Kim Richardson - Guitar

 In today's lesson we went over the blues stuff again but instead we did everything in the key of G. This meant that the chords were G, C and D. We revised the structure of 12 bar blues which follows the pattern: We practised finding the 7th chords in different positions on the neck using the CAGED system again which I am beginning to get the hang of. We successfully played 2 inversions of the 7th chords and then we practised playing them in the 12 bar structure. Then we learned a blues shuffle riff which was difficult because you have to stretch over 5 frets to play it but I managed it in the end; we also played that in the blues structure. I found that easier than the 7th chords because the changes are smaller. Finally we put it all together and took turns soloing over the chords using the G minor pentatonic. We practised a famous blues lick and incorporated that in to our solos to make them sound really bluesy and authentic. The lick looks like this...

Today's lesson focused on blues music. We studied the 12 bar blues, pentatonic scales and 7th chords. I learned about the CAGED system which will help me learn the notes on the fretboard. First we decided that we would play a 12 bar blues in the key of E. I learned that in blues you use notes 1, 4 and 5 as the chords so our chords were E, A and B but we made them in to 7th chords. Blues is a genre that uses both major and minor tonalities in the same songs so using 7th chords adds to that because they are ambiguous. Dominant 7th chords are made up of major triads with a minor seventh on top. We practised playing E7, A7 and B7 using the CAGED system which was confusing but once I get the hang of it I think it will help me learn the fretboard better and make me more confident with improvising blues. We took turns improvising over a 12 bar blues with an F# minor scale and an A blues scale. They're the same pentatonic but by adding in the F# changed the feel of the solo which...

Today we started a new topic which is about practise schedules. We identified different categories that we need to focus on during our practise time and how to organise our time so that we get the most done rather than noodle for an hour. Having a practise schedule will mean that we cover all important aspects of playing guitar regularly and our playing will improve broadly over a shorter period of time than if we just practised casually. Our categories are: Sight reading Ear Training Exercises and Techniques Chords Rhythm Improvisation Scales Repertoire Then I made a rough plan of how I will organise my practise schedule and what I might do for each categories. Sight reading: I could re-learn a song but I would read it from sheet music, so I would already know what the notes are but by recalling them from a stave I would begin to learn the notes on my fretboard. I could also learn a tab but have the sheet music underneath then cover up the tab when I've learned...