leaving totally guitars

[kelemenj]

I suppose it's really all about finding a program, teacher, or site that works best for you. Everybody's musicality is as unique as their fingerprints. There are other sites that I have recommended to students and acquaintances depending on who they are and where they are at musically. TG just happens to be aligned with where I am at. Others may get more out of this one or that one.

Not even Neil, can be all things to all students. But I think that what he does with his relatively specialized slice of the whole spectrum is worth the price of admission, and a bargain at that. The AGS, in my opinion, really does give a solid foundation of skills and knowledge that can be a great jumping off point for students. I have not seen the "12 minutes" adverts, but I think that even 12 minutes of focused and consistent practice of the skills in the AGS will yield results. More practice will yield more results, obviously.

Anyway, I hope it goes well for you.

Cheers,
John

[dtaylor]

jayswett wrote:

Ken makes some points that are not unreasonable. Having said that, as a founding member, he is probably paying something like 20 dollars a month.

I think I was paying around $38/month until recently, but was able to get in on a new rate of under $20/month. That offer showed up in my email not long ago, and it kept me from cancelling my Target membership.

I'm still pretty close to unsubscribing from the emails. The repeated messages about the same offers were getting to be a bit much, especially after one recent one that read something like "Hi [name here]." Yeah, that's probably just a computer glitch, one of those little things that can happen when managing a list of many recipients, and it's really "small potatoes" in the overall scheme of things. But it just seemed to add to the impression that it was an impersonal mass-mailing.

I don't think I've received a message about new lessons or anything for awhile, but I'd have to check dates to be sure about that. I'm presently subscribed to two lists, "TG - IMPORT - NONBUYER" (description on the Aweber "Settings" page is "Guitar lessons"), and "tgpplco," description "Totally Guitars."
I think I'm going to be sticking with just the Target program for awhile (being on a fixed income now means giving up some things I used to enjoy), so I think I'd unsubscribe from whichever list brings the offers of DVD packages, etc. The messages about lessons that have been added are still welcome.

Thanks for the opportunity to "put in my 2¢ worth."

[chemeagle]

I have been getting advertisements from Bag O' Blues that looks like it comes from Totally Guitar, although the message says is not from Neil - it claims endorsement from him. The message is full of "learn guitar NOW" none sense and all the high pressure tactics common to over selling products. It does not sound like Neil Hogan! I sent an e-mail to Neil through the tech support site letting him know this was going on. It is hard for me to imagine that Neil knows about this - it is not his style.

When you read the fine print at the bottom to unsubscribe it only unsubscribes from Bag O/ Blues, not from weekly e-mails. I don't want to unsubscribe because I suspect that these folks are less than reputable and if I acknowledge the e-mail [by unsubscribing] who knows how many more e-mail lists I'll show up on.

Scott

[TGNesh]

I would agree with you Scott, the emails don't sound like Neil at all... :dry:

They do sound like 'normal' advertising emails though. I see this style of advertising a lot regarding selling instructional guitar dvd's/programs etc. Actually to me it feels typical American, or am I totally wrong about that?? In any way, it's véry unusual and actually not done here in the Netherlands. Then again, we're pretty different all around. :laugh:

chemeagle wrote:

It does not sound like Neil Hogan!

Scott

[tombo1230]

Scott/Vanessa, this is a Max Rich product endorsed by Neil. There is a promotional video with Max selling the DVDs.

Tom N.

[TGNesh]

I know Tom, I don't mean just this one, but the latest emails (of the last couple of months) containing advertisements in general.

tombo1230 wrote:

Scott/Vanessa, this is a Max Rich product endorsed by Neil. There is a promotional video with Max selling the DVDs.

Tom N.

[crieniecat]

Vanessa makes a point as well. This kind of advertising is not done in The Netherlands and I dare to say it's not done in most of the other European countries.
It does seem a way of semi-agressive advertising that's getting more and more commonly done via the Internet.
In my personal surroundings I haven't yet spoken to one person who is not more or less irritated by it though.

I can't imagine this to be Neil his way of selling, he doesn't need this kind of adds.
He is pure and gifted enough to have the lessons prove their worth by themselves and his and Ness's diversity and clear way of teaching has been strong and proven of high quality over the years.

TG stands for Quality AND Quantity, for a very affordable price!
it says it all.

Corina.


TGVanessa wrote:

In any way, it's véry unusual and actually not done here in the Netherlands. Then again, we're pretty different all around. :laugh:

chemeagle wrote:

It does not sound like Neil Hogan!

Scott

[TGNeil]

Hi Gang,

There are a lot of interesting comments in this thread and I hope I can shed a little light on the situation. We have been enjoying a great run as an instructional site here at TG and I know thousands of guitar students have progressed immensely. I know no teacher can be everything to everybody and I am totally comfortable with students who I may not be a good match for. I certainly appreciate all the input in this thread, positive and negative, and am glad everybody took the time to offer opinions and thoughts.

As I mentioned on this week's TG News, we are working on expanding our business to included lessons on DVDs. It is a logical and necessary business direction we have to take in order to continue offering the type of content and material we have been doing for all these years.

We are trying to reach out to a different audience than our current community. The marketing approach to this has to be different, and more along the lines of how these types of things are commonly done. This is especially true of our electric guitar lessons and I am really happy we found Max Rich a few years ago to pilot TotallyElectricGuitars. His Bag O' Blues set is is spectacular. I know because I was involved in the master and authoring stages of the DVDs.

As far as the emails that go out, we have a few different lists which we try to keep sorted and pertinent to each individual. We are talking about tens of thousands, maybe even one hundred thousand folks who have signed up at one level or another. Sometimes the lists cross and people may get a message they are not interested in but we are always trying to accurately direct messages. It certainly helps us when we get replies letting us know you want or don't want a particular thing.

At the end of the day, everything we are doing at TG is designed to allow us to continue being the great site I feel it is, and I want to thank everybody who has contributed and made it possible.

Neil

[wrsomers]

Neil,
I am a relative newcomer to TG and I must say that TG is a wonderful endeavor. Before I retired I was a small business owner. I know the importance of moving ahead. Anyone in business knows that maintaining the status quo is actually a process of gradually moving backwards. Your efforts to move forward are needed and admirable. I would hate to see TG founder and fail because it is such a large part of my day to day routine. As "auntlynnie" said at IGC 2013, TG is a great place for guitar people to socialize. I think that is one of the best aspects of TG. Not only do we get great lessons from you and Vanessa, we have a place to showcase what we've learned and get feedback from other travelers on their guitar journeys.

I've tried other online guitar lesson sites, like "Guitar Tricks" and "Jam Play". They offer some value but TG is head and shoulders above them. So that being said, I wish TG all the success in the world with whatever marketing strategies are available, just so long as I can keep enjoying my Target Membership.

Marketing e-maiil can be annoying but that's what spam filters are for (not to say that I think TG is engaged in spamming).

Bottom line...keep doing what you're doing because I thiink TG is aces.

Bill

[TGNesh]

I just received another "just one more message" message, and I'm going to try and unsubscribe from the ones that show up most often. (On 11/23, there were two mostly identical ones. Exact same content, slightly different format.) But as I mentioned above, clicking the unsubscribe link goes to an Aweber page with two possibilities. I'm going to unsub from the more recent "TG - IMPORT - NONBUYER" one, and see if that stops it. I am trying to not shut off the messages about new Target lessons, etc., but I don't think I've seen anything that wasn't mostly advertising since sometime in October.

For now, I have more DVDs than I can use, thanks.