For my passion project I have decided to learn to play guitar. I really enjoy music and singing so this is something I have been wanting to do for awhile but every time I started, it didn’t last very long. I either got too busy or too frustrated and just gave up. It also didn’t help that I had no one to teach me so I was trying to teach myself. This time though, things will be different.
Because it is a project for school, I will be more determined to do it and will be able to make more time for it both at school and at home. I will also have my good friend Daniel helping me out along the way as my mentor. He is a very good guitar player and musician in general so he will be able to give me lots of great advice and help. He will also keep me accountable when it comes to practising and ensure that I don’t give up.
My goals for this project and what I hope to accomplish begin with learning the basics of guitar. This includes standard chords, reading music, and strumming patterns. Once I have gotten good at the basics I hope to start learning a few songs and get to the point where I can play them fluently without looking at the music or down at my fingers. Finally, what I would love to accomplish in the end, is to be able to play one of my favourite songs and sing along with it. If I can do this, I would love to play it for my presentation at the end of the semester.
To begin, Daniel gave me my first mini lesson yesterday. He got an idea of what I already know, which is really only a few chords, and began teaching me the basics. I couldn’t do a whole lot because my nails are too long so I’ll definitely have to fix that before my next lesson. Though he only just started teaching me, I can tell he will be a really good teacher. I can tell he’s very knowledgeable about he talks about and is good at communicating it in a way I can understand. I’m super excited to have him as my mentor. He will probably be teaching me mostly on spares and sometimes after school. I will have to try hard to fit practice time into my busy schedule but I think I’ll be able to do it once I get into a routine.
Besides finding the time to practice, there are some other things I will have to get past as well. There will be the initial frustration of sucking and having to try, try again till I get it perfect. I often have high standards for myself and expect that I can be good at everything so starting off as terrible and having to work hard to get better will have to be something I get over. Also pushing through the pain of blistered and sore fingers is something that worries me, especially because I play volleyball and don’t want it to affect that. There will definitely be some obstacles along the way but this is something I really want to do so I’ll have no choice but to past them. It’ll take some hard work but in the end I know it’ll be worth it.
