Since I became a member here, I've gotten a LOT of stuff drilled into my head that I never knew with the music theories and pentatonic scales etc... I never knew how you tied them all together "Scientifically."
With that in mind, I've recently have gone back to college. This year I began taking a major in music. What I've learned here has made learning what I need for the major a BREEZE! At the end of spring for my finals in both my music appreciation and my guitar class, I have to compose my own song using everything that is taught HERE! I was able to go into the class, KNOWING my scales and KNOWING exactly what is coming up thanks to the fundamentals taught HERE!
Now, you may be asking WHY I am kicking out the big money for college if what I am being taught here is cheaper? Simple enough, in order to have credibility for teaching others, everyone likes to see those papers hanging on the wall of your class or office.. and when they ask. "where did you learn?" It will be more impressive with the degree behind you instead of saying I was taught online cheaper than what I am getting paid to teach you for! :D
This next Spring though (Thanks to Chris Schlagel's excellent instructions for the fundamentals and such, sorry other instructors, this one goes to Chris) I will be in the school Jazz Band. That is normally reserved for second year students! So that is saying something about these courses! And to answer you question before it is asked, I've only been playing SERIOUSLY since March of this year! That is the great thing about being a member here also, you can KEEP COMING BACK to the areas where you need help with until you get it down! You learn at your OWN pace!
If you follow each and EVERY step in the fundamentals (Even though SOME may seem to be TOO EASY, DO THEM) you will find that they ALL TIE TOGETHER! You may not think that you want to learn the Blues, but LEARN them! That is the building block to ALL of the other types of playing methods! They ALL TIE TOGETHER!
When I first started here, I fell in love with Lisa's voice and hands (Don't feel like I am weird Lisa, you know you are great :D) as she was the first one that I started with on the acoustic. Chris got me going into the direction of Jazz (By the way, you can watch Chris Schlagel, Lisa McKormic, Neal Walter and others on Youtube as well!) I've always loved the blues and classic rock and had a soft spot for Jazz, but Chris really sealed it for me with his concerts in the parks...
Now on for the major leagues, you can always look around the internet to learn to play songs from other people... like those 10 year olds on Youtube etc.. BUT, if you want to learn to play the song CORRECTLY AS DONE BY THE ARTIST, then you will want to learn here. GT takes the time to go through the process of getting permissions from the actual recording labels, etc, so that you can LEARN the ACTUAL PLAYSTYLE! It takes a little more time, BUT, in the long run, you will KNOW the REAL style.. you can sit back, let your head swell a little bit as you impress your friends and soak up all the compliments!
The forums also come in quite handy. You will find that you will have some problems that other folks have already encountered and have asked the questions and gotten fairly decent answers to and put them here. The forums go back quite a way, so you can always look to see if someone asked a question already and gotten answers. Things from "My fingers are too fat" to "What are the best guitar strings for my Mexican Fender Strat?"
So now, I will let YOU figure this out.. would that be worth $15 a month? Figure out how much a teacher would cost you then compare what they will give you once a week as to this whenever you want it :D
Ok JD, I did what you told me! Now release my Turtle UNHARMED!!
;)
Love to all my GT Friends
Howard