Session 4, Week 2 Recap -- ALL CLASSES

Summertime! And the livin' is easy. Or so they say.
I'm in crunch mode prepping for a gig so this'll be fairly short.
Coupla things pertinent to ALL:
This weekend is Square Roots Fest! http://www.squareroots.org/
Come for the music, stay for the beer! It's the most fun you'll have all summer. There will be an Education Tent where teachers and students are welcome to hang out and strum a song or two. I'll likely be there Saturday and Sunday before and/or after my classes, so stop by! There will also be extended Second Half jams on Saturday at 12:30p and Sunday at 1:30p, during which yours truly will supply the Twin Spin, so show up and lend me some moral support.
IMPORTANT "BUT!": BUT! parking will be an awful challenge so come early or take CTA.

Ok onto business.

Thursday's Guitar 4 did not meet last week due to holiday laziness (but my mom thanks you heartily!). See the previous post for a video lesson. We'll pick up from there this week.

Saturday's Guitar 4 continued to contemplate the meaning of the word "intermediate," after a somewhat grueling lesson on scales. Remember, WWHWWWH or the weird phone number 221-2221 in order to memorize the intervals that make up a major scale. 1 fret = H, so 2 frets = W. You can play up a single string, or break across strings to stay in one position using either an open or closed scale form. Open scale forms utilize the open strings--hence the name! But they can ONLY be played in one place because open strings are a fixed note/ position. Closed scales on the other hand, are modular and moveable. So long as you know where your root note is, you can use the same finger sequence to from any starting position. Don't forget that the second diagram--the one for CLOSED scales--shows you finger numbers, NOT fret numbers. Very important! We'll put it into further practice with Man Who Sold the World, so hopefully you practiced up on the hammer-ons and chord progression we started with last week.

And Guitar 3 on Sunday also used their brains more than they maybe meant to. this week worked on the F barre chord. It's just an E shape with your second, third and fourth fingers, played above a barre at the 2nd fret. It's mean and it hurts, but once you've mastered it, you can move that shape up and down the neck to any position. If you know the name of the note you're barring on the low-E string, you know the name of the chord you're playing! Wanna make it minor? Use the E-minor shape instead.Same rules apply to the Am and A shapes played with a root note barred on the 5th string. If that doesn't quite make sense, don't worry. It'll sink in and we'll work on it each week. But let's get started by completing the homework sheet in the packet. Fill in the names of the notes on the bottom two strings and we'll go from there. Practice the Otis Redding tune to get that F chord into your fingers. (and perfect your whistlin' skills!)