"I regret to say I'm retiring from guitar lessons!"

Do you ever feel like throwing in the towel? I recently received this email from a student which some of you may be able to relate to now or in the future so I think its worth blogging my response.

Student - "I regret to say I'm retiring from guitar lessons! It's been fun and I have especially liked your tutors, all of whom have been funny and such high energy. But, I reflect on the fact I rarely practice - i just haven't been bitten by the bug. Well, I gave it a good go. I'm doing voice coaching lessons instead now."

My response - It is always great to receive an email from a student no matter what the reason. Having played guitar for almost 30 years and teaching for 24 years it is sometimes easy for me to forget those early very challenging years. I recall at the tender age of 14 watching my fingers attempting to play 'Stairway to Heaven' and telling myself "This is impossible. There is no way I will ever be able to do it" On many occasions I put the guitar down deciding it just wasn't for me. Problem was with in a few weeks (sometimes longer) something would ignite the drive again. Maybe a great song or a concert or some girl at school telling me how she thought guitar players were cool. I won't say it was always passion but as time went by I knew that it was not going away.

I recently heard a great audio book that described perfectly what I went through as a young guitarist. The book is called 'The Dip'. When we begin a new hobby, skill, job, interest etc we start with lots of enthusiasm and drive. As time passes and results are not as immediate or the physical and/or psychological pain sets in we begin to question whether its worth pursuing. This is called the dip. Most people give up in the dip. For those who hang in there and come up the other side the rewards are huge. From teaching guitar for so many years I can see a strong relationship between the first year or so of practice and long term guitar playing. Students who are unable to establish a regular practice routine within the first 6 to 12 months almost always give up completely.

The reality is it only really takes around 3 months to become a guitarist. Now I don't mean in 3 months you will be playing guitar like Satriani or Segovia but 3 months is all you need to get through the dip. You see if you practice everyday (and I mean everyday) for 30 mins or more for 3 months you will have established the routine of practice. Results will automatically follow, your confidence will lift and you will begin to increase your practice but best of all you will crave it. Where in the early stages you need to push yourself to practice once you cross this line you will have to force yourself not to practice. In your case it may not even take 3 months and I would strongly recommend you trying this even for a month. My guess is you will come through the dip.

Hope this helps and please feel free to ask me any questions.

Kind regards,

David Hart - Program Director

Become a G4 GUITAR FAN on FACEBOOK.
http://bit.ly/G4FACEBOOK

Visit the G4GUITAR METHOD Website
www.g4guitar.com.au
Ph:0405-274456

Music Theory for Guitar Students

To many guitar students Music theory is not high on their list of priorities when it comes to learning guitar. In fact it would be safe to say that most guitarists have a limited knowledge of music theory. Guitar students on the whole are different to most other music students. Most guitarists take up guitar due to a passion for guitar music. I am not saying that piano players and say violinists are not passionate but the truth is most take up these instruments as young children often inspired by parents wanting to expose their children to the educational benefits of learning music which of course is a great reason. But because lets say popular guitarists tend to start of their own accord often around the same age they start identifying with their favourite music idols they are less focused on the educational aspects of music and more the performance side of the equation. Typically they just want to play in a band as soon as possible. Many guitar heroes in fact either have a very limited knowledge of theory (Jimi Hendrix was certainly no professor of musicology) but as we know this does not limit their creative or even technical potential.

So with all this in mind why bother learning music theory? Good question really. Most of us speak perfectly good English yet have very little knowledge of English grammar. Here is what I think. Music theory facilitates your understanding of music. Theory can help you to compensate for other areas you may be weak in such as aural which is common amongst late starters. When I started learning music at age 14 years I was relatively late. Music is like a language and languages are best learned from birth. In fact there is now scientific data that shows how the brain actually filters out sounds based on your environment. Children who live in Japan for example only here 5 sounds in their language. In English it is 8 sounds. This explains why Japanese people speaking English have trouble distinguishing between the sounds V and B. Ask them to say "I love you" and they will say "I lub you".

In music hearing the different scale or chord sounds may be difficult but a knowledge of theory can help believe it or not. Here is how. When I was a teen I had friends who had been learning music since as young a 2 years. They could easily pick the difference between the different chords. I could not. My ears were just not trained. So I studied music theory and after about 12 months I came to understand the possibilities. I started working out how to play songs from ear through a process of elimination. I knew for example that if a certain scale sounded okay with the song there were only so many chords that would fit the song. By trying different chords I established the best matches. It was my theoretical knowledge that allowed me to do so.

The book I started with many years ago is the same one I still recommend to this day. Its call Brimhall's 3 in 1 theory. To order a copy just visit G4 GUITAR SHOPPING and use the Amazon SEARCH.

David Hart - Program Director

Become a G4 GUITAR FAN on FACEBOOK.
http://bit.ly/G4FACEBOOK

Visit the G4GUITAR METHOD Website
www.g4guitar.com.au
Ph:0405-274456

Amazing Guitar Stories - The 'NO STAIRWAY' era

When I started learning guitar as a young teen in the late 70's I remember thinking how great it would be if I could play 'Stairway to Heaven'. By the time I could play it every guitar store had a sign saying 'NO STAIRWAY'. They were obviously sick of hearing people like me playing it for ten thousandth time that day. At the time I felt very disheartened because I had work long and hard to play a song that was essentially band in public. There have been a few songs that come close to the same level guitar worship over the years but I can't think of any that would get you kicked out of guitar shops across the English speaking world if you played them.

I recently became curious about this phenomenon. Firstly what was it about Stairway that drove so many people to want to play it on guitar. After all there were thousands of great songs that were just as worthy. And secondly why did it eventually get banned in guitar shops? Wasn't this song responsible for a surge in guitar sales? Why weren't guitar shops celebrating this craze?

I think this demonstrates Malcolm Gladwell's 'The Tipping Point' theory. In the late 70's Stairway had tipped and suddenly everybody wanted a copy of the album (the song was not available as a single in many countries). This then created a wave of new guitarists including myself. Because most of us were new to the guitar we were not really able to do Stairway justice. This meant shop owners were listening to poor renditions of the song all day everyday. The pain of hearing kids struggling through Stairway for 8 hours a day verses the extra guitar sales was too much. Somewhere in the world in a guitar shop someone stuck up a sign saying 'NO STAIRWAY'. The word soon spread through out the world and it seemed at one point that playing Stairway anywhere at anytime was worse than terrorism. Strange times.

Do you have an amazing guitar story?


David Hart - Program Director

Become a G4 GUITAR FAN on FACEBOOK.
http://bit.ly/G4FACEBOOK

Visit the G4GUITAR METHOD Website
www.g4guitar.com.au
Ph:0405-274456

Improve your guitar skills faster by playing socially

A challenge for many musicians is staying motivated. To be a successful guitarist requires daily practice for years. Guitar is not like riding a bike. Guitar is more like fitness. Use it or lose it as they say. So how do we stay motivated to practice? The best way I believe is to either build or become involved in a community of local musicians. When I was a teen learning guitar my teacher put me in contact with other kids of a similar level of skill. We would jam on Sundays usually. Sometimes it went well and other times not so good but overall it motivated me to practice. If I performed poorly I would go home and practice harder than usual. On the days it went well I felt my practice was paying off. Either way I was inspired to practice more.

In no time at all we were playing gigs (and getting paid to do so which was really just a bonus). It was the connection to other musicians in my neighbourhood that pushed and inspired me to keep improving and eventually go pro. I see many students who play guitar but not in a social way. They are looking to improve their playing by isolating themselves in the hope of one day surprising the world and as a result they don't play socially. Almost all great musicians mix it up with others. Regular jams should be a part of weekly routine. Music is like language. Making conversation is the best way to improved your range.

David Hart - Program Director

Become a G4 GUITAR FAN on FACEBOOK.
http://bit.ly/G4FACEBOOK

Visit the G4GUITAR METHOD Website
www.g4guitar.com.au
Ph:0405-274456

Learning language and music starts early

I have been teaching and working with children and adults for over 23 years and must admit I have been fascinated with the whole process of how we learn and succeed at music. I have always taken a research approach to my teaching as I feel it is the best way to improve results based on facts rather than assumptions. I also actively seek out new research done by credible people in the area of education. The following Youtube video is an example. The video discusses how new borns learn language from day one (or even earlier). Although not mentioned in the video my research has shown that learning music works in much the same way. Music really is just a language. In the video the presenter talks about how our brains in the first year of life do not discriminate different spoken sounds but gradually employ filters that allow us only to hear the sounds of the language/s we hear around us. This explains why it becomes increasingly difficult as we age to learn new languages. I believe music is the same. If a child is exposed to people playing real musical instruments in the home they become more attuned to them and therefore are more adept at learning music. There are of course exceptions to this but not as many as one might think. Mozart and Tommy Emmanuel are both examples of musicians who had musical parents. Take a look at this video if you have time and especially if you plan on being a parent.

Keeping the Guitar Fun for Kids

Learning guitar can become challenging for children but if it all gets too serious they may lose interest. It is therefore important to put the fun back into learning by finding some songs that will spark them up. My suggestions are as follows;

Progressive Guitar Supplementary Songbook.
This book is graded for the first 3 levels of the Junior G4 GUITAR METHOD and contains many well know melodies. They not exactly recent tunes but most are familiar. You can purchase from our G4 GUITAR SHOP on line and we will post directly to you.

Pull out the CD collection.
Try to look through your collection of songs and play them to your children to see which ones get their attention. You may be surprised. Some songs date well. The Beatles, ACDC, The Eagles, Queen, Led Zeppelin are still popular with many kids today.


Surf the Net.
Try surfing the net for guitar tab. Websites include;
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/
http://www.guitaretab.com/
http://www.911tabs.com/

Kind regards,

David Hart - Program Director

Become a G4 GUITAR FAN on FACEBOOK.
http://bit.ly/G4FACEBOOK

Visit the G4 GUITAR METHOD Website
www.g4guitarmethod.com.au
Ph:0405-274456

"How do I get my child to practice?" - The story of Jack and the electric guitar.

A common question from parents is "How do I get my child to practice?" Probably the best answer is to use an example.

My most recent story involves a 10 yo boy Jack who was learning with me and was simply not practicing. Each week he turned up and made excuses like how his guitar was out of tune so he couldn't practice or his Mum forgot to remind him and so on. I am sure he had a copy of '1001 excuses for not practicing'. At this point I knew it was time to come up with a plan.

I began by asking Jack questions to find out what he really wanted. I discovered that he really wanted an electric guitar. So I spoke to Jack's parents to see if they were planning on buying him an electric guitar at any point. They said they would buy him an electric guitar if I felt it would make a difference to his progress. I suggested we use the electric guitar as a reward.

Next I sat down with Jack and his parents and asked Jack how much he really wanted the electric guitar. As expected his answer was "More than anything in the whole world". I then said "Jack I have spoken to your parents and they are going to take you to the guitar shop so you can pick out an electric guitar". You can imagine how excited he was at this point. I then said "Here is the deal. When you have successfully completed Level 1 of the G4 GUITAR Junior Checklist your parents will buy you the guitar. If you practice for 20 minutes a day between now and Christmas you will be playing your new guitar by Christmas Day".

Jack agreed and we got to work. From that day on Jack practiced everyday often for more than 20 minutes. I told Jack that if he did an extra 5 minutes a day he might even get the guitar before Christmas. As a result Jack completed Level 1 in record time and his new electric guitar was in his hands by the end of November. But best of all Jack now had a positive association to practicing. Jack loves practicing and is a confident guitarist.

If your child is learning guitar and not practicing or making no progress please don't give up. Send me an email and together we can work out a strategy. Email me at david@g4guitar.com.au

David Hart - Program Director

Become a G4 GUITAR FAN on FACEBOOK.
http://bit.ly/G4FACEBOOK

Visit the G4GUITAR METHOD Website
www.g4guitarmethod.com.au
Ph:0405-274456