The K-ON! Effect

I recently decided to give this anime another shot for a reason I do not remember. I do remember why I decided to pass on this anime during the spring or whenever it was out. The first two episodes was boring and I was watching awesome show like Toradora!  I decided to keep going onwards with this one since a friend of mine was also watching it along side and after enduring the non music part. I’ve come to like it, I’m only on episode 6. Mildly funny at random times.

I’ve heard many stories of how people bought guitars and such just to play because they’re sheep and all. I’ve had my guitar for about a year or two now but I never really made that much progress, being lazy and not practicing for months at a time. I found a bit of random motivation every few days that would make me start playing something… Although I would lose it almost immediately because I get tired of playing the few songs I know. I am always looking for new tabs to practice and the skill level for them are usually very high so it would sound like trash. I get extremely bored strumming and playing chords. Easy mode songs like Green Day’s Good Riddance and Oasis’ Wonderwall. They sound nice and all but man is it boring. My preferred style would be fingerpicking where you pick each string with your fingers individually.

One of the things I noticed early on is how Yui managed to play her instrument quite well in such a short amount of time. In episode 5, when she was trying to do vocals at the same time as playing, she plays a short measure, perhaps 20 or so, it still sounded pretty good. Granted that it was just playing four or five chords, strumming them each differently giving an unique sounds but it’s not very noticeable for people with little music background. The timing when you change chords has to be right on otherwise the flow of the song would go off beat. In episode 4, when she begins to show off her progress, the technique that was used use more shredding or just plucking it very fast. I found it kind of funny how she showed a harder technique first. Practicing for 3 months, every night is something that I should be doing. I don’t have any books and I’m only teaching myself. There’s a lot of chords I should commit to memory but I’ve always been pretty bad at that. It can get overwhelming at times. Playing certain chords require a lot of finger dexterity and strength… especially when it came to barring, where you press your finger over several strings. It sounds easy but it really isn’t. If you don’t press don’t hard enough, you will get buzzes and muted strings. It is one of those things that a beginner guitarist has to master early to move forward. I still haven’t got it down fully but I’m still working on it.

There are a lot of Mio pictures.

There’s a few things that are a little off. One would be Yui cutting herself on the string. By then, she should have strengthen her fingers enough so it wouldn’t have. I got my calluses a week in of starting again. The first or second day, the pain in my fingers were almost unbearable, so it wasn’t worth it… in fact, it would have made things worse. The skin on my fingertips were peeling for about a month but it’s all fixed up now and stronger. I probably shouldn’t nitpick too hard on K-ON! It’s just an anime, right?

Got a bandaid?

There are also a few interesting things that I was able to relate to. Not many people realize it but singing and playing is extremely difficult to do. Your rhythm goes wack and you begin to lose your place all over. Vocal practice also takes a while, getting a high pitch and not having it crack in the middle is something you also need to spend time on. Why do you think there’s a lot of shitty singers on those Idol reality shows? They don’t really practice and they think they can sing… all enough to make your ears bleed.

So about the K-ON! effect? This does have a positive effect on me, it made me pick up and play something.. that small motivation is enough to remember why you love to play your instrument. But at the same time, I’m neglecting my course work and practicing is one of the most important things to get good at something. I’m not naturally gifted at anything… and if I am.. I still haven’t found it yet.

Looks like a lot of fun. Rock on Yui~