Reflection 14

I have to be honest with you. I may have believed I learned plenty, but to the general public, you may not believe so. I'm a little short of learning half of the song, and the presentation is due Friday. This is really stressful. Got a lot of things to do this week. How will I get guitar in at all? The video portion of my presentation I am trying to create is quite awful, I'll tell you that much. I'm trying really hard how to transition smoothly between the riff and the Em7 chord, then to the regular G chord. I've lost all hope in guitar. I may not ever want to touch it again after this experience. If I ever have leisure time in the future, I might pick it up as a hobby, but integrating an activity to an already stressful schedule, it is not worth the extra breakdowns. Forgive me, but I will do the best I can to learn the full song, present that among the other lessons I have learned, and hope to God I will not be judged harshly. I tried.

Reflection 13

So far I've stropped the lessons and started with the first riff and chord, that beaing E Minor 7, of Wish You Were Here. I'm having trouble with figuring out the strum pattern fore the chord because in the Center Stage guitar Academy video, he doesn't know himself. The instructor play it by ear, and that's a problem for me. Looks like I'm only going to get one song in by presentations. Pity, but I've learned much on the way. This is really painful, guys. I can only practice hours at a time once or twice a week so I haven't built up calluses on my finger to stop the pain. So that I can practice for longer periods of time, I've cut up a bandage to place a piece on each finger, and I keep those pieces in place with duct tape. Amazingly, it still causes mild pain. I'll learn Wish You Were Here by the end of the week and put together a video of everything I've learned so far plus the song. Hopefully, it will show that I have actually learned plenty this 20% Time, I'm just a really slow learner that has semi-poor time management.

Reflection 12

I LEARNED POWER CHORDS! So these are commonly used chords in rock and popular music so yay, something useful, right? They are not considered true chords because they only consist of two notes. Chords are usually three or more notes. Power chords are really just made up of the root note and an interval of the root note, the fifth interval. This is picking two strings at the same time in one swoop. I was taught the A or A5 power chord, the D power chord, and the E or E5 power chord. These are open string power chords. The Lesson applied these three to the 12 Bar Blues. Worked on that for roughly half an hour. I have to dedicate this week to learning the first half of Wish You Were Here. That's the goal anyway. Wish me luck.

Uhhhh... Catching up? (Forgotten Reflection 11)

Did I really forget this one? Um, yeah. It seems like I have. Must have been a rough weekend. I don't quite remember. It's probably too late, but I'm just doing this to catch up. Last week (This was written down somewhere thankfully):

 I completed Lessons 6 and 7 which covers the meaning of intervals and the second octave of a major scale and applies it to The Star Spangled Banner. An octave is the same not, but played in a higher or lower pitch. It doesn't really sound much different to the ear, just a little better. Why are octave useful? Well apparently, it helps for tuning (compare one string to another closed note) and octaves can be used as a special technique to give notes variety (I fail to see how this is useful to me as a beginner but okay). Intervals are the spaces between notes. From the first note (root) to the second is a second interval (a whole step. Then comes the root to the third (the third interval), the root to the fourth (the perfect fourth), to the fifth (fifth interval), to the sixth (a perfect sixth), to the seventh (the seventh interval), and finally to the eighth, the octave! *pants out of breath* Okay! So the first octave is how I learned it in black and there's the second octave in red, using a totally different finger placement than the major scales. So I'm a little sketchy on the Star Spangled Banner, but as I recall, I have songs to learn right? So I won't focus on this song too much.

Reflection 10

Sadly once again, I have not made much progress. I have made Saturdays my review day for reenforcing previous lessons and exercises. I practiced my four short simple songs using the major scale and finger dexterity exercises yet again. However, today I had been unable to continue onto new lessons because it was the last day before the due date of my final for the English research paper so I dedicated most my time to major revisions. I promise to do some lessons throughout the week to make up for lost time. It seems that teachers are starting to wrap up their lessons in preparation for finals.

Reflection 9: PROGRESS!

I have bruised fingers. It's been a good weekend in regards to progress. I've practiced the major scale and now, I'm pretty fluent in playing it forwards and backwards in any position (fret you place your index finger on to start with), especially the Major A scale. I have learned a few minor songs I've mastered: Happy Birthday, The Saints Go Marching In, a melody in the style of Green Day, and some common New Orleans blues riff. My finger dexterity has improved and so has my coordination, since I can look away from my fingers and still get the notes right. I downloaded an app on my phone: Guitar Tuna. I can memorize chords using games on the go so I don't have to limit my practice to when I have my guitar. I get impatient very easily I've noticed but, when I can finally play the songs without error, not matter how little, it makes the frustration worth it. As for the two songs I'm supposed to practice, when I feel comfortable enough to begin, I will put aside a couple hours to practice each. I've realized this may not be so difficult. I just need time and patience. For now, I'll just keep going through the Center Stage Guitar Academy lessons and playing chord memorization games on Guitar Tuna.

Reflection 8

Safe to say, I haven't practiced at all this week. I have a research paper to complete, several tests to prepare for, and many hours of sleep to catch on (serious health concern as I am falling asleep whenever I put my head down). Pardon me, but I must really take the week off. If by some miracle I have free time, I'll be working on all the basic major chords.

Reflection 6 and 7

Pardon the combination of reflections, my Easter was not exactly pleasant and my six reflection had completely slipped my mind. However, I did practice a decent amount of guitar by the end of break, factoring in the time spent doing birthday related things (my birthday was Thursday). I repeatedly did each one of the exercises, my pinky just refuses to cooperate sometimes, and learned how to play Amazing Grace and Wicked Thing, warm-up songs, the major scale, and am currently trying on some chords. I never did find a good tutorial on All Time Low's A Love Like War, so I went out and bought myself a book of Def Leppard tablature. I'm planning to learn the song Love Bites instead. It's an old favorite. I'm halfway into writing the lyrics of my own song. My heart's really not into it, but I'm trying. I'm mostly preoccupied as of how I'm going to pair the lyrics to music. Will I just end up putting some chords together? I'm not sure how it works. I'll start looking into that once I at least have made it through Wish You Were Here.

Reflection 5

It took me all weekend to dig through my basement, then through my grandparents' attic, to find an old acoustic guitar I can bring to school to work with during my twenty percent time. I had to get it a new A string because that snapped. I have no idea how I even managed to replace it myself to be honest. As for my progress, I am still familiarizing myself with chords so I am switching back and forth between the volume lessons and the song lesson itself. Wish You Were Here requires me to know the E minor 7 chord, G chord, A 7 4 (major) chord, C major chord (open), D major, and A minor. I'm somewhat preoccupied that my second song, A Love Like War by All Time Low does not have a tutorial on CSGA, but I'm determined to go ahead with it because it will be dedicated to someone, just as Wish You Were Here will be.

Reflection 4

The exercises are proving to be somewhat helpful. The dexterity of my fingers had improved, albeit not greatly. I have moved onto learning my actual songs. My first song choice is Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Time management is my greatest issue here. The guitar is falling behind to last on my list of priorities. I will switch back and forth between the occasional exercise and the actual lesson for the song, provided by the Center Stage Guitar Academy. My biggest challenge doing this is trying to learn the song before mastering chords.

Reflection 3

 I have had very little progress with the exercises. I've tried mastering them one by one, but an hour a night is not doing much for my progress, especially when my mind is on homework and other issues. I've realized there comes a level of dedication and time you must put into learning how to play an instrument. It would make sense why I never have. I am not sure if it is because I am currently at a low point, a debilitating mental state if you will, and haven't been looking out for my health that whenever I get around to playing the guitar, I am just having issues with fatigue. I will continue the exercises; however, if progress continues to be slow, I will just leap into learning how to play the two or three songs and finish up with the lyrics of my personally written song to be ready to set it to music.

Reflection 2

          This has been possibly one of the most exhausting weekends of my life. I am the UCVTS Robotics Team 1257 mascot and the competitions were from seven a.m. to eight p.m. the first day and six p.m. the second day (today). Being a mascot is no easy feat. I danced in a poorly ventilated suit for hours, trying to stay hydrated but eating very little by choice. Basically what I'm trying to say is that despite watching the first real lesson in the volume section for Center Stage Guitar Academy, I did not have the time nor do I have the energy to practice the exercises now at this hour.

Intro) The instructor warns me I shouldn't have high expectations as a beginner, making me rethink my goal of three songs and one of my own.

Lesson 1) Finger Exercises

First works on finger independence
(Moving one finger at a time on each fret to a different string)

Second works on using different combinations of your fingers
(Basically the first exercise without using your ring/middle finger, moving a fret down each time you complete all six string descending)

Third works on combinations with all fingers
(As many different two finger combinations you can think of going up and down the strings)

I will practice these exercises for at least an hour every day this week and see how well I fare by the end of this week. I also have to remember to practice the very first exercise I mentioned in Reflection 1. I'm looking forward to progress!

Reflection 1

          Please forgive my tardiness, I was out of commission this weekend and Monday. I did not remember about my Reflection. Well, I'm ending February productively. I have decided that instead of focusing first on practicing songs it would be better to first complete my lesson online at Center Stage guitar academy. I'm starting off with the recommended "Volume" lessons. "All the lessons are broken up into volumes. Each volume has 10 lessons that are a mix of instructional videos that focus on learning techniques for playing guitar, and song lessons that focus on a particular song." I'm still trying to get the hang of the finger exercises. A particularly tiring one requires fluency in transitioning between frets when holding down a string. The final result would sound a lot like playing all the keys on a piano in order from the lowest to highest. I'm having the most trouble making use of my pinky, considering I never use it much and it is crooked, as most pinkies are. I aim to perfect the finger exercises by mid-March so that I can breeze through the Volume lessons without much difficulty.

Proposal: Let's Rock.

For my second 20% Time project, I'll be learning how to play guitar. My final goal is to be able to play three or four songs as well as perform a song created by myself. I've decided to make videos of my progress for each song, sort of like a vlog. I need no prior knowledge or skill to do this project. I have plenty of resources online, specifically my subscription to Center Stage Guitar Academy and Youtube. The easy part of this project is its simplicity. Playing an instrument is just practice. Unlike my last project, I know exactly what I'll be doing this time. Also, this will be easier to fit in my everyday schedule. The difficult part of this project will be the memorization. Most of this project will be done out of class, considering my electric acoustic is a bit large. However, I will still practice in class by studying notes and chords or be busy learning how to compose my own song, lyrics, etc. I think I'll do well on this one!

Reflection 13/14 (Not Sure Anymore)

This has possibly been the most painful, productive, and nerve-wracking week of my life. I have the jaw set without tongue done. I have the head mostly done. I have the neck, shoulders, forelegs, torso, and thighs done. I created the eyes with casting resin. I still need to attach the head to the neck, attach the neck to the torso, attach the torso to the thighs, and build the back legs of the wolf. I also have to quickly create the flexible ears and tail. I am still working on the LEDs for the eyes as well as the servos for the lower jaw, ears, and tail. I don't have time for audio; I will play it off my phone. After finishing the construction of the wooden skeleton, all I will have left is to foam and fur it and create/add the nose, eyes (created and painted), and insert the Arduino in the torso. Despite how it all sounds, I feel very optimistic with my progress. I may very well pull this off in a week! As for the presentation portion... I don't have the energy left in me to memorize how to spell out everything I did step by step... Although, it seems like I have no choice. *sigh*

Reflection 12

I knew when I first embarked on this project that it would be difficult, but now more than ever I have been humbled? Shamed? This whole project was nearly impossible from the start, and I have no idea if anything has gone right! The PrintrBot order was moved to two weeks from now! That's after the due date. I'm taking steps back again. I'm currently in the process of making the balsa wood model of a wolf. This is ridiculous. I will create a video compilation of the making of the wolf from start to finish. The balsa wood structure, the resin eyes, the baked clay and painted paws, claws, and jawset, the tail, and the airbrushing on the pelt are the main things I'm getting done at this moment and videotaping. That will be my 20% project. That and all the failures and flukes regarding the 3D modeling process. I've had to redo and take many more measurements for the wood model, which is a lot more troublesome than one would think because there were over forty measurements that I had to manually convert from millimeters (the digital model) to inches and then once again convert it to 3/4 scale for the model. I've traveled all the way to some crafts store near the shore from Linden for balsa wood and glue. I've also traced out all the templates for the torso, neck, shoulder, and thigh. The most electronics you'll probably get, if I happen to have some time left over, will be LEDs for the eyes. All I'm focused on now is GETTING IT ALL DONE.

Reflection 11

Delivery for the PrintrBot has been delayed until the nineteenth, which is terrifying me because that's too close to the holidays for comfort. I have my wolf parts all ready to be printed in Autodesk Inventor. I have been deliberating whether I should make the entire model of the wolf for my presentation and making it about the process of using 3D modeling and printing combined with other small things like airbrushing and sculpting to create lifelike models and then finishing the electronic components for the second 20% Time. One month's time isn't looking so great for me, but in the end, does life really ever work out in our favor?

Reflection 10

I haven't done much this weekend besides making one or two alterations to the wolf model. My father thinks it would been been not to section the limbs into so my parts and that I should try to separate the shoulder from the torso, which I did. Why didn't I do anything else? Well, my PrinterBot hasn't been delivered yet because of "manufacturing difficulties" which has me hyperventilating in panic.The only good news I have is that Scott Sheppard(?) of Autodesk has responded to my email with access to several tools that will help me with swapping the mesh model with a solid one. Maybe I'll start making the resin eyes and baked clay jawset of the wolf sometime during the week just to get small of the minor things out of the way.

Um... This is Reflection 9, right?

The Most Deluded Idiot in the World Award goes to... me!!! Some part of me knew the project was due before the end of the year, but it completely went past me that the 20% Time Project is due around mid-January. Here I am going at such a leisurely pace because I have other things to be done and I just push this off until Sundays, not realizing my window's closing fast. Anyway, enough of my dramatics. As the picture demonstrates, I've gotten far with my digital wolf model. I've partitioned it into about 49 pieces. Each has been painstakingly saved as its own file. The program I used to both obtain the wolf model from a 3D Model Warehouse without purchasing anything is SketchUp. Can you believe that some -ahem- trashy wolf models can go up to $50 online? It's ludicrous. That's besides the point. The model itself is only a mesh, which is where I run into my problem. If the model is only a mesh and not a base (solid), it has no volume and therefore, cannot be printed via my newly purchased PrinterBot. By the way, my father and I went shopping for printer filament this weekend and out of three spools, bought a wrong one (it's the weakest plastic available so it's useless to us). I emailed a Scott Sheppard(?) from Autodesk, asking if I could have the free download of the Mesh Enabler (changes mesh to base) since I am a student. Apparently, you have to ask personally and if not, you have to pay for it as a subscription member. I am not doing that. At this point, I am just waiting for his reply. If I do get the Enabler, my next step would be to export all 49 files as .stl so I could import them into Autodesk Inventor to make them bases. I'll give them a volume as well as cut of notches and holes for pins that will come into play when I put the pieces together. After that, I print the parts and start construction of the wolf. The construction will most likely take up my winter break. The electronics will too, but my father doesn't think it's much of an issue considering I only need to learn basic coding commands. I would say wish me luck, but it's pointless now.

Reflection 8

I have an Autocad Dog model downloaded. Thanks to how slow my laptop works with the program, it has taken hours for me to make improvements to the proportions of the body measurements to make the model wolf-like but I'll cope. Skimming the e-books, I'm still kind of winging it through three dimensional Autocad, considering I only am familiar with two dimensions. Besides that, my father has put a 3D printer on hold, PrinterBot. Apparently, it had good reviews in a magazine. Hopefully, during Thanksgiving (and on Thanksgiving permitting I have my laptop with me) I will be working further on the digital model, slicing it into parts that can be simply made by the PrinterBot and assembled. We have paused work on the electronics.