Learning Guitar, Day 7

I finally got a longer practice session in.

I practiced my chords, which are getting easier and easier to play clearly on the first few tries. I'm starting to see I need to move my ring finger back a slight bit when playing the A chord, or else the string sounds a little dead. It rings, but it is muffled a little. I can tell the difference if compare it to playing the string pressing down on the middle of the fret.

Chord changes are starting to turn into muscle memory. I discovered I can play the D-A and A-E chord changes without looking at my fretting hand a large portion of the time. I still find my self losing my place and having to pause and mentally restart. The D-A switch has become easier now that I've discovered if I get my index finger in the correct place, I can just rotate my hand to play either chord.

I did another recording of myself playing Three Little Birds. For the first few chords I played at a steady 60 bpm. Then at the chord change I took too long to change and lost the tempo. The same thing happened at the next chord. I played the next three bars, but sped up a few of the chords. The next chord changes again took too long. Overall, the recording still sounded better than I think I sound when I'm playing, but I am no guitar professional yet. When I'm playing, the chords usually sound the worst, and the chord changes sound pretty good. That's reversed when I listen to myself after. When I'm recording myself, I am only doing a simple audio recording. Seeing how helpful that has and will be, I will probably do some video recording as well. Maybe I'll see something that is hurting my playing as well.

I'd call today a playing success. Switching chords without looking was fun! Tomorrow I am back off to school. I will do my best to get a good practice in, but moving back in will make that interesting. I guess I'll see what happens.