Hey folks, a lot going on here at ActiveMelody headquarters (my basement).  As many of you know I’ve had membership to the site be completely free up until this point and it was my full intent to keep it that way, making the majority of the lessons free (while occasionally making a premium lesson to offset some of the costs).  Well, the good news is that the site continues to grow and has definitely blown away my expectations in terms of general interest.  The downside is that my monthly bandwidth costs continue to rise as well, so to counteract that, I’ve decided to keep the videos and basic membership free as always, but if you want to download the jam tracks or tablature you’ll have to get a “premium membership”.  I’m only charging a one-time fee of $5, so no monthly subscriptions or anything.  Hopefully that won’t break the bank for anyone, and will allow me to make a little extra spending money on the side.

I realize that several of the videos on YouTube state that the lessons assets were 100% free, and I apologize if you were misled.  They WERE free for nearly two years, honest! 

Google Plus (or Google+), is Google’s social network that allows users to create profiles, share content, and even hangout with each other.  I’m going to start weekly free guitar lessons via Google Hangouts (a feature of Google+), starting this week!  The only downside is that only 10 people at a time can participate, but if you haven’t tried it already, it’s really a lot of fun - and a great format for allowing people to learn a skill together (like guitar). 

The first thing you ‘ll need to do is go to the ActiveMelody Google+ Page by going here.  If you aren’t already signed into Google you’ll need to do so now by clicking on the blue button in the top right corner that says, “Join Google+ to add this page to a circle”.  You’ll then be able to either login using your current Google account (the same login as Gmail if you use Gmail).  If you don’t have a Google account yet, no worries, it’s 100% free and super easy to sign up.  You’ll need to click the “Create an Account” link in the top right corner.

Once you add ActiveMelody to your circles, you’ll be able to see any content that I update via my page on Google+ and in addition, I’ll add you to my circles - so that every time I do a live guitar class.. you’ll be notified.  Hopefully that makes sense to everyone.

To join the free online guitar class this Friday (November 11) at 9:00 CST, just make sure you have a webcam on your computer and a guitar with you - and go to the Activemelody Google+ page and you’ll see an option to “Join the Hangout” - just remember to add ActiveMelody to your circles.  Feel free to stop by and hangout with us! 

Hello AM community.  First of all I apologize for the lack of communication on my part, but I’ve been receiving many emails from concerned community members wondering if I’m still alive so I thought I’d give a quick update. 

I started a new job back towards the end of the summer for a startup company and between that and two little ones, I’ve had ZERO time to devote to uploading new lessons.  I am, however, working on my first premium lesson (much more than the usual 10 minute YouTube video) that will be a deep dive look at how to play a solo.  I wanted to try and sum up everything that I know about how to approach soloing in a way that would apply to nearly any style of music… so this lesson shows you the boundaries for playing and will give you 20 really powerful stock licks that you can interchange… basically giving you the building blocks for soloing.  This will allow you to arrange them however you want and put your own custom twist on things.  The other thing this lesson will do is show you how those same licks can work across three very different styles of music and three different keys….  so hopefully you’ll have that “Aha!” moment and understand that no matter what music is being played and no matter what key it’s being played in… you’ll have the ability to jump in and start jamming. 

This is a one of a kind approach and I haven’t seen anyone else doing anything like it.. This will be a great asset for those that really want to dig deep and understand how it all works, and will hopefully help you answer that “now what?” question that so many guitar players struggle with in their learning.  It will initially be available online (in download format), but may offer it on DVD if there’s enough interest (so please send me your thoughts) ... as for pricing I want to keep things affordable (especially in this economy) so I’m thinking this will probably be in the $20 - $30 price range.

In addition to launching my first premium lesson I’ve carved out enough time to continue offering free lessons each week so that folks that can’t afford to purchase a lesson will still have an outlet to learn.

So in essence, stay tuned folks!  I’m still available to answer questions as well.  I’m trying to activate all of the accounts for those that don’t receive the automatic confirmation email and also working on a better sign up so bare with me!

-Brian

Hey all, just curious what the interest level might be in participating in a live guitar lesson via ustream tonight (Tuesday, August 10).  This would allow me to broadcast live and you could interact via chat in real time… ask questions, socialize.. whatever.  So check back on the homepage here around 9:30 PM (CST).  If you are interested, do me a favor and shoot me an email to brian (at) activemelody.com and let me know if you’re going to try and make it. 

Hey folks, I wanted to give you a quick update on the next batch of lessons that are in the works. Thus far, I've been spending a decent amount of time with lessons that show how to play blues lead guitar which is really and endless supply of material. I'd like to switch gears now based on a comment made by saskstrum (an ActiveMelody member) and start focusing on how to play blues / rock rhythm. He mentioned that people tend to overlook the importance of playing good rhythm and he's right - there are a lot more people out there showing how to play lead guitar, but in a lot of respects, rhythm guitar is even MORE important because it really helps to define the song, so that will be my focus on the next few lessons. Trust me, these won't be the boring "up / down" strumming patterns or anything - I'm talking about creative / interesting rhythms that accompany the band.

In addition to the upcoming rhythm lessons (which I plan on having one up on the site late this evening or early tomorrow morning), I'm working on putting together some premium, deep-dive lessons that will be for sale in download format. Thus far, my videos are all hosted on YouTube which is great because there is a large number of people out there on YouTube, but the downside is that you're only allowed 10 minutes per video.. so it's REALLY hard to cram everything into a 10 minute session - I think having these deep dives will be very beneficial for those that are really interested in digging in at the root level of this stuff.. and I'm going to pour everything I know and have learned over the years into these. So be on the look out - and as always feel free to hit me with comments / questions.

-brian

I'm currently working through the process of offering real one-on-one guitar lessons via Skype for free and recording those sessions and making those archives available on this site. It's just a concept right now, but I keep thinking that it would be very beneficial to be able to see real, one-on-one video of someone interacting with their instructor (me) and watch them learn to play. So conceptually, every time I finish a new mini lesson (the ones that I put up on YouTube and on my site here), I would then schedule a series of Skype lessons with willing participants for free, the only catch would be that our session would be archived and put up for all to watch (don't worry - I can edit parts out if need be). So is there anyone that would be interested in some free guitar lessons via Skype with me preferably the session would cover one of the lessons I have up on this site? You'll need to have a high-speed internet connection and a laptop ... oh and a guitar of course. Let me know if you're interested by shooting me an email to brian (at) activemelody.com

I’m now uploading a video podcast on iTunes of all of the guitar lessons as I finish them, so you can sync up and watch these wherever you want.  I thought that would be extremely useful for those who have iPhones or an iPod Touch, so you can now download and take these with you.  Click here if you’d like to subscribe to the ActiveMelody guitar lesson Podcast.

Being a huge connoisseur of blues electric guitar, I thought it would be both fun (and somewhat therapeutic) to start a blues guitar artist series, where every few days I put together a lesson that highlights the guitar style by a well-known blues artist. I was hesitant at first because I know YouTube (and several other online video services) are really cracking down on copyrighted material (and yes that includes even playing familiar guitar licks or riffs) - so I wasn't 100% sure how to go about demonstrating an artists approach to a song if I couldn't use a familiar melody. Then I realized that the people that are passionate about playing blues guitar, might not necessarily care about learning a particular solo from an artist, but are probably more interested in learning technique and approach. It's not like we can all hum our favorite Buddy Guy lick, although we'd certainly recognize one if we heard it.

The way that I'm approaching this is by 1) recording a jam track (a backing band if you will) that reflects the artist (these are available to download for free), 2) Writing a simple solo that uses lots of the key licks / techniques that the artist would use, 3) creating tablature of that solo so that I can solidify it, and 4) putting the whole thing out on YouTube (and this site) for free. It gives me a great excuse to record music and share with others who are passionate about this form of playing what I've spent years learning.

On Sunday night I started with a B.B. King guitar lesson and have already had quite a bit of feedback from folks out there saying that they want more of these kinds of lessons, so later this evening (fingers crossed) I'll put out the second lesson in this series which will be a focus on Robert Cray. I'll just keep building these for a while and welcome any feedback regarding particular blues artists you'd like to hear / learn more about. I don't have any hard/fast strategy on which artists to feature, just doing the ones I love the most (and that list is pretty long). So be sure to check back here for future lessons!

-brian

Well folks, after giving it lots of thought, I’ve decided to make the beginner guitar course completely free along with all of the MP3s and tab that accompanies each section.  I realized that it didn’t make sense for me to start charging for lessons right off the bat, and since I’m relatively new to the online / guitar lesson scene - I thought it would be more beneficial for me to give away content and gain your trust for now.  So if you’re just starting to play guitar and looking for some really good free lessons, check out the beginner guitar course... nearly 7 hours of video content!  I’ve also finished putting together my schedule for 2010 and will be uploading lots of additional lessons so be sure to check back often!