Told you this girl gets knocked down a lot but I always get up, dust myself off and square up for the next battle even if I'm feeling totally distraut, talk about stubborn.  I've reset more times than an Atari Game System, which is going to come in VERY handy.

So round one went to learning, yesterday was hell - but - I've fought valiantly and taken round two.  This one issue is far from over and it's going to be an epic battle, I fear we're just getting started and there will be many many tears of frustration before I take the winners cup but as I've explained in an older post it's the little things I latch on to and this is a really BIG little thing.  

If this should show you one thing it's that nothing is simple to everyone, so no matter what your struggle is, don't let others make light of it and never give in.

Today marks a significant milestone on my journey, my first 'structured' song, written by me, recorded by me, performed (well played!) by me.  I got the thumbs up on it being structurally ok from my teacher which is actually the thing that makes me the most happiest of all - thank you Tom :)

So to mark this day here is the song - I do not claim it's remotely good, that's not what this is about, I do still have a little over 4 1/2 years to go after all - just that it's a full song not like my others that were experiments.   And I confess it took me 15 hours of hard hard graft to get this out - long journey ahead!

And for my benefit when I look back here are my "stats" for this milestone.

Guitar 22 months
Piano 17 months - no real chance to shine here but it counts!
Drums 4 months of self learning - I still suck so badly, lots of cutting here!!
Bass Guitar 1 month of self learning - so let me off that one.
Electric guitar  1 day - yep my first ever electric guitar experiment - so forgive me my solo!
Recording 1 month (if you can count what I'm doing as recording not just fiddling around!)

It must have been the ice lolly binge that got me through this because it certainly wasn't the miserable 2 hours of sleep I got haha!!  I love being an insomniac - NOT!

Merry Christmas xxxxx

I've got so much going on now it's hard to keep track let alone keep on top but this blog is a good way to make sure I stay focused because when I've said I'm going to do something - I do it.

So rather than bore you to bits with tiny updates on each thing I'm doing here is a very quick post on several at once.

Blues Song

I've been playing a collection of blues songs and recording the "rough" drum beats and fills so I have a library that I can use to pick one.  I want to try and do that by close of today because I need to start practicing bass over the top.  It's going to be poor but it will give me a guide then when I have all components worked out I can go and re-record them properly.  At least that's the idea at the moment - as I hit walls my ideas often change and evolve.,

Update:  The full drums, intro, verse, chorus, solo & outro (all be it very rough!) are down - see the power of committing really works!  They're simple but I've put a few "playful" areas in there to give me room to do something a biy fun.

Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

I knew I bit off more than I could chew with this one but it's been really tough.  Anyway about 7 hours total practice in now (I've been adding bits in small chunks, bar by bar).  The timing & dynamics are a "bit" better now but I'll worry about getting it right once I've got the full song learned.

​First off, I am so sorry if there are any huge Elton John fans listening to this awful attempt!

So far about 4 hours practice.

I'm going to push myself on a piece on piano, guitar and drums and update on my progress so you can follow as I go.  Certainly not every day, that would be very boring but at intervals where there's enough progress and I'll include total practice time on each update. This is the first one, I want to play this especially for my teacher so I'm learning it independently, don't blame him for it ok!!

The idea behind this is two fold, 1) to take you along with me as I push and work through a challenge, maybe you want to try too, if you do it quicker update me in the comments, if it takes longer then do the same, so I can support you back.  This is a wonderful journey I want to share not a contest so join me if you want to, and... 2) to see the progress I make over time (within each project yes but also over the years of learning) both in complexity of the pieces and the speed of learning them, overcoming challenges and the reward of finally finishing before beginning again. It should be a very cool experiment. Or I may just scare you off for life!  I hope I don't because as hard as I find these I really enjoy it. 😊

That's it folks! I'll be linking them together under "Projects" in the categories menu so if you miss one you don't need to scroll through my waffle to find it. And remember you were warned in my hello post - I'm not good!! Yet - see thinking more positive already!