Here are two more interesting emails I have got lately.
I hope you find the emails and my thoughts useful…
Today we are talking about a student making wonderful progress where others might have stalled, and a very cool jamming story from another student.
Here we go…
Email #1
“Hey Dan,
Just wanted to say I’m grateful for you and your teaching, as well as for making the 7-day transformation course super affordable. I finally got that guitar for Christmas, and thanks to the course and the beginners breakthrough course, I was able to spend 3 weeks practicing on the 1/2 size guitar we bought for my kids, and able to play several things from the course as soon as I finally got to unwrap my guitar!
Thanks for making the course rewarding right from the beginning. I’m so excited to keep learning! 🙂 Also excited to start teaching my kids what I’ve learned.
Have a great New Years!”
-Melissa
I’m delighted to read this.
For a bit of background, Melissa left a comment inside the course a few weeks ago saying she was excited to get her new guitar for Christmas.
What I liked about this was that Melissa got started BEFORE she got the guitar.
It would have been easy to wait to get the guitar and let the excitement fizzle out a bit.
…But she found a way to get started and make progress.
So many people put it off and want to wait for the perfect time to start learning guitar, but as I always say, there’s no better time than now to begin reaching your guitar-playing goals and dreams.
What’s also great is how Melissa wants to teach her kids what she learns.
That’s pretty powerful because teaching what you learn to others is a great way to cement in your brain what you learn.
…And one of the beauties of being a musician is that you can share your music, knowledge, and experiences with loved ones – all while inspiring them.
Right, let’s move on to the next one…
Email #2
“I first picked a guitar up in 1964 and learned with friends the old-fashioned way.
One of them had been playing for a couple of years and actually knew chords and songs. We would watch him carefully as he strummed and do our best to strum along with him when he changed chords. It took ages for us to pick it all up and put it together so that we all knew the tunes and were able to change chords together.
We had many happy years together playing in folk clubs and playing in pubs for beer and during those years, met lots of musicians and made some good friends.
For me, work eventually took me away and general life took charge leaving me little time to play.
It has now been about twenty years since I last played and while I am sure I will remember chords and notes, I made the decision to take some professional lessons in order to hopefully get my ability back and correct any long-term bad habits that may still be hanging around in the background.
Looking forward to making some music again although I am not sure how the arthritic fingers will cope!
Regards”
Dave
That sounds like a great experience for Dave.
A good chunk of guitarists who take my lessons played an instrument many moons ago, but then life got in the way.
It’s great Dave is back though and keen to play again.
In terms of his history, it’s ace how he played with other musicians.
That is always one of the best ways to improve as a musician.
Sometimes that’s because you’ll pick up technical tips and other times it’s because seeing your peers play can be inspiring and give you lots of self-belief.
I mean, if your best pal who is like you in many ways can play guitar to a good standard, then why can’t you?
I will say, one thing to watch out for when jamming with others is that although people will share tips…
Sometimes they can bombard you with too many ideas which are beyond your current skill level (i.e. like encouraging you to play barre chords when you can’t yet play a C Major chord).
The other thing to watch out for is that not many guitarists out there really talk about fundamental technique – which is, of course, critical.
So, keep that in mind, but if you can, I urge you to get jamming with other musicians when you can.
For some, this can be daunting, but we can all do it.
It just takes some confidence, good technique, and a small repertoire of pieces you can play well.
For help with this, you may want to check out my 7-Day Transformation course.
It’s inexpensive, easy to follow, and comes with a great bonus course that will help all absolute beginners.
You can find out more about it below…
Find out more about the 7-Day Transformation course
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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