The G String

Playing at last

2009-04-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

Class 17: Played a bass versiin of mundinammpartheney smiley felt I was old enough to play songs played it right struggled here n there but ultimately got it. Awesome! I was discussing with a friend of mine bout classes learning from d internet. he said it took him a year to play decently he learnt from youtube vids. I tried it dont think it'll work out for me. I missed 2 classes this week. Thats totally 5 classes missed. Thinkin of compensating. Dunno. Lotta shit happening around, kinda hard to find time to even practice.

Suffering and Redemption

2009-04-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

smiley Cancelled a class. Thats two missed classes. N thats two weeks when i can try going for classes on frigaday saturnday and sunday if I am able to cope wiht the lessons. They still elude me. I've advanced to tougher lessons. I can read from d book .Read d notes I'm 15 classes old and he let me struggle with the notes. The lower string do re mi I did myself d first without him dictating the notes for me. I missed the open B all the while n I knew I played wrong. N i kept tryin and I saw in his eyes the patience. He waited eagerly for me to figure it out myself. He let me struggle. Like throwing a baby in d water n watchin how it'd swim afloat. Not that dramatic thought. Still..he had the confidence. I didnt figure it out. But I saw that he had hopes for me. He gave me d full version of G, G7 and C chords. And he taught me a little extension..the pull from G,A to B the modification. How instead of just playing the notes, one should play the song. He watched me suffer and gave me my redemption. Hoping to go for three classes starting from tomo to this sunday. Same case for next week. Let's just see.

Drastic turn

2009-04-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Things took a drastic turn. I failed to do the weekly two day owl-like hooting. I failed to stay up and before I could blink an eye, its time for next class. I got two versions of do re mi one on d upper strings n one on d lower. Fingering exercises and all that. The brain works better with short bursts of information rather than one long burst. N i failed to give it those short bursts. Tomo home's gonna be crowded. so tonight's the night. I guess. Got te hang of second book. Waiting to take it further. Stop writing notes and start reading them :D learnt Full C, G7 and G chords. Man do u have to stretch your fingers or what! This isn't gonna be easy n it definitely requires that one thing: Practice.

Doing the Dodo

2009-03-25T00:17:00.000-07:00

14 classes old and I'm only waiting. I dont wanna rush things. Jus wanna do this aaram say. Do this the right way. The way its intended to be done. The problem is there are two days in a week I practice like a mad owl waking up till 2 in d night strumming chords and singing tra la la. However, the remaing four days I slack off and then its time to go for the next class. ultimately I end up learning most of the songs one or two hours before my next class. And I have this uncanny habit of starting practice from page 1 of book 1 :D and then by the time i get to end of book one, I'm bored. So get done and go to sleep. I've crossed quite a few lessons on book 2,. The ones where I have to pluck the strings with an up stroke AND a down stroke; learnt the actua full C chord and Do re Mi fa sol la ti :D And I feel like a dodo

Magical Do Re Mi

2009-03-25T00:07:00.000-07:00

Spend some time in the void between the strings. Scratch your fingers till they scream in pain. The thing about practice, the more you get the better. The more you dont get, the more you forget. I was getting acquainted with the strings and positions and notes and doing the do re mi routine. Its about filling that void space with emotions and thoughts that run riot over your mind while you are attempting to play. Thats why I learn new songs. Cuz once I know how to play a song, I can do it in auto pilot mode while my mind wanders but if I do a new song everyday, I have to sit and concentrate. In that context the do re mi took quite some time to master. I'm taking a break to see if this session was jus serendipitous or if I really craked the magic.

End of a book, beginning of a legacy

2009-03-14T11:03:00.001-07:00

And..we're back.

Rapid fire session.

After being late for class, took two lessons n made a convincing sincere effort to produce decent output. Succeeded.

Learnt three new songs.

This is Class number 11 : End of book one

Miss you

2009-03-13T08:19:00.001-07:00

Was away from her for the longest. Never let her out of sight but now she's in karthick's place hanging from a loose cord by the neck wonder how lonely she feels

Push the Tempo

2009-03-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

"Push the tempo' he said

"your strings are right" actually some werent

"keep practicing" thats the mantra

while Rockstar performed his adaptation of Godfather and Hypnotize both of which i don exactly remember so couldn quite say if he was close or not

The nigger kid irks

the itch is forming

the spectacle continues

its a wait and watch game so far

tryina make my move

when the time is right

Got three lessons this weekend

he really mean it when he said push the tempo

Gaps and Holes

2009-02-26T23:46:00.000-08:00

There's been quite a gap since I went to class. I was holed up in Hyd so missed two classes this week. Sir cancelled the sunday class. He was busy and Narax suspects he's secretly composing music for movies cuz we know for a fact this guy can play seven instruments.

There're three new girls who joined class this week or so my friend says. I will have to check that out, then if it holds true check them out and then maybe learn guitar as well. New chords are being taught but in this gap I lost the hardness of my forefinger and kinda lost touch on the basics as well me gotta refresh quite a bit before things work out well.

So thats the preparatory work to be done before class. Twenty 20 is on now. After I get done, it's gonna be burn the finger and make it bleed guitar play sessions. I heard a lotta people complain bout the pain. I on the other hand kinda take pleasure in it. It gives me a fake sense of security, fake sense of achievement. And I like that. So let's burn some more holes now that the gap is over.

Last Saturday

2009-02-20T01:01:00.000-08:00

Last class was a difficult song the timing was wierd n the chords were numbered weird too according to sir this is the toughest song in this book I have to practice like a maniac to get it right smiley suggested I tap my feet to get the count right I say How the hell do u both tap ur feet read the notes n play the guitar? Thats too much for me..Rest later. Missing three classes the coming week going to hyd lol

Friday the Thirteenth

2009-02-13T21:10:00.000-08:00

13 Feb 2008, Friday: New kid on the block Jagan comes thru n is appalled that the class actually takes place in a creche. Inspite of the warning, anyone'd be appalled to see the tutor teach kids who're shorter than a guitar and we're sitting there like ducks.

The good thing is I secretly learnt to play the lead intro of Ilaya Nila from the internet. I was on cloud nine until I was told that its no big deal to play it when u r given what strings to pluck, a good musician should be able to pick up which strings are bein played by himself n the tru test is when u can listen to a song n decipher it n then play it yourself. Me says Duh! Wtf? I'm just 6 classes old :(

Looks like its not as easy as we think it is. But the kid that asked me this was the highlight of the day. Am sitting with my new black guitar, all beaming and this kid walks upto me blinking like
Ganguly n asks

"Is that your own keyboard?"

Induction

2009-02-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

January 24th :After much speculation, finally got to go to a Guitar Class. Went in there with a lotta expectation. Felt a guitar on my lap for the first time in my life. Scratched the strings. Felt the music. Sounded Great. Only let down was a sixth standard kid strumming away to glory while I was plucking each string as if I were doing an Open heart Surgery.

Jan 25th: Day 2, apparently there's something called practice and I dint get much of that. Not needed for the two strings I played yesterday. I learnt how to read notes that previously seemed like Black ants running on the paper.

Jan 31: Started playing longer songs reading up on the net n showing initial signs of faux interest. End of month one.

Feb 1: Saw the actual strength of the Guitar class. Two sixth standard kids from the same school as narax. Me n Narax. A girl her guy n tall, hairy n lanky Badri.

Feb 6, Friday: The girl brings a print out n discusses with sir how to play Ilayaraja's Ilamai Enum Poongatru. Me n Narax are so mesmerized we decide to drop bombs at home n demand our own guitars. Come home n make appropriate demands. Receive appropriate shit. N then the green signal.

Feb 7, Saturday: Got the Black Monster I shall call it "The Thing" a black shiny Pluto with copper strings. Roamed all over Chennai City around 6-8 shops n finally got what I was looking for.

Feb 8, Sunday: Made sir Play Ilaya Nila on the new guitar. Hypnotizing performance. Steal notes from the sixth standard kid. Made him teach me how to play "60%" of Mundinam Partheney. A friend insists that it's a passing obsession that'd probably last 6 months max. I say, "Only one way to find out".