teachers - give us a break!
in general, I have found that you teachers play the exercises too fast - or rather, you forget to play a REALLY slow version of each piece for easy identification of fingering, notes and technique. Guys - remember your target audience! thanks :)
# 1
Good point.
I think we forget sometimes how hard it used to be, so what we may think is painstakingly slow to us, might still be too hard for some people.
I'll usually try to guage my lessons on the level of expertise it's under.
For extreme beginners, I'll go into over-explaning something.
But for intermediate to advanced lessons, there's an assumption that you're already at a level where you can understand what's happening.
I think we forget sometimes how hard it used to be, so what we may think is painstakingly slow to us, might still be too hard for some people.
I'll usually try to guage my lessons on the level of expertise it's under.
For extreme beginners, I'll go into over-explaning something.
But for intermediate to advanced lessons, there's an assumption that you're already at a level where you can understand what's happening.
# 2
Well when hearing something so fast, with no standard notation, its hard to pick out the exact rhythms sometimes without playing it one million times.
# 3
Yeah, I hear ya.
I was actually really suprised with how many emails I got for some of the beginner lessons I did awhile back. Like, 'Horse with no Name' I thought I'd explained it to the point of being redundant but I got so many people asking how the rhythm was played I had to redo it.
And 'Angie' I had to do a custom version for some people cause a lot of people didn't get it.
...it's here btw if ya need it... it's not compressed though so it's a big download from my own server..but it goes from beginner up to advanced with more emphasis on how the right hand rhythm is played.
http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/Angie.AVI
I've been trying to work on ways to explain the rhythm better but it's a tough one.
Tab is really bad for explaining it....and annoyingly slow to write it out.
Standard notation may not help either. It's sorta one of those things where you really do have to practice it a thousand times before you get it.
About all I can do is an extremely slow, close-up shot of the right hand and hope that you can figure it out.
Sometimes I get the feeling some beginners are taking their frustrations out on me too though. It's like... with Angie... when I originally learned it, I had to sit down with the vinyl 45rpm record on a crappy Lloyds stereo and practice it for months just to get the beginners level down. The advanced level took another 10 years of experience.
Sometimes I get emails from guys who I think are expecting that it should come to them the first few times they play it. They've spent maybe an hour on it and yell at me for not teaching them properly cause they don't realize how much time is actually required.
blah.. what can I say. It's totally understandable cause I went through it myself.
My old cassette player had dents in it from all the times I'd hit it in frustration.
I was actually really suprised with how many emails I got for some of the beginner lessons I did awhile back. Like, 'Horse with no Name' I thought I'd explained it to the point of being redundant but I got so many people asking how the rhythm was played I had to redo it.
And 'Angie' I had to do a custom version for some people cause a lot of people didn't get it.
...it's here btw if ya need it... it's not compressed though so it's a big download from my own server..but it goes from beginner up to advanced with more emphasis on how the right hand rhythm is played.
http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/Angie.AVI
I've been trying to work on ways to explain the rhythm better but it's a tough one.
Tab is really bad for explaining it....and annoyingly slow to write it out.
Standard notation may not help either. It's sorta one of those things where you really do have to practice it a thousand times before you get it.
About all I can do is an extremely slow, close-up shot of the right hand and hope that you can figure it out.
Sometimes I get the feeling some beginners are taking their frustrations out on me too though. It's like... with Angie... when I originally learned it, I had to sit down with the vinyl 45rpm record on a crappy Lloyds stereo and practice it for months just to get the beginners level down. The advanced level took another 10 years of experience.
Sometimes I get emails from guys who I think are expecting that it should come to them the first few times they play it. They've spent maybe an hour on it and yell at me for not teaching them properly cause they don't realize how much time is actually required.
blah.. what can I say. It's totally understandable cause I went through it myself.
My old cassette player had dents in it from all the times I'd hit it in frustration.
# 4
My only beef with lessons is when the sound or video clip is playing something extra than whats tabbed, I'm like "Thats sounds awsome....dammit! They didn't tab that part!"
"During this line, the kid acted like he was pushing buttons on a calculator in the air. The kid played ******* air-calculator!"
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# 5
You could try and look on that in a positive way too.
Think of it this way... go back to the 1980's when I was learning guitar.
(gather round the firplace kiddies)
All I had was about 10 records, a cheap turntable and a mono cassette player. We couldn't afford to go to rock concerts. The only time you saw somebody play guitar was the rare occasion when one would be on TV (on a 21" screen with really bad reception and a stupid cameraman who would always focus on the players faces instead of their hands).
... couldn't afford to buy guitar magazines except maybe a couple a year.
I didn't have a clue how to read notation or tabs (in fact I didn't know how to read tabs until I joined this site 6 years ago).
Didn't know any music theory. Had no friends who played instruments or guitar teacher to learn from...literally nobody to ask. School was nothing but Viola's and standard notation.
It was the same thing every night for me. 7pm my parents would take over the television and I'd be alone in a room with my guitar (no amp cause it was too loud and I'd get in crap) and my 15watt Lloyds stereo with 3" speakers.
I'd pull out a Beatles album, pick one song and work on it for hours. For overdrive stuff I'd have to use my imagination because all I had was a home made fuzz box from Heathkit.
It was, sit down and listen intensely to the record... then try over and over again to make yourself sound that way. Take the speakers and put em on the floor with your head in between them (cause I didn't have headphones) and listen over and over again trying to figure it out.
The positive thing about the whole experience is that now I can literally listen to a song on the radio and picture in my mind exactly what every musician is doing, what notes they're playing, what chords are being used.. how it was recorded. I can hear a song in my head and just pick up a guitar and play it or hear somebody play something on TV and go pick up the guitar and duplicate it without any practice at all.
Anyways... the long explanation here is that maybe it's a good thing sometimes that things aren't totally spelled out for you.
Part of your education in learning guitar is actually sitting down and figuring things out for yourself cause it'll actually make you a better player in the end.
Think of it this way... go back to the 1980's when I was learning guitar.
(gather round the firplace kiddies)
All I had was about 10 records, a cheap turntable and a mono cassette player. We couldn't afford to go to rock concerts. The only time you saw somebody play guitar was the rare occasion when one would be on TV (on a 21" screen with really bad reception and a stupid cameraman who would always focus on the players faces instead of their hands).
... couldn't afford to buy guitar magazines except maybe a couple a year.
I didn't have a clue how to read notation or tabs (in fact I didn't know how to read tabs until I joined this site 6 years ago).
Didn't know any music theory. Had no friends who played instruments or guitar teacher to learn from...literally nobody to ask. School was nothing but Viola's and standard notation.
It was the same thing every night for me. 7pm my parents would take over the television and I'd be alone in a room with my guitar (no amp cause it was too loud and I'd get in crap) and my 15watt Lloyds stereo with 3" speakers.
I'd pull out a Beatles album, pick one song and work on it for hours. For overdrive stuff I'd have to use my imagination because all I had was a home made fuzz box from Heathkit.
It was, sit down and listen intensely to the record... then try over and over again to make yourself sound that way. Take the speakers and put em on the floor with your head in between them (cause I didn't have headphones) and listen over and over again trying to figure it out.
The positive thing about the whole experience is that now I can literally listen to a song on the radio and picture in my mind exactly what every musician is doing, what notes they're playing, what chords are being used.. how it was recorded. I can hear a song in my head and just pick up a guitar and play it or hear somebody play something on TV and go pick up the guitar and duplicate it without any practice at all.
Anyways... the long explanation here is that maybe it's a good thing sometimes that things aren't totally spelled out for you.
Part of your education in learning guitar is actually sitting down and figuring things out for yourself cause it'll actually make you a better player in the end.
# 6
