Today's soundtrack is Marcel Tyberg: Symphony No. 2, which is a gorgeous album composed by an Austrian man whose grandmother registered him as a Jew; he was killed in Nazi death camps (citation). This version of the recording was done by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
This afternoon, I'm picking up where I left off on the free guitar lessons at justinguitar.com. Before I started this blog, I'd worked through his white section (he lays out his difficulty like the karate belts). Recording my most recent album made me realize that I really have a lot of opportunity to improve my guitar playing.
I'm starting the yellow section of the lessons today: "G7, C7, B7 Chords." I learned how to play G7: it looks a lot like a C, stretched out further. C7 is pretty straightforward too; it just adds the pinky to the fourth string on the third fret. B7 is a super bluesy chord; I like that one a lot. It isn't shaped like anything I've seen before. The next lesson was the "F Maj 7 Chord," an easier chord than F major. It's actually a chord that I've used in the past without realizing that it was a "real" chord! It's just like a C major, but with the second and third fingers on the third and fourth strings respectively, rather than the fourth and fifth. After I got that one, it was time for the next lesson, called "The A Chord Again...". In this lesson, Justin showed how to play the A chord with a mini barre chord, a useful skill for those with large hands. I don't personally find this way of playing the chord necessary; I've practiced the regular A chord enough that it would take more time for me to decide which one to use than it does for me to just play the regular chord every time.