Learning with an Eastman - New YouTube Channel of a Beginner

[ShawnEastman]

One Month Update: 



One month update... that's 30 days learning & practicing how to make sounds with this beautifully handcrafted piece of wood with 6 strings.... I take a look at the progress I've made during my first month by comparing clips from day one through to week four.

[ShawnEastman]

A little run through update of the "easy" songs I've been going over (& over & over) to drum these 3 chords into my unmusical brain - Of course, I've still been doing all of my slow daily technical practice (probably up to around 45-60 minutes of total practice per day on average) & often practice these songs at a slower tempo, certainly at first.

I also introduced Am & Em chords last week & a couple of new "easy" riff practices to get my fingers working in new ways.

As of yesterday I've also introduced the Dm chord, a simplified version of the spider finger exercise to ease me into that & a slightly more difficult strumming pattern to work with (the "old faithful" - missing one downstrum for the first time - D-D-U-x-U-D-U).

Of course, with these new minor chords I have a few new practice songs added as well - I have a LOT of different things in my routine now so will see how I get on over the next week & will then look to condense the exercises & songs in the routine so as not to overwhelm myself with a ton of different things every day - maybe split things up into alternating daily exercises &/or pause things I'm more comfortable with & focus more on what I feel needs work. I'll reassess & see.

Could be a good few weeks before I'm comfortable enough to progress onto a new chord & such - Will put together a video update of all of this in the next week or two.

Thanks for watching!

[ShawnEastman]

Introduction of the Em, Am & Dm chords. Still have plenty of work to do with these minor chords (particularly the Dm) before I'll be comfortable enough to add the next chord & whatnot.

[ShawnEastman]

This is after 7 weeks of learning. For the second week in a row I put the main focus on the Am, Dm & Em (I wasn't comfortable enough with them last week to move onto new stuff) so now we have a little run through of the 5 songs I've been practicing once a day to start getting to grips with them.

Took me a little while to warm up so there's plenty of mistakes in the first 3 songs in particular but pretty happy with my run through of the last two songs - overall I'm pleased enough after just 7 weeks.

Still doing all of my other regular practice of course, playing through these songs is just what I do at the end of my more technical exercises etc.

This coming week I look at the C chord for the first time.

[Charlieb]

just a suggestion, can't see very well but fingering looks whanky for the Dm. Use first 3 fingers for Dm...looks like you're using your little finger to play the D note on B string, use 3rd finger

[AlanSam]

I understand what Charlie is saying. I would add that if you can play a chord with different fingerings for the same fret positions early on in your learning process, this flexibility can be of use later on in your development - just a thought.

[ShawnEastman]

Cheers both...! Yeah my lessons have suggested that I learn it this way first using the little finger on the B string. It is pointed out that it's often played with the ring finger but reasoning for learning with my pinky for now is as it starts using that finger early on & is typically easier to reach the fret than it is with the ring finger. Though does also note that further down the line it'll be useful having the ability to play it both ways depending on the upcoming chord transition in a song... so I am giving practice time to both ways behind the scenes.

Same with the A chord and it's 3 or 4 different popular ways of forming it really!

Thanks for pointing out though! I think longterm it's always gotta be beneficial to have a grasp on several different ways of forming chords so as to choose the best way to play it depending on the song etc.

[Charlieb]

gotcha, everyone has their learning methods, I've been playing for 60 years and I'm still learning...it's never ending

[ShawnEastman]

It's commendable that your passion for the instrument still has you pushing yourself to continue learning more even after 60 years of playing! I suspect it must be common for many folk to become proficient at the basic stuff & be happy to call it a day.

[ShawnEastman]

Well.... I learned the C chord this week.

However, with that opening me up to an abundance of new songs I was immediately reminded that I have to work on continuing to polish up not only the chords I've previously learned but also the action of changing between them all - of course, I'm aware certain changes are more commonly used than others so it makes sense to at least prioritise those for now - namely the changes that specifically take place in the songs I'm practicing.

So, it took all of 10 seconds into a new song to discover that I'll be putting a ton of work into the changes between Em and D, Em and C, and C and D (just as a main focus - still doing all other standard practice stuff & whatnot) for the next week or two before I reassess. I don't expect to vastly improve these within a matter of weeks but I do want to feel more comfortable with them before introducing yet another chord (.....G!).

Thanks for watching!