Hello,
Welcome to my blog post for my learning progress! For the last two weeks, I have been practicing and learning a lot. Here is my update on my progress on the bass guitar so far.
From the two times me and my mentor meet up, he gave me two songs in the E scale of the practice. These songs were simple and easy to follow along to. One of the two songs was fast, and the other one was slow. The fast songs were used to improve my memorization of notes and rhythm; the slower songs were used to build up my smoothness between the notes and the rhythm as well.
These are the recordings of my progress so far. Feel free to hop onto my YouTube account to see come recording of me playing the bass guitar.
Things to improve on:
– Sliding
– Practice slides 5 times a day
– Staying on beat
– Use a metronome while playing
– Cleaner notes
– Look at where I am placing my fingers
Questions to answer:
- What went particularly well during your mentoring sessions?
Many parts of my sessions went well when I was with my mentor. One of the things that went well with my mentor was communication. Every single time me and my mentor communicated, we understood each other well. This led to our sessions being effective and running smoothly. I believe that the prior relationship between me and my mentor connected to how much we understood each other. Even though the sessions were 30 minutes each, I was looking forward to going to each session because the learning and the interactions with my mentor were enjoyable.
Adding on to the communication, I think the feedback and adaption went well. During the session, David gave me lots of positive feedback. This positive feedback included what I did well and what I had to improve and work on. Some of the feedbacks were like “next time remember to stay on beat, you can count in your head to do that”, “don’t go too fast or too slow”, “you’re improving a lot but…”, and “maybe we can practice some of the slides because it is a hard part to learn, you’re doing well but we can make that better”. My mentor gave supportive feedback, and I was taking it all in well.
2.What logical challenges affected your communication?
There were not that many challenges that affected the communication, but these are some of the challenges I can think of.
One of the challenges I had was when I was getting my feedback, I wanted to play the bass to fix the correction ASAP. Although David had more to say, so, I was not as focused for the second half of the feedback I’ve received. This was a challenge because I was correcting my mistakes slowly and David had to keep saying the same feedback repeatedly after every song.
The second challenge I had was listening because the masks were difficult to speak in. Even though David and I were close to each other, it was difficult to hear. This led to me asking him to repeat the same things repeatedly. It was easy to ask him to say the same things over again, but I think he knew so, he talked louder and clearer. The first few sessions it was difficult to hear but, in the last few sessions, he started to talk louder and more clearly.
The last challenge is distractions. Having the sessions take place after service at church many kids are running and screaming around the hallways. Sometimes they would burst into the room and run around or stare at us through the window. I am fine with this, and I think David is as well. However, the kids interrupting the communication cut the rhythm of the session.
- What factors affected your ability to interact effectively?
One of the factors that affected my ability to reach out to David is that he is a busy man. When I text him one day, he messages me back a couple of days later. At first, I was not used to him getting back to me fast. But I’ve understood and started to massage him as soon as I got any information. Another part is when In-depth was starting, David was starting his new job. So, I guess getting comfortable with the time management and everything was hard for him.
- What three strategies could improve the quality of your mentoring interactions?
The first strategy would be checking in with my mentor before every session. Maybe a day or two, I can remind him that there would be a session. I think this would give him a heads up so he wouldn’t forget on top of all his work.
The second strategy would be thinking of questions the day before. Many times, when I am asked if I have any questions, I will usually say no. This answer was good with other people but for David, I need to ask him a question before I leave. Making up questions takes a long time for me but if I think of a question before, I also have time to make the question better.
The third strategy is being early to my sessions. I am pretty involved with my church, and I have lots to do around everywhere. Although I have a lot of responsibility to do, I think if I make sessions a priority and be at the room first, David will make the sessions his priority as well.
- What is the action plan for implementing each of the three strategies?
For my first strategy, as I said before, I am reminding him before each session to remind him. Talking to him before the session would make it less awkward when I meet him. What I do, is make myself a reminder to remind him about the sessions. I think this would make everyone who is attending the session on top of the time.
For my second strategy, while I am practicing my bass, I can have a scrap piece of paper around. When I have questions or comments while I am playing, I can write them down and bring them to the sessions. Making the questions while I am playing bass would be effective because I will be in the mood for bass. I can see and hear what I will be doing and write it all down.
For my third strategy, I can ask someone like my sister to remind me. She is always with me at church so giving her a little favour wouldn’t be that bad for her. If she forgets, I can always ask other people of making an alarm on my phone.
Anyways, this is the end of my blog post for my In-depth. Come back in a couple of weeks to see my second progression and works!!