New Videos "Teach Yourself to Play Guitar"

[Nik Harrison]

I've recently been filming a three part video series on the topic of "teaching yourself how to play the guitar". Before I finalise them all and post them on youtube, I just thought I would ask if anyone had any suggestions or ideas about what they would expect to find in such a video series? Any and all ideas based on your experiences would be much appreciated!

This particular video series is based on my thoughts and feelings regarding how knowledge is power for people who don’t actually know very much, and how success is born of the level on which we think rather than the level on which we work. Where it may seem strange that I'm going to be posting this online for free (as a guitar teacher) it seems to me that almost all the worlds best guitarist’s development of technique and musical knowledge is born of a lot of self-motivation and self-direction. This being the case, I actually find it strange that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of any educational information which recognises or directly addresses this.

Any thoughts?

[frankus]

Brilliant, Nik

I'd very much like your thoughts on learning the fretboard. It's a faceless thing and the techniques I've used don't seem to persist intrinsically like some other skills, how much should I expect to recall of it?

Maximising learning chords - is there a way of grouping similar voicings or contrasting that helps them stick?

These are things I find demotivating after many years of playing.

[JIMA1]

Linked into learning the fretboard I think ear training would be useful for a lot of people - I can sit and mess about on a piano and work out melodies relatively quickly but on a fretboard no chance, also I find it hard to pick up the key of a song. Oh and working out chord progressions by ear is tough

[barney.]

I think a important point is how to practice, to make the most of our time ect.
Maybe something else about phrasing and timing, not so much of what to play but how to play it and alter....phrasing IMO is the most important and least talked about

A lot of my own playing has improved from really small ideas then built up to a bigger picture....so maybe something on idea building ....

Maybe just practicing scales on one string.. ?
Most guitarists practice accross but not up and down, to me very important for knowing the neck.....

Maybe practice with some strings removed for a while..say D and G ... Good for intervalic stuff and going out of the comfort zone

[DavidRees]

Nik

excellent plan and project - if the desire outcome is the joy of making music and sharing that experience with others, either by playing with them or by those who listen, and hopefully enjoy, the music we make, how we get there, motivation wise is always the challenge, certainly for me

I very much look forward to this
best wishes
David

[Nik Harrison]

Thank you all very much for all your replies. What I've got together so far is more philosophical than to look at large amounts of vocabulary but if people think a load of pointers regarding learning the fingerboard and a load of chords would be useful, I'll certainly address that!

Thanks again,

Nik

[frankus]

Hi Nik that was just my take on the fretboard being 99 parts perspiration and being tough to stick at.

[colski]

If the topic/title of a video is "teaching yourself how to play the guitar" that's what I'd expect the content to address. If however it's Nik Harrison's philosophical take on the learning process as applied to guitar, then perhaps the title could be different. Are you teaching people how to teach themselves to play guitar, or are you generally discussing the topic?
I find your writings to be interesting reading, but generally quite vague regarding specific content relating to playing guitar, this might be your intention however, and good on you if it is.
I'm a great believer in that if you want something enough, you will make it happen. That might be a touch "zen" as well, but that's what it all boils down to.
I see the same questions asked on these forums over and over again, with pages and pages of advice.
But if you want to play fast, practise.
If you want to learn more chords, practise.
If you want to play jazz, practise.
It's really not rocket science.

But it is nice to TALK guitar...

[Nik Harrison]

If the topic/title of a video is "teaching yourself how to play the guitar" that's what I'd expect the content to address. If however it's Nik Harrison's philosophical take on the learning process as applied to guitar, then perhaps the title could be different. Are you teaching people how to teach themselves to play guitar, or are you generally discussing the topic?
I find your writings to be interesting reading, but generally quite vague regarding specific content relating to playing guitar, this might be your intention however, and good on you if it is.
I'm a great believer in that if you want something enough, you will make it happen. That might be a touch "zen" as well, but that's what it all boils down to.
I see the same questions asked on these forums over and over again, with pages and pages of advice.
But if you want to play fast, practise.
If you want to learn more chords, practise.
If you want to play jazz, practise.
It's really not rocket science.

But it is nice to TALK guitar...

Where people are teaching themselves it seems to me that a few pointers and guidelines would be useful. When it comes to all vocabulary and fingerboard diagrams, they are already in the public domain so I don't see the point in laying out all that stuff again. You're right about the questions in the forums though and the pages of advice. So much is duplicated I'm astonished some people don't just run a search for whatever questions they want answering because it's pretty much all been asked and answered before.

It is nice to TALK guitar though,...

[Nik Harrison]

Part one of this three part series should be online before the end of next week.