My Second Genius Hour with Marty Music!

Since my last Genius Hour, I have tried to practice the Asus2, E minor, and A major chords whenever I could find free time. Despite having a very busy schedule trying to balance both school and rugby, I was able to find at least 10 minutes every night before bed to practice different strumming patterns with the respective chords and my ability to transition between the chords has noticeably improved each day which has been instrumental for my motivation to continue practicing. Additionally, I listened to a variety of music over the last week, particularly with acoustic guitar, making a conscious effort to listen for the Asus2, E minor, and A major chords which has allowed me to grasp a better understanding of what each respective chord is supposed to sound like.

 

During my week 5 Genius Hour, I progressed into Marty Music’s third and fourth acoustic guitar lessons learning the G major and D major chords in a similar structure to my last Genius Hour. After watching Marty’s third video and learning the G major chord, I spent 15 minutes practicing my hand positioning and eventually progressed into incorporating some of the chords that I learned last week with the G major. After the 15 minutes of practice, I progressed into Marty’s fourth video which taught me how to play the D major chord. I then spent 10 minutes working though different strumming patterns with the D major chord and was eventually able to incorporate both the G major and D major chords into different strumming patterns. In all, this week’s Genius Hour was a huge success, and I am looking forward to continuing to build on my guitar playing ability!

 

Similar to last week, I have included the links & QR codes to the two videos that I watched from Marty Music this week to give you more of an insight to how I spent my Genius Hour, along with various notes that I took throughout his lesson and images to show you what chords I was able to learn:  

 

Marty Music Lesson 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb9G4EqA-LI&t=2s

 

 

-emphasises the importance of remaining patient when learning guitar cannot expect to become an expert right away

-explains how learning the chords that we have is instrumental in keeping beginners motivated allows them to play a plethora of songs and start making music with only a few chords

-once again, Marty introduces popular songs that place emphasis on the G chord

-does an excellent job of breaking down what the G chord is supposed to sound like and how your fingers should be positioned on the frets

-draws connections to chords that we have already learned (similar shape to the E minor) “think of a G chord as your middle finger on the third fret of the low E”

-explains the difference between the G minor and G major, demonstrating how to play each chord  

-provides you with time to practice transitioning between chords

Marty Music Lesson 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Ioh1iw8DE

 

 

-Marty begins this lesson by explaining that his approach to teaching guitar at such a slow, beginner pace is because when he was first taking guitar lessons, the instructor tended to move too fast and did not allow him to learn each of the chords

this approach allows you to play songs that you actually enjoy rather than learning “Mary had a Little Lamb”

-D major = the “Captain” of all guitar chords

-provides an example/demonstration of what the chord is supposed to sound like

-provides time for you to transition between the D major and some of the other chords that have already been learned

-identifies where your fingers should be and emphasises that my index finger is going to be the “anchor” for this chord

-provides a mnemonic for remembering finger positioning (“Eddie Ate Dynamite”)

-keeps you motivated by explaining how many songs you can play by learning how to transition

between the chords we have learned

-once again provides examples of popular songs that emphasize the D major

 

Where I go From Here

         I will continue to practice transitioning between the G major and D major chords while looking to incorporate the chords that I learned from my last Genius Hour. My goal for this week will be to learn the chorus of a song of my choice that includes the respective chords that I have learned thus far. In order to achieve this goal, I plan on spending at least 15 minutes a day (exceeding daily practice time encouraged by Marty) learning new strumming patterns with the chords that I have learned.