Log and Reflection
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Log and Reflection (MUS207)
Introduction
In our lives, music serves many purposes such as a source of consolation, refreshment, and entertainment among many others. The melody is most of the time produced by various instrument accompaniments played by different people. This means that, people have a certain liking of specific instruments over others exemplified through what they specifically know to play. Guitar is one of the most frequently used musical accompaniment instruments, which is a clear indication of its popularity. This discussion provides an analysis as well as reflection on my current guitar playing abilities.
Practical plan
I developed an interest to learn guitar after meeting several people playing it on the streets. The emotions and the feelings of listening to the siren melody triggered my quest to begin training. The song they played on the guitar still lingers into my mind. They were cool and charming. Nevertheless, despite not having prior knowledge in guitar, I used to play other instruments such as piano and flute. I have attained grade three and seven in playing piano and flute respectively. This experience actually gave me an advantage compared to other people that have never played any instruments. I have some grasps of music theory and this will be an added advantage to me when learning to play guitar. I love to listen to music varieties but most often I would prefer rock, jazz, and country music. These genres of music make me feel relaxed and at peace because of their smooth and sometime rocky melodies. Therefore, combining my prowess in music and in music will go a greater mile in making master playing guitar quicker.
Motivations of people to pursue their career choices differ from one to another. My motivation to study music in this semester is to learn how to play many instruments in my life. I have an affinity to music and knowing more skills and knowledge about the area will enable me realize my quest. I also want to experience the same feeling as other people who play the instrument do.
The reason why I am studying guitar is to gain skills so that it becomes easier for me to practice on more songs on my own in future. I believe that, I will be able to understand deeply the techniques of playing the guitar so that, I can learn many songs. Even though I have no ambitions of playing in a band, if this opportunity comes, I would think about it in future. However, my major goal is just to know and be among those people that know how to play a guitar without any assistance from anyone.
The roadmap of how I am going to Achieve these aims
To learn how to play guitar will require me to come up with a clear guideline or rather roadmap that will guide me. I must create time to train as well as study other courses. I will practice guitar at home every week after classes. This will enable me to revise what I have learned in class during class sessions. I will also practice during my spare time. A number of my friends can play guitar and therefore they will train me.
Tasks and goals
- I will set clear goals and vision based on SMART (Specific, Measurable, and Attainable. Retainable and time bound)
- Daily practice session at home with my trainer
- Listening to various blues and R n B band jazz music to learn more on the tunes and melodies of guitar
- Set up a plan that will guide me towards its achievement
- By the end of the first week, I should have gained deeper knowledge about the guitar and playing techniques
Historical, social and technical knowledge
My favorite songs are blues and most of the time, I have practiced to play guitar with this genre of songs. When listening to blues, it requires full attention to get the message (Coelho, 2003). The instrument tones and melody are also tuned differently as the songs proceed. There are some levels that the pitch of the song goes high and again goes low and moderate. As a guitarist, it is important that I make these adjustments to ensure that the tunes and the melody sound nice (Campbell, 2008).
Various categories of blues such as electric and delta are distinguishable by the tones of the guitar. Blues is one of the most loved music genres that traces its roots in African American communities that lived in the Deep South of US in the 19th century. The genre was derived from the spirituals, work, folk and chants from European (Govenar, 2008).
I have listened to various blues composed and sung by various artists. One of the songs I have listened to is a sub-genre of R&B named ‘Unfaithful’ by Rihanna. The song was composed by Shaffer Ne-Yo Smith and was produced by the Star Gates (Bream, 2011). The song is in Rihanna’s second album of Girl like me composed and released in 2006 (Komara, 2006). It talks about a woman who is regretting of cheating her husband. It has been received with mixed reactions from various quarters, with some criticizing it while others praising its lyrics and powerful balladry (Chappell, 2014).
Another song that I listened to was ‘one of the brightest stars’ by James Blunt. The other song that I learned on the third day was for James Blunt named “give me some love”. The song is very calm with very clear guitar lyrics (Chappell, 2014). The guitar is well adjusted and it has various tunes including, bass and soprano that blend and make the song appealing to listen to.
Through the training session, I got to learn about the many forms of blue guitars. Therefore, training guitar is an event that evolves. It is r important that one identifies specific techniques, patterns to follow, and notes to use in the specific song rhythm. One is required to tune the guitar to an open chord before opening. The guitar is tuned to the open chord such as E major or G major and then to produce a sound, it is struck by a glass or a mental slide to change chords.
Another style that I was trained or learned during the training session was the picking style that manifests in both fretted and slide guitar styles. For emphasis of the rhythm, the guitar is thumped out in a steady manner on the bass notes on the guitar low strings. This is done simultaneously or in turns using the thumb. Finger picking on the upper strings leads to sound of chords, fills, and melodic riffs that are heard from the songs.
Slides are also used to play chords. The slides are moved from one point to another. Most of the chords in this song are composed of major and minor triads; dominant 7th chords also known as triads with the other flatted and jazz chords (Chappell, 2014). Many of these songs used blue scale in their melodies and in their composition as well as their improvised solos. Listening to these songs not only enabled me to understand the various tones and melodies but as well to set the guitar to sound in a particular way. The training was somehow complex, especially when it came to internalizing the various notes on the guitar.
The log
The practice was an awesome experience for me. The practice session took a duration of one week. All these trainings or practices were recorded in my dairy book to ensure that I remember the various events and experiences at those particular moments. I practice in the evening after the classes and every time I have free time. I practiced to play guitar at home where my fellow colleagues that had already known how to play it joined me. On a typical evening, I practice for an hour. In most occasions, the practice commenced in the evenings at 5pm to 6pm.
On the first day, I practiced how to set a guitar to be able to produce certain melodies. Setting a guitar may seem to be an easy task, but my colleagues assisted me in the same. Nevertheless, after around 10 minutes, I was able to make this guitar and set it correctly for use. The trainer then took me through the other keys such as G and E factors and how they were fine-tuned. Other aspects that I was taught on this first day were on the parts of the guitar and their roles.
On the second day, I listened to one of my favorite RnBs “unfaithful’ by Rihanna. The aim of listening was to identify the way guitar was used in the song to add more spice and melody to the song. Towards the end of the music, I learned to play the guitar just the way it played in the DVD. The third day, I listened to ‘one of the brightest star’ by James Blunt. The guitar melodies in this song were clear and exciting. At the end of the session, I went through guitar practice to accumulate practical knowledge.
The fourth day, I trained/practiced the third song by James Blunt named “give me some love”, which is one of the favorite songs that had good chords. The guitar in the song is clear and thrilling. This was one of my best days on the training; it was a day full of fans and good moments. I also recoded some significant improvement in the way I fine-tuned and played the guitar on this specific song. I came to realize that I have the capabilities and all it takes to become the pro I wanted. I could at least make some steps and efforts to produce an organized sound. I came to the realization that my skills in piano played an instrumental role in my learning process at the facility.
References
. Campbell, T. (2008).Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes on; Cengage Learning, 3rd ed..
Bream, J. (2011). “Rihanna redefines Loud”. Star Tribune (The Star Tribune Company). Retrieved December 2, 2014.
Chappell, J. (2014). How to get the blues sound. Retrieved from: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-get-the-blues-sound.seriesId-105965.html
Coelho, V. (2003). The Cambridge companion to the guitar, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Govenar, B. (2008). Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound; Texas A&M University Press.
Komara, M. (2006). Encyclopedia of the blues; Routledge
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