Totally Guitars Newsletter #6

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Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:46 pm

TG Newsletter #6- June 26th, 2009


In this issue you'll find...

- What's going on at Totally Guitars?

- Latest T.A.R.G.E.T. News...

- Recent comments from visitors

- The TG Blog

- Recent forum thread on videos




What's Going On?

There are a whole bunch of new things on the horizon around here.
The biggest is that we have set up the TG Store and are now selling
our 1st products- Neil Hogan CDs, or at least digital copies of
them. Right now it is in beta testing for our TARGET members but
barring any unforeseen problems it should be live for all our
visitors next week.
I have recorded 6 albums of solo guitar pieces over the last 20
years. The 1st 3 were mostly solo arrangements of popular songs: A
Christmas Collection, A Beatles Collection, and Yesterday's News,
which featured standards like Over The Rainbow, Ain't Misbehavin',
and Chattanooga Choo-Choo. About 10 years ago I started writing
guitar pieces again and the next 3 albums are exclusively my own
compositions.
There will be some other changes to the site as we make room for
present and future new features. The Forum and Blog tabs are going
under the Community tab but in its place on each page will be a new
mini navigation bar on the right side of the free site with Forum,
Blog, and our new Audio Store, which will be a new tab up top. The
new mini navigation bar will be big enough so you can't miss it!
For those who can't wait, you might consider joining the TARGET
Program now, especially in light of the fact that we will be
closing it to new members at the introductory rate that we opened
the program with. I will get you more details on that next week.

TG Live!
Matt and I just finished today's episode of TG Live and had a
blast. We chatted with many of our TARGET members and went over a
few songs that recently were added to the library. I answered a few
questions, particularly about some bar chord exercises, hitting
bass notes with a pick, technique for harmonics, and talked a
little about the opening part of the lead in From The Beginning.
This was a request that came in just an hour or so before the show
started.
I wouldn't be surprised if most of our US audience missed it as we
went live in the middle of a workday here but I am pretty sure our
European members were able to join us. The schedule is now set for
every other Friday with alternating time slots so the next one will
be Friday, July 10 at 6:00pm in California.


TARGET News



There are a few more songs in the TARGET library now. This week I
added a short lesson on Neil Young's Harvest as well as my
fingerpicking arrangement of Here Comes The Sun. Harvest is a great
strumming song, playable by beginners, and includes B minor, which
really needs to be played as a barre chord. Here Comes The Sun is
an intermediate level fingerpicking song that uses the alternating
bass technique.
These are the 1st 2 songs in our new series of shorter lessons for
our TARGET members. They will henceforth be referred to as TARGET
Shorts. This will give me an opportunity to address songs that many
people will want to play but probably don't require the full TARGET
treatment. I expect to do at least one of these a week for the
foreseeable future.
Some of the other lessons under construction right now include:
Harvest Moon, Old Man, Hotel California, Windy & Warm, and a few
surprises, including one that will make an appearance in the free
lesson section next week. It is a cool riff from one of my favorite
Dutch guitarists.

Following is a recap of some of the details about the TARGET
Program.

The TARGET Program is pretty revolutionary as far as an online
teaching system goes in that it is very interactive. There are many
ways that I stay in touch and interact with my online students. We
have an exclusive section in our Forum where I answer questions
from members, as well as take requests for upcoming lessons.
This interactivity even reaches out to live broadcasts for our
members where we play some songs, help resolve music problems, and
generally have an online group get together in real time. These
episodes are part of out TG Live! Series.

If you are serious about improving your guitar abilities I really
encourage you to join our TARGET Program while it is still open. I
can't say how many students we will be able to handle but I know
there will be a limit as to how many I feel I can work with. I want
to be able to devote the same time and attention to my online
students as I do for students I see in my studio every week.

Check out the TARGET Program here TotallyGuitars.com/playguitar


Latest Free Lessons/TARGET Previews


Stay Tuned Next Week for one of my favorite Dutch guitarists.

Recent Comments from Visitors


Here Come The Sun- TARGET Short

Hi Neil, I like this format for the shorter/simpler songs. I'm sure
it also lets you get songs out quicker to us. Thanks.

Al

These Target short lessons are the way to go when the tune is
played pretty straightforward. I like the split screen. This type
of Chord Melody playing is what I like to do. Glad to see you are
doing some. Keep up the good work.

Kevin
****************************************
Oh Well (Fleetwood Mac)
Quite a challenging piece for the right-hand. My approach to this
song will be practice, practice, practice. I wish there was a
faster way.

Sandy
****************************************
Closer To Fine
Thanks, Neil, for this video! I'm working hard on it and hopefully,
thanks to you, will soon have mastered it. You're a great teacher!

Sandy

The TG Blog



Here is the latest Blog post about upcoming TG Live episodes.

Hi Gang,

After perusing the calendar, racking my brain, and negotiating with
the rest of the household, I think I have a plan for the next few
episodes of TG Live that might fit with more member's schedules. We
will have an episode every other Friday, alternating times that
shouldn't disrupt too many sleep patterns. Here's the scoop , with
all times Pacific Daylight Time, that would be on the US west coast
(California), with a conversion table below-

Friday June 26 at 10:00am
Friday July 10 at 6:00pm
Friday July 24 at 10:00am
Friday August 7 at 6:00pm

10:00am Friday in California is 1:00pm in New York, 6:00pm in the
UK, 7:00pm in Europe, and really early Saturday morning for those
across the Pacific.

6:00pm in California is 9:00pm in New York, 2:00am Saturday in the
UK, 3:00am in Europe, and early Saturday afternoon for those across
the Pacific.

Recent Forum Thread on Videos



Hi Neil,

I just joined, primarily because of your videos on Youtube. You had
two videos of songs that I have partially learned to play and
wanted to really nail them. In your videos of Harvest Moon and Here
Comes the Sun you promised that the Target program would have
complete lessons soon. Those videos were made months ago, and I
sort of feel that I have been a victim of false advertising because
I have looked everywhere on your site and I don't find them. I
don't find "Complete" finger picking lessons for either one, just a
short video on part of Here Comes the Sun and nothing (not even the
Youtube video) of Harvest Moon.

So this is disappointing, it looks like there is some excellent
content, and I will stick with you for a few months to see how I
like it, but I recommend that you fix problems like these as they
tarnish an otherwise great looking teaching concept.

DP
*******************************
First off, welcome to the TARGET program! You'll find some great
people here who will go out of their way to help you get better.
I'm sure after you've been here awhile you will find that this
program will greatly exceed your expectations.

Many of us that have been here from the beginning will take very
strong exception to phrases like "false advertising". This site and
the TARGET prgram are a work in progress. The whole concept is
evolving rapidly as new songs and features are added almost daily.
I challenge anyone to find a site that provides this much content
for this price.

But you need to become involved. Neil absolutely listens to his
membership. There was a song he was working on recently (I think it
was Old Man) that many members had asked for and as more members
requested it he moved ot to the top of the list to get it finished
sooner. As we speak he's almost done with Harvest although I have
seen no requests for Harvest Moon.

Since Neil is a huge Neil Young fan and so are you apparently speak
up and make your voice heard. Be patient and participate in the
forums and blogs and I'll bet you will become a very happy customer
and better guitarist as many of us have become!

Happy playin'

BB
*******************************
There has recently been added a new lesson for Here Comes the Sun
as a finger picking song, which is different than the strum/melody
version in the youtube video. There is a link to it in a recent
Blog. Or find it in the Beatles section.
It's a very nice arrangement of the song.

MK
*******************************
DP- Neil just announced in the TARGET forum that Harvest Moon is in
production now. Apparently, he didn't realize that Harvest and
Harvest Moon were different songs!

So it looks like both of your songs will be done very soon!

BB
*******************************
MK- Thanks for the heads-up on Here Comes the Sun...that video
wasn't there yesterday, so I guess it pays to put in requests for
songs. That lesson must have been sitting in the out basket and my
mild complaint may have focused some attention on getting it
published on the site.

I probably wouldn't have looked for it again for a month, so Thanks
again.

DP
*******************************
Glad I could help.

Neil gets many lesson requests and gets them done as he can. Each
takes days or weeks to create and become uploaded video lessons.
I expect he was already working on it before your post.
We usually don't hear what's next unless it's really being
currently worked on.

MK
*******************************
From Neil- I think I may have been accused of confusing Harvest and
Harvest Moon... for the record... no way!

Until next week-

Stay tuned and in touch,

Neil



That's it for this week!

Stay tuned and in touch,

Neil

P.S. - Feel free to get back to me on the blog and on the forum to
let me know what else YOU would like to see in this weekly
newsletter!

Not A TARGET Member Yet? Join now before we close to new members
at current price.

Check TARGET out here TotallyGuitars.com/playguitar