I have been playing the guitar for the past 7 years and I am still very passionate about music and playing the guitar but these recent years, due to the workload at the school, I have not been able to practice and improve my guitar skills very frequently and due to that I forgot many basic techniques and skills which every guitarist should possess. Last year, I thought that workload can be considered as an excuse for not playing the guitar and I have to stop procrastinating and practice the guitar frequently to make me a better player than before.

Over the course of the past year, I started from scratch and learnt all the basics like chords, plucking and strumming and even planned to learn some advanced techniques like pentatonic scales and playing solos on the guitar.

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

Through practising the guitar for these years, I identified that playing the guitar was something that I was passionate about and also had a particular skill set to match my liking of music. I started out by listening to guitar legends like John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and noticed the similarities and differences in their playing styles. Throughout the whole journey, I improved my strumming by a great margin and I was able to play complicated songs of artists like John Mayer and John Lennon.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills

I always avoided the scene when I was asked to play solos or tunes of songs as I never particularly learnt how to play them and I was not confident in playing solos but with the help and motivation of my guitar sir I started to play solos. I first started with memorizing the fretboard of the guitar and then play all the basic scales and gradually I started freeing my hand movement on the guitar when I was through with different scales and patterns and I began experimenting the fretboard as I created patterns of my own. I learnt to transition between frets that are far apart and improve the reflexes of my fingers to play faster solos.

LO4: Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience

It started out fine as the practices were regular and I was gaining momentum as I was progressing but after a couple of weeks, deadlines and homework started piling up and it was extremely difficult for me to manage both studies and guitar practice and so I took a break for a couple of weeks later realizing that I cannot avoid things that are important to me so I decided to prioritize as I became more regular in attending the class and also spent less time on the internet and practice my skills on the guitar. It was quite difficult for me to manage both the things but my love for music helped me see it through and I’ve become a better guitarist than I was a year ago.

This was an enlightening experience for me as I got to know that if I put my heart and soul to a particular thing, I will be able to see results and improve myself along the way. I’ve started to grow a personal attachment towards music that I never felt before and I plan to continue practising regularly from now on.