Let’s band Together in 2021
Jam Band Promo-
ONLINE OPEN HOUSE LIVE STREAM
Saturday 10:30-11:30 AM PST
“8 Steps to Guitar Nirvana” COURSE
Buy 4 Lessons Get 4 Lessons Ticket To Guitar Nirvana
“I’m ready to take my guitar playing to the next level. I don’t want to miss out on these free classes and course!”
2020’s final band show before the social distance era. Guitar heroes rocking out together.
It’s hard to think how we made it through 2020 without the love and help from our neighbors, and family. However, the best part about 2020 was I connected with lots of new friends online! We’ve all got a deeper appreciation for who and how we can serve each other moving onto 2021.
To keep the only the positive things of 2020 going in 2021, I’m doing “Group Dyanmics” series. A weekly play and learn group for guitar players!
The class will go over each one of the steps and then there will be open Q&A for you and others to learn and get the knowledge to take your playing to the next level. .
8 Simple steps to perfecting the guitar.
The 8 steps to Guitar Nirvana will help you learn your instrument so you can better know yourself and music. The course will teach you the real musical skills that professional guitar players use at a beginners level. That way you start learning like a pro immediately. Look below for more about the steps!
A beginner who wants to start playing guitar on the right musical and guitar foundations.
A long time player who has never assembled and understood basic music theory or how the guitar is assembled musically.
A team player who is better motivated to succeed in a group setting (i.e. not a self starter)
The classes will keep recycling because guitar is a lifelong and rewarding experience in musical discovery. So no matter what week you are signing up in, each week will be something you can do your first lesson on guitar! It would be good for you to watch the getting started on the guitar video before you come to class. You’ll be able to ask questions in the classroom as well.
Saturdays 10:30Pm-11:30 AM PST.
Zoom Classes to see how to play the exercises in “8 steps to Guitar Nirvana”
Each week we will:
25 minute -Teaching a lesson from “8 steps to Guitar Nirvana”
10 minutes- showing how to use the lesson to make music with lead or rhythm guitar, drum beats, bass lines, or in context of other songs.
25 minutes- Q&A to get inspiration, motivation, or clarification on exercises
If you have questions, recommendations, challenges, or successes during the week comment or email me in the classroom and I’ll respond in 24 hours.
Go over the course before class. Come to class to learn and reaffirm your knowledge and get help with challenges. Then check out the next weeks lesson!
When you sign up you will get immediate access to “8 Steps to Guitar Nirvana” and the email for the zoom link.
1. Right View~ Getting Started on Guitar. We cover how to tune the guitar, how tablature works, the importance of naming your guitar, basic rhythm notation, hand and guitar positioning, as well as a small introduction into muting on the guitar.
2. Right Intention ~ Why, How, What is the 12 Bar Blues? Let's take an in depth view of the structure, harmony, and philosophy behind the 12 bar blues. We’ll look at how a scale and a measure of music is formed. Then look at other chord progressions.
3. Right Speech ~ Learning the Notes- C Major/A Minor 12 Bar Blues- Learn to feel the difference between major and minor keys while mapping out where the notes are on the guitar fretboard through playing music.
4. Right Action~ Three Jams! Easy Chords, Arpeggios, and Intro to Rhythm. Let's put what you learned so far into harmonious action.It will help you to start switching chords vertically, understand arpeggios and how notes harmonize with chords, and how long a quarter, half, and whole note should last for.
5. Right Mindfulness~ A Minor Pentatonic Scale- You know the notes horizontally on each string. Now to make the notes move vertically. There are five shapes that you have to master playing the pentatonic scale (5 tone scale) and once you master the shape and hopefully see how they all fit together- that's where the fun begins.
6. Right Concentration~ Power Chord Gauntlet- Power Chords are the staple of rock and roll. Whether you're playing rock, metal, blues, reggae, punk, alternative, the ability to switch and know where the power chords are key!
7. Right Livelihood~ Creating Riffs and Solos- Have you wished to know how guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Randy Rhoads, or myself make guitar riffs? I'll show you how creating rules helps you to create better melodies and how using scales lets you "dance" musically free. All Improvising is taking a risk within a safe structure. We will learn the power chord shapes on the E,A,D, G, and b strings.
8. Right Effort~ Eightfold Shuffle- 8 Blues Riffs you need to know- This video montage is eight of my favorite and most iconic 12 blues shuffles. Use these to practice counting bars and switching chords while using techniques like alternative picking, swing, palm muting, hammer ons and pull offs, and bends. If you want to be enlightened on the ways of music this is the test to practice.
You are able to play the guitar effortlessly
You always feel creative, curious, and motivated to improve.
You are able to play in different moods, keys, and genres.
Your technique improves naturally and automatically.
Your songwriting and solos become more controlled and original.
You are able to learn cover songs twice as fast because your guitar pattern recognition is on point.
You’re able to express the music in your head or discover hidden treasures you didn’t even know you could make spontaneously and automatically.
When I started learning the guitar I started in group classes. I liked looking forward to seeing what the teacher had each week and it’s easy to start something new with other beginners.
The things I loved about group classes were:
I’d get to compare how I’m doing to other students
See how other students are improving
Show off what I practiced and motivated to practice because I didn’t want to be embarrassed.
However I got really good at the guitar faster than most students, so I started having my own personal goals on the guitar. Most of the other group classes were just how to learn songs or just learning one type of guitar scale and open chords. Yet I saw guitar players I liked, such Randy Rhoads, Angus Young, and Jimi Hendrix doing all kinds of magic on the instrument. So then I graduated to private guitar lessons.
When I started teaching guitar privately I did realize that there’s a lot of common knowledge and skills every guitar player needs, no matter their genre. Those essentials I’ve put into the 8 Steps to Guitar Nirvana. I started teaching those principles and my students got far better than most at playing songs, creating riffs, and navigating the guitar. I started teaching group classes and band classes for two years and all the students that learned those essentials were much better musicians, not just guitar players.
Some of the problems with in-person group lessons are:
Noise pollution: honestly not everyone is as motivated as you and they make lots of mistakes that can mess you up
Self-consciousness: Some students would rather blend in and aren’t ready to play or ask questions as confidently (LOUDLY) as other students.
The view of the instructors guitar, sheet music, and other materials are difficult to access.
The school teacher wasn’t a professional or long time guitar player.
However 2020 really showed me the power of teaching guitar online. With students in a group, they can mute their microphones, ask questions in the chat anytime, and have all the materials in front of them on the screen or on their own computer. They don’t get as distracted by other’s making mistakes and don’t feel self-conscious about their own.
SongWriter in action
Ryan leading the band in one of his songs he wrote. We took the notes and principles from the piano and transformed them into guitar for a mix of electronic and realistic sounds.
We’ll band together on our day of shred and gain confidence, new skills, and maybe meet some bandmates. You’ll get lifetime access to the “8 Steps to Guitar Nirvana”!
