I just returned from my other Guitar class. This one is in the rec center here in Longmont and is a group of folks vs one on one lessons. Rita and I also take a similar Drumming class (or did, the last one was last week).
The class is an hour and there are, at least at the moment, 10 people including Mike the instructor. He tuned all the guitars prior to starting. Some of the guitars look somewhat scruffy. At least one of the ladies had bought it at a garage sale. Oh, there were two couples and four ladies as well as me and Mike. Anyway, Mike was using a different tuner, specific to an acoustic I guess. It clips on to the top end of the guitar. The two I have right now are for the electric and the cord plugs into it for tuning.
As I’ve been going to the electric guitar session for the past 6 weeks, I’m a bit ahead of where I was when Rita signed me up for the class. I was still fumbling a bit, playing in front of a crowd I guess. I have the same problem with Zack. He’ll want me to solo or play along so he can see my progress and where I was strong at home, I’m a bit more tentative in front of the teacher.
Mike went over tuning, how to tune to the E string, and of course the names of the strings. Next we went to the first song, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Each person played one measure of the song until we’d gone around about 1 1/2 times. Some folks got it right away and others really had to struggle to get their fingers in the right place. Mike was also emphasizing using the correct fingers vs just using the index finger.
Next we went to an Elvis song; Anna Lee(?) I’ll have to check the book later. It’s downstairs. Again the group went through the song measure by measure.
Next up was a chords page. We learned C, G, and D chords which were ones I already knew so was a little ahead of the class.
Finally we went through strumming. Really I wanted to get some strumming going correctly so this was the part I was looking forward to. We did the C and G chord strumming. First four down then four down and one up. The down strums I have pretty well but the up ones aren’t working for me yet. I suspect it’s the angle of my right hand. I have to angle it flatter to the strings I guess.
Anyway, the class seems to be ok and certainly is a beginners class. I’ll go through the practice tomorrow along with my electric guitar practice. We have intermediate drumming on Wednesday. Three classes a week. I’m going to be busy 🙂