At last, the Genius Hour Project has finally reached its end. The twelve weeks have gone by faster than I expected. I have begun working on my presentation. I ran into a problem while working on it, my slides got deleted and I couldn’t get them back. This was frustrating because I had already done a lot of work on it. However, after about an hour of trying, I finally fixed it and got my slides back. I had to buy Canva Pro so that I could access the document history and go back to it before the slides got removed.
I’m nearly done with my presentation. I just have to add a few things and make the video part of it. This will be due when I get back from winter break. I think my presentation is going to be good. Nonetheless, it’s still a little bit stressful because it’s not something I have done before. I’ve been catching up on some much-needed practice, and I'm glad I have winter break to continue finishing up the project. For the video part of the project, I am going to record myself playing Upside Down by Jack Johnson, and if I have enough time in my presentation I might add a few other things to the video, like the Arabian music I learned and maybe the intro to Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. Since I replaced my guitar strings last week, I have noticed that they have been getting out of tune more easily, which makes sense if you think about it. This week I have been focusing on practicing by playing through my songs with minimal mistakes. I have also been strumming without a pick because for some reason I just like not using a pick. I would rather use my fingers. However, it is more difficult for me to do it without a pick.
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While this week has been hectic, I have managed to get in a decent amount of practice. I’ve basically memorized Upside Down by now and I can play it with ease. However, I can’t play the outro up to speed yet, and there are a few places where I don’t switch between notes quite fast enough. Other than that, I should be good. I have got the Arabic-style song that I have been playing down pretty well. I can play through it most of the time with minimal mistakes. Today I finally replaced the strings on my guitar. Basically, the copper layer around my steel strings started breaking and unwinding. This created a buzzing sound and also made it harder to slide my finger down the strings. Here are some pictures I took when I was replacing the strings: After replacing the strings, I noticed that they sounded more crisp and clear. I also noticed that the strings were a bit rougher on my fingers. This is probably just due to my previous strings being worn down.
This week I started on my presentation. I found a slide show template that I like and I organized it and split it up into different sections that I plan to do in my presentation. I will include a video in my presentation of me playing some things to show what I have learned. Besides Monday I did not have the chance to practice this week because I was out of state the rest of the week. As far as my progress for this project is concerned I am slightly overwhelmed. I should begin my presentation soon and I’m still not yet where I want to be with my ability to play the songs I am learning. But, to be fair, I have had a challenging month and I think I have still got enough done this month to be productive despite the challenges. My goal and focus for this coming week is to play Upside Down up to speed without unnecessary pauses. I would also like to begin organizing my presentation.
Progress This Week
This week I have made it my primary focus to continue practicing the song Upside Down by Jack Johnson. I have nearly memorized the whole thing, I just have to glance at the music at a few spots to remember everything sometimes. I have been practicing when I get the opportunity to. I have had a very hectic week, but I have still managed to get in a decent amount of practice. Guitar Maintenance I have been noticing that some of my guitar strings are very worn out; The outside of the string is unwinding and broken in some areas. They have mostly been damaged from me sliding my fingers down them. It is a problem because it creates a slight buzzing sound from the vibrating pieces of broken string strands when I play the strings. I have replacement strings that I am planning on replacing the strings with. I just learned today that my guitar is meant to be used with nylon strings. However, I have been using nickel-plated steel strings, and my replacement strings are also steel. I don’t think that it’s that big of a deal, but it is definitely something for me to keep in mind if I replace them again in the future. But it might not be a problem in the future because my guitar is a very basic entry-level guitar, and I might be getting a better one soon, maybe for Christmas. Overall Progress and Outlook Upside Down might have been slightly too hard for it to make sense as the first song that I learn; It’s more of an intermediate leveled song. Nonetheless, I wanted to challenge myself and learn a song that was actually fun and interesting. I still have enough time to learn it all the way. But, if I had to go back in time and do this project again I would probably pick an easier song. I won’t be able to get much practice this coming week because I will be out of town for five days. And after that, I will have to start preparing my presentation for the project. So really I don’t have much time at all until this project is over. Which is a bit stressful, but I think I’ll be fine. I have still been focusing on practicing the same things. I have almost completely memorized the song Upside Down by Jack Johnson. I only have one part left to memorize, which is the picking at the end of the song. It is harder to memorize this part because it is different from the rest of the song and doesn't repeat any parts.
This week I did not get in as much practice as I would have liked. This is a bit concerning because it is important that I get really good practice in next week because after that I will be out of town and not able to practice for a week. After that, I will only have two weeks left, and by then I will have to start creating my presentation. So, I do not think that I will be able to accomplish all that I wanted to on time. However, I think that is okay because if it weren't for some unexpected challenges, I would probably be more on track with hitting my goals. Despite probably not being able to accomplish all that I wanted to, I think this was still a success and I learned a lot and developed important skills. The fact that I won't be able to learn all I wanted to on time is kind of a good thing because now I have motivation to keep practicing even after Genius Hour is over, so that I can continue to develop my guitar skills. I did not get much done this week, I had a hard week. I practiced for a while today. I mostly focused on practicing Upside Down by Jack Johnson. Despite not practicing for a while, I feel like I was able to switch between chords slightly faster than usual. I also played some Arabian guitar music today. It sounds nice but I am still having trouble with finger vibrato, which is when I vibrate the string with my hand at the top of the guitar. It creates a nice sound that gives more personality to the music. It has been a while since I have practiced the part of I’ve Just Seen a Face by The Beatles that I have learned. I might play a bit more today.
I am hoping to get more done next week. My goal right now is still to finish learning Upside Down. Which means I need to memorize it and play it through at the right speed with minimal mistakes. I think that I am on track to meet my goal. However, progress in the past 2 weeks has been low. I want to hurry up and finish learning Upside Down, so that I can record a video of me playing it for this project. Progress This Week
This week’s practice has been a bit less than usual. Partly due to a busy weekend plus Halloween, I haven’t had a lot of time to practice. Besides a few short practice sessions, I’ve only had about one solid practice session this week so far. I have still been focusing on practicing and memorizing Upside Down by Jack Johnson. I’ve also practiced the Arabian music a bit. I have been trying to get better at strumming without a pick. I have been doing this for 2 reasons: I might not always have a pick with me, and using a pick makes the music a lot louder, which isn’t always appropriate in all settings. I have found it difficult to strum without a pick, while still maintaining good sound quality. Future Progress I am not sure if I will be able to complete everything I wanted to on time. I might not be able to learn all of the songs I want to. However, I think that it could be feasible if I can structure my practice right. Thus, I am going to start developing better strategies so that I can get more efficient use out of my practice. Strategy I am going to start setting miniature goals each week so that I can stay on track to reach my larger goals. I think this will help me a lot by making sure that I am focusing on the right stuff. In addition, I would like to define what I want to accomplish each day, before each practice section. This coming week I want to finish memorizing Upside Down by Jack Johnson, continue practicing the Arabian song until I have minimal mistakes while playing, and learn how to strum better without using a pick. I think that setting specific goals and targets each week like this will help me to be on track of reaching my long term goals of learning 3-4 songs. Another thing that I have to keep in mind is that it would be better to get really good at 1 or 2 songs than it would be to just learn 4 or more songs, without actually mastering them. I feel that, while I’m still making progress, my progress this week has been a lot less. Maybe that is because I have already learned most of the easy stuff, or maybe my practice has been lacking this week. Nonetheless, I have still made progress this week. I have almost fully memorized Upside Down by Jack Johnson. I just have to memorize some of the picking in the middle of the song and at the end of the song. I have also fully memorized the Arabian song that I was learning. However, I can not yet play it up to speed without a bit of mistakes. I am pretty good at memorizing songs, partly due to the fact that I have memorized songs in the past on the piano. I am also just good at finding patterns in the music which makes it easy to memorize when I look closely at it. I think I will be able to fully memorize Upside Down by the end of this week. And by the end of next week, I hope to be able to play it at full speed. Switching between the A chord and the B chord is still a bit difficult to do without a slight pause in between the chords. After that, I want to finish learning and memorizing I’ve Just Seen a Face by the Beatles. I think that I will definitely be able to fully learn at least 3 songs. Including, I’ve Just Seen a Face, Upside Down, and that Arabian song. I think most likely I will be able to learn one more song in addition to those within the 12 week time frame. Although, I have not yet decided what song that will be. I kind of want to learn the song Yesterday by the Beatles, but I’m not sure how hard of a song it is.
Progress
I have continued practicing the song Upside Down. I have been practicing it nearly every day. However, I miss a few days every here and there. I have been playing through the song by following along with the guitar TAB and chords. My goal is to memorize the song and play it up to speed. I have also been practicing the song I’ve Just Seen a Face. I have not been practicing this song very much because it is not what I am focused on right now. I have continued to sort of mess around with my guitar more. By this, I just mean experimenting with new things like scales and riffs, and also making up stuff to play. Arabian Music I have had a sudden fascination with learning Arabian guitar music. It started with learning a few Arabian sounding scales and then a simple lick. I think it sounds really interesting and it is very fun to play. When Mr. Barker brought his acoustic guitar during spirit week I think that he played a little bit of Arabian style music for a little bit. This reminded me of it, and the next day I started looking into learning the scales that the playing style is built around. I looked on YouTube to learn an Arabian song. I found one that is about two and half minutes long and I can already play through the full song and I have it memorized after just two days. It is a surprisingly easy song but it sounds harder than it is and it is fun to play. I just need to learn to play it a bit faster. Here's a link to the video incase you are wondering: https://youtu.be/4aTw5X3a4Ok Overview So far I am pleased with the progress that I have made. I have been really enjoying learning guitar so far, and I have found myself looking forward during the day to when I get to practice. I am definitely going to continuing playing the guitar even after this project. This week I’ve continued to focus on learning the song Upside Down by Jack Johnson. I’ve been practicing by just following along and sight-reading the music at a slow pace. My transitions between chords are getting smoother and I can play through the song at about half speed. I think I will be able to play the song up to speed within the next few weeks.
I have also begun to learn the song I’ve Just Seen a Face by the Beatles. The song is a lot easier than I thought it would be. However, the song is very fast-paced and sounds hard to play. At slower speeds, the song is pretty simple but it is definitely a challenge to play up to speed, I can barely even strum that fast. It has a really nice sounding strumming pattern that sounds kind of like chug-a-chug-a-choo-choo. It goes down-down-down-up-down-up, but it is kind of swung in a weird way and it’s is played really fast. I also learned the intro to the song which is mostly played by picking the G and E chords in a sort of fast-paced triplet pattern. I can also sing it, but not at the same time as I play it. My fingers are now a lot stronger than before. During the first few weeks, the strings were pretty hard on my fingers, now the skin has gotten a lot tougher. I think I should try and learn some scales on the guitar soon. I think learning basic things like that will probably benefit me in the future. So far, I’ve been learning at a steady pace and am on track to meet my goal of learning a few songs. I am enjoying this project so far and I am glad that I am finally learning guitar. |
Logan TronsenI'm a 10th grader at Davie High. I'm learning guitar as part of a project called genius hour in my English II Honors class. Archives
December 2022
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Photo used under Creative Commons from chocolatedazzles