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Heres my attempt at the strumming guys, i tried to take all practice suggestions/tips on board like you all told me to, and this is what i came up with 10 days after that first horrible attempt. Its still not very good, but i would not call this one awful or horrible at all! -Brad

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Hello Brad.

Thanks fore sharing your video.
Tried to play with Neil(lesson Lucky man)and maby metronome.
That is good fore the rithem part.
I like to see you here by TG.

Greetz Anton

Brad,

I didn't get to see your first video. But, you're doing really well. It's fabulous that you're posting your progress this early in the piece; not only to get advice but as a record for later too. It's great that you're keeping the strumming going while you're moving to the next chord. And your strumming looks nice and even.

I have a couple of suggestions. Try to:

- slow down a fair bit
unlock your wrist and use more wrist and less arm movement to make the strum - lighten it up - your strumming looks very heavy
- pretend that you're really relaxed and just chilling on a Sunday afternoon. You're not in a rush you're really mellow. Maybe also - - pretend that your little girl is asleep and you're trying not to wake her; so you need to make a nice sound but not too loud.
- practice Neil's chord change technique -also go back and forth between the same 2 chords over and over for a while until you can start to feel your fingers starting to know what to do without needing to think about it.

Slowing it down and taking some of the tightness out of your body should allow you to make the changes more easily. There pretty good already but relaxing might help more. Really practice, practice and more practice at a slow speed is the only way to perfect chord changes. But, they're coming along nicely.

If you play along with Neil's slowest version or even a metronome that's slower again, I bet you're find that it's easier and starts to really come together for you.

But, regardless you're doing really well. Remember to watch Neil's videos a few times. Each time you'll probably pick up something new and more things will make sense.

Great job!

Michele

Brad- great job! It's wonderful to see a new player start off on this great song. And it is really starting to sound like a song!

A couple of suggestions:

1. Now that you have the chord changes down pretty well, strive for a lighter touch. Grip the pick lightly to were you are just barely holding on to it. You may even drop it into the hole a few times! You aren't a real guitar player until you drop your pick into the soundhole! lol! Try to just brush the strings. I always say let the guitar do the work!

2. Along with this lighter touch, try to emphasize the first down stroke of each measure. This song really demands this emphasis.

3. Don't feel obligated to fill every beat with music. Sometimes less is more! What I mean is most newer players feel they have to keep a steady up and down going. But missing a few strokes or stroking lightly will give your song much more feeling, somehting I comment on a lot.

You should feel really good about your progress. All your practice is clearly paying off and there is a huge difference from version two to version three! COngratulations!

Keep posting your progress and thanks for sharing this one. You are doing fantastic!

Cheers! :cheer:

After excellent advice from Michele and Rick, there's not a lot left to add. But I wanted to say well done Brad, keep it up and keep practicing hard. Good onya mate.

My advice is to take Michele and Bear's advice as I agree with them completely. I was singing along with that as you played. Very nice. I would add two thoughts:

1) include a bit more in your video in terms of length. I don' know what the optimal video length is, but I would surmise that 45 seconds is too short, and 5 minutes is too long. This will give other TG students a better look at your playing and allow you to keep a better record of your steady progress.

2) As a beginner, you will at times feel frustrated with your progress, or perceived lack of progress, and I'd suggest only that you stick with it no matter what. I tell you this because I wish someone had told me the same thing 18 years ago when I first picked up the guitar. Not sure how much of a difference it would have made given my line of work, but it certainly could not have hurt. You are lucky to be a youngster (relative to the rest of us), and ten years from now, you'll be a master of this instrument.

You have already made alot of progress. Keep up the good work.

Nice progression , Brad, I agree with the above.

It is great that you already came up with some corrections.

Marc

Brad,

There's a ton of improvement in this video, relative to the first two postings. The volume you're getting out of your guitar is over-saturating the mic, and distorting. Following Michele's and Bear's advice about lighter strumming will solve that. For reference on what light strumming looks like, see any video by MarkM.

It's impressive though that you're making so much progress and taking people's input to heart. You're on your way to becoming a guitar player. Enjoy the ride.

Hey Brad,

Sounding better every time,good job.BRAVO!!

Kevin

Hi Brad,

Nice improvement. If you follow the good advice given here you'll have it nailed in no time.


Bob