Learning Guitar, Day 13

I feel I made a lot of progress today. I can play all of my chords clearly (I still forgot to turn my palm sometimes, but when I notice it I fix it). Also, my one minute changes went up considerably.
Am-E: 50
Am-Dm: 21
A-Dm: 27
E-D: 46
Em-D: 44
I was glad to see me getting better at moving the Am/E shape around. Am-Dm still feels like chaos, but I'm working on it. And A-Dm still kills my ring finger, even with my calluses.

Something new I tried today was isolating a singe chord change, and practicing it over and over. Since I've noticed I can't play Three Little Birds to my satisfaction, I was practicing the A-D change. I would start with A, strum, then slowly move to D, but make sure to get it clear on the first try. I would then stop and return to the A chord. I did that a few times, and slowly picked up the pace. Eventually I found I could do the change pretty fast and correct most of the time. I did the same thing going from D to A, and I definitely felt some improvement. I think I also helped move this to muscle memory by zoning out and doing it a bunch of times.

I've also started thinking of plan of what to learn for the next few weeks. I've decided to spend around 10 days on each set of chords I learn, practicing any changes that give me problems, and making sure the chords really sound great. So that means I have around a week left on these minor chords, then I will start learning C and G. I like this plan because it slowly works up the muscles and flexibility in my left hand. I decided the next thing I will add to my practice sessions will be playing scales, as this usually requires even more stretch (usually a fret per finger). I'll try and make those sound good. Beyond that, I don't have anything planned. Planning 2/3 of a month is a good start though. :)

I'm hoping soon I will be able to play a song to my satisfaction. Maybe I'll even record it and post it. Maybe tomorrow? :)