Back in about 2015, I was rather chubby.
Every now and then someone reminds me of this when they see an old YouTube video of mine.
It makes me laugh a little and horrifies me more when I look back…
…but I did have a few issues with my weight.
In response to my email asking how he was getting on with Fingerstyle 101, this is what Ted said:
“Hi, Dan the book is brilliant, this is the best guitar tutorial I have come across.
You seem to have looked at what every other guitar tutor puts across, then you cover it all, but you fill in the gaping holes of information that most others just gloss over.
I’m going to learn a lot from you, thank you for being so thorough.
I’ll leave a good review on Amazon for you also.
Great system Dan, thanks.”
I’m not sure how much I have written about this before, but it is a popular idea with my one-to-one students.
…And it is a simple one too.
It involves learning the most popular melody of all time…
…Taking a quick video of yourself playing it
…and sending it to a loved one on their birthday.
The melody, of course, is “Happy birthday”.
The other day I got my partner to watch one of my all-time favourite films ever. (She fell asleep, but I was in my element). It was…
I’m a big film geek and I love the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns.
Most of you know the importance of ear training, but how many of you do it?
Ear training is one of those things that people often put off as they don’t know how to start or what to do or even the benefits of doing it.
Well, the benefits run quite deep.
On my first day of college, back in 2003, I sat down for my first lesson in psychology, a subject I was already interested in…
Back in the 60s, a Harvard professor set up an experiment about teaching and learning.
He wanted to see whether electric shocks would help people learn things faster (or so he said).
Following on from last week’s post about Tommy Emmanuel, which a lot of you said you enjoyed, I wanted to give you some insight into the mindset of the guy.
On the surface, it might appear to be advice for those advanced players who can do loads of cool things on the guitar.
In reality though, this little tip is immensely powerful.
One of the things he says is that no matter how good you get, guitar playing is music and music is storytelling.
Back in the days when I was a long-haired 20-year-old grungy looking guy, I wanted to give fingerpicking a go.
I loved my big heavy rock bands but knew even then that deep down it was the deeper sounding acoustic music that moved me more.
I started with Nirvana’s Unplugged in New York and then discovered Neil Young’s Decade and listened to a lot of different stuff in between.
After hearing the likes of James Taylor, and then others such as Paul Simon, Nick Drake, and Lindsey Buckingham, I decided I wanted to learn how to fingerpick.
I remember finding a picking pattern on the net and going to town trying to learn it.
It was a lovely Travis picking pattern.
Travis picking, if you don’t already know, is where you alternate the bass notes with the thumb while letting the fingers play the treble strings.
With a bit of nervousness and excitement, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
At this point, I had no idea that the next 60 minutes was going to be some of the most bizarre I was about to experience as a guitarist.
After a few moments, the door opened, and what I saw surprised me.
Out from behind the door came this guy with long greasy hair, tight jeans, and a big gut – looking like he had just woken up.
“This is going to be fun” – I thought.
This was my first lesson with a so-called guitar tutor who was supposed to be the “best in town”.
