I’ve listened to They Might Be Giants from my earliest years and on, and their songs have pretty simple strum patterns. For starters, the chords follow progressions like II-V-I or IV-VI-V, as well as including some minor chords that follow neighboring tones up the scale. I think the music theory is something I can focus on to be more efficient when I play the music, as well as working on precision.

When I play piano music, I don’t have to worry about exactly where my hands are, because the keys are wider than my fingers and muscle memory takes over. As I’ve practiced with the guitar, I developed more muscle memory for “What an F feels like” or “How far to stretch my hand,” but now I need to find ways of moving quickly between them, and then how to pick specific strings in succession for guitar solos.

Another crucial element of this ISP will be tuning the guitar. My piano is electric, and I’ve never had any concerns with how it is tuned. With guitar, you’re supposed to tune down guitars if you don’t plan to play them, so you reduce tension on the neck of the guitar. Before I started practicing, I didn’t know anything about different guitar sounds and different levels of “dead strings.” Now that I’ve heard different guitars in acoustic and electric settings, I can tell which strings will go out of tune more often, and which strings feel “dead.” I will also learn more about maintaining these guitars, because keeping them in tune means that I have to listen more closely to each string.

My family has a treasure trove of stringed instruments. We have a mandolin, a guitarra (Portuguese 12-stringed guitar,) two acoustic guitars, and at least 6 electric guitars. Unfortunately, they sit in a corner, tuned down, waiting for someone to use them.
I’ve played piano since I was 8, so I know how to read music and play melodies by ear. This project is a culmination of having access to guitars and wanting to expand on my music theory knowledge. The guitar has six strings, E A D G B E, that are modified to play chords, like E minor, E B E G B E. The A and D strings are both fretted with the fingers of the left hand, two half steps or one whole step up.

Here are my goals: play at least 2 songs all the way through, learn more than 20 chords, and practice weekly. Currently, I know part of one song and about 10 chords, and nothing about how to strum different patterns.