Copyright 2020 – Blues Guitar Master – All Rights Reserved
HELPING GUITAR PLAYERS ONLINE SINCE 2009
HELPING GUITAR PLAYERS ONLINE SINCE 2009
HELPING GUITAR PLAYERS ONLINE SINCE 2009
HELPING GUITAR PLAYERS ONLINE SINCE 2009
HOW A 66 YEAR OLD RETIREE LEARNED A SIMPLE BLUES GUITAR TRICK, THAT HAD HIM RIPPING UP AND DOWN THE FRETBOARD LIKE A TEENAGE GUITAR PLAYER!
HOW A 66 YEAR OLD RETIREE LEARNED A SIMPLE BLUES GUITAR TRICK, THAT HAD HIM RIPPING UP AND DOWN THE FRETBOARD LIKE A TEENAGE GUITAR PLAYER!
“I dunno, Tom, I just feel like maybe it’s too late for me.”
Said Bill, my 66 year old guitar student sitting across from me.
Bill had stopped by for a trial lesson at my guitar studio in Brighton, England.
The look in his eyes said it all.
Here was a guy who’d played guitar in high school, and LOVED IT, then he got married, had kids, then, like many of us, life and responsibility got in the way of his passion.
Bill had recently retired, got his guitar out of storage and resolved to get back into the hobby he loved the most.
The only problem was…
He sucked…and he knew it.
I looked him in the eye…
“Bill, there are two types of guitar players in this world…” I said with a smile.
“The naive ones and the smart ones. Right now you’re one of the naive ones, but today we’re gonna change that for you.”
Bill’s eyes opened up wide…
He looked hopeful, but skeptical, like he still didn’t believe it was possible for HIM.
So I told him what I tell all my “grown up” students…
“Trust me, it’s NOT too late. My youngest student is 6 years old, and my oldest is 84.
If you approach the guitar in the way I’m about to show you, it WILL work for you. I don’t care how old you are.”
Bill grinned at me.
“Well…alright, Tom, if you’re that confident, I’ll put my faith in you.”
He laughed…
“Just to warn ya though, I think you’ve got your work cut out for you. I’ve watched almost every guitar video on Youtube, and I still feel like I’ve never made any progress…”
I could see the frustration in Bill’s face.
He continued…
“You see, I always end up falling back to playing the same old thing. My solos don’t sound MUSICAL, it’s like I’m simply playing NOTES, not actual MUSIC.”
He sighed…
“All my solos sound disjointed, it’s like I’m just stumbling around the neck. No matter how hard I try they all end up sounding the same.
I just wish I could have that FREEDOM I see other guitar players have. They fly all over the neck without breaking a sweat, and it all sounds great.”
Bill leaned back in his chair.
“I just so WISH I could play like that, but I don’t even know where to begin.”
I knew that feeling all too well, because I’d been there myself.
I’d taken lessons as a kid way before the internet was around. I’d bought all the books, bought all the lesson videos on VHS, I even went to guitar school full-time in the early 2000s.
No matter what I did my skills seemed to stay at the same level.
It wasn’t until years later that I realised a big part of what I was doing wrong…
I was trying to do TOO MUCH!
You see, I had the same problem as Bill…
And if you’re reading this page, it’s probably the same problem you’re facing too…
OVERWHELM
While Youtube videos (and the internet in general) can be a wonderful tool to learn guitar, it can also CRIPPLE your progress.
Bill had literally spent years scouring the internet for an answer to his woes.
He’d spend hours watching guitar videos on youtube, he’d browse the net looking for advice on guitar forums late into the night, and he’d even taken lessons over Skype.
All to no avail.
“The thing is…” I told him.
“If you go online and ask ‘how to get good at solos,’ you’ll get a million different replies, coming from a million different angles.”
Some people say…
“Learn your theory”
“Work on your ear training and listening skills”
“Learn major scales”
Others say…
“Learn your intervals”
“Learn your modes”
“Work on your vibrato”
And my two personal favourite pieces of bad advice…
“Just pick up your guitar and fool around until you get it.”
And…
“You need to practice 4-5 hours a day”
I looked across at Bill…
“THE TRUTH IS…ALL THAT ‘FREE ADVICE’ IS WORTH EXACTLY WHAT YOU PAY FOR IT, WHICH IS ZERO, ZILCH, NADA!“
You see it every day on any guitar forum, people arguing back and forth about what is the RIGHT way to do things.
You see, the truth is, a lot of people are great at playing guitar, but that’s just it…
They’re great PLAYERS…
But they’re NOT great TEACHERS…
And that’s the difference.
Those people don’t have an understanding of how OTHER PEOPLE learn, they just know what THEY did, and how THEY learned, and that’s usually not gonna work for you.
“Bill, you need to know what’s going to work for YOU…not some other guy.”
With a smile, I said to him…
“You know how teenagers think they know everything, BUT when you listen to them talk, you realise they know jack s*** about the world?
That’s what most guitar players’ advice is like. They know their own little bubble, but they have no idea about anything else!”
Bill laughed.
I picked up my favourite sunburst Fender Strat, and looked him in the eye.
“Okay, Bill, I want you to forget everything you’ve read on the guitar forums, or heard about in some crappy Youtube video.”
I switched on my amp.
“Are you ready to learn the secret?”
Copyright 2020 – Blues Guitar Master – All Rights Reserved