“There is nothing so stable as change” – Bob Dylan.
Right now I am trying to change a lot when it comes to playing the guitar. I am trying to change how often I practice. I am trying to change the skill by improving it. I am trying to change how I listen and learn from my mentor Ewan. I am doing this all because I am really enjoying playing the guitar and hearing myself play. I think I have improved a lot since my last post. I mainly have been practicing switching between chords. The chords that I have mainly been practicing are the A minor, C, G, and D. I have been using these chords because they are used in the song “knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, which I am currently learning. Last week, Mr. Salisbury told me that playing the guitar gets a lot more fun and engaging when you start learning songs, and after starting to try that, I completely agree. Plating the guitar has been great and I am practicing almost every day now. I have also met with my mentor, Ewan, twice since the last post. He has been doing a great job teaching me and answering my questions.
HOW TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL MIND
Listening is a very important part of being able to have a good relationship with someone. As De Bono says, “you cannot have a beautiful mind if you do not know how to listen”, which I completely agree with [66]. If you are not able to listen, then how are you able to learn effectively. In my meeting with my mentor, Ewan, I was given some sheet music for the song “knockin’ on heaven’s door”, which I am currently learning. I am still new to learning guitar and haven’t really used sheet music before. When my mentor was explaining to me what the sheet of music meant, I asked “what does the 2 dots at the end of the line mean?”. My mentor told me that it meant to repeat the line. This question helped me gather new information and learn further about the topic. In my meeting with Ewan, I also learned slightly about different styles of music on the same song. The teacher in the room, Mr. Salisbury, heard Ewan teaching me “knockin’ on heaven’s door” and asked us if we were more of Bob Dylan guys or “Guns n’ Roses” guys, as he is also an experienced guitar player. Ewan said, “I am actually a bit more of an Eric Clapton guy”, and I didn’t really know what all of these names meant, as I only knew these were artists/bands. Although I did know that I like Guns n’ Roses. I then learned that these different artists/bands all played the same song, but slightly different based on their styles of playing the guitar. So, we both had different views/values that we discussed. Ewan’s opinion also slightly influenced mine, as after this discussion I listened to different variations of “knockin’ on heaven’s door” and I did like Eric Clapton, but I think I’m a bit more of a Bob Dylan guy now.
Asking questions is also very important when it comes to generating interaction. According to De Bono, questions “show attention and interest [and] they allow for the further exploration of certain points”[72]. De bono also discussed shooting and fishing questions. Shooting questions are questions that are looking for yes or no answers while fishing questions are very open-ended. In my meeting with my mentor, power chords were brought up when talking about Guns n’ Roses version of “knockin’ on heaven’s door”. I didn’t know what power chords were, so I asked, “what are power chords?”. I asked this question because I was curious, I had heard of them before, and they sounded cool. I was taught that power chords are used to intentionally add distortion or overdrive effect and are a key element to styles of rock music. They sound best on electric guitars. Ewan then taught me a small intro to power chords and quickly how to play TNT with power chords, although I cannot do this quite yet. Overall, asking questions has been very useful for me to be more engaged in learning the guitar.
Overall, I am very happy with where playing the guitar is taking me and I will continue practicing. My main focus will be to play the chords much cleaner and get much faster at switching between them. Below is some audio of me practicing playing the guitar. The first is me practicing “knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, and the second is me practicing some power chords.