Week 13: Hey, Ho, Nobody Home

When I uploaded this clip to YouTube, I was fine. But next morning, I woke up with pain in all over my body. I ended up spending whole morning in the bathroom, then it was followed by fever. A week has been past, and finally I've been feeling better. What a way to start a new year!!

Anyway, this is sad yet funny tune, and here is a lyric:

Hey, Ho, Nobody home.
Meat, nor drink, nor money have I none,
yet, will I be merry.

Week 12: Frere Jacques

Here comes a French song. Ding, Dong, Ding!

I wish you and your family to have a Merry Christmas!!

Me? I'm working today and tomorrow. The ice storm we had two weeks ago pretty much screwed up my work and I'm still working to recover from it. No Christmas break for me this year. Boo-. :(

Week 11: Red River Valley

I'm back!! I had to skip for three weeks because of a business meeting, helping my friend moving, and of course, Kansas was hit by a freezing rain storm last weekend. I didn't get any power for a while and it messed up with my job schedule... Anyway, here I am with 11th week's material.

Technically, this week is 15th week, but I didn't have much time to practice during the last three weeks, so, I decided not to skip weeks.

Week 10: Shenandoah

Once again, I didn't know the song; however, I really like the song once I listen some versions of it on YouTube. Some video clips from singers on YouTube are awesome!

As I mentioned in last week's entry, I'm getting very busy. I have business conference coming up soon and I have to prepare for it, so, I my need to take a break after next week. But after that, I'm hoping that I can have more time. We'll see.....

Week 9: Danny Boy (longer ver.)

Here comes a longer version of Danny Boy. I recorded this on Sunday, but I didn't have time to upload until Thursday... I'm getting very busy at work and it starts to affect my time to practice guitar! I'm expecting to get more busy as we approach to the end of the year.

As for the song, I saw a lot of better versions on YouTube. Once again, I just keep practice to get better.

Week 8: Danny Boy (shorter version)

Typically I have some time in the weekend, but it was not the case during this weekend. I couldn't have time to practice as much as I wish. But if I think of it, it has been lucky that I had quite a few free time in the past eight weekends. In anyway, I better practice more during the weekdays.

I like the song very much and when I saw the title, I was very excited, but I was bit disappointed when I found out the version they have on the book is shortened one. (or is this the original??) I found tabs and scores, so, I may try longer version in near future to satisfy myself.

Week 7: Send my regard to broadway

OK. I didn't know the song. Even after I listened to CD and searched Youtube, it didn't ring a bell. It seems like a musical score and what I saw on Youtube was in faster tempo, but once again, I preferred to play little slow. If I try faster tempo, it sounds like I'm in hurry. :( It isn't simple, is it?

Other thing I noticed was when I play with 5th or 6th strings, other strings tended to resonate. Is there a good way to prevent that?

Week 6: Greensleeves

I had an another busy week. Not much in terms of working hours, but there were enough things going on to make my mind wonder around.

In anyway, here come two versions of Greensleeves. The one on top is a take on Sunday when I somehow felt like I have to play faster. And the one below this sentence is a second take I did on Monday. There's not much improvement in terms of techniques, but I liked the second take's slower tempo better. When I recorded the second take, I was thinking about taking the first one off from YouTube, but someone already rated it, thus, I decided to keep it on.

Week5: When the saints go marching on

Here comes week5. I cannot believe that it's already one month since I started learning.

I was very busy at work this week. I worked more than 60 hours and because of that I couldn't have time to practice much. I played every day in the morning and late at night, but I simply did not have energy to learn a new song. So far, I was manage to move a chapter a week, but I had to stay on the same chapter. So, if you are using Hal Leonard's book, you realize that I just moved only one page ahead. (But come to think of it, I do not have to finish a chapter a week.)

I was hoping that I can play with faster tempo, but I have difficulty focusing today. It took way more takes this week than previous weeks. I hope next week is less hectic than this week.

Week 4: Amazing Grace

I think I should get a cheap metronome... I simply do not know the difference between 4/4 and 3/4 etc etc... I've never learned any musical equipments beyond middle school music classes. Thus, a quite a bit of things written in Hal Leonard's book is new to me. And while I enjoy following the book, it seems like he doesn't talk too much about guitar or music. I want to learn a bit more. Maybe I should stop by at local bookstore to grab a guitar for dummies or something.

As I noted last week, I spent quite a bit of time practicing chords this week. C chord has been a problem because my index finger always touches the 1st string, and it is muted. By adjusting guitar position, it got better, but it's not consistent yet. I guess I just need to practice more. Hopefully I can tape some progress in the near future. In a mean time, here comes "Amazing grace".

Week 3

Well, now I have a problem. As you may see in the video, my hands are small. In fact, I haven't met any adult male who has smaller hand than I have. (Lot of close calls, though.) Because of my small hands, I have a difficulty playing chords which is the next subject in the Hal Leonard's book.

I knew it is coming, and that's why I bought Yamaha's silent guitar which has relatively narrower neck. (Also, I cannot make my neighbors suffer.) But things are little tough than I thought.

But I think many guitar genius kids probably have smaller hands than I do. And there are many excellent female guitar players. (although many of them probably have larger hands than me.) So, I will keep practicing and see how it turns out. There are good days and bad days. In anyways, my point is that it may take for a while to show any of chord plays. (Am I using a correct term??)

Week 2

My left hand and fingers hart. In some morning, I woke up with pain in my hand.
I also realized my grip was getting loose when I got tired. I guess my grip got weaken than I thought.

Week 1

OK, here comes my first recording of me playing guitar! (Sort of...)
The song is from a book called Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1 and unless I mention, all songs on this page are from the book.

You can laugh at me as you wish, but I don't need to see discouraging comments. A mid-30 guy is still sensitive at heart, you know. ;)