Katie

[|soundcloud :)]
 * ﻿﻿me and my guitar... **

__**Bio:**__ Yes, I //love// music. No, I don't know how to play guitar. //(-February 1st, 2011)//

Music always seems to make things better. It can be energizing or calming. It can isolate a person or connect them with others. It can make us laugh or cry. It can define a single moment or a whole event to us. It displays the beauty and the ugly in the world. What would we do without music in our world?

I love to sing and dance and tap out funny little rhythms when I'm bored of sitting still. My ipod if one of my best friends: there to tell me whatever I need it to tell me. As far as instruments go I started learning piano in grade 3 and have been playing the french horn in band since grade 6. Both are truly wonderful instruments, yet I still find myself quite jealous of people who can both __transport__ their instrument //and// __sing while they play.__ Therefore, the idea of learning guitar is very exciting to me :)

__**Goals:**__

Week 9 (not really....)

A piece to work on finger picking.... not perfect but it's still really pretty :)

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Week 8- (I've definitely been playing guitar for more than 8 weeks... but I don't record every week and this is simplest. Just saying!)

I found a song to help enforce my learning of bar chords, and yes, it brought me __lots__ of pain. However, it also served it's purpose by teaching my hands to stretch in strange shapes that I didn't know they even could. This is "Gone" by Jack Johnson.

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 * Week 7-** //I bought a ukulele.//

I'd been thinking about it for a while and I wasn't planning to so soon but at some point I just couldn't help myself. Next thing I know I'm standing in Tom Lee and then Long & McQuade, admiring the many coloured and sized ukuleles that hang on the wall. The most common thing was the $30 version of a saprano ukulele that came in all colours of the rainbow. However, I was looking for something a little bit higher in quality so when I saw the perfect, wooden, kala, saprano ukulele behind the counter, I didn't hesitate. It's like it was meant to be :)

Having a ukulele is kind of like having a baby (or at least a small puppy) in a way. As I walk down the hallway with it, people rush up to me and exclaim "it's so adorable!" and "Can I hold it?" It's pretty wonderful.

Other than that, I've been continuing my adventures into bar chords and have selected some music for the coming couple of weeks to get my fingers reaching things I didn't know they could...

media type="custom" key="9122010" [|Tab: Fast Car] (Still a work in progress... getting closer though)

media type="custom" key="9127194" [|Tab: You and I (ukulele)] (learned it the afternoon I bought my uke... such a cute song)


 * Week 6-** Although I had been trying to avoid them for as long as I could, I finally accepted that it was time to learn bar chords. So, over spring break I got together with my super awesome guitar-playing friend and I took bar chords down!! Ok, not exactly- bar chords hurt... A lot. But I think I'm starting to actually understand how the guitar works. There's a system: a certain way to make minor, major, and 7th chords**,** an order to the chords and a reason why some of the tabs look so different even though it's the same song. I can see how once a person understands the basics, they can play around and put a lot of there own style into playing guitar. I may not be able to do that yet myself, but it's still been pretty exciting :)

And so, I present to you my first song with a full on bar chord in it (not always played perfectly but I'm documenting progress on this wiki, not perfection...)

media type="custom" key="9121984" [|Tab: King of Anything]


 * Week 5-** I have been inspired to learn "//If I Had a Million Dollars"// by the Barenaked Ladies. Every time I find a person who doesn't know this song, I am shocked. I just assumed everybody grew up listening to it like me! I look forward to learning it though and hopefully bring smiles to the faces of both people who now it and who don't :)

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 * Week 4-** Guitar is bringing me so much joy. It's so nice to hold, so nice to play, and so nice to watch being played. What I need is some more repertoire and in order to do that, some inspiration of what to play! So this week will be a mash of learning and collecting tabs

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In the end I worked The Only Exception by Paramore (strumming), I Hate Seagulls by Kate Nash (picking), The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson (really, really easy picking), and found an excellent goal for next week....


 * Week 3-** Performance Week! Considering all my efforts as of late have been going towards the Tegan and Sara song, I believe that's what I'll aim to play at the end of this week, picking and all.

[|(Moments from our first class performances)]

Begin picking away at "//Call it Off//" by Tegan and Sara. It's a lot of picking but it's an awesome song and apparently not too bad to learn.
 * Week 2-** Continue working on Myriad Harbour and putting more pieces together (eg: strumming, picking, bass line...)

Also, I think this is the week I need to get myself a capo, some picks, and some guitar strings (I broke my first guitar string the other day- super scary!) media type="custom" key="8424878" [|Tab: Call It Off]


 * Week 1-** I realize I am only at the very beginning but I am feeling super keen to get playing. So, at this point in time I think the best way to learn is to tackle a fairly easy song and hopefully learn some while struggling lots! This week I will be attempting "//Myriad Harbour" by The New Pornographers//. My focuses are on mastering the transition between C and G chords and learning to play the rhythm.

media type="custom" key="8351120" [|Tab: Myriad Harbour]

__[|Myriad Harbour- The New Pornographers]__ __[|Call It Off- Tegan and Sara]__ [|The Only Exception- Panamore] [|I Hate Seagulls- Kate Nash] [|The Way I Am- Ingrid Michaelson] [|If I had a Million Dollars -Barenaked Ladies] [|Fast Car- Boyce Avenue/Tracy Chapman] [|King of Anything- Sara Bareilles]
 * __Tabs__**

__**Tutorials:**__

media type="youtube" key="k0jRWAldHeY" height="234" width="288" media type="youtube" key="y-95SO1TDwU" height="234" width="283" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h0GgZf2hCM