Session Nine

[Tuninghead]

Working on session 9.    I'm close to finishing the session and was thinking about skipping the fingerpicking.  I'm not very coordinated.  I feel I'm making great advances in my playing and I'm afraid session 10 will slow my progress.  Is it as hard as it looks, or is this paranoia?

[matonanjin]

Tuninghead, I am the wrong one to comment on this.  If you look at my sig you can see that I did not finish 10.  But I worked on it for months.  So it is hard, at least it was for me..  At session 10 is when we start to get into "specialization" in our L&MG journey.  After that you get into Blues, Pentatonics (used in a lot of different genres), Rock, Jazz, etc.

So I would not skip session 10 because of intimidation.  But if you are absolutely certain you're never going to play Fingerstyle you could almost justify skipping it based on wanting to move on to another genre.  JMHO.

Why not start it and see what you think?  Spend a week or two.  You might find you like it.  I'm certainly not sorry I spent some time there and it probably helped my coordination.  In fact, in the not too distant future I'm going to go back and finish it up. 

[Triple-o]

Tuninghead, session ten is a good test for your barre chords.Its not that difficult  if you give it some time and will help with your coordination.Hal Leonard has a pretty good “Fingerstyle“and “Classical book” that can make the session more interesting.”Classical for Guitar” by Jerry Snyder is also pretty good along with “Contemporary Travis Picking”.

Edited January 14, 2018 by Triple-o

[rkl312]

I have been looking forward to session 10 since I started the course.  However I have been stuck in session 7 and 8 for embarrassing 7 months!  Fingerstyle is my goal.  But I know I need to get my chords crystal clear beforehand.  I watched Steve's Christmas live lesson and the beauty of his playing is all I want.  I purchased L&M Fingerstyle Guitar for myself as a Christmas present.  But I have a ways to go before my talent level meets this.  But this is my guitar new years resolution.   

[Tuninghead]

Thanks for the insight.  I'm sure if/when I have session 10 completed it won't seem so bad.  For all of us on this endeavor just remember, Time flies when your learning (having fun).

[matonanjin]

13 hours ago, Triple-o said:

Tuninghead, session ten is a good test for your barre chords.Its not that difficult  if you give it some time and will help with your coordination....

Tuninghead, what a great point Triple-o makes!  So much so that I wish I would have reflected more before my post.  I had made somewhat of a big deal of this over at L&MG.  I thought my barre chords were pretty good.  Until I got to 10.  Even though I didn't finish 10 I know that my barre chords are now a lot better having tried fingerstyle.

9 hours ago, rkl312 said:

I have been looking forward to session 10 since I started the course.  However I have been stuck in session 7 and 8 for embarrassing 7 months! 

rkl312, then I should be really embarrassed!    If I recall, without looking at my log, I think I took about 9 months.

[Wim VD]

18 hours ago, Tuninghead said:

Working on session 9.    I'm close to finishing the session and was thinking about skipping the fingerpicking.  I'm not very coordinated.  I feel I'm making great advances in my playing and I'm afraid session 10 will slow my progress.  Is it as hard as it looks, or is this paranoia?

I would also suggest not to skip fingerstyle. You will need it later in the course in Session 18.

[Tuninghead]

Thanks to everyone for their responses and encouragement.  Does anyone know the beats per minute for "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Entertainer"?

[matonanjin]

55 minutes ago, Tuninghead said:

Thanks to everyone for their responses and encouragement.  Does anyone know the beats per minute for "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Entertainer"?

Someone, years ago, posted at our Yahoo Groups page, the bpm for all the songs on the playalong cd. I had downloaded that.  I just did a very quick search on my hard drive and couldn't find it.  I will look again tomorrow and should be able to find it for you.

[Nutty1]

7 hours ago, Tuninghead said:

Thanks to everyone for their responses and encouragement.  Does anyone know the beats per minute for "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Entertainer"?Fretless has just posted it in a new thread under the Learn and Master section.

Edited January 18, 2018 by Nutty1
Great news Fretless has just posted the Bpm list in another thread in this section

[Cindy]

11 hours ago, Tuninghead said:

Thanks to everyone for their responses and encouragement.  Does anyone know the beats per minute for "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Entertainer"?

None of the songs in the Bonus Workshop had play-along CD's. When Steve created the original course, it contained the original book, 20 videos (on 10 DVD discs) to go with each of the 20 original sessions, and the jam-along CDs. He later added the Bonus Workshop book and additional 10 Bonus DVDs to accompany the original material but no jam-along CDs were recorded. 

Attached is the original list of BPM's. Some of the BPM's fell between my metronome's markings which is why they are listed with a range rather than a specific set speed. Both this PDF as well as the mp3 of Turkey in the Straw are available via MikeM's file sharing site that is linked in my signature.

Back then, Dennis created a jam-along song for Turkey in the Straw. It's a slow to medium speed version (don't have a metronome right here to check its speed). It starts out with both the melody and backing track then the second time through is backing track only. I still chuckle when I hear this song--Dennis did a fantastic job making this mp3!

I wasn't able to log into my Soundcloud account for LMG so created a new one. This will also be where I link forum submissions for future CDs. 

 

LMG BPMs for Jam Along CDs.pdf

Edited January 18, 2018 by Cindy

[NeilES335]

A Forum for Learn and Master Guitar Students to ask questions, make comments, receive advice and encouragement, and post their progress.

 

[The deuce]

Can someone give me the note count and strums for the first measure of La Bamba? I have what I think is correct but would appreciate another take on this.

[Blue Dog]

1 hour ago, The deuce said:

Can someone give me the note count and strums for the first measure of La Bamba? I have what I think is correct but would appreciate another take on this.

 the count is 1 ,2,.an 3, 4, an . D, D u ,  D, Du  first measure

 the third measure is 1 ,  2 an , an 4 That D , D u , u, D 

[The deuce]

Thanks Blue Dog, I did not have the right count and strum.

[SandyB53]

On 1/14/2018 at 12:44 AM, rkl312 said:

I have been looking forward to session 10 since I started the course.  However I have been stuck in session 7 and 8 for embarrassing 7 months!  Fingerstyle is my goal.  But I know I need to get my chords crystal clear beforehand.  I watched Steve's Christmas live lesson and the beauty of his playing is all I want.  I purchased L&M Fingerstyle Guitar for myself as a Christmas present.  But I have a ways to go before my talent level meets this.  But this is my guitar new years resolution.   

rkl312  Don't let the Period of Time you have been working on a Session Embarrass You. This Course is Not a Competition and Some may Complete a Session Sooner than Others and I would believe that would Vary from Session to Session. This Course was Designed for an Individual to Work At Their Own Pace and that is what You need to do. No Matter How Long it takes you to Complete a Session makes you No Less Respectable than someone else who may have Completed the Session in Half or Less Time. The End Goal here is to Learn to Play your Guitar and if you Accomplish that Goal, Your a Winner...No Matter How Long it Takes. I typically spend an Extended amount of Time on each Session and want to feel as if I have Learned the Lessons and can feel Comfortable Moving to the Next Session. If You MASTER each Session (Not PERFECT), this Course will make you a Very Respectable Guitar Player, No Matter your Goal. Hold Your Head High and Enjoy Your Guitar Journey. I Wish You Well.

Sandy B.

[ChrisJ032]

Finally made it to session 9.....but after reading all the comments session 10 should be a real challenge....certainly enjoying the journey ...any tips while working on session 9 .. thanks and keep on strumming ??

[SandyB53]

Cindy I would Love to Download a Copy Of Turkey in the Straw by Dennis C.....That is an AWESOME Track.

[SandyB53]

Boy, This Song Turkey in The Straw has Bit Me....I have Listened to it about 20 times in a row, Dad Gummit!

[Triple-o]

Well, if you grew up where Ice cream trucks roomed the neighborhoods you probably have the tune tucked away in your childhood memory.That was one of the tunes those trucks blasted out to call the kids.Another one was the “Entertainer”.

[Randy120]

Fingerstyle is awesome. Steve method teaches you an easy way to make all your chords sing. 

[Anon]

Got started on this today. The last 2 sessions were fairly challenging so nice to have a bit of a breather in this session with no new chords or new hand positions to learn, with most of the focus being on strumming patterns and quicker chord changes (and intervals in terms of theory). Hopefully I can get through this one a little quicker than the previous two. My barre chords still aren't perfect but I think they should be competent enough at this point to get through this session without too much hassle.

Almost halfway there....

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

@Anon session 9 marks the main learning of this course 

after this session is as Steve calls it “Tools” for your tool belt 

they start working on specific types of playing 

session 10 fingerstyle is quite the ‘rabbit hole’ most get the feeling of 10 to return later as opposed to mastering it

Sessions 11-20 expand of styles like jazz and rock. 

[Anon]

@Eracer_Team-DougHthat makes sense that things get more specific to different styles as session go on. I already went through these sessions almost 15 years ago. I'm not completely sure where I stopped but it was in the early 10s (maybe 12-13?). But even though I haven't played at all for so long, and I even had to build my fingertip calluses from scratch, surprisingly I retained at least some of my muscle memory so have been able to get through a lot of these sessions quicker than the first time.

Yeah, I do remember fingerstyle being quite a challenge. Though I also remember really enjoying playing through Canon in D even though it took me forever to learn to play at tempo. I guess I'll see how things go once I get there 🙂

[Anon]

Even though this was apparently a much simpler section with really only strumming, chord changes, and a bit of theory to learn, it still took me a bit longer than expected. I got the strumming down, the chord changes are definitely getting better but not perfect especially between open and barres, and the songs are sounding fine too (Blues in E is fun to play, though definitely challenging on fast speed). I also ended up changing my strings which I hadn't done in almost 15 years (and really never before on an acoustic). My strings were slightly thicker gauge than my previous set so I struggled with getting barre chords to sound clean again. It felt like I was back to the beginning of session 7 again lol. But anyways, a few days of frustration and now they sound (mostly) fine. I still do struggle with getting sixth string F7 and 5th string Bb to sound completely clean, but I'm not gonna get hung up on it

I'll keep on practicing the bonus music theory worksheets even while moving to the next session because I don't think I'm as quick as I should be in identifying the minor/diminished/augmented notes. On to the fingerpicking session we go...