Congratulations to Totally Guitars!!

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neverfoundthetime
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:44 am

Dermot, I don't believe you intended to be offensive nor overtly critical when you started out on your post in this thread although by now you will have noticed that you've stroked the fur of the cat the wrong way. I hope folks don't gang up on you with whiffle bats or something. I normally appreciate your "schräg" (oblique) view on things but I have no idea what you meant to say. Maybe you could tell us what you find good/great about the site and what you'd like to see improved, that might help.

I don't have to accept bronze, its not my site and I'd give it double gold anyway. I already posted my "Nr. 1" comment. The only people who can judge this site, is us. What would you give TG?


dsmarion
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 6:18 am

Just thought I would weigh in here with a few thoughts:

- I could care less personally about any arbitrary awards, they are most always popularity contests. If that exposure helps drive some more people here to learn all the better. But more poeple is not always a good thing, we have a great group of folks. Not everyone out there can you say that about.

- Those who want an easy "roadmap" of learning guitar from beginning to end in the shortest amount of time are missing the point of learning to play in my opinion. Rather, it is the beginning of a lifelong adventure and everyone will take different paths to reach their own personal goals. There is no one-size-fits-all here.

- Music theory is the basis for learning to learn. You have to understand at least some of it to progress into playing better and knowing how to learn more on your own by applying the theory in creative ways.

- Music theory is about learning "music" - not guitar. It applies to any instrument you choose to learn. Here at TG the application of learning music theory is applied to guitar but the theory itself is the same regardless of instrument, only the application of "how" to apply it changes. People here at TG have the opportunity to learn way more from the music theory lessons along the way than just to play the guitar.

- Learning just music theory is boring for most people. You can do this out of a book with no instrument at all. That is not what drives most of us to this site. We want to learn how to play the songs we love and this site offers us the chance to also learn more about music theory and specifically how to apply that to the guitar along the way.

- There is no "end" to the learning path. You simply reach a point where you know enough to start learning on your own and to start creating your own unique style. If everyone playing the same it would be a boring world. The reason we all have our favorite players is because they don't play like everyone else.

These are just my opinions of course and you may or may not agree with them. And that is the way it should be (imho).

Peace.

Scott


thereshopeyet
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:48 am

Thanks


cosmicmechanic
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:15 am

Mighty fine art!


TGMatt
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:22 am

[

Chris Wrote:
I don't have to accept bronze, its not my site and I'd give it double gold anyway
I would agree with that too, it's not my site either but will it last if folk are not enticed from these other sites to greener pastures.

The motivation to my post was simply to suggest an idea that possibly the songs could be used more efficiently to progress the learning curve of guitar.


Got your motivation, just execution maybe could have done with some work..I am prone to that sometimes too as I am quick to the "take massive action part" often as well.

But I will add ...The site has "lasted" 2.5 years, so I would say we are doing some things ok, some things not that well, and we will continue to improve, the song in order idea, is difficult at best to implement, and suits very few people...if you want that format, try the end to end blues package, where Neil combines theory and practice until you get to a place where you can play a song..

Most people want more mini courses on theory, and more songs they love that contain elements ...and most people want choice...

But again we will be working on more tweaks and programs..one actually being worked on now..


thereshopeyet
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Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:31 pm

Thanks


AndyT
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Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:49 am

Dermot,

I know exactly what you mean. I understand why you said it and what you meant.
I would have phrased it differently, but I would've probably suggested the same thing. I've thought about it a fair amount.

Some of us just need that extra bit of pre-defined step-by-step to keep us on the beaten track.
It does exist here, just not in the form you are looking for. It's much more eclectic.
I would love to see Neil take 15 - 20 songs and put them in a particular order and say, These 20 when done in this order will give you all the basics. From there you pick and choose to fill out your personal goals.
That kind of goes against Neil's teaching style, but I agree that it would give a more or less tangible sort of goal for the student to achieve. And I think there would be many students that would follow it because it would eliminate much confusion on choosing the next lesson for beginners. Once you finish that program, you would have enough background to know what you should be after next based on where you want to go.

Now for the juicy part... It already exists. Look at the Beginning Genius package.
After you complete it, then you move on to the Acoustic Genius set. After that, you can go with the Fingerpicking, Flatpicking, Classical, Lead, Rhythm.... Choose the series you need to complete your goal.

Yeah, I know why you missed it. It's not really labeled that way. Not a problem. Maybe that's really all that needs to happen.
Maybe a menu button that says "Beginners start here"
Cool huh? Ask and you shall receive. LOL TG's got a good track record of doing that.


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neverfoundthetime
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Sun Oct 02, 2011 9:26 am

Now for the juicy part... It already exists.

Cool huh? Ask and you shall receive. LOL TG's got a good track record of doing that.

AndyT
Exactly!

I know what you mean too Andy about wanting things to served up a certain way. We all have to realise, we have been severely damaged and restricted by the education system we have gone through. These systems deserve a "could do much better" and a D- IMHO. No one is taught to think much and much of what is taught is misrepresented, false, out-of-date or useless. No all, just much.Creativity gets smacked on the head and out-of-the box thinking will be beaten out of you before you are old enough to realise what's happened. To be of real service t anyone, an education system has to be open and structured, allow discovery and tell you what works best and allow you to find your own way through at your own pace. That's what we have here at TG for sure.

Dermot, I really would have appreciated an answer to my question:
"Maybe you could tell us what you find good/great about the site and what you'd like to see improved, that might help."
If you think TG is greener pastures, there must be things that are right on for you, or not?

If you brush me off with a superficial answer, I know I you don't really want me to give your posts much thought. That's ok. As long as I know.


TGMatt
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Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:18 am

We are getting to a "beginners start here" kind of suggestion path on a menu tab, (and a theory one too)...but is only going to be a suggestive path...I bet you not one person follows it beginning to end..but we will get to it..

After this it is impossible to cut and shut together with songs..you need to take your own lead and pick what you want to learn..

Think about it some more..if you went through the first few items then we introduced a blues song..that would take us down a giant rabbit hole of theory, and we are yet to finish up a tenth of the theory programs on blues we want to share...if we chose a different genre then ..well you get the picture..there is not direct linear path...and here is something I betya Chris and other educators are aware of..

The art of learning as Chris has pointed out has become indoctrinated since birth to be linear, we are trained to look for step a to b to c etc, and be led by the hand..yet the greatest learning does not happen this way, it happens in chunks and leaps and often no connection from one thing to another..learning guitar has become a metaphor for me at least that if I just let go, let go completely of being so anally retentive of it, and let my heart take me to where I want..the skill and ability shows up, along with the lesson to accompany it..

Music is a creative art, it is not linear, a guitar is 4d instrument, no straight path exists.....

No great from Gilmour to Hendrix went through some linear learning experience to arrive at their creativity and skill, they learnt some stuff that was fundamental, how to strum , what chords were, scales etc, but after that it was connections made by jumping around wherever there hearts took them..

In the meantime any beginners...here is a suggestion

Start with the beginners course..the free one on the front page, then progress to acoustic genius....and strumming...that would be my suggestion if you are disciplined enough to go through every lesson and not be distracted by wanting to learn your favorite song or learn a song you had never considered (and may not understand the theory for even after these efforts are made) ..

Want to learn blues??..do the blues course along with the basic acoustic genius then pick every blues song in the catalogue..want to learn just theory , then go for it, just stick to all theory until you have progresses through every course we have..or pick a song, let Neil explain some of the techniques and theory you need, and jump back into that particular theory section rather than getting bogged down..

After this it is impossible to cut and shut together with songs..you need to take your own lead and pick what you want to learn..
why ??..well you all of a sudden feel confident enough to try and tackle stuff that you would never consider before...and this alone can lead to breakthroughs that you had never expected..

And that my friends is why if you treat Target at the Meta level like a giant smorgasborg of food from the world and a cooking school that accompanies it.You can try some sushi here, some pasta there, maybe some baba ganoush on the same plate...and when you go back you can choose the "how to cook" , you want to learn to make the sushi , then that is your choice, you can start there..and stay there if that sings to you

Of course to learn to cook anything at all, you need to learn to use the kitchen , sharpen the knives and how the oven works...but its doesn't mean you have to eat Spaghetti every night because you chose to be an Italian Chef only...

Does this make any sense or is it just ramble ??..(I tried)

As Bruce Lee stated, "be like water, empty your cup" be flexible enough in your learning that you can be open to going down any rabbit hole your heart takes you...then you have accomplished two things...

Your brain is being transformed...and for the better ...as music needs more right brain, and you also get the joy of not being herded into a prison of what someone else dictates is the "path"...that folks is a joy to savor , we all have enough structure in our lives ..

be like water..


peace

Matt


TGMatt
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Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:55 am

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