Let Me Sing - Todd Fields

Hello Students,

Great job so far in guitar class! I can definitely see that you guys have been practicing hard! Just real quick, I handed out a song called "Let Me Sing" last week. It's a rocking song that is good to practice because it is quite simple to play and easy to memorize; it's basically the same 4-chord progression over and over again: G D Em C. You can strum with all downstrums (i.e. 1-2-3-4) or you can use the down-down-up--up-down-up strum. In the video, Todd Fields actually downstrums twice as fast as we've been downstrumming in class; for example, for the beat 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and, he is strumming on all the "ands" as well as the main beats (i.e. in the song, 16 downstrums per chord). Alright, enjoy the video below and let me know if you have any questions!

Hosanna - Paul Baloche

Here is an instructional video put out by Paul Baloche that teaches you how to play the song. He plays some of the chords differently and adds in a chord or two. He also utilizes a right-hand technique called muting which we may or may not use later. But for your purposes, view it to get a sense of how the strum sounds and try to incorporate that when you practice this song.




See if you can figure out the strum. I MAY post the strum in a week or so =)

Assignments from 6/27/08

Hey everyone, good work this past class! You all picked it up a lot faster than I expected...you must have practiced =) I know I went over a LOT this past time (sorry for those first-timers) but I figure you guys can handle it...plus we have an extra week of practice. So, quick run down of things I'd like for you to practice:

1) Try to incorporate strumming into your playing. So, play through some of the songs that are in G like we did in class. First do all downbeats and then switch on the different chords. As you get comfortable with that, try doing different strum variations (you can try the praise strum). This will really help you learn your chords as well as get you to actually playing songs. If you can sing along as well...added bonus! =)

2) Learn some of the new chords. Learn A & E first - they are most important. Then work on the minors - Am & Dm. Lastly, try F major. That is a difficult chord to play because it requires using your pointy finger to press onto 2 strings. Play through Blessed Be Your Name while ignoring the F#m.

3) Review string names as well as the names of notes (eg. A B C D E F G) along with whether it's a half or whole step in between.

I think that's about it. Keep trying to get familiar w/ the chords. The more you use them, the more your finger will remember. Also, if you have not yet sent me your favorite song/a song you want to play, please do. As Kathy can attest, we actually listen to your suggestions =)

Assignments from 6/20/08

Hey everyone, I hope you guys had fun the first week - I certainly did! =) Here's a quick rundown of the assignments that I'd like you to work on.

1) Think of a song that you would like to learn. Either e-mail it to me (angell.shieh@ucsf.edu) or you can just post it as a comment onto this blog. Hopefully we can incorporate them into our curriculum and learn them together =)

2) Practice G, C, D, and Em chords, especially transitions between them.

3) Go through the chords of the songs by playing with a metronome (www.metronomeonline.com). Start slow and with 4 strums each chord before changing. To add complexity, speed up the metronome or start decreasing number of strums.

4) Practice strumming, especially the "praise strum" - down-down-up-up-down-up.


E minor chord (can also use fingers 1 & 2)

Good Guitar Resource

This link is from Steve Chen. I think it's a really good place to find out how to play any chord you want. http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/guitar/index_db.html

Beginner Chords

DATES for MYT changed...

Originally we were going to start on Friday 6/13, but that has been pushed back. So, here are the new dates for MYT (all on Fridays): 6/20, 6/27, 7/11, 7/18, 7/25. There are still 5 sessions...just pushed back a week.

Class will start at 6:30pm every Friday in room N-114 of Genentech Hall (Mission Bay). If you could come early to help setup and even get your guitar ready, that would be great! We have a lot of people in our class, so the quicker people can get ready the better. But also, lots of people means more fun! =)

Tuners Needed!

Hey guys, if you have a guitar tuner or know of anyone who has one, please bring it with you to class because we will be needing to tune every week. The more we have, the quicker we can tune and the more we can learn! =)

Welcome!

Hi everyone, welcome to Guitar MYT! I'm really looking forward to having fun and learning a lot these upcoming weeks. Class isn't going to start until June 13, so no homework yet... =) But I do need to make sure that each of you has access to a guitar that you can bring with you to each of our sessions as well as to practice at home. There are quite a few people who own guitars in SF campus, so if you don't have one, see if you can ask around to borrow one. It doesn't have to be that good of a guitar - just has to work =) If you're having trouble, just let me know and I can see if I can help you out.

So, can each of you e-mail me about whether or not you have a guitar/who you are going to borrow it from? Also, I'd like to know a little bit about whether you've learned guitar before and what other musical instruments you've played (#years). That will help me to know what things I need to explain more and spend more time on.

Great...look forward to meeting up soon!