Kim Richardson - Guitar

Our lesson today was about sight reading which we haven't covered much this year. We talked about reading rhythms such as semibreves, minims and crotchets and how they fit within a bar. I already knew about this because of my music GCSE and my time learning guitar with Yamaha. The song of choice was Cold Sweats by James Brown and it was simple. I picked it up quite quickly as this was a skill we used every week at Yamaha - we'd start a new song and learn it with help from the tab and as we became secure in playing it we would cover up the tab and read from the notation. Doing it this way helped me to learn the notes on the fretboard a lot so I would like to continue practising it. It will help me achieve my goal of knowing all the notes on the fretboard and will also make me more versatile as a musician because if I work a session guitarist in the future, I will be able to quickly work out something I've been given to play. Overall I found the lesson helpful but as I comple

Today we put everything we learnt in blues in to practice. All the guitarists, bassists and drummers were in the same room so we could play blues together and see how it all fits together in a real jam session. I started off by playing a rhythm section in C; so the chords were C, F and G. I found it easier to keep track of the 12 bar structure because we had a drummer. It was also easier to stay in time and keep the strumming pattern steady. It was nice to hear a piano playing blues too; I liked how we were really playing a blues song for once rather than improvising without any backing. We went around the structure 4 times before swapping over - I played a solo part. Soloing was a bit more difficult with a band because you had to leave a lot of space as so much of it was already filled up by the bass and keyboard. I had to use shorter licks and more repetition as to not over complicate the song. We discussed that blues is really about having your own way of playing it; for example e

Today we rehashed over the blues stuff we did because next week all the musicians are going to play blues together. We practiced playing the shuffle chords and soloing over the top. We reminded ourselves of what the blues scale is and how to switch between major and minor pentatonic scales. One thing I need to remember is that the blues note is always the flat 5th. I also need to keep practicing my major pentatonic scales because I was unsure of the shape in G and even more unfamiliar with how to switch between the two types. We touched on our goals for the end of the year. One of my goals is to be able to play The Longest Wave up to speed which I am still practicing. I might re-film me playing it nearer the end of the term so that I can see how I've improved. Another goal was improving my listening skills and being to work things out by ear more and I did that last weekend with a new song that we are learning for the next gig. It is called Brazil by Declan McKenna. I figured out

Our final lesson of the term was about putting modes in to context. We started off by learning the chords to 'Good Times' by Chic which were Em, E7, A7 and A6 and they looked like this.                                               I got in to the rhythm well -  keeping that funk strumming pattern is easy for me so I enjoyed it. At first I struggled with the chord changes but I got used to them fairly quickly. The next task was to find a scale that would work over the top of it. We figured out that the key of this song is D because it uses an A7. Because the first chord is an E minor we were able to use an E Dorian scale, starting on the 12th fret of the bottom string and we had a go soloing in that. Similarly we could use a Mixolydian D scale starting on the fifth fret of the bottom string. At first I just ran up and down the scales while somebody played the chords to get familiar with the notes and then as I became more confident I was able to add hammer ons and slide

Today we looked at modes in scales on the guitar which is something I've not learned about before. I only really knew that a mode was a scale but starting on a different note; for example if you were playing the C scale but you were to start on D, that would be a mode. We started with the major scale which is this pattern of tones and semitones: T - T - ST - T - T - T - ST A mode would be moving the first 'T' to the back of the list and playing from the second 'T'. T - ST - T - T - T - ST - T So if we were in C major the scale would've gone from: C - D - E - F - G - A - B to D - E - F - G - A - B - C instead. The major scale is the first mode which is called the Ionian mode. The second mode as shown here would be called the Dorian mode, and so on. There are 7 modes in total and they come in this order: Ionian (Major) Dorian (Minor) Phrygian (Minor) Lydian (Major) Mixolydian (Major) Aeolian (Minor) Locrian (Minor) Each mode has a dis

The lesson today was all about documenting our home practise so we filmed videos to show what we have been working on. I played a couple scales I have been working on using the five steps technique which has really been helping me to learn positions of pentatonic scales. The next step for me is to move away from using scales with a root note on a dotted fret so that I can use the patterns anywhere on the neck. I am going to continue practising this at home so that in the future I will be able to solo using all five positions of a pentatonic scale. I have also been working a song called The Longest Wave by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is a riff that uses arpeggios and chords and I have been practising it since I first heard it. The recording is played very fast so I am mainly practising with a metronome but today I videoed it so that when I do get it up to speed I can visibly see improvements. This is the first part of the song I have learned:      Eb              Gm              B