Term 3 - Lesson 1

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 what key the song was in and subsequently what scale I needed which turned out to be C# Minor. I worked this out because I already knew that the chords were C#m, B, A and E. Then by listening really closely to the song I was able to work out the guitar's counter melody in the second verse and I am now on to working out the solo before the third verse. It's more difficult though because he uses delay and flanger and I can't be sure what he is playing. I will work on this over the next week but I think I am progressing with guitar theory.

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