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.

[Chad Roscoe]

My experience learning and playing the guitar was great. It is an awesome instrument to just play around with by yourself without learning anything first. Learning different chords and techniques make it even better. Some of the chords are much more difficult than others. I chose to focus on learning the A-D-E chord progression because it came the easiest for me. D is close to A and we had already learned E.

The group we learned from had focused on completely different chords than we had. The group used G and C which seemed more difficult. Some of the chords required odd hand positions for a beginning guitarist, or at least someone who had never played the guitar. In all, I think this is a great instrument to incorporate into a general music classroom. It is an instrument that many people have always wanted to learn to play, and it's a way of almost imediately establishing musical independence in your students.

[Richard Kyle Daly]

I thought the guitar lesson was interesting. I can also see the need for using these in general music courses.
In the past, I remember seeing the students in this same class carrying guitars up the stairs day after day, I can only assume that they were using those guitars for several weeks. One class period of instruction doesn't even come close to what I would consider a basic understanding of an instrument or proper technique. I wish we had spent more time on the instruments and less time in the computer lab. The chord sheet was helpful though, and I think with a little practice I could learn how to play basic chord progressions on the guitar.

[Alex Ruthmann]

Good point, Kyle. However, one has to make choices in what to teach. You seem, by your own acknowledgment), to have the skills to further develop your understanding with guitar. I made a choice to draw on my areas of strength and experience and spend more time on computer-supported music learning.

[Jodi Lemmon]

I have never played guitar before. I have wanted to learn how to play it ever since I was a young child. I was so excited to have the opportunity to learn how to play it. I play the piano and that is easy for my short fingers. Playing the guitar was really difficult for me because it really made my fingers and hand hurt. It was hard for my hand to stretch. I found out that it got easier once I relaxed my hand. As I kept practicing that helped too. I was really blessed to have Deb as my partner because she helped me to learn the chords and where my fingers needed to be. That helped so much. She also taught me how to pick. That day was so fun for me because I really needed that. As a worship leader in a church I can actually pick up the guitar and play. I drove my parents nuts over Thanksgiving because I kept trying to play the song Edelweiss from the sound of music. It's my mother's favorite song. I butchered it well enough that she could not sleep. That was because I was practicing it at midnight.
As for playing, I was not as bad as I thought I was. I never thought that I would be able to play an instrument other than the piano because of the time factor. I was surprised that it didn't take that long to learn a few basic chords. I wanted to keep practicing over and over. That was exciting for me. I am going to buy a guitar, so that I can keep practicing.