1st pay lesson

I brought in CCR's "Bad Moon Raising". I had a bit of a problem with some sycopated shuffle patterns at the end of the verse. Provided, I haven't practiced it much and it usually takes me a while to learn a new rhythm pattern. I was hoping for some quick fix, but we ended clapping some beats and he gave some some exercises, which I didn't do.

I asked some questions about song structure, but he didn't have much insight. Just offer some suggestions of songs that had similar progressions. I'll stay away from this area for now. Song writing is better learned from a book and actually writing a song. I can use him for feedback later when I write something.

I asked him about why my pick is slipping. He suggested I try different picks. I already ordered couple sets from MF which had good user rating the night before. It should arrive tomorrow. I plan to get some rubber paint and coat my existing picks. Maybe that's a cheaper way to go.

The best thing I got from this lessons is to "growl" the guitar lines. He didn't really teach it, but that's what he was doing. I notice that the bass guy on a live Monk album sang his lines loud enough to be heard on the recording. Anyways, I'm singing all my lines out loud for everything I play now, rhythm and solos. It works great. I got through the intro for Texas flood on the 1st try with way better results. My fingers just seem to know where to go better than when I merely think about what the sound should be. I also mastered the rhythm section for "Black Moon Raising" verse parts on the way home.

So the conclusion was, I didn't get much out of what he taught, but I got a lot from seeing how he approached the song.

I need to come up with better questions for the next lesson. I need to figure out ways to probe his mind for stuff he does "naturally", but doesn't teach. I'll structure my questions as "how to you approach a piece like this...". I'll try asking him some questions about different styles too and see if you gaves useful insight.