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hi how you doin Justin here in this
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lesson today I’m going to be taking you
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through my 10 step method on how to play
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guitar and sing at the same time now
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this has probably been the most
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requested lesson that I’ve ever had
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since I started doing lessons online and
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it’s taken quite a lot for me to come up
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with this little plan for you I’ve been
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testing it on myself testing it on my
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friends and my students and I think I
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finally come up with this little program
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that really works a lot of it is down to
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your practice of course before we get
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going on the actual plan there’s a few
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fundamental things that I want to make
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sure that you kind of get and the first
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of those which is probably the most
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important is to realize that you can
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only do one thing at a time so you can’t
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be thinking about playing guitar and
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thinking about singing or what the
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chords are and what the lyrics are and
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that sort of stuff at the same time so
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it’s all about automation you have to
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get stuff automatic and for most people
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it’s getting the guitar sorted so you
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don’t have to think about the guitar
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playing and you can concentrate on the
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singing a few kind of freaky people I’ve
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met over the years that are good enough
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singers that they can turn that on
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automatically and think about the guitar
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but for most of us it’s get the guitar
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kind of sorted and under your fingers
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first and then you can worry about the
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singing part that’s really important it
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also means that if you’re still thinking
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about your chord changes and kind of
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having to look at your chords or look at
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your strumming hand then you might not
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be ready yet for trying to sing and play
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at the same time right so you know
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you’ve got to be fair with yourself here
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if you’re an absolute beginner it’s
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going to be very difficult for you to
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sing and play at the same time now it’s
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also important to realize that this is
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what this leads to is learning one thing
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at a time so you have to learn the vocal
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and learn the guitar and then put them
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together you don’t want to be trying to
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do both of those things at the same time
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and that’s part of this little method
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and also realize that the more you do
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this the faster you’ll get through the
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different stages so even though it seems
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a lot at the beginning as I go through
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it and say you should do this and you
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should do that the better you get at it
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and the more I’ve done it myself the
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faster I can kind of progress through it
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so that I can learn to sing and play a
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song in one sitting really it’s not a
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kind of a long process but it is through
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following these steps
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over a period of time that you get to
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that point so number one first step of
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the little method here is listen to the
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song a lot and I know that might seem
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really obvious but lots of people try
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and sing and play a song that they don’t
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really know that well and that just
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ain’t going to work right so first thing
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you should do headphones in for some
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reason headphones seem to work better
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for me to concentrate and you want to
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listen to the song ten times in a row
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and not let yourself drift off but
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really concentrate on the song try and
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get inside it not just kind of
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stretching the surface of what you
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normally hear try and listen to the
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guitar part really listen to the vocal
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part how do they sit together don’t try
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and play or anything yet just listen
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that’s really important that listening
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thing I really can’t overemphasize how
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important that is as a first step second
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step is learn the guitar part now this
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can be a kind of a simplified version of
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the guitar part because you want
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something that you can get automated
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right so it doesn’t matter if it’s just
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you kind of get the strumming down to
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the bare minimum and leave out all any
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kind of complex little fills or whatever
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you just want to learn the guitar part
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that you’re going to try and sing over
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so kind of strip it back keep it really
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simple keep it simple stupid kiss really
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important thing to remember and really
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work on it if there’s bits that you
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can’t do extract them and work on those
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bits individually because you can’t be
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still thinking about your guitar when it
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comes time to doing the singing now step
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number three is to play the guitar part
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while you have a conversation with
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someone and if you by yourself you can
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have a conversation with your invisible
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friend right but the idea here is can
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you play the guitar part while you’re
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thinking about something else that’s
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really the kind of the test here if
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you’re really ready to sing and play at
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the same time so you should be able to
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sit there and get your chords together
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now I’m thinking about what I’m sending
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you and the different steps of the
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program I’ve got these chords and this
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sequence really kind of under my fingers
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and maybe occasionally my mind kind of
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flicks back to the chords or where we
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are or what’s coming up but it’s really
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that idea of kind of getting it
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automated so you can still think about
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this conversation bit it’s really
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important a really great little test and
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I still do it myself you know if I’m
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learning a new tune I’m doing a lesson
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on something or whatever
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I’ll sit there and play the thing get
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the kind of the guitar part that I want
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first then I’ll just start thinking
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about other stuff what I’m doing later
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or you know what I’m fancy for dinner or
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you know any sort of random thought just
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to make sure that I’ve really kind of
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got that guitar part sorted up that’s
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really quite important now stage four is
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listen to the song a whole lot more but
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this time I really want you to
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concentrate on the singing and just the
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singing so it may be another 5-10 times
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really just completely concentrating on
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the vocal you know how is it some what’s
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how powerful is it how loud how soft is
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it what’s the range how does the melody
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go where are the breaths if you can hear
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them or if that seems obvious you know
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just really really focus on the melody
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and the singing part the part that
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you’re going to do and the more time you
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spend listening to it and concentrating
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on it the easier the rest of this
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process is going to be so the listening
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stages I can’t emphasize it enough
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remember we listen to music that’s how
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we learn music so listening is the most
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important thing so never forget that so
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snowed Stage four here is going to be
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listening as well now stage number five
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is to write out the lyrics now write out
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the lyrics not copy and paste from
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something on the internet and print them
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out there’s something about the
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listening to it you’ve just been
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listening a whole lot right so you’re
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listening to it and writing it down
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there’s something in that process that
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will help you remember them so don’t go
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for that just kind of grab it off
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whatever you know site on the internet
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and then print it out and have it in
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front of you it’s not the same right the
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writing out process is a really
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important bit so the other one the copy
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and paste thing yeah it’s kind of faster
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and easier but it’s kind of cheating and
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I think sometimes you know when you put
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that bit of extra work in you do get the
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benefit so that’s a really important bit
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now the next part is to work on your
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singing a bit so you need to practice
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singing along with the original
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recording so find a version of the
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original recording that you like and
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practice singing along to it and at this
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point you need to be working on your
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pitching and your phrasing making sure
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that you’re singing in tune and that you
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kind of got the the breaths in the right
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point all of that kind of stuff now I’m
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not a singing teacher I don’t really
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consider myself to be a very good singer
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at all so I don’t want to go into the
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idea of doing singing lessons I’m sure
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that there are people
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line doing free sing a lesson somewhere
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I don’t know where but I’m sure there
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are if you if you hunt them down or find
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yourself a vocal coach I’d a vocal coach
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for a little while I found it very very
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helpful not that my singing is great now
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but it’s definitely improved a lot on
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what it was so if you’re struggling with
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the singing part you might want to find
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a vocal coach if not just be singing a
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loads of times along with the song you
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know really fit make sure that you’re in
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tune good idea can be to record yourself
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a little hint if you’re a little
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dictaphone or even the kind of the voice
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recorder that you know built into your
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phone would do and record yourself
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singing along and have a constructive
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listen back to yourself and see what
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bits are working and maybe what bits you
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need to work on so that’s really
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important now stage seven make sure that
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you know what syllables the chords
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change on also very very important so
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not always do the the chords going to
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change at the beginning of a word that
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might be in the middle of a word you
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know so I have to use one of my own
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songs because if I use a another song it
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will kind of make copyright issues so
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some of mine page night you know it all
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I can think about is page 99 so it’s not
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a night it’s 99 is the change now what
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most people do is put a little kind of a
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little arrow headed a little Chevron or
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whatever above the lyric or the syllable
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where the chords change a lot of people
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find that really helpful I certainly did
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way back when I first started seeing
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play at the same time I’d write the
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lyrics out and I’d put these little
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Chevron’s or all around either on the
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beat or where the chord change art was
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depending on kind of what I was
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struggling with you know sometimes they
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the chord change will come after a word
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or just before the word so and part of
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the process again is listening to where
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that happens it’s not just the writing
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it innit going through and listening to
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the song working out where the beat
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falls and where the chord change falls
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in relation to the lyric again it’s
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coming back to listening you know so
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that’s a that’s another really important
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part of the process because it makes the
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next part easy
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now the next one stage eight have to
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make sure to concentrate here and don’t
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muck the order up here
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so stage eight is now going to be
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singing along with the original
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recording
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and playing muted strums on the beat now
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what I mean by that you’re going to be
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holding the guitar with your fingers
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just kind of wrapped over the string so
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you’re not playing actually a chord or
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anything
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and you’re just going to strum down
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strokes on the beat so like 1 2 3 4 and
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do that along with the original
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recording and sing along now if you
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can’t do this you’re really going to
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struggle to play the song and this is
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the first part of kind of automation
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because you’re having to automate that
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strum while you’re doing your singing so
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if I’m doing my tune again this baton I
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be on all I can think about is page 99
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about halfway down starting from
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perspire
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but of course have the original
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recording on at the same time and it’s
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that process of having that strum and if
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you can tap your foot at the same time
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as the other you should hopefully be
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working on tapping your foot all the
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time anyway every time you’re playing
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your guitar you should be tapping your
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foot because it’ll really help develop
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that kind of internal metronome so you
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try to get your foot tapping strumming
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along with the original recording and
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singing along with the words now if you
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struggle with the singing the lyrics
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you could try humming that’s a good way
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of kind of avoiding the stuck on the
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lyrics thing so just hum the melody to
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yourself but if you’ve followed the
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program properly you would have learnt
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the lyrics properly by now or at least
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have a really good idea of the lyrics so
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that shouldn’t be the problem but if it
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is you can try humming and then maybe go
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back and do the lyrics so now you’re
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away from the original recording for
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stage 9 which is to play the chords four
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strums per bar and sing along so you sit
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still really simplified so be
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about is page 99 half wait
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start him from perspire just really
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keeping it simple gives you a chance to
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think about your lyrics because at this
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stage the guitar part should be pretty
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automatic maybe when you first start
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doing it there’s going to be a little
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bit of your brain still thinking about
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the guitar but you want as little of
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that as possible right you really want
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to be concentrating on on your singing
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and getting the lyrics and getting your
11:16
melody sweet you know that’s the point
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of that step you know that it really is
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a big deal so just keeping it real
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simple and being able to get that lyric
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yarn over the top it’ll make a huge
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difference when you get on to the final
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stage just stage 10 which is playing it
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for real so in this case it’s got a
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fingerstyle pattern so and then all I
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can think about is pitch 99
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halfway down starting from perspire etc
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now that’s got a fingerstyle pattern
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which kind of leads me onto some of the
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extra stuff but that’s the basic program
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right and if you follow that and keep it
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real simple for yourself the car sakes
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start on an easy song right that goes
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starting on a difficult one there’s a
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list of them on the website if you find
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this lesson on the website there’s a
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list of a few songs that I think a
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really good easy ones to start off with
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and there’s also a whole bunch more
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helpful hints for you that you might
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find find useful on the website I just
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don’t want to draw this lesson out too
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much but it’s because there’s so many of
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them and also if you get stuck on this
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and you want to go on to the Associated
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forum lesson and ask your questions
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there I’ll update the extra tips part of
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the website so I can help it you know
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answer any more problems before somebody
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else has them you know so that’s the
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program I really really hope that it
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helps you sing and play at the same time
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and that it means that you can have a
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lot of fun with your guitar and playing
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and sing and entertaining your friends
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and I’ll see you for another lesson
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sometime very soon take care of
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yourselves bye bye
Capital High School 