| Before beginning this article I ran a Google search for | | | | and generally they get what the pay for! |
| 'learn guitar' the result was 45,000,000 and you can bet | | | | My interest is not in this type of person but rather the |
| that 90% of these will be about learning to play guitar | | | | serious player who genuinely loves music and wants |
| in some unbelievably short time frame. | | | | to play the guitar properly; it is tragic when this type of |
| Sound familiar? Sound too good to be true? | | | | player is messed up by all this junk. |
| The story: The internet is a good place for stories... | | | | Principles for life: Anything worthwhile doing is |
| there are literally hundreds if not thousands of guitar | | | | worthwhile doing well! |
| 'experts' who are trying to lure unsuspecting newbie | | | | Can you plant a tomato seed, water it and expect to |
| (and not so-newbie) guitarists to buy their 'instant | | | | eat fresh tomatoes from that plant this afternoon?... of |
| fix-it-all-in-five-minutes' guitar course, software or guitar | | | | course not! |
| system, some are very convincing withimpressive | | | | Can to buy a guitar, plug it in, watch a video on |
| sales pages and flashy videos... but do they really | | | | YouTube and master the guitar in five minutes?... of |
| work? | | | | course not! |
| To find the answer we need to step back from the | | | | The principle of learning to play apply in the same way |
| computer for a moment and take a realistic look at | | | | as the 'law of the farm' works in nature... everything |
| what is really happening using good old fashioned (but | | | | takes time to grow, develop and mature. |
| quite rare) common sense. | | | | There's a great saying that applies here "the dedicated |
| What we can learn: We live in a 'microwave mentality', | | | | take care of their time and time takes care of the |
| instant gratification, quick fix society... that's a fact we | | | | un-dedicated", I think that sums things up beautifully for |
| want everything and we want it now! | | | | the 'instant guitar hero' type player, they will mess |
| Our so-called experts target would-be guitarists with | | | | around with all types of guitars and guitar related |
| this 'instant results' type marketing; any experienced | | | | gadgets but will remain a stranger to music fortheir |
| guitarist knows that you can't learn the guitar in five | | | | entire life! |
| minutes any more than you can learn how to play the | | | | To sum things up... |
| piano in five minutes or learn how to fly an airplane or | | | | 1. If you don't know what you are doing why bother |
| become a doctor in five minutes. | | | | doing it? |
| What do we get for our 'instant guitar' program? Lots' | | | | 2. You can't learn flying from a guy who has never |
| of goodies or worthless junk? Pandering to the popular | | | | been off the ground... does your instructor have any |
| idea that more is better they will no doubt give you | | | | 'real world' credibility or is their only qualification their |
| piles of stuff... here's what you can expect. | | | | ability to set up a seductive website. |
| * heaps of videos | | | | 3. Learning little snippets of unrelated information will |
| * lots of licks | | | | only confuse the student, in order to learn anything you |
| * piles of guitar TABand the list goes on... | | | | need STRUCTURE! Where fact 'A' is learnt and then |
| A closer look by the discerning guitarist reveals... | | | | that fact is connected to and related to fact 'B' that's |
| * heaps of videos - chock full of lightning fast, very | | | | how students progress by connected learning... there is |
| impressive show-off style guitar playing which | | | | no other way forward; there never has been nor will |
| confirms the fact that your 'instructor' can play faster | | | | you ever be able to by-pass this process that's how |
| and louder than you; unfortunately that's the way it's | | | | human beings learn. |
| going to stay because your 'video star/ guitar expert' | | | | 4. There's a great saying that applies here "the |
| isn't in the slightest bit interested in helping you play | | | | dedicated take care of their time and time takes care |
| better, he or she just wants you to watch in | | | | of the un-dedicated", I think that sums things up |
| amazement at their Olympic style guitar achievements. | | | | beautifully for the 'instant guitar hero' type player, they |
| * lots of licks - heaps of 'chicken-pickin' fun here; again | | | | will mess around with all types of guitars and guitar |
| played as fast as possible for maximum entertainment | | | | related gadgets but will remain a stranger to music for |
| value (unfortunately very little educational value). | | | | their entire life! |
| * piles and piles of guitar TAB - most of which you | | | | 5. Learning to play a musical instrument is an exciting |
| could pick up for free on the internet! Don't worry | | | | journey where you learn a lot more about yourself |
| about how accurate it is, you have heaps of them to | | | | than you ever learn about your instrument; but |
| try. | | | | everything in life has a price, if you pay the price you |
| Why am I being so hard on these guys surely it's all | | | | will get your rewards if you are looking for shortcuts... |
| good fun... the truth is a lot of people love this stuff, | | | | you miss the whole point. |
| they want to believe they will be able to play the guitar | | | | Enjoy the journey of playing the guitar. |
| before lunch they buy all these 'easy play' type stuff | | | | |