Session 5, Week 2 Recap (all classes)

We're in full swing here this session, and all of my classes last week were simultaneously hard work and a lot of fun (at least for me! If I'm wrong about the fun part, please let me know!)

In Guitar 1 Rep, we tackled some reggae rhythms with Three Little Birds. (incidentally, when I got to Second Half after class, my colleague Michael O'Toole happened to be playing with a "three little birds" puppet--robin chicks in a nest--that he had in his guitar case from having taught a Wiggleworms class for kids. If only I'd known that was in the building, we could've had PUPPETS in class! What a missed opportunity!)

We worked on a strumming pattern that uses sixteenth notes--each measure is divided up into sixteen (very slow!) counts, with four in each beat: one-e-and-a-two-e-and-a-three-e-and-a-four-e-and-a
Put the emphasis on the "e"s and the "a"s, which should be up-strums. Eventually, you can leave out the strums on the numbered beats and the "ands" altogether and mute the strings there instead. (Leave in a downstrum on the "one' and the "three" though, otherwise you'll be too decentered)

There's a nifty version I found on YouTube from a soundcheck up there.


In Guitar 2 Rep, we continued our streak of "stage bait" tunes with Heart of Gold. The main bit of fancy business there is the new technique called "hammer-on," in which you use a percussive action of the finger on your left hand  against the fretboard to produce a sound from the string, instead of picking it with your right hand. Here's a handy video tutorial (never mind the "pentatonic" stuff. Just get the concept and try the exercise on any old strings).


There's some "stop-time" rhythms that you'll see on your song sheet where the asteriks are. You can follow my notes, or you can listen to the man himself in this great clip. It takes him awhile to find the right harmonica, but once he does, boy is he great.

Keep at it! I'm learning from my own practice getting ready for my gig next week that techniques which seem impossible--and how could they EVER get easier if they're so impossible?--do actually suddenly improve if you keep at it. Keep on messing it up and eventually the mess will start to straighten, I promise!