Tuesday, November 30, 2010

DAY 30 of Instrumental Challenge

THIS IS THE LAST DAY OF OUR 30 DAY CHALLENGE!! AHHHHHHH!!

I am sad to say the guitar did not go well for me. To be honest, I did not have as much time to dedicate to this challenge as I had hoped, but at least I learned a few notes from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I will post videos of mine and Ian's FINAL performance later on today! He has done so well with the harmonica.

Can't wait to see what December's Challenge will be.. I hope that it isn't the vegetarian one. I would really like to be able to eat Turkey on Christmas.

I'm off to perfect my guitar skills.

Becca

Monday, November 22, 2010

So Many Instruments! So Little Time.

The above video is of one of the BEST bands I have ever heard (I haven't heard too many lol but I think they are so awesome). Yesterday was the Santa Clause Parade in Orillia. Apparently we have the biggest Santa Clause parade north of Toronto - if you count the million fire trucks, police cars, and other random vehicles that drive in it. Anyway, there were bagpipes - drums - tubas - flutes - everything!! Ian says he now wishes he had learned the bagpipes, but I told him not to worry because the bagpipes would have been crazy expensive. I wish I chose the xylophone. There was one band at the parade that had 3 xylophone players!! It looked SO neat. The month is almost done though, so I will have to stick with my guitar. Maybe in a year or so we can have another instrumental 30 day challenge.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Twinkle, Twinkle

WOW! Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I finally have a video of me and the guitar. To be completely honest I haven't been practicing that much, but I've attached the video so you can all see how much I'm sucking. I think my goal within this goal is to learn how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. It's a song I always sing to Annabelle when I visit her memorial. It's also a song that reminds me of a fellow angel mommy's family (Stacy, for those of you on DS). Her son loved singing this song to his baby sister when she was in Mommy's tummy, and I absolutely love singing this song to Annabelle. 
Maybe if I get a little better I can go play the song for Annabelle, we shall see. In the meantime, enjoy my ugly guitar skills and my ugly voice. Seriously, I watched the video before posting it and thought "Ew is that really my voice!???" -- funny how we always sound differently than we actually think we sound.

Love and Hugs to Everyone!
Becca

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Day 13

Wow! It's hard to believe we're already at day 13 - my guitar skills have become flawless! I'm rockin on that thing every day.... JOKES! I am getting nowhere, quickly. It's awful. I'm sucking so much at the guitar. A friend suggested I try the yukalaylee. I don't know, maybe I'll try it, but the guitar is FREE! I don't understand why it's so difficult for me to play. Grr. Any tips are welcome!

Becca

Monday, November 8, 2010

Ian & The Harmonica!


This is Ian introducing the world to his harmonica skills. He has yet to know I posted this (hehe); sorry about the bad quality, my cam jam isn't the best. Feedback is definitely welcome! Leave a comment or email beccabreu@yahoo.ca -- peace and love everyone! Becca

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Where to find motivation?

Ian came home yesterday with the harmonica - it's such a wonderful sounding instrument! Today at dinner he was saying how it's completely not what he expected. Instead of having to blow on different parts of it, like he assumed, you have to use your tongue to hit the right notes. I'm going to force him to explain it on video and maybe he can play a note or two for us! His goal within this goal is to learn how to play "Oh When The Saints Go Marching In" (I think that's what it's called).

The guitar seems to become more difficult every time I play it. My itty bitty fingers just cannot hold down the heavier, thicker strings. My other fingers hurt when I hit the chords, so I will have to find/buy a guitar pick. I was going to find a song I wanted to learn to play.. but I don't know if I'll get that far.

On a side note, Annabelle's headstone was put in this week. It is beautiful, just like my little angel. I was feeling very uninspired to continue my challenge and this blog considering my first Christmas without my baby is coming up... but after seeing her special marker, I feel overwhelmed with encouragement and motivation. I hope I can make my baby angel proud!

Hopefully I will have some videos posted on my next update.

Becca

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Choice of Instrument

Hope you like the new blog layout. I have decided to go with a different layout for each 30 Day Challenge.

WOOHOO! I have finally chosen my instrument (I know right, I've wasted 4 days of the challenge...) -- the guitar! I've chosen it for numerous reasons.

1 - My sister conveniently owns one, therefore I do not have to buy one.
2 - I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but have never had the time to do it.
3 - Maybe I can start a rock band - COOL!

I youtubed some "guitar lessons for newbies" and found that they all had one thing in common - learn the different parts of the guitar! I know I will never be able to remember the different parts as there seem to be so many..

* Headstock, at the end of the guitar neck.
* Neck, comprising frets, tuners, fretboard, headstock and truss rod.
* Nut, a small strip of any hard material at the headstock-fretboard juncture.
* Fretboard or fingerboard.
* Frets, metal strips embedded on the fretboard.
* Truss rod, a metal rod along the inside of the neck.
* Strings made from metal or polymer materials.
* Inlays, visual elements along the exterior surface.

AND, that is what is found on a basic guitar... I'm sure different types of guitars have a different amount of parts. I think, or at least I hope, that my sister's guitar is fairly basic.

Yes, for all of those wondering, I DID ask my sister to teach me how to play the guitar; since clearly that would be easier than youtube videos. However, she forgets (LOL what a nutbar).. so, I am on my own. Ian still has not found a harmonica! Ten bucks says he fails the challenge.

Anyway, that's all for now. Maybe I'll post a video soon of me attempting to learn the basics of a basic guitar.

Peace, Love, and Hugs to all!
Becca

Monday, November 1, 2010

Challenge Day 1

I barely got anywhere today. My "big" homework day yesterday turned into a relaxtion day.. so I was homework focused all day today. I still haven't decided what instrument I want to play! Grr. I better get cracking. I like the idea of all 3 instruments so it's really hard for me to choose. I think the keyboard may be the easiest to learn, however I have no access to one which makes thinks a little difficult - plus, I want a challenge, not the easy way out!

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to choose an instrument. I think Ian has forgotten that this is the first day of our challenge. He hasn't mentioned the harmonica at all. Or! He could just be keeping it a surprise secret. Hmm. I'll wait and see.

Lots of love and big hugs to you all,
Becca