Guitar

Guitar Interview

Griffith Baker

• 2 min read

Grandma: So what are you studying in this course?

Me:
This year in ISS I am working on becoming a better guitar player. I’ve been learning lots of songs to better my playing and try to diversify the songs I know. Having this experience has given me the chance to really hone my skills with no distractions. My normal day in IIS looks something like this:

  • I go and get the key from the front desk.
  • I set up my guitar and start playing songs from Songsterr. Songsterr is this great app that takes a normal piece of sheet music and lets you play along with the track at different speeds.
  • Then before I know it, 50 minutes is up, and I hear the bell ringing.

Grandma: And you mean there's no teacher teaching you? How in the world does that work?

Me:
Since there is no teacher supervising me, I have to make sure I stay on task. I try to set some loose goals like a number of songs to learn by the end of the month, but this doesn’t always work out since some songs are inherently harder than others. My one hard rule is to stay productive and progress in a song no matter how slow.

Grandma: Ok, so if it's for real, tell me about something you’ve taught yourself.

Me:
This year I’ve learned the Hotel California song along with the solo piece and a lot of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ songs. I’ve also branched out to Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band and Dust in the Wind by Kansas. If I had to do it all over again, I would try to figure out a better system to get the key for the door each morning, so I could increase my practice time. Fifty minutes is not as long as it seems! I would try to get a Songsterr subscription to not have to take my tablet in each time, though I don’t really mind. I would focus on foundational stuff like scales and knowing where a G is in multiple places on the guitar, which I’m starting to do now. I just wish I had started earlier. I’ve started a blog in my free time to host guitar videos and guides. I’ve also learned much more about video production and how to do a clean take.

All in all it’s been a really great opportunity to have this Independent Study. I’ve learned a lot over this year about guitar and really music in general. If you would have asked last year for me to play or even attempt some of the songs that I’ve learned this year, it would definitely not be music to anyone’s ears. I think last year me would be impressed.