Forum

Hi everyone,

Lots of strong friendships have grown out of the TG community - out of the forum. For me personally, those friendships have kept me motivated to keep learning (even when I’ve taken a break because I’ve gotten too busy); kept me pushing the boundaries of what I’m capable of; kept me laughing and enjoying music and more importantly enriched my life generally.

The forum has gotten quiet again. The community is interacting less; posting less progress videos, less questions and suggestions, less sharing generally. Neil, Ness and Max continue to roll out more and more lessons, which are more diverse than ever. But we TG community members have become a bit too quiet for my liking.

I’m wondering:

- who’s out there?
- what you’re up to that’s keeping you quiet?
- what would you like to see more of on the forum; what would encourage you to post videos, new threads and generally participate more?


Here’s some ideas that might help you to come up with your own list;
- more official TG competitions
- more TG member initiated challenges
- more threads about favorite bands
- more threads about new Artist
- more busking
- videos asking for The teachers’ advice
- silly stuff
- posts from new members and people who haven’t posted before.

I’d love to hear from everyone that still drops in to see what’s happening on the forum. Just say hi, and a little about what you’d like to see more of; even just one thing.

This is our forum. Let’s make it a place that is thriving with activity; that we can’t wait to get back to.

Hopefully I’ll read you later.

Shel

I'm with you Shel....i miss the good old forum days...

What i would like to see more of would be:

Videos (for fun and/or for advice)
Questions for teachers

I totally love your suggestions Shel! As a teacher it would be awesome to get more questions about anything...musical ideas, technique, exercises, gear etc. I think the TG community is so strong and awesome that I feel inclined to offer any advice when I can, but sometimes its hard to know what advice is needed if nobody is asking questions.
If there is anything anybody wants to know I'm sure either Neil, Vanessa or myself can address it.

For those that are interested in a challenge, I propose a mini fingerpicking contest if anybody is up for it. The Mississippi John Hurt songs offer a wide range of challenging rhythms and patterns to play and can really improve your chops if you're so inclined. I'd love to see some video submissions on some cool fingerpicking stuff.

Keep nudging everyone in this direction Shel, I like where you're going with this!

Ness,

Yes you absolutely know what I’m talking about. We’ve both (together and separately) enjoyed and contributed to the energy of the forum when it was at its most active. I truly believe the fun helped us all to grow.

Thanks for responding sweetie.



Shel

Max,

Thanks for joining my attempt to drum up more fun.

Hey any suggestions for a good place to start with Mississippi John Hurt songs. I’ve never tried any of his.

Neil has a bunch of MJH songs in the library; but where should anMJH newbie start?

Cool suggestion.

M

Hi Shel.

Thanks for your letter! They're all great ideas, yes!

Busking is a great inspiration for me. I like seeing songs picked form the TG site, especially, and reading/hearing teacher critiques. I like the idea of challenges, too!

Lisa

Hey Lisa!

I’ve LOVED all of you recent uploads; and previous ones too of course. You go from strength to strength; dead impressive. Pleeeeeease keep them coming. You are DEFINITELY your harshest critic. The rest of us just sit back and enjoy the show. You’re a TG superstar. If he hasn’t already, I suspect Neil will be making up posters; you’re the TG poster-child. So to speak.



Hi!

Shel

Hey Shel,

MJH's stuff is really good but can be intimidating if you try to tackle the whole thing at once. The trick is to get his picking pattern down first by tackling one or two measure and playing them slowly until you can get them up to speed. Then once the pattern is built into your fingers taking on the rest of the song becomes much easier. I recently did a lesson on his tune Nobody's Business and its a great one to get started on. I'd suggest that one first.

Hi Shel, thanks for prompting this thread. I sure miss those olde days wh ere folks would be jumping on topics and there was a real buzz going around with so many members interacting with each other. You and I have been forum warriors, for sure. The many busking videos were always the highlight, to see what everyone was doing and progressing and inspiring everyone else. I'd like to see more postings of videos of people playing or asking for help, its what brings us closest together. Even I have faded away from the forum in the past couple of years due to time, work and life constraints but I am up for anything interesting going on anytime I have time. We could ponder the reasons and maybe its just part of the development curve of any activity or site but a cure would be.... just post something now and then to breathe new life into the forum...

More info on the vocal lines.
More info on second guitar parts
More info for lead parts.

And I like old acoustic blues.

W. B)