Second Session

After a busy Monday, I finally had time yesterday to get my 2nd guitar session going. I was really curious to see how my progress would be. I realized that it would be impossible for me to move on to the next class, since Master Ben already explained that I FIRST need to master the 3 chords from the 2nd class: G-, D-, and C-chord, before taking it to the next level.

Surprisingly, I still remembered the chords a bit. Not sure if it was the short but clear explanation or that it finally sunk in somehow. My idea was to first practise all the chords one by one, trying to remember them by head before moving on to the next one. I decided to write them down myself schematically; somehow writing helps me to remember things, in this case: which finger goes where and which strings I should use exactly when.

At first, it was a bit hard, moving my fingers along the instrument in the right position without disturbing the other strings, and then it was very useful to have the video's available and to be able to play and repeat the parts where e.g. the chords are explained. The tempo in the video is quite high, as Master Ben is an experienced teacher, so for the harder parts it helps to be able to pause the video at these crucial points.

After the first two chords, which took a bit longer to remember, the third one went surprisingly quick. I would say that after half an hour I remembered them all and could play them consecutively, WITHOUT using my notes! This is motivating, it gives me really the feeling that I learned something and I will not forget it quickly, so I felt quite happy to book this progress.

I took a break after the first half hour, because I needed to pick up my girlfriend, and resumed practising after 1 hours or so when I go back for another 30 minutes. Now, it went even better: I could again play all 3 chords, and I really did not need my noted anymore. Instead, I focused on playing the chords "clean" and techincally correct, while trying to increase my speed bit by bit.

I must admit that it is really fun learning to play the guitar like this: to book some quick progress, being able to practise whenever I want at the pace that I prefer and OK: I still will need to do the dirty hard work of memorizing the different combinations, struggling to get my fingers right, but so far it is going well and quicker than I hoped!

My next goal is to increase the speed, making the chords something I can play automatic, without having to think too much when to do what and then of course move on to the 3rd lesson. Time to practise!