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I love these lessons, and so much about Brian’s teaching..
however I find it easy to get lost in trying to maintain some direction or linear path.. does it all come together at some stage.. I’m a year in and have done the beginners course… now I feel like in just hoping all over the place.. and getting lost in the process..Any help around finding direction and continuity in my learning here would be so helpful..
Thanks.
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Hey Shane, speaking as a longtime AM member, it sounds like you haven’t actually decided what path you want to go down. I’m guilty of the same problem. My solution, which you might want to try, is this: Choose a genre, or music style, or artist’s style that you like and do a really deep dive into it. Practice it every day. Listen to it while you are driving. Watch it on Youtube. Then when you have gone as far as you want in that direction, choose another direction and go there.
For example, the first deep dive I did was to try to become an expert on BB King and his style. First I learned all of Brian’s BB King style lessons as perfectly as I could. I got a good understanding of the “BB boxes” and how to switch between them. Then I started watching BB King videos, and downloading lots of his songs. I used a music-slow-downer app to analyze what he was playing. It took some time, but I was able to work out what he was playing in his songs just by trial and error, no tabs. After about 6-8 months, I became an expert on BB King’s style, and I could actually create original licks and songs that sounded pretty much like BB. After that, I did a deep dive into funk guitar, and eventually became a pretty funk guitarist. Then it was slow blues. Then it was Santana. Then it was neo-soul and lofi. And on and on. One step at a time.
Sunjamr Steve
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Shane…I’m on the same page as you. Brian mentions in one of his lessons the endless “shiny objects” we run into on YT daily. They distract us from the concentration Sunjamr recommends. Unfortunately, Brian is a creator of shiny objects, too. I agree with Sunjamr’s philosophy. I don’t know about you, but I’m an old(er) guy and I don’t have decades left to learn all I want to. So I find myself wanting to learn as much as I can in as short a time frame as I can. I’ve been passionate about learning the ‘instrument’ (theory, fretboard, etc.) with 40% of my daily schedule studying guitar (I’m a retired engineer…think too much!), and then learning to play ‘music’ which the guitar is truly meant for. I’ve chosen 15-ish songs so far that I really like and have learned to play some of the songs well enough (in partiality) to be happy with myself, my wife, and am working on being able to perform a mini concert of that stuff for people that’ll recognize what I’m playing. I don’t care that I’m not a virtuoso, albeit I’d sure like to be, but I’m a realist. I’m attaching a sheet of quotes I rely on when I’m feeling unaccomplished. I don’t think I’m violating anything sharing this. It’s priceless. Peace…
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Michael,
I really like your quotes – thanks.
I’d be interested in your list of 15ish songs if you’d care to share. I always have trouble with this – so much great music how do you shortlist to a few songs to really learn??-
Hi Alan!
I’m touched that you’d ask for my song list. Yeah, so many to choose from! All my choices are because each had a personal message for me.
I start with 2 spiritual songs…to keep me focused on my Master. Then I get earthly…party!
*’Shout to the Lord’
*’I can only imagine’
*Newest/latest: Susan Tedeschi ‘Just won’t burn’
*My favorite: Eagles ‘I can’t tell you why’ (perfect for us wanna be great guitarists…’we make it
harder than it has to be’
*Beatles ‘All my lovin’ (great, driving opener, pushed hard)
*Fleetwood Mac ‘Go your own way’
*David Crosby ‘Almost cut my hair’
*Pink Floyd ‘Lost for words
*Pink Floyd: ‘Wearing the inside out’
*Joe Walsh ‘Life of illusion’ (another great one for us dreamers)
*Allman Brothers “Melissa’
*Marshall Tucker “Can’t you see’
*Blue Oyster Cult ‘Don’t fear the reaper’ (from my list…’it’s a guitar, not life and death’)
*Kansas ‘Dust in the wind’
*Elbow ‘One day like this’
*Captain Sensible ‘WOT’
*I spend more of my time applying why I joined Brian…improvising playing the blues.
I’m working on being able to confidently play portions of all these songs, from memory in front of people (friends). My biggest challenge is stage fright!
Thanks for this opportunity to share ‘Me’, Alan!
Peace
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At my age the quotation that sums me up is, ‘so much to do, but so little time’ and given that situation I now only learn and play pieces I get real enjoyment from. If I were able to roll back the years I’d probably go about learning and playing guitar differently, especially as there’s so much online help today with Brian being among the very best.
So my advice would be, concentrate on what style you like best and then really work at it. The rewards are really just around the corner if you’re diligent enough. Just a word of caution though, try not to be sidetracked by online clickbait.Richard
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Choose a genre, or music style, or artist’s style that you like and do a really deep dive into it. Practice it every day. Listen to it while you are driving. Watch it on Youtube
I totally agree with Steve’s advice there. All musicians need to identify and develop their passion for specific material if they are going to light a fire, and also to maintain the focus needed to get good at it.
You need to know where you want to go if you really care to get there. (Later, hmmm, that has 17 syllables qualifying it as a zen koan, wow!). Feelings drive ideas in music, the reverse is not the case unless you’re Andrew Lloyd Weber or something.
PS I’m guilty of self induced YouTube inundation syndrome myself. I’m very picky though perhaps because I’ve been doing this for long enough to know what I’m trying to achieve: absorbing as much theory, understanding and cool ideas relevant to my preferred genres as possible.
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I too used to want to learn everything that Brian puts up – it’s hard not to – but now I’m much more selective and try to ignore the latest unless it is especially relevant to the style I like. Instead I now focus on learning and even revisiting a few favourites until I’ve nailed them. Much more satisfying. Sunjamr’s BB King example is a good one. In my case it’s blues styles like EP 256 and 327. If you are an ongoing subscriber all the lessons are going to stay available.
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Hi Alan!
I’m touched that you’d ask for my song list. Yeah, so many to choose from! All my choices are because each had a personal message for me.
I start with 2 spiritual songs…to keep me focused on my Master. Then I get earthly…party!
*’Shout to the Lord’
*’I can only imagine’
*Newest/latest: Susan Tedeschi ‘Just won’t burn’
*My favorite: Eagles ‘I can’t tell you why’ (perfect for us wanna be great guitarists…’we make it
harder than it has to be’
*Beatles ‘All my lovin’ (great, driving opener, pushed hard)
*Fleetwood Mac ‘Go your own way’
*David Crosby ‘Almost cut my hair’
*Pink Floyd ‘Lost for words
*Pink Floyd: ‘Wearing the inside out’
*Joe Walsh ‘Life of illusion’ (another great one for us dreamers)
*Joe Walsh ‘Funk #49’
*Allman Brothers “Melissa’
*Marshall Tucker “Can’t you see’
*Blue Oyster Cult ‘Don’t fear the reaper’ (from my list…’it’s a guitar, not life and death’)
*Kansas ‘Dust in the wind’
*Elbow ‘One day like this’
*Captain Sensible ‘WOT’
*I spend more of my time applying why I joined Brian…improvising playing the blues.
I’m working on being able to confidently play portions of all these songs, from memory in front of people (friends). My biggest challenge is stage fright!
Thanks for this opportunity to share ‘Me’, Alan!
Peace-
Hi Michael and thanks for sharing your list.
We are quite in tune!
I must check out “Just wont burn” – saw Susan and Derek recently in concert – great night.
Only last night I was trying to convice a group I do a bit of playing with to learn “I can’t tell you why” but we opted instead for my next suggestion which was “Can’t you see”! I totally agree with your comments on “I can’t tell you why ” and am gonna learn it myself anyway. And then I played “The Division Bell” in the car on my home.
“Melissa”s already on my performance list.
I love most of the others – just a couple that I don’t know. But I’m curious – are you playing in a band or are these solo projects and electric or acoustic?
I ask because this goes to the heart of my dilema – how do you make some of these “band” songs make sense played solo? I presume that when you say “Play portions” you are simplifying down into a manageable piece?
Thanks,
Alan
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Hey Alan…sorry for such a tardy response.
I’m just a solo guy. I would love to have a group, or even one buddy, to hang out with and compare notes, jam with, etc. But I live in the country near small towns, and it just hasn’t happened yet.
I vacillate between acoustic and electric.
Some people say “you HAVE to learn the entire song if you want to jam with people”. I’m just happy learning the main theme of songs that anyone that’s heard the song will immediately recognize it. And I guess I try to play combinations of rhythm
and solo. I’m an expert at self deprecation, and guitar is complicated enough without further mental damage, beating oneself up over what someone else thinks you ought to be doing. I’m currently flogging myself for not being an expert with theory.
Anyhow…Can’t You See?! Cool! I sang that at my best friends wedding back in the 70s.
Best to You, Alan -
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Great discussion above guys. I love Brian’s lessons but I very much identify with Shane’s original post. Guitar practice/playing is the first activity of the day for me, and I can go 2 hours or more – but I get distracted easily. Not distracted from playing, but distracted from the songs I decided I want to learn in full.
I have a playlist too, but it seems to be getting larger lol. My question, I guess, is how do others manage to keep up with Brian’s weekly lessons? Is it just me that never manages to fully learn the weekly lesson because of distraction?
I just can’t believe the speed that he comes up with a new lesson each week (and midweek too). I love each one of them, just wish I was learnng them faster so I could progress faster.
Also, I’m retired and 65. Played guitar since my teens but there certainly weren’t the resources then to learn from. I think we are truly spoilt these days, able to look up youtube and elsewhere for pretty much any tune. I had a year’s worth of lessons, mainly fingerstyle, from a wonderful guitarist (Jordan Brodie, check him out of youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztVqkXRR_uc) which helped me get back into guitar again after a break of many years.
His price for an hour lesson was entirely reasonable but being retired, had to cut back. Also, like many I struggle with anxiety when playing in front of anyone – even a nice guy like Jordan.
Apologies for the lengthy post!
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Yeah, the options are limitless with new lessons hitting each week. Brian’s stuff is some of the most easily digestible yet soulful and musical of the lessons. Really love his style of mini compositions to get a concept across, which will help play more like music than just running a scale.
As Sunjammer said, doing deep dives or several related lessons even (soulful country or blues, etc) can be a good way to grasp on these concepts.
Also, learning actual songs is a good idea. Most of the music we love and want to play is relatively simple, 1-4-5 structures and such. So you will start to see patterns and how people embellish on those simple progressions with fills, licks, spread voicings, picking and all that.
It’s a journey without end! -
I can really relate to a lot of the comments on this one, especially Michael’s. I am also older (and a retied engineer) and picked up the guitar for real about 3 years ago (after a 34-year layoff – was never any good to start with) now that I have the time. Joined another site 3 years ago and Active Melody about 8 months ago.
Brian’s material along with al the explanations has really opened up the door for me. Very insightful, but like other’s have said, Brian himself creates a lot of shinny objects. I want to learn and master almost everything he puts out, but that is just not realistic. It usually takes me a few weeks to get one of Brian’s runs down in any kind of semi-acceptable fashion (; In fact, I wish he would back down to just one presentation a week.
I finally learned to just focus on the ones that really, really appeal to me and just not worry about the others – put them in the “maybe someday” box. This approach has helped me big time and I no longer feel guilty about not being able to keep up. I just keep working on the ones that I am into.
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