Like all of you, I too love the sound of the electric guitar.
And its popularity has indeed changed our ears. For the worse.

When the guitar is given the chordal role, its limited harmonic possibilities result in short, cliched progressions. Four-part harmony does allow the more-or-less logical connection of chords built on any scale degree to one other, endlessly if you like, but only certain voicings will sound musical, and many of these will be difficult or impossible to play on a 6-string. It takes two guitars for each chord to achieve all the possibilities of harmonic movement....

Is anyone out there interested in studying 4-part harmony on the Stick/guitar? I really believe this is new territory for the instrument(s). I'd be willing to share what I'm doing (gratis), via e-mail or Skype, if anyone is truly serious about trying it....


Mad Monk.
harpsitar@gmail.com

I had my first lesson with Greg just over a week ago and can recommend this to anyone.

I am just starting to play the Stick (although I have had a Stick for a few years) and am still struggling with the basics. Greg went through some of the basic techniques and I am now seeing (what seems to me to be) good progress. One example is that I have seen considerable improvement where I was previously having difficulty playing descending notes on the same string.
It is going to be a long haul but I can now see enough progress to feel that eventually I will be able to play this instrument.

Looking forward to the next one.

Thanks, Bryan,

You're a very diligent student, and I think the work you're putting in will pay off well.

With a little bit of basic musical competence, I think anyone can learn to play Free Hands.

Great follow-up today.

Hi everyone,

I've finally finished my songbook, and should have the final proof in a couple of days. So my hiatus from doing Skype lessons is over. Anyone who wants to schedule one should write to me via email at stickist@aol.com.

Looking forward to getting back to it.

I have done several of these in the past two weeks and skype seems to be getting more "stable," which is nice to see.

Recently someone wrote to me to ask if I thought a complete newbie could benefit from these kinds of lessons.

Absolutely, especially as far as getting the hands moving goes.

And for players who have been playing a while without taking lessons, new concepts will set off lots of lightbulbs.

And I learned that "rivelazione" is Italian for revelation.

For me the intimidation factor is pretty high, but as Eric said, I guess I should just get over it. First step is to install Skype so I guess I'll go about doing that....

- Dan

YES! Taking lessons from Greg in the beginning will make a huge difference. You have not been too embarrassed to put videos of your beginnings up on YouTube. This is far less intimidating than that! Greg is very experienced with getting new people up and running. He has done beginner seminars for decades, all over the world. You will thank yourself over and over for this.

(And you can skype me about the LilyFN project, too. ID in my sig. )

-Eric

Heh, but with that I can do multiple takes to get it mostly right. I think it'd be very helpful for me to get over that so it seems like a really good idea all around.

A slight delay here in posting but I had my first lesson with Greg on Wednesday and I'd like to echo the sentiment that others have said here. His examples are clear and understandable and he's very perceptive about picking up on the details of the movements you're making.

Plus he's patient enough to put up with my bungling. I've got no doubt that I'm going to learn faster and better this way. I'm signed up for next week!

-Dan

Thanks for the comments, Dan. I think with or without lessons you will go far, but I'm happy to help you on your way.

I try to keep the cost of the lessons as affordable as possible, so I encourage folks who are curious to give it a shot, you may be pleasantly surprised to see how much you already know.

Since this is a relatively new method (and each teacher offers different paths and emphases), and I've only taught a few hundred people directly, each student gives me a new angle from which to approach these concepts.

People who actually know how to play can make a great difference in kick-starting the method, as Emmett certainly did with Free Hands, (and as Steve, Bob and Chris have done as well). What these players offer is based on real-world playing chops and the ability to convey those to their students. There's a lot you can learn from all of their materials (and hopefully mine as well).

There are several people teaching who haven't yet published materials, but probably will soon, so hopefully the resource pool from skilled tapping musicians will continue to grow.

I haven't checked out Adam Fulara's latest, but he seems like a great resource for people who want to learn to tap in guitar tunings.


See you next week.