I actually found plenty of time to practice last night. I spent the first 15 minutes practicing switching between A and D chords. I am focusing on sliding my ring finger along the string when I switch from D to A. I developed a bad habit of completely lifting it off the string when I move the middle finger from the E to the D string.
Up to this point, I have only played guitar sitting down, with the guitar on my lap. I want to be able to play standing up, but I never took time to get my electric guitar at the right level to be able to play comfortably. I spent some time figuring out how long to make the strap and I think I found a happy medium. The guitar isn't so high that I look stupid, but I can reach around and play bar chords without straining my wrist too badly. I will probably tweak it a little going forward, but it feels okay so far.
I wasn't in the mood for practicing chord changes, so I decided to surf around Justin's site. I found a weekly riff and loaded up the first video. It was Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster cult. I spent some time watching the video, with frequent pauses and rewinds. I think with some practice that I'll be able to get it down. It will be good picking practice if nothing else. I'm not very accurate with my inner string picking at this point, and the song uses a combination of the 6,5,4,3 strings over various chord changes with the left hand. I like the song enough that I think I'll be able to stay with it until I've mastered it.
After an hour and fifteen minutes I called it good for the night and opened a beer.
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