Instrumental Study

1. Day to Day Maintenance Requirements of My Instrument

a) What are the maintenance requirements of my instrument?

Day to day maintenance 

Ways to look after my instrument: 

removing the strings:
(http://www.wikihow.com/Change-Guitar-Strings use this!)
1 Removing all the strings at once permits you to clean and wipe the fingerboard without lifting up the strings or having to work around them. Fingerboards accumulate a mix of skin oil, skin and dirt (which saps tone and acoustic sustain from the guitar).
2 To remove the strings u need to loosen them so they are no longer under tension using the tuning machines until they can be pulled out of the tuning pegs.
3 Removing the bridge pins. they hold the strings at the bottom of the guitar use a bridge pin puller that u can get from any music/guitar shop you can also push the pins out from the inside of the guitar 
4 remove the strings from the peg holes one a t a time
5 Clean Your guitar if desired
Changing the strings
1 get the strings ready and color code the ends to indicate what note they are to be tuned to.
2 choose your own order to put the strings in
3 insert the strings into the peg hole then put the peg back in.
4 stretch each string to its appropriate tuning peg then insert the end of the string into the tuning peg hole. the u want to turn the key to the right so it tightens.
5 When you are tightening the strings make sure to leave a little bit of slack if u dont u will run out of string really fast and the strings will loosen up while your playing.
6 Bend the strings 90° so that they don't overlap 

b) What Can I undertake personally?

1. Clean and polish the top, sides and back of your guitar regularly.
2. Change the strings of a guitar 
3. clean the guitar with a dry cloth when it's dirty.

1.2. Personal Health and Safety Issues 

a) What Health and Safety issues are there that you need to consider when playing your instrument, and when approaching your playing style? b) How should you review your own approach to these issues when playing your instrument?
If at anytime your hands or forearms cramp up or hurt, STOP shake out your hands and arms, then try to relax and start again, if you continue playing with the pain, you will probably develop tendonitis or a similar problem

1. Drink plenty of spring water or filtered water. Attempt to drink one 8 oz. glass of water per hour. The tissues of your body are composed mostly of water. Dehydration inhibits the healing process.
2. Avoid caffeinated beverages and alcohol. These will dehydrate you. The stimulating affect of caffeine will also tense your muscles.
3. Before you begin your workday, stretch your muscles, and perform some light exercises to "wake them up." Avoid working with tight, unstretched arms and shoulders. This will lead to further injury.
4. Perform stretching exercises at your workplace at least once per hour. (Provided by a health care provider)
5. Take frequent breaks to rest muscles and to stretch. At least one 5 minute rest every 30 minutes is adequate to perform self-massage and stretching for the muscles.
6. Begin a daily log of your activities and symptoms. In the log, state the symptom and its severity, along with activities that may have brought on the complaint. This enables you to begin understanding why you have this injury. Other items to log are: water intake, medications taken per day, dietary intake, and other factors that may play a part in your condition, such as emotional factors and stress level.
7. Watch your posture while working. If you have questions regarding specific work-related postures, ask the doctor.
8. Cold environments will worsen RSI conditions because of decreased blood flow to the tissues. If you find yourself in a cold environment, take steps to correct it. (i.e. wear gloves, buy a space heater, etc.)
9. Check with your local hardware or stationary store for rubberized materials that allow easier grasping of objects, such as around a commonly used pen, or pliers, etc.
10. Avoid hobbies that flare up the condition, such as sewing, and sports involving heavy shoulder and arm use (like racquetball).
11. Do not perform weight lifting exercises to your arms, hands, or shoulders when the condition is in an inflamed state. This will simply further the irritation and swelling.
12. Use ice, either via an ice pack or by using a Dixie cup ice massage to relieve swollen irritated tissues. When using an ice pack, always place a moist towel between your skin and the ice pack. Ask the doctor on the proper technique for ice massage. Ice should be used for no longer than 15 minutes at a time. Take a half-hour break before applying again.
13. If the muscles in your neck and back are sore and tense, moist heat may be affective in relieving the pain. As with ice, use heat for periods of 20 minutes at a time. Take the heat off for 20 to 30 minutes between sessions. If you feel worse after using heat, apply ice for 15 minutes. This will decrease the swelling present. Avoid heat if this is the case.

2.1 Reviewing Personal Goals

a) What are the personal goals that you would like to achieving in playing your instrument?

I want to be able to do bar chords.

Make my transaction smoother between chords. 

Being able to pick certain string when needed to.

b) How do you intend to achieve these personal goals?

I intend to achieve these goals by:
By approaching more bar chords in other songs or by picking some bar chords and practice my finger placement and then changing between them over and over again then use a metro timer to be able to change between them faster and faster.
I will try and make my transactions smoother by either getting a bigger guitar to have more space or by continuously changing between each chord until they seem smooth then I will repeat that process until my transactions are smoother.
I will try to be able to pick certain strings by looking up tutorials on the best hand placement and then use that, after I have done that I will find a song that has picking certain chords in it and one that sounds nice and continuously practice that then once I have done that I will and a harder one and repeat the process 


The agreed plan with my teacher is to:

1. Attend and take part in 1 hour of practical lessons per week, for a minimum of 15 weeks. 

2. Attend and take part in a 20 minute lesson for my instrument, for a minimum of 15 weeks. 

3. Review and reflect upon my lessons and progress each week on my blog, for a minimum of 15 weeks. 

c) Blog of all rehearsals - you must state what you have achieved, and what you plan to do next week. 

Week 1

Today in my practical lesson I had to play a song called counting stars by Onerepublic, I was playing the acoustic guitar with another person. At the start I couldn't get the bar chords exactly right so it confused me when we went through the final performance but as I progressed I managed to get the chords a lot better, but I was ok on the normal chords I think I was in time most of the way.  We started with the song in the background and as we progressed we first removed the lyrics so we only had the backing track with the singers, after playing through the song a couple of times then we removed all the music and performed twice as a class then we recorded are final piece.I have to improve on barring chords as it takes me to long to change from a normal chord to a barring chord.

Week 2
I had to find some songs to play to next week. I found this task a bit hard as I only listen to the lyrics and don't take any note of the name of the song. My instrumental lesson went well this week ,my tutor told me to work on my strumming pattern skills.

Week 3
Today I learned the guitar pattern of one of the songs. I also learned a couple of new chords (C#m,F#m and B) i remembered how to do the chord C. I practiced this by putting my fingers on the strings over and over again until I was confident with the pattern I had to put my fingers is, it was not easy as I had to do some bar chords which are very hard to do. I need to work on the bar chords as I find it hard to bar with my finger. My instrumental lesson when well, my tutor told me to work on my chords Emaj, Amaj, Dmaj, Emin,Cmaj and Gmaj

Week 4

Today i decided to pair up with Molly and i changed a couple of songs I'm thinking of changing one to in the name of love, we are thinking of restarting. Changing all of our songs to something we both like. I found a piece easy because the chords are really easy to play the rest of the songs we haven't decided what to do, i still need to work on barring but a the moment i have no bar chords. My instrumental lesson went well. I did my tab reading very well my first attempt was 2:14m then the second one 2:16m I find it difficult to keep track of where i was because i was looking down at my guitar in between of reading and playing so i got lost a couple of time.

Week 5

Today i learnt the chord for don't let me go (D,A,E and F) and played along to some of the song. I found these pieces easy because they are chords that i have been playing since year 8.I found the chord F a little difficult because i find it very hard to bar. My instrumental lesson went ok i need to work on some of the chords and i need to get my time down to 2 minutes as i can do the tab in 2:14 mins

Week 6

Today I worked on the chords for alarm and  In the name of love. i still need to find out the strumming pattern for the songs. I found this task easy because i only had t remember the chords i know as the songs i am doing are chords i already know. My instrumental lesson this week went well because my tutor said that i am very good at controlling the guitar. I just need to go trough a tab sheet he gave me. My started tab sheet i done under 2 minutes. 1:59.3m

Week 7

Today I practiced playing in the name of love with molly.As molly wasn't confident enough to sing we got an amp so she would be comfortable to sing while i was practicing getting the chords in time with the song. I found this piece a bit difficult because half way through the song i couldn't tell where the chords where because it blended in with the music very well. today i didn't have my instrumental lesson because my tutor was not in.My personal aim for this recording is to completely record 8 minutes in two hours. First to record In the name of love then to record don't let me down then Alarm. 

Week 8

Today  I practiced playing through the song In the name of love and completed the song. next week i should be able to record some of the song after i have had a few minutes to go through the song again.This piece i am finding a bit hard in the middle as it is confusing to find out where to play the song.the easy part was going over the stuff i already knew. I missed my instrumental lesson but i will work extra hard next week. 

Week 9

Today i practiced the chords for Alarm. (am,c,g,f) i started playing along with the song but i realised that it wasn't working and i did it with the song in the background put playing the chords separately until i get used to changing between them and doing the f chord as it is a par chord and i find them very difficult to learn and change between a normal chord to a par chord.
this piece i am finding difficult as i am not used to changing between them. and i need to learn the f chord properly so it gets easier to change between them.
My instrumental lesson this week was good. i need to learn a song but by picking at the strings instead of chords. i need to work on this more as its not the easiest thing in the world a the moment.

Week 10
Wasn't in.

Week 11
Today was very frustrating at first our room, was occupied then we looked for a different room and there was none.so we came back to the room we were originally in. but we couldn't do anything, so Miss Harris gave me the option to stay behind for 10 mins and work on the piece a bit more. it took me a bit to remember the chords and the timings but i manage to remember the chords but the timing still needs some wok on.  This piece was difficult as i only had 10 minutes to recall the chords and timings. My instrumental lesson was very frustrating as for some reason i couldn't remember anything and i struggled to remember some of the chords but at the end i managed to recall some of the chords that i was doing but i still need to work on my transactions. 

Week 12
Today i was going to re-do alarm as it wasn't 100% clear but i found this very very hard as there was exams all around us and we couldn't practice because we would have disturbed the exams.
my instrumental lesson this week went good and bad as at the start i forgot some chords again but at the end i managed to play and understand the chords. on the tab sheet.

Week 13
Today i recorded the backing track for my old piece in the name of love(solo) as molly doesn't like to sing and we were in a public place which would have made it even harder to get her to sing. the hard part was getting in time with the song. My instrumental lesson this week he was not in. i went but i look in and the room and it was empty.

Week 14
Today i worked alone on Alarm i started it again as i had to re-do in the name of love as the backing track was copyrighted. I was practicing the chord again (am, c, g, F.) this was easy other then the F chord as it is barring and it is very hard for me to barr but i am getting better at it.

Week 15
today I went over the lyrics while i was practicing the chords. I am thinking to slow down the pace of the song instead of having it at normal speed as it is a very fast song. I practiced this piece by playing the chords over and over again while having the song in the background while molly was looking at the chords and going over it. we are planning to record in 2 weeks time.

Week 16
Today i was going over the chords and trying to get them in time, we have found a backing track of the song Alarm so its not just me in the background and i have something to play along to, It was not very hard to find a backing track as all i had to do was going to yt and  look up alarm backing tracks.but getting the timing right on every chord is hard as well as i have been playing the chord f wrong all this time. My instrumental lesson was not very good as the teacher wasn't there when my lesson was due.

Week 17
Today I was told to record but we couldn't, we weren't ready to record now we are going to record tomorrow in the lesson. We found this task difficult as i kept messing up after the f chord or on the f chord molly cant sing without the person singing in the background but we are practicing to get this right. My instrumental lesson was ok but i am doing the same thing over and over again.

Week 18
Wasn't in!

Week 20
Today I started again as in make sure i am doing the chords right, making sure i don't do the wrong thread or i'm in two. i also played the chords one by one to get to know the sound of that chord then i know if i'm messing up when i'm doing them all together. I also found another easier way to do the f chord. These pieces were easy because i was just going over the things i already know. I did not realise that i had a practical lesson today.

Week 21
Today me and Molly wanted to change songs as we do not like the one we are doing as it has been repeated so many times, now we are doing (castle on the hill, beating heart, but the last one we are not sure yet.) the problem with this is that we don't have many songs on our phone and we cant think of any on the spot which made this very difficult.My instrumental lesson whent good as i have moved on to the second part of the song the problem with this is that it has a lot of bar chords which i find very difficult but i'm going to work on them to improve 

Week 22
Today we started to do castle on the hill i look at the chord (d g bm a) but i'm still trying to learn bm but we are going to record every even week. this is difficult because the bm is a bar chord which i am working on to get better as i have to do a bar chord in my instrumental lesson, i didn't do my instrumental lesson as i have a picture of the old sheet that goes up to today. which was supposed to be at 9

Week 23
Today I recorded the verse (d, g, bm and a) and the pre-chorus (d, g and a). It was just me as Molly isn't in. I made a lot of progress as I was on my own. I am no longer finding the bm chord difficult as i have found a much easier way to do it and it also made it a lot easier to change from bm to a. Next yet i want to continue practicing the chords and find out the pattern they are played in.

Week 24
Couldn't work

Week 25
Couldn't work

Week 26
couldn't work but i did try.

Evaluation of Recording 1:
I need to speed up when changing chords and strumming, (but i think i did good for having a bad hand.). I need to make sure that I'm placing my fingers in the correct position when playing a chord, and i need to make my transaction constantly at the same time because i kept stopping between certain chords which made the song sounds bad, i don't think i was confident enough playing this song. i would have preferred to play this song with a better hand so it would be a lot better than it currently is. but i think i have been able to place my fingers in the correct positions as before i was placing them on the threat instead of in the threat. My overall target is to make my transitions a lot smoother as in this recording i am very slow and stopping quite often. the targets I want to achieve  playing fast pace songs as  i normally slow them down when playing them, I want to be able to tune a guitar without a guide to help me when tuning the guitar (but I'm not sure how i would do that.) And be able to play a guitar without a pic when needed. I think that i can achieve these targets. 
Evaluation of Recording 2:
At the beginning i mess up a little bit and slow down and by doing that i make it very obvious that i have messed up, however this is better than my first recording, this is very good as it shows how much i have improved since my last recording, My picking has improved however i start of slow then start to pick up the pace, I need to keep the same pace throughout the song. When i am strumming I sometimes have my fingers in the wrong position or not pressing down hard enough causing the chord to sound wrong which ruins that part of the song. My confidence has raised a bit compared to last time as now i am doing it in a public place instead of hiding away so no one can hear me play. My overall target is to stop slowing down when is mess up and continue playing however i am going to find this difficult as for me everything needs to be perfect so i dont think its really bad this is another thing that i need to improve on as it ruins the song if i do the smallest part wrong, I plan to stop this from happening until i know the song inside out. I think i will be able to achieve this by the next performance.

3.1 Review of your progress

a) What comments has your tutor made about your progress?

That i need to practice at home as well as the lessons) What are their reports on your:

i) technical ability
He said my technique is very good but i need to smoothen my transmission ii) dexterity  I am able to do some bar cords when before i couldn't do any of them, i can change from a bar cord to a normal one but i find it a bit harder to change from a normal cord to a bar chord.
iii) stamina before I could only play for about 30 minutes but now i can play for around 2h if needed to 

iv) control of the instrument.
He said i can control my instrument,I am good with picking and not muting, I need to move my hand on the chords forward a bit more so when it does mute the chords it can be fixed.
c) All recordings and dates of these recordings


3.2 Final Evaluation 

a) What are your achievements, in relation to the personal goals you chose at the beginning of the course? 
My achievements are:
I can pick certain chords a medium pace, this is helping me as I want to be able to pick along with fast songs and I think if I keep going then it won't be long until I get there, for my current songs there is a bit of picking in it and I find them easy.
My transactions are much smoother as before I was going at many different paces but now I have a target to hit when it come to pace, This allows me to keep in the with the songs, if I am falling behind I will use a metro timer to help me, I will find out how fast the song is going and slow make my way up in speed until I am in time with the song.
I need to work on my bar chords more as I have been avoiding them, but in one of the songs I am doing now there are bar chords and this is helping me as I still need work, another way of completing this task is by finding a few bar chords and changing between them.

b) What are the strengths in your progress?
the strengths in my progress are being able to pick certain chords along with songs however I am feeling very confident with this and want to improve further to a point where I feel like I need work, to do this I need to pick songs that are faster or use the metronome to increase the speed then I think I will be able to improve on my picking skills
c) What do you need to continue to work on as a performer?
I need to work on bar chords and making my transactions smoother
to achieve the bar chords I need to pick a few bar chords and then play them over and over again, one way of doing this is by placing and taking my finger on and off over and over again, by finding bar chords in song and playing the bar chord with the song or by finding to bar chords that I don't know and constantly play them over and over again.
to make my transactions smoother I need to find two unknown chords or more and change between them over repeatedly and trying to get my finger in the correct position then add a metronome into it and increase the speed slowly by five each time I get comfortable with the movements.