So throughout this semester I have been learning how to play the guitar. Overall, I have had my ups and downs but I can say that I am happy with the progress that I made. One thing I can definitely say is learning the guitar is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I think when I chose it for my learning project I originally thought I would pick it up quite easily but I found out pretty quickly that it is very challenging to learn and requires time and patience to master. It is evident that I still have a ways to go as far as becoming a respectable guitar player but I think throughout the semester I have found enough resources to lead me into the right direction.
Just referring to the internet there are tons of resources out there on websites such as YouTube that can help you learn how to play the guitar. Also, it was great to be able to collaborate with other classmates and combine our learning projects. I did so with Kirk and Matt periodically as all three of us were learning how to play various instruments. This made the process more enjoyable, and helped improved my guitar skills as well. Matt has prior experience with the guitar so it was helpful to get some individual pointers which really allowed me to improve and become more confident with regards to playing the guitar.
I also found it great how we didn’t even need to meet in person to necessarily collaborate. Matt created a vlog on how to play “Free Fallin” by Tom Petty and I basically just used his video to teach myself how to play it. It also inspired me to begin making my own vlogs. At first I honestly found making them a bit awkward and I didn’t really want to play the guitar by myself in front of my webcam. Eventually, I became a lot more comfortable and I enjoyed sharing my progress with the world. The feedback I got on it motivated me to keep working at it, and I hope to continue on creating these vlogs to show my progress even after this class is completed.
Even though learning the guitar was extremely challenging t I am still pleased that I ended up choosing it for my learning project. Ultimately, my goal is to keep practicing the guitar over the summer so that I can incorporate it into my future teaching. I always thought it was awesome when you had a teacher who could play an instrument and incorporate it into different lessons and hopefully with continued practice this is something I will be able to accomplish as well.
Lastly, I would just like to say thank you to my classmates and Alec as well through continuously giving me feedback on my blog, and communicating with me through twitter.
Below is a list of all the posts I have created towards my major project starting from earliest and ending with the most recent.
Included in all of these posts are numerous links to different resources that I used to help me learn how to play the guitar.
Also special thanks to Cynthia Schultz for the light painting picture shown up top.
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