HOMEWORK: Lesson 11

[AGA]

Hi guys!
Those of you who follow Jak on Instagram have probably heard by now that she is not going to be active on here or on social media for a while. I don’t know any information, other than what she posted.
I believe I speak for all of us when I say, we all wish her well and we hope everything is OK and that we may hear from her again soon.
In any case, her absence SHOULD NOT be an excuse for any of us to not continue to progress and work hard. If anything, as a testament to all the time and effort that she has put into us and this school, we MUST continue to do our homework.
I am able to issue assignments and I invite everyone to contribute with ideas as well, especially ideas that suit your level’s (Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced) specific needs.
I don’t know if you guys want to keep doing the livestreams, I don’t have the availability to host them. But if someone would like to step in, you are absolutely welcome to do so. It doesn’t have to be a single person, a few people can take turns. Otherwise the livestreams will be suspended until Jak returns.
Finally, if I may, this school is a community. That means a GROUP of people. For too long Jak has carried a lot of responsibility on her shoulders by being a leader here. She has been the one to keep the machine moving, and that’s too much work for a single person. We must be PROACTIVE and RESPONSIBLE for our own learning. We can’t sit back and wait until someone tells us to make use of the great resource that is this site. Because at the end of the day, who is this benefitting? YOU.
I encourage everyone to step up, not only in Jak’s absence, but beyond. WE GOT THIS!
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: LESSON 11
BEGINNERS: Use lesson 11’s backing track and play the exercise that Papa Gates teaches in the video. If you can’t access the backing track, play along with Papa Gates in the video.
INTERMEDIATES: Come up with your own grooves using the Tik Tok motion, you can do it with muted strings or chords. Keep it to quarter & 8th notes. Use a metronome.
ADVANCED: Come up with your own grooves using the Tik Tok motion, you can do it with muted strings or chords. 16th notes and triplets allowed. Use a metronome.
REMEMBER RELAXED UP-DOWN WRIST MOTION AND GOOD TIMING ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS ASSIGNMENT!
ALL THE HOMEWORK GUIDELINES ARE THE SAME AS BEFORE. PARTICIPATE WHEN YOU ARE ABLE, AND DO YOUR BEST!
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! AND MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOUR!

 

[AGA]

Recorded with my web cam, so not the best audio quality.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Ailee thank you for this update. I missed this post. But jak has taken social media breaks before shell be back. She would MOST DEFINITELY want us to keep going.
The live streams are a neat idea to get together and just chill out. I dont think you guys need to do homework sessions. Posting videos works too. So if we cant keep that going it’s not a big hit. But I do feel we should do a hang out of some sort every now and then.
With that said. Lesson 11.. you do a huge example in your video last week I saw. Your swinging wrist!
Not too much that I can add for this week. I may skip out on this weeks. But before the weeks over I may have a new riff that has the same groove idea
Cant wait to see what everyone brings into the play. The next few lessons coming up are all chords.. and that’s what the groove is all about is strumming those chords. So really try to focus on that groove and rhythm. Good luck to everyone this week! If you haven’t yet go check out my latest video

 

[RoaringRowanThunderBender]

Hi, Aileé! Thank you so much for taking the lead on the lesson forum! Me and Hector were going to try to take over livestream if anyone was interested. I mostly talked to Hector so he could help me keep it close to Jak’s and help the more professional players unlike myself. I contacted him about it the day Jak made her announcement.

 

[AGA]

Thank you Rowan! For sure, I’ll be posting an assignment weekly following Jak’s template. Thank you and Hector for taking over the livestream. Please share the details when you guys are ready.

 

[RoaringRowanThunderBender]

You’re welcome, love. I’ll follow along with your templates. We’ll do our best. I will talk with Hector and let you all know shortly!

 

[Calvin Phillips]

If you guys are doing the live stream that’s neat I figured hector would step in there. You guys are the only way this is gonna stay alive. Jaks efforts are always there but in the end it’s all in the rest of us to keep going. Projects here tend to die a month or two in so let’s keep this one going.
Spending an entire week on easy exercise is neat.. although honestly like I mentioned earlier the next fee are chord related. Mainly to get used to the tik tok motion. But we can always change up the homework right?

 

[idssdi]

It’s so great that you’re doing this! It’s also really nice that Hector and Rowan are willing to take over the livestream! I was thinking of doing it myself but then pretty quickly realized that I simply don’t have the time to do so

 

[RoaringRowanThunderBender]

Thank you guys for all your support. I’m sure Jak really appreciates it. I figured I would try to take over since I have a lot of time in case no one else had the time to. As Calvin said, it’s kind of on us to keep going and I would really like to continue and encourage people to keep going.
You can always mix it up! You could probably combine two lessons if you really wanted to to make a new hybrid homework assignment. You could probably turn it more into a chord progression assignment to be more creative and inspire creatvity. I’m working out details with Hector, as we speak.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Well the next few are basically the same chords just adding one. So maybe next week we can just do the one where they are all together? I’d like to think you guys know you chords by now or atleast the power chords. So unless you were trying to circle in one 1 every week for like arpeggios.. you know what I mean?
But if we donit that way with 1 a week.. I’m gonna probably focus there myself because that’s my weakness. Always can make things work right?
What’s you guys Instagram? I personally never use Instagram but I guess I gotta start lol I do use my Twitter and Facebook YouTube a lot more but instagram is pics and I’m not a pic pic guy.. lol
Needless to say.. I need ids. Lol I only had Jaks.

 

[RoaringRowanThunderBender]

Please let me know if you can see my previous post after Calvin’s. It’s not showing on my phone.

 

[RoaringRowanThunderBender]

I thought of that too, honestly. I was also thinking we could possibly combine this week’s homework with next week’s. So, the Tik Tok lesson and the all-the-chords one like Calvin was saying. I know I can probably definitely do both as a beginner, but I want everyone else’s opinion also. Someone else might have trouble. Also, Hector and I were thinking to do the lesson next week on Saturday at 3pm CST/4 pm EST. We wanted to make sure we gave people enough time in case they were short on it or anything since Ailee posted the homework here on the 20th. Does this sound like a good idea? Feedback, please.
Absolutely! If you know what you need to focus on, that’s great. If the work is too easy for you, maybe turn it into an arpeggio and honestly I’d still consider it homework because you’d be working on it. Just make sure you can do the homework Ailee asked for too if you’re asked.
I pretty much know everyone’s Instagram, I think.
Ids- @idssdi
Ailee- @ailee_official
Hector- @hectortrejo97
Mine- @rowan_of_the_ash

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Of course you want the main homework to relate. Just gotta spice it up sometimes. If you do go out of the box try to give a reason why and what you were trying to accomplish. Might help others where they struggle in writing pieces.

 

[RoaringRowanThunderBender]

I agree. That’s a very brilliant point, Calvin!

 

[Evan Cosman]

I’m so glad to see this is still on, I think a sort of hybrid lesson could be a pretty good idea for the next couple of lessons too,
I really enjoyed the livestream last week and in the future i might be able to help out with it, when are we doing it?

 

[Evan Cosman]

Oh sorry i didnt see the post where Rowan was planning a time, Im pretty sure im good for next saturday at that time

 

[RoaringRowanThunderBender]

Thank you so much for the feedback, Evan! I’ll definitely see if we can do a few hybrid lessons. Please join Hector and I next Saturday at 3pm CST/4pm EST!

 

[AGA]

Thank you guys for your input, support and enthusiasm!
Absolutely! A Hybrid lesson makes complete sense. I’m thinking of doing 12 & 13 together next week, because on lesson 14 Syn’s tips start talking about transcribing and developing the musical ear and I think that’s a topic we can all really benefit from and would like to give it its proper time.
There’s a lot we can do with this particular chords section (Lessons 11-19). At the very beginning I was like “Oh, I know this chords already” but when I really took the time to build off of those lessons and strengthen my rhythm foundation you have no idea how much it has helped me, even with my lead playing.
Absolutely, as Calvin says, if you find the particular assignment either too easy or you find that it’s not addressing your particular weak areas by all means change it up! There is no better teacher than ourselves because only WE understand our strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. The assignments aren’t written in stone, they are jumping off points to help us put in practice what we learned on the lessons. The more you get out of them the better! If you have an idea for an assignment comment and we’ll add it to the homework. We could even have a couple options to choose from for each level, because as Rowan says, some might struggle with what’s easy for others even if both people are Beginners, for example.

 

[RoaringRowanThunderBender]

Hi, lovely people! Here’s my homework video for Lesson 11! Of course, you can help out! Hector and I are doing it this Saturday at 3pm CST/4pm EST because that’s what I can do easiest.
Lesson 11 Play Along Homework

 

[AGA]

Well done Rowan! Your arm + shoulders were very relaxed, my only feedback would be listen closely to the beat, at times you are slightly ahead and at times you fall slightly behind. Maybe exaggerate your strumming hand motions at first to have better control and once your timing becomes more precise you can pull back.