going through it a couple of times, I let her practice a couple of transitions, to get them nice and smooth. She made a lot of progress in a short time, so it really makes a difference to practice!

December 3rd, 2015

We continued with Stairway to Heaven, adding the next part (Well it makes me wonder).

Looks like maybe this week didn't get as much practicing in, so don't forget to spend some time on it this week.

November 26th, 2015

We started with reviewing the intro to Stairway that we learned last week. She's getting there- press a bit harder on the strings and you'll get a better sound.

We then added the next section to Stairway to Heaven-- the 1st chords section. Next week we'll continue to the third section.

November 19th, 2015

I wrote out tab for Melina, and showed her how to play the intro of stairway to heaven.

We videoed the lesson on her dad's phone.

Here's a good lesson that shows how to play it as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzkVoLJ0Hqs

Good job this week!

November 12th, 2015

Melina had practiced a lot this week, and did really well today! We added the new song Lean on Me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqeW9_5kURI

Weird song, but she is doing well on it.

We then talked about the next song, and she wants to do Stairway to Heaven. I'm going to have to remember how to play that now! LOL

November 5th, 2015

We went over Amnesia first without the recording, taking our time on the chord changes, then with the video on half-speed, and finally with the video on full speed.

We talked about the next song, which is going to require a CAPO. :)

October 29th, 2015

We reviewed Take Me to Church, which she was still having some trouble with, so I suggested we put it on the back burner and give her some time to practice it more.

We added Amensia, by 5 Seconds of Summer... it's a nice one, and she should enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u3y5fmoAvA

October 22nd, 2015

Today we reviewed the chords she's been learning, then went over the Stay With Me song and the Take Me to Church song.

Her dad asked me to remove her picture, which I have done now.

October 15th, 2015

I missed Melina today-- hope everything is okay.

October 8th, 2015

We reviewed the chords for this song, and I left her to practice changing from Am to F fifty times. She was able to do the song at half speed, and then nearly do it at full speed, so that's a big improvement.

Doing that sort of chord switching every day will make a big difference in her abilities.

We then added "Take Me to Church" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0imaSCnSuA

We also added a new chord, B7

October 1st, 2015

Melina did a great job today! We added some new chords, A, E, C, and F.

We also added the song by Sam Smith, "Stay With Me" -- which is a good one to start with because it has a very repetitive chord structure: Am, F, and C.

September 24th, 2015

Melina brought in a different guitar this week, and we had some trouble tuning it-- part of the issue was the wrong kind of strings on the guitar (or possible the wrong way of stringing it-- it has holes for steel strings, and just needs pins).

The high e string broke, so we used my extra guitar for the lesson.

Melina hadn't learned all of the chords we looked at last week, so I asked her to spend at least 15 minutes a day going over the chords. Practicing will make a big difference in the enjoyment of her lessons and ultimately music.

We now have Em, Am, G, and D as the chords in our repertoire.

September 17th, 2015

Possible future songs:
Stay with me - Sam Smith
When I was your man - Bruno Mars
Take me to church - Hozier
All of me - John Legend

or great classics...maybe
let it be - Beatles
House of the rising sun - Animals
Bad moon rising - CCR

September 10th, 2015