Well the Genius Hour Project is coming to an end and I'm not fully prepared. I haven't accomplished my goal that I wanted but I have definitely learn new things. I'm spending most of my time of working on my presentation to make sure it looks good and not silly. I spent a lot of time on SlidesGo to find a good presentation template and I think I found a good one. It is darker themed and has red which I really like. I haven't got to play the guitar a lot lately so hopefully I can make my final video sometime soon and have it over with. I'm going to turn in all my stuff on the Sunday it is due because I wanted to check over it and make sure I have everything to my liking.
This project has been a blast and a difficult journey because I have never touched a instrument in my entire life. Playing instruments weren't really my thing but I tried to like playing. Playing the guitar is very difficult and I probably should've started with a more simple instrument. I did learn a lot of things that involved the guitar and I am glad I at least tried this out.
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Well this project is coming close to an end so I'm trying to fit in as much practice as I can. Football just started back up this week so time is definitely a big problem right now. This means as soon as I get out of football practice I need to speed home and get to practicing after my homework.
I'm getting very nervous since we are nearing the end and my playing ability ain't the greatest so far. What makes me the most nervous is that Mr. Barker himself plays guitar in his free time and has way more practice than I have. After this project is over I'm not sure if I will continue to play the guitar because I won't have as much time like now. Guitar is a cool hobby to take up but I don't instruments are for me. I never did band because I didn't want to play an instrument and I barely knew how to play the recorder in 5th grade. Hopefully after I get this weeks blog or maybe after next weeks blog then I can start to prepare my slideshow for the presentation at the end of this project. I'm going to put a lot of work into my slideshow to make it unique and to help bring points towards my grade. Another thing I'm nervous about is that I get shaky or even have a shaky voice when talking in front of a bunch of people. This project is nerve racking but helps me have a new experience and learn new things. Well I just started working on my final video to present to the class. This is very nerve racking because a lot of people in the class know how to play guitar including Mr. Barker. Obviously this makes my heart want to pop out of my chest but hopefully I can make a video that I like and make that the final presentation.
For my presentation I'm going to show my first attempt at a song and then the latest attempt at a song which will help show the growth over time. I still am not the greatest at playing the guitar because without an instructor this makes it more difficult but having YouTube really does help a lot. This project has been a journey and definitely not an easy one because things like moving into my new house, work, and even sports have taken so much time out of my life. Well the move is in its final days and hopefully this will give me enough time to practice some more before making my videos. My mom has heard me play a couple times now and keeps wondering why am I playing the guitar. Sometimes she walks into my room and ask what all that noise is because I'm not the greatest at all when it comes to playing the guitar but I'm definitely getting better and I can't wait to show you guys how much I have progressed and how much I have accomplished even though I have been very busy. After I get completely moved in this will definitely help me progress and achieve my goal quicker. The only problem is that I didn't start playing the guitar until week 4 or 5 since I was busy watching YouTube and learning the chords. Back to work again! This past week has been productive and very different for me. I have been watching "It's You Guitar Tutorial - Ali Gatie Guitar Lesson" made by YouTuber GuitarZero2Hero. This guy is amazing and really helps me understand the chords and how to play better. He only makes like 10 to 15 minute videos which doesn't seem like much when trying to learn guitar but it has really helped me.
In this video he split it up into 5 different sections which really helps me know where I should look and what can help me the most. This YouTuber explains to me what chords we are going to play and where we are starting. He talks about how this song is mainly just one riff and once you learn that then it is just repeated over and over. This will make it super easy for me and help e learn it a lot quicker. Once I get fully moved into my new house this weekend I'm going to take some time playing so I can get some more practice in. I know that I might be exhausted but I'm going to push myself to make sure I get it done. Having a busy life definitely doesn't go well with huge projects like these buy hey, life hits you with things quickly and all you can do is conquer them and move on. Another song that I mentioned awhile ago was "Sweet Home Alabama" and how I was going to learn that song but I'm trying to start off extremely easy so I actually enjoy playing the guitar and maybe get into it more. "Sweet Home Alabama" will most likely make a comeback into this project but it depends on what I find easier but hopefully by the end of this project I can play some music for the class and show that I did learn something. The only problem is that I haven't got to play in about two weeks which is really bringing my progress down because after that long things don't come to you that easy and you will struggle a little more because you basically have to relearn it again. Hey, it's been awhile and well life is interesting right now. I have been watching YouTube videos in the free time that I have which isn't much. I've been watching people play some music that I would love to learn for example, "It's You" by Ali Gatie which I have already mentioned before. My life has been very busy in the past couple of weeks and obviously I can't do much to help that but I'm working with the time I am given.
If you are wondering why my life is so busy (or even if you aren't wondering) it's because my family got a new house! It's exciting and it was on a very short notice that's for sure. Our move in date is May 5th and 6th which is very close considering we have a lot to pack still. But enough of my life and back to my project. Learning the guitar has been a struggle and has never been easy, learning something brand new with just videos from the internet plus having a busy life outside of that makes it difficult at times. I'm still working on playing "Sweet Home Alabama" and it's been an interesting experience. My main goal is just to make my mother happy even if it's only a second and a half. My mother has wanted to hear that guitar play for years and I want her to experience that again. My grandfather wasn't in my life at all which makes me upset at times but he was a very broken man. He felt like if he introduced himself into me and my brother's lives that he would only make it worse so he hid from us. Every time my grandfather is brought up you can tell that my mother is still upset about it but she knows that he his watching over her. Come week 12 of the Genius Hour project my mother will hear those chords play and actually sound good. Plus it will be in a new house and everything will get better for her. My mother has been through a lot in the past couple of years and I have tried to make it better every single day. I don't know if I haven't mentioned this yet but my mother has had two brain tumors in the past 3 years which has really taken a toll on her life. Well this week has been rough, been very busy with work and struggling with understanding the videos. I know it sounds like I am very behind and guess what, I am. Learning the guitar for the first time while struggling with school work and my job isn't the greatest combo. Well enough of the excuses but learning the new song "It's You" by Ali Gatie isn't going so well. Working the chords is weird for these baby hands because my brain works faster than my hands.
Ali Gatie's "It's You" is about 3 minutes and 30 seconds long so I'm probably going to cut the song in half or mainly play the main chords of the song because it repeats like most songs do. I think learning the main chords shouldn't be to hard and I'm going to start this Thursday or Friday. I'm going to be very busy in the next few weeks because guess what? I'm moving into a new house! My mom is very excited and this will be the first huge house that she has owned with me and my brothers. We are already been packing up and getting things ready for the move. Our official moving dates are May 5th and 6th and I might be skipping school that Friday so I can help get into our new house quicker. Since my older brother is going to be at college then I get first room choice which is cool even though I sound like I'm 10 years old. Well getting back to my Genius Hour project and once again YouTube is becoming my best friend and guess what, my dad is trying to help too. He used to play guitar when I was younger but the only difference was that he didn't play acoustic guitar. My dad is smarter than he looks and he is also a lot sweeter than he looks. Everyone that has seen my dad for some reason has been scared of him just because he has full arm sleeve tattoos and has a full beard but he is like a child at heart. Welcome back to my genius hour project! I'm going to be 100% honest I am very behind, that doesn't stop me from trying my hardest. I have been really busy with work lately which keeps me from being home and starting on my genius hour. This next week I'm taking off work to spend some time at home practicing the acoustic guitar.
I've been searching for songs that might give me a better chance to play instead of doing "Sweet Home Alabama" and one song that really caught my attention and that I really love is "It's You" by Ali Gatie. He has amazing music and plays the guitar very well, also having an amazing voice which I don't have. So hopefully no one is expecting me to sing unless they want their ears to bleed. The main chords for this song are F, G, and C and nothing really else so hopefully I wouldn't struggle too much. Ali Gatie is a great artist and hopefully some people have listened to his music, if not you should check it out. His music is very calming to me and always gets me in a good mood. That may sound odd but you don't really understand unless you listen to him first. The chords seem very soft is one way you could put it, these chords are something I could fall asleep to honestly. YouTube has been my buddy all throughout the project and has helped me a lot, the main person on YouTube that has helped me the most goes by GuitarZero2Hero. He explains things very well and helps me understand more than anyone else on YouTube does. At the bottom of this blog I will post a link to his channel and want y'all to support him. This is my update for week 4 of the Genius Hour Project! This week was very good for me because, I finally started watching some YouTube videos and learning the strings to my first song. Once I finish up learning this song I would 100% upload the video that helped me learn this easier.
Learning the guitar is difficult right now but I definitely will get the hang of it. Holding the guitar that once made my mom smile ear to ear once being played is such an amazing feeling to me. Knowing that this piece of wood with strings on it was once played by a man that share the same genetics as me is crazy. I wish I could've met my grandfather because all the stories my mom tells me about makes him seem like he was an amazing man. My mom talked about how sweet and kind my grandfather was and how much my mother meant to him. I always wondered why my grandfather never visited to me or even sent me a message and it used to make me very upset. My mother never really wanted to tell me the truth until I was older but after I kept begging her to tell me she finally did. My grandfather and grandmother divorced way before I was even born. This caused my grandmother and my mom to move to Winston and start their new lives there. After my grandmother and mom left, my grandfather stayed in the same home and developed horrible habits and it really affected his health. He never sent my mother a card or anything for the longest time and didn't even know I was born. He didn't become like this because he didn't love us, he became that way because he was alone and didn't want to "interrupt" my mom's life even though she wanted to see him. After my grandfather passed away my mom was called and was now the owner of his property because he made sure she was the owner afterward. After a couple days after the news we headed up to his home and walked in the most horrific home I have ever seen. Since he was such in bad health he couldn't clean his home and became the worst hoarder known to man. Basically to sum it all up my grandfather felt like he would be a burden to my mother if he tried contacting her which is a terrible thing to think about. Well this past weekend things didn't go as planned. Family problems came around and now I am behind which will hopefully not effect my project much. This weekend I am buying a pick for my guitar so I can actually play the guitar. I will probably ask some friends that I know who like to play the guitar like for example my friend Hunter Testa who is currently in our class!
Since I wasn't able to actually start playing the guitar I still learned the chords and what order I play them in. Currently the song doesn't look to hard to play and shouldn't be a major struggle for me. Hopefully before the end of next week I can upload the videos of me playing to show my progress even if the video of me playing isn't the greatest. Like mentioned in last Week 2's blog post there are only 3 chords that are in the "Sweet Home Alabama" song. These chords are the C string, G string, and the D string. These chords are on the lower side of the pitches which is what makes this song special. Sweet Home Alabama is a well known song, especially if you live in Davie County. We have grown up listening to songs like "Sweet Caroline" and "Sweet Home Alabama" which brings us so much serotonin when these songs come on. Like you can't tell me when "Sweet Caroline" comes on you just sit there and don't sing a single word? I doubt that ever happens especially since we all live in Davie County. This is my update on my Genius Hour Project! My 2nd week of learning the acoustic guitar didn't contain me touching the guitar at all. I know this might say "You're crazy for not trying to play it" and yes I understand but I started learning all the notes or the correct word naturals. My guitar and all other acoustic guitars contain 6 strings, the E string, the A string, the D string, the G string, the B string, and the other E string. I learned that the first E string is the thinnest and highest pitch string while the other E string is the thickest and lowest pitch. Why did they make two E strings if they aren't the same? Well to be honest I'm not sure why they did this but you should always know that the first string is the thinnest string and the last string is the thickest.
I decided to roll with one of the easiest songs to master on the acoustic guitar to start with. The first song you all will see me play is "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This is such a well-known song that everyone in this class should be able to figure out what song it is. The reason I chose this song is that it only uses three cords to play which are the C string, D string, and G string. This will make it a lot easier for me to start with since it only uses the same chords over and over again. This upcoming weekend I am going to learn the chords for "Sweet Home Alabama" and hopefully be able to produce either a little bit of the song or maybe the entire song. During this process, I am going to record myself once I think I got the pattern down for the song and can complete it without messing up. We will see how this process goes and hopefully it doesn't turn out to be extremely hard instead of being super simple right off the start. I am always up for a challenge and whatever I put my mind to I can do it no matter what the task is. This project is something I find super personal to me because I want to surprise my mother with something that means a lot to her and to make her happy. I want to surprise my mother with the ability to play her father's guitar since she hasn't seen this guitar being played in over 20 years and I would love to make that streak end. Over these 12 weeks I'm going to learn maybe 2-3 songs to surprise her with but these songs might be something she listened to her dad play when she was my age. Once my grandfather passed away my mother owned the rights to his house and immediately looked for the guitar.
I was in a group project before we finally decided it would be a better idea to just split up and do our own things. Our group originally was deciding on making our own short movie and learning how to direct and act but, we decided that this project wouldn't work out because not all of our group members would do their part and we would struggle in a lot of places. As a group we thought it would be a better idea just to do our own things to make it easier for one another and not to make the work unfair. Over these next few weeks I'm going to push myself to learn things I have never even tried before in my entire life. This is going to be difficult but not something I can't do. In my entire 16 years of living I have only ever played one "instrument" which was the recorder in 5th grade. This still doesn't mean I was good at the recorder but I will push myself to learn these chords and songs on the guitar to surprise my mom. I can do anything I put my mind too and I am a very quick learner like for example I learned how to solve a Rubix cube in only an hour or another example was when I learned the entire sign language alphabet in just a car ride to a vacation to the beach. |