WHOOPS!

I certainly did learn something this past guitar lesson. While waiting for my mentor to arrive for guitar lessons I was practicing my guitar and while tuning it it didn't occur to me that I was twisting the pegs (the part of the guitar you use to tune it) a little too tightly and the guitar string snapped in my face. That was definitely a shocker. I was panicked and called my mentor. I thought that I was going to get in trouble but when he answered and I told him the problem he seemed cool about it and didn't make a big deal about it. He bought me some new strings and taught me how to fix my own guitar. "Never pay anyone to fix your guitar strings for you, " is what he told me. "It's really easy." And he was right. Fixing my guitar string was super easy. He also told me how snapping strings is normal and happens all the time even to professionals.
    So there were several things that I learned from this lesson. I learned that snapping guitar strings is nothing to be ashamed of and is normal. I also learned that guitar string are not very expensive (about $10 for a pack, it also depends where you're buying them), not to over twist your pegs or they will snap and most importantly how to fix my own guitar and how simple it really is.
    If you are a beginner in guitar playing and snap a string, do not freak out because it's not that big of a deal.

GUITAR SO FAR

The things that I have learned so far during my guitar lessons are chord switching, picking and the basic chords which are the G major, D major, C major, and the E minor. This may seem like only a bit of chords but really many songs including praise and worship songs can be played with these few chords. As I have mentioned before learning these chords can be a struggle in the beginning and painful as well but once you've got the hang of it, it becomes very simple and and pain simmers down because of the process of calluses building on the tip of your fingers and pain is also something you get use too as you are practicing.
     Recently I have been starting to practice bar chords on the guitar. From what my guitar mentor has told me, bar chords are one of the most difficult and frustrating things to learn on guitar. Most guitar players (even professionals) hated these chords while learning and getting into bar chords I can understand their struggle. What a bar chord specifically is, is a type of guitar chord which one or more fingers are used to press down against the strings across the finger board which enables the guitarist to play a chord not restricted by the tones of the open strings on the guitar.
     As I mentioned previously I am also currently learning how to pick on the guitar strings. What picking is, is it's a type if technique used to allow string and sound to be in action on the right side of the guitar. The other type of technique there is is known as strumming. As me and my mentor were experimenting with both picking and strumming it was clear that I would find picking more easier to learn and have less trouble with, so I started off picking before strumming. Personally for me picking is pretty simple. The only thing that I struggle with in picking so far is just learning to pick and switch chords at the same time.

LEARNING GUITAR

My guitar lessons have been occurring every Thursday from 5:00 to 6:00. I have had about 6 guitar lessons so far and it honestly has seemed like way more because I have learned so much. The guitar is a very frustrating yet easy instrument to learn. It takes a while to gain finger strength but once you get the hang of it, it's easy. I remember my first guitar lesson, not knowing anything about the guitar and how it works and I look at myself now and see how much I've improved.
    In the beginning of learning guitar it really is painful to the fingers. This is something I didn't expect. But as you continue to learn and practice you get used to pain and it feels like nothing!! One thing I also didn't expect was how easy learning the guitar would be. I think the thing that I most struggle with is switching chords and finger strength. I know that once I get the hang of it, it will be easy as 1,2,3!!

LITTLE THINGS