Guitar section reflection

[Alex Ruthmann]

Due November 27, 2007!!!

Please post either as a reply to this or as an email to me 2 to three paragraphs reflecting on your experience learning and playing guitar.

[Andrea Mitchell]

I have always wanted to play the guitar and I have never really had anyone able to teach me. My grandpa actually plays the guitar very well, but he plays by ear and frankly he is just not a very good teacher. Anyway, I think that explaining the theory behind the guitar helped me a lot. Once I figured out that the frets were a half step apart that really helped. I also think that the tuning trick helped me a lot. I actually tuned my brothers guitar this weekend...so it came in handy. I am glad that I finally understand how the guitar works now!
As far as playing is concerned it is a whole different story. Basically, I sucked. For some reasons my fingers just don't contort that way. I think if I worked really hard at it I could learn to play, but right now I don't have that kind of time. For me it was just hard to put my fingers on the different strings in the different frets. That part was very frustrating for me. I think that anyone can learn to play the guitar, but it just takes a lot of hard work and discipline. So basically it is like learning to play any other instrument except your fingers hurt more.

[Matt Lindley]

I came into this project knowing only three cords, but even placing them in a different order than I-IV-V proved difficult. It was almost like playing completely different cords. Playing for such a long period of time was also tough. If it was that hard for me, I can only imagine what it would be like for an elementary school student. Trying to learn another song was also tough. I think muscle memory plays a huge role in guitar playing, and having not played the cords before made things very difficult.
Teaching a song didn't prove too difficult. I showed the other group the cords 2-3 times and that was it. With elementary school students, however, it would probably take more time. Something we never really covered in the groups was actually how to play rhythms. Trying to put new cords with some sort of rhythm was hard, too. I think having more time to teach young students how to play prove more effective. Learning how to play rhythms on only a single cord would be a good way to start, and then build up a repertoire of cords.

[Chantel Rohdy]

I really enjoyed learning how to play a few things on the guitar. I guess I have always wanted to learn how to play, but never thought that I could actually be able to play it. I found this to be kind of true, it was really hard for me to play the instrument. I'm used to having my fingers set in one place and then just moving to the different keys from there. When playing the guitar I had to move my fingers in ways that I didn't know that I could even move them. Some ways I could make it but others I couldn't. That was just one problem that I came across. The other problem that I came across was not be able to remember what fingers or strings to put my fingers on when I was going from chord to chord. I would learn one chord, then another but I couldn't get back to the chord that I first learned. I think this is because there are so many things you have to remember at once. You have to remember what string, what fret, and what finger to put somewhere, and then what stings actually get strummed. As. fas as learning a song in groups, I thought that I did really well at this. Once we got our song down, it was easier to learn someone elses song because you were used to learning with in a group. We also worked really well together, and both groups were really nice about willing to help the other group learn. Overall it was really fun learning to play the guitar, and I hope that I get to learn a little more later on.

[Michelle B]

I've never played guitar before, so learning how to play it was very new to me. I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, so this was a nice experience. I don't feel like I learned a whole lot about playing guitar, but that's because there was a short amount of classtime spent on learning guitar this semester. I learned how to play various chords by looking at the tablature sheet handed out in class. We discussed how to write tablature, and which notes were which on the guitar. I also learned how to tune the guitar, which didn't seem very hard.
I would have liked to learn more about guitar technique, such as how to properly hold it, how the hands/fingers should be placed, how to strum/pluck, etc. Playing the guitar was kind of hard for me because I haven't been taught guitar technique. The activity we did with partners was fun, and it let us explore the guitar further. Some people composed their own little composition, and some covered a basic song on guitar. It seemed easier to learn another group's song than it was to teach one to them. If I were more proficient on guitar, teaching a song on guitar would be easier.

[Erich Kendall]

I learned lots of things about how to learn and teach to play the guitar. The main thing that I learned is that it is a lot harder than what it looks. I do believe though that i was trying to learn the pitches and chords more than I was just trying to figure out how to put my hand. I believe that it would be easier for younger students who are not that advanced to learn how to play guitar. I believe that when teaching guitar it is better to teach the tabs first. Then after they know those, go into the pitches and chords and stuff. Another thing that I learned was how to tune the guitar. I never knew any of that stuff about how to tune a guitar or even what pitch the strings were on. It is a great thing to know, because I know that the question will come up some day.
Now, when it came to actually playing the guitar, I was not good at all. My mind was thinking the chords and where to put the fingers but the fingers wouldn't go. It was very difficult. It was more of a gosh this feels awkward feeling instead of man this is hard. It just put my hands in weird shapes that I had not thought about before. I learned that the guitar is not easy to master. Anytime someone says that a guitarist isn't a musician, I will tell him otherwise.

[Nicole Pace]

I didn't learn as much a I had hoped to learn on the guitar. The very first thing we covered, the worksheet that we had to fill in, was way confusing. I actually really had no idea what was going on until the fingering chart was passed around. After that, I understood more what was going on and what to do. However, I had hoped to learn more basics with the guitar rather than get in groups, learn a song, and then teach a song to another group. With the fingering chart, I know what to do. I did not really learn what to do, or what to play, or where to position my fingers if I were to look at music and just see "F" or "G" or something like that. I know that I would have to put my fingers down to make those chords, but I didn't get enough basics to be confident enough to actually do that.
Like I said, I did learn some things about the guitar. I had just hoped to learn actual songs that I would play for my students in an elementary class or something like that. And I was really just looking forward to having some actual teaching on the guitar in class since I don't know anything about playing guitar.

[Jason Caudill]

I've played guitar for awhile so this assignement wasn't difficult for me. However it was good to see how much I actually knew, in comparison to those who were just starting. I did learn more about all the notes per fret and per string which is something I didn't know before.
When we started working on a song to learn the hardest part was picking one that was simple yet not too boring. Rock was still the easiest and it was difficult to understand form the point of view of someone who's fingers weren't used to moving into positions on the neck.
I liked playing but I wish we could have done more with it and worked on group pieces in class. I understand pretty well how to play already but I think some people walked away still not understanding any of it.

[Deborah Meyer]

Well, I've had a good amount of experience playing guitar previously, so I really didn't learn anything new. I did like helping others and help making guitar easier for others. That was the way I had learned guitar was from getting the basics taught to me in practice and then learning more on my own and then seeing what I could do to apply that knowledge to tunes. Then I would find other people that I knew were good on the guitar and asked them how they would play the same tune. That's how I would learn the little tricks that I've picked up. Also, just by playing and practicing I picked up some of my own tricks. I really like playing guitar and I always want to know more. I wish we could have played more in class.

[Joe Diko]

I enjoyed the guitar unit. I had never played guitar before or been taught anything about the layout or structure, so it was all new to me. My limited knowledge from String Tech didn't seem to help much. Learning the actual chords wasn't particularly difficult. The challenge came from changing from chord to chord.

The tune we created was very simple. We had a simple bass line with chords with the same rhythm. One other player improvised over the two chords. The song our group learned was more complex, but still relatively easy to learn - Rock Lobster. It was strictly melodic and we only had to use two strings. AJ sang the lyrics over our guitar playing so we could see how everything fit.

[Lisa Wallyn]

Overall, I think I enjoyed the guitar section. I had trouble at first because I just couldn’t hear myself. As it turned out, I was just out of tune, so I wasn’t hearing the proper chords anyway. I think that would be something difficult to approach in the classroom. The teacher would have to tune each guitar before class unless they chose to rely on the students’ ears. The way Dr. Ruthmann taught us to tune the guitar was pretty cool too.
Composing a song was harder than what I anticipated. With my limited guitar skills, I found it hard to do progressions in time. Learning someone else’s song was easier than making up one. What was hard was reconciling the rhythm they used to play. I would like to know more about rhythms people use to play the guitar.
I wish guitar was taught in more detail in a class here. It was great to learn the basics and how to read the notation. I think, however, I would need a lot more training to present any guitar lessons in a classroom. Having guitars in the classroom would be advantageous to creating that garage band setting. Students could combine their guitar knowledge with bass, drum set, and possibly piano skills to compose and perform pop or rock music. If they become well versed in these instruments, students will feel more comfortable getting out of their box.

[Teresa Ulrich]

I really enjoyed the guitar unit. I got a chance to practice more on my guitar, as well as noodling around on the classical guitar. I did like on the classical guitar how the strings were farther apart, which made it easier to press the strings onto the frets since I already knew some of the chords. Because the highest strings on the classical guitar are nylon, it's totally easier to play than on the more folk-oriented guitar. I think the hardest part about playing guitar is switching between chords, and practicing for an hour or two during class really helped to work on that coordination. But my fingers hurt really bad after class.
I also liked having the opportunity to teach someone else a song to experience teaching on the instrument. It's difficult for me to teach because I like to move fast and I expect everyone to pick up everyone quickly, but not everyone is going to pick up things easily. Guess that's going to take some patience on my part. I liked using the knowledge I already had to write my own short song for teaching, using A, D, and E.

[Lindsay Huddleston]

I thought that learning the guitar was a very interesting project. I have never really played the guitar before. My uncle bought me a guitar for Christmas when I was 10, but I never actually took lessons on it. I just strummed around and sang, maybe hitting a chord or two along the way, but never really produced any real music. This was very educational. Playing the guitar is much more difficult than I expected it to be. I thought it might be somewhat similar to playing the cello, but in fact, they are almost nothing alike. Cello requires curved fingers, while the guitar requires you to flatten out your fingers, which I am not very good at. I had to slowly learn a few chords before I could even consider choosing a song. When we finally did choose a song, AJ and I choe "Rock Lobster."
"Rock Lobster" was a fun piece to learn. It was originally written in the key of c minor. I attempted to play it in that key, but I had trouble reaching some of the chords and shifting to them quickly. I decided to transpose it to e minor. This was a much more beginner-friendly key and I was actually able to learn the melody and chords quite easily. It did not take very long to put the piece together. We could not play it up to tempo, naturally, but we were able to play and sing. If I were to teach a guitar class I would need quite a bit more practice, but this experience still taught me a lot about the guitar. I also now have a greater respect for anyone who can play the guitar well.