The very first recording of me singing and playing the guitar. I started learning on June 13rd 2019, so this is 10 days in. I love this song and I wish I can play it better in the future.

Recently I found that I wanted to start practicing an artistic activity. It’s a good way to relax and spend time alone without having to think too much. After months of indecision about which instrument to go for, I just went for that old guitar store next to my office and acquired the cheapest acoustic guitar they had. It’s not the best guitar, but it’s perfect to learn and I love it!

Since I don’t know anything about guitar, the plan so far is to go on Youtube and find exercises or song tutorials to follow along. So far I’ve learnt:

• The basics of music theory (see Paul Davids’ playlist)
• Some basic fingerpicking exercises (see video from Justin Johnson)
• Some basic chords from simple songs (see Marty Music channel). To be more precise, I know 8 chords: E, Em, A, Am, G (in 4 different ways), D, C, B7
• The pentatonic scale. The name sounds cool and I’ve heard it’s useful.
• Some practice on simple songs like La poupée qui fait non, Wish you were here, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Take Me To Church, Creep. I want to practice more the songs I like the best and record myself, possibly singing as well. I’ve also created a Spotify playlist for songs I’m learning or would like to learn in the future (see guitar wish list).

After 10 days of practice I have to say that this is a lot of fun! Learning lyrics of Wish You Were Here and Take Me To Church has also completely changed the way I listen to songs. Now I really want to understand the songs’ meaning. I also found myself listening to more music and I developed new habits like singing in the shower.