Recently, I asked you to fill out a survey and give me some feedback on exactly what topics, songs and techniques you want to learn via this blog.

The responses were great and there were way more than I had expected so thank you very much to everyone who filled out the survey. I have taken a few hours to dig deep and analyse the data and here are the results and the changes I’ll be making because of your input.

The big question was what exactly do you want to learn more about and improve on?

The answers in order of most popular are shown below.

  • Fingerpicking – 14.3%
  • Strumming – 10.9%
  • More songs – 10.3%
  • Improve rhythm – 10.2%
  • Improve technique – 8.9%
  • Fretboard knowledge 8.6%
  • How to improvise/jam – 8.0%
  • Chords (and chord voicings) – 6.4%
  • Better lead guitarist (on acoustic or electric) – 5.2%
  • Music theory – 5.1%
  • Have better aural skills (ear training) – 4.8%
  • Scale and Arpeggios – 4.5%
  • Other: Please Specify 2.3%

Fingerpicking was a clear way out in front winner so obviously you love that and want more of it (which is obvious really as this is the mainstay of this blog).

‘Strumming’, ‘more songs’ and ‘improve rhythm’ were pretty much tied in second place.

‘Improve technique,’ ‘fretboard knowledge’ and ‘how to improvise/jam’ were also closely tied together for a third place spot.

‘Fretboard knowledge’ actually surprised me a bit as I get a lot of emails but not many on that particular topic.

After this, there were the topics that didn’t get as many votes but still had an even split.

Things such as chords, becoming a better lead guitarist, music theory, aural skills and scales and arpeggios were all behind.

This doesn’t mean I’ll only be focusing on the popular topics, far from it, just that there are some things you value more than others.

As for other questions, you also told me the length of blog posts and videos should be a combination of long and short depending on the subject which is great to read as some things take much longer to explain and delve into than others.

You prefer YouTube videos and blog posts to any other form of media and things such as podcasts don’t appeal to you much at all.

An interesting fact and one that I have known for some time is that almost 90% of you are over 40 and the majority of that 90% is over 50.

This is great as it means I have a particular audience who I can cater to and this statistic actually ties nicely into the next one.

Just over half of you prefer music from the 60’s and 70’s followed with 20% from the 80’s and with the rest split evenly between 50’s, 90’s, 2000’s and present.

It’s natural that guitarists in their 50’s and beyond would prefer music from the classic generation (60’s and 70’s). I do myself too; maybe that’s why you were drawn to my blog in the first place. Yeah, me and you both prefer the time when music was cooler. 🙂

As for genres, folk and fingerpicking, rock and classic pop account for about 60%,  blues 15%,  country 10% and a small amount of others which is roughly how I expected things to pan out but it’s nice to have it confirmed.

So, going forward I have decided to make the following changes and adjustments to the world of Guitar Domination.

1) I will be posting more YouTube videos on a regular basis as well as one new blog post per week.

2) I’ll be putting a little more emphasis on fingerpicking, strumming, rhythm and songs than before.

3) More of the songs I will teach will be from the 60’s and 70’s and to a lesser a degree 80’s with the rest being from other eras/periods.

4) Due to the demand I’ll be creating more posts and videos on technique, fretboard knowledge and how to improvise/jam (I’ve got a couple of cool ideas for these).

5) When I asked if there was anything specific that you wanted to learn, there were a few overriding answers, namely barre chords and how to practice (as well as the other techniques mentioned in the big question at the top of this posts). Therefore, I’ll be doing more stuff on those.

I really appreciate you all taking the time to let me know what you want. It will help make this blog even better and more useful for you.

Also, I have two very big announcements coming soon which actually ties in nicely with some of the results of this survey. I’ll be revealing all soon. Until then, keep rocking your guitar.

Thanks for your readership so far. This blog has been wonderful fun for me over the last two years and I’m looking forward to taking it to greater heights and helping you become the guitarist you dream of being.

Leave a comment below with any thoughts on this blog post or any song requests that fit the above answers (e.g. Give me a couple of cool country songs to teach you, I have neglected country so far)!

Much Love.

Dan

Comments

Oleg
July 6, 2016 Reply

Dan,

If country songs, maybe ” Wayfaring Stranger” ? And embellish it with a solo part.

Dan
July 6, 2016 Reply

Great idea, love that tune, especially the Johnny Cash version.

How to play the 12 bar blues on guitar
March 4, 2021 Reply

[…] promised after the recent survey, I’ll be more creating a few more blog posts and videos on the blues—particularly acoustic […]

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