BAM! Awesome project incoming. Whatcha need? Tell me!

[80H]

It is not in the interest of big lesson companies for you to be good at guitar. This is affecting all of us.


It doesn't make sense to them. They want you to need their services for information, they want to charge you for that information and they always want to dangle something above your face to make a little bit more money out of you. If you were confident with this instrument, you wouldn't need half or more of the crap that they're selling you. But they make more money if they waste your time, and I am of the belief that time is precious.


And I have the opportunity to take part in changing this.


There are DEFINITELY companies, sites and people that are legitimately good dudes, but by and large, lesson culture has gone from teaching people to do it effectively to making what sells. These people pollute search engines, clog up youtube, fill bookshelves with their half-assed nonsense and are contributing to a culture that makes it take hours upon hours upon hours to find high-result information. They are wasting our life for money.




Because of this, I am watching, day after day, an art form that I love decline in quality.




I play this instrument because I love it. I love the way it sounds, I love practicing, I love getting better, I love being forced to become a better person because my instrument told me I wasn't good enough yet, I love theory blowing my mind, I love finding a new guitarist that can tear it up...I could go on and on. This is something I give a shit about.




I am fortunate enough/have endured enough torture/am working hard enough to be poised on a very awesome project that will let me do something about all that.



The odd mix of love and hate for what I'm seeing+a perfect storm-esque group of skills has lead me to something that will open the way for me to make this instrument my living.



I'm going to stay a little bit mysterious with this, but for the most part, I will be covering a lot of topics that are mostly hidden or foreign to the average or even above-average joe. I have some people watching and watching out for me, so I have to make this count. These will be diamonds.


This is coming very soon, as in February. I'm aiming for as soon as possible. The bar that I'm setting for myself is to make everyone that comes into contact with this project a better, more confident guitarist, because that is what I believe I have to do to go any further than where I am now, and I'm obsessed with it. My growth and progress is fast and natural, and I'm happy with it. It's time for me to give back.



I'm so stoked that this is happening. I've worked so hard for it and stressed for so many nights over this. I have 8 notebooks within 3 feet of me at this very moment, my own makeshift bookcase (not including the kindle stuff), and almost everything in this room that I live in and work out of is dedicated to the overall goal of doing this for my living.



To be clear, this is not skype lessons. I have been asked for skype lessons. Goddamn have I been asked for skype lessons. Maybe! I would love to, but a camera setup is still just a little bit out of reach still. I want it to be high-quality right away. If I can get it done faster, I will, but I also already have a full plate.






So, I present to you a question (2 questions actually!).


Without explaining a technique, what are the biggest problems that you have when it comes to moving to a better place? What, from your perspective, is holding you back from being better with this instrument?



Again, this for me personally. I'm not selling your answers to some shady research company. I'm going to read all of them.



The reason that I ask this is that I will be scheduling myself around all of your questions first before word of what I'm doing starts to spread. This forum pushed me to be so much better, and I'll be seeing to you guys first.



This is going to be really intense. It is something that doesn't really exist yet, and is the merger between a few different subjects that I love. You have just witnessed the birth of...something

 

[Poltergeist]

80H I'm in full support of your endeavors. You are a very intelligent and motivating individual and convey a wealth of knowledge in a clear and concise manner. I'm sure like other members here on ss.org, I read all your post, sometimes more than once! lol You seem fit to make a career out of music, and you are so motivated by it and you are not afraid to share your knowledge. I think the biggest problem with a lot of teachers, companies, etc geared towards teaching novice musicians, is they are very ambiguous and leave students in the dark in some ways because they don't teach fudamentals in the right logical order to get their students to understand the "bigger picture of music" so they can process it in a solid way to apply it to any application or practice. I know exactly what your talking about when you say they " make more money when they waste your time" I've had numerous guitar teachers like that local and online.. Tom Hess is a prime example of those kinds of teachers.. sorry but he is.. lol

EDIT!
To answer your questions: In order for me to become a better guitarist/musician I need to develop a system that takes my fragmented understanding of music theory and deconstruct it so I learn it in the right consecutive order so when it comes time for composition I can think about it as one fluid and solid process. I want to know how to THINK about these things.. Like intervals, chord progressions, melodies, counter point... How can I change my perspective of these things so I can gel the ideas I'm hearing in my head and bring them to life and make them a reality and maybe even expand on them. All while being reminded how to synchronize the theory and technique... I like teachers who use creative techniques, humor, and relating them to other things in life to help them make more sense. Sometimes theory feels so taxing to process, and some teachers and resources are so broad, boring, cut and dry and fail to deliver the information with proper perspective, so I've relied on my ear for many many years to write my music. To make this possible and efficient, I need a teacher that's aware of all the common mistakes that the average novice guitarist makes, which hinders them from making this break through at a quicker rate. Once I find a teacher who can develop a program to solidify this proper perspective, and teach me how to use it in application as I progress... that's when I'll feel like I'll be able to take the next big step as a guitarist...

I hope that makes sense! Excited to see where you plan to take this!

 

[80H]

80H I'm in full support of your endeavors. You are a very intelligent and motivating individual and convey a wealth of knowledge in a clear and concise manner. I'm sure like other members here on ss.org, I read all your post, sometimes more than once! lol You seem fit to make a career out of music, and you are so motivated by it and you are not afraid to share your knowledge. I think the biggest problem with a lot of teachers, companies, etc geared towards teaching novice musicians, is they are very ambiguous and leave students in the dark in some ways because they don't teach fundamentals in the right logical order to get their students to understand the "bigger picture of music" so they can process it in a solid way to apply it to any application or practice.

To answer your questions: In order for me to become a better guitarist/musician I need to develop a system that takes my fragmented understanding of music theory and deconstruct it so I learn it in a clear and consecutive order so when it comes time for composition I can think about it as one fluid and solid process. So I can gel the ideas I'm hearing in my head and bring them to life and make them a reality. All while being reminded how to synchronize the music theory aspect and technical aspect of how to produce those sounds. But to make this possible I need a teacher that's aware of all the common mistakes that the average novice guitarist makes, which hinders them from making this break through. Once I find a teacher who can find a well developed program to solidify this proper perspective, and teach me how to apply it as I progress... that's when I feel I'll be able to take the next big step as a guitarist...

I hope that makes sense! Excited to see where you plan to take this!

d'awwwww dude thanks so much. Makin' me almost cry over here while smiling. I share my knowledge because this instrument will probably be alive when I'm dead, so what's the point in having it all up here? And oddly enough, I wrote a book back in 2011 (yet to be finished, it's on hold until I'm happy with it), and fundamentals ended up being one of the most significant parts of the book (a full 1/3rd of the length of it).



Your problem, to me, speaks exactly about the problem that I started the thread with. It sounds like a classic example of the lesson culture getting in the way of peoples' ability to quickly find what they need. It's so obvious that people want to make music with this instrument when they buy one...it's part of your inheritance as a human being to be able to somehow express yourself and what's going on internally over there in your mind. You have that natural inner drive telling you to say something in a language everyone understands, yet you yourself can't understand it because of all of the misconceptions and misinformation.


It can be as simple as writing a poem, or a mathematical outline, or a rough draft and then sticking to it. Theory is all just written ways of making the music. If you start, you will hear what comes next from the middle of your brain. You will feel what comes next, because there are no rules. There's just the sensation of music. You are allowed to form your own opinions on these things. I have been told repetition is bad, but I love meditative/tai chi music, and some of the best sessions that I have involve very repetitive systems. A deep breath feels just as good today as it did yesterday, and the same can be true for phrases sometimes.


There is this horrible misconception floating around that there is a council of musicians somewhere in some foreign country that will laugh at you for making music in a way that doesn't line up with their standards. Music started with really stupid people banging on drums and stuff, the idea that people won't like or appreciate something because it isn't theoretically "good enough" is garbage. The people that are good at theory are the ones that love theory. Look at SchecterWhore...you can't hate theory and keep going that far with it. Theory is just there to keep the torch going of what our ancestors already figured out and worked through, and it's supposed to be helping us.


The reality is that there have been country singers that have literally changed peoples' lives with songs that involve the same 3 chords. Music is music. It is for the people as much as it is for the musicians, so make music that you know people like you would want to hear. It's very liberating to realize that it's all up to you, and nobody can really predict your results. In fact, I can't make the music you can make. It's literally impossible until you have put it out there.


So make something that you like. Start with anything, absolutely anything, but make sure you know it's where the music starts. And then just find what's next. It will come to you because you will want to hear it. After that, that's when the real challenge starts, and that's why I've pushed myself so far. I hate being in the zone, fully ruminating about something profound and not being able to play what comes next. Then the song is over and gone, and it's my responsibility to stop that from happening.



With that said, it's still really easy to care a lot about your artwork so much that you're worried about it.

The following is not a complex, theoretical song by any means, and it's even in a genre that a lot of musicians make it a point to speak poorly of, but if you listen to the contents of what's going on and realize that it's calling to a specific kind of people, you might really start to get it in a way that you can remember for the rest of your life. No music critic can ever make it mean less to the people that it means something to, because that's not who gets to decide the value of music. The listeners decide what music is worth to them.





I'll definitely be addressing this. Thanks for the good will & wishes, it means so much right now because I'm a little overwhelmed by all of this.

 

[Poltergeist]

haha dude no problem! I see your efforts and I appreciate them, just never had the chances to tell you, and credit must be due where it's due!... I'll be checking back here.. I did make some additional edits to my first post an added some other comments to elaborate further on what I was trying to say. You're doing fine man! Don't let it overwhelm you. I think you have a pretty clear vision of where youre headed.

 

[Rizzo]

I'll be following this with great pleasure, 80H. You sure are inspirational and motivational to me, and i'm sure you'll do an awesome work.

Now on to your question: i think that the musical-didactical "internet material" of nowadays always focuses on "over the top" and "weird" things. These are surely interesting, but i'm quite feeling everyone leaves out the fundamentals. Like, i always end up feeling i'm missing something that will then let me truly understand and appreciate advanced skills.
This is for a major part issued by being almost totally self-taught, but i'm sure you're getting what i mean.

AND i'm absolutely quoting Poltergeist on all of this:

I think the biggest problem with a lot of teachers, companies, etc geared towards teaching novice musicians, is they are very ambiguous and leave students in the dark in some ways because they don't teach fudamentals in the right logical order to get their students to understand the "bigger picture of music" so they can process it in a solid way to apply it to any application or practice. I know exactly what your talking about when you say they " make more money when they waste your time" I've had numerous guitar teachers like that local and online

To answer your questions: In order for me to become a better guitarist/musician I need to develop a system that takes my fragmented understanding of music theory and deconstruct it so I learn it in the right consecutive order so when it comes time for composition I can think about it as one fluid and solid process. I want to know how to THINK about these things.. Like intervals, chord progressions, melodies, counter point... How can I change my perspective of these things so I can gel the ideas I'm hearing in my head and bring them to life and make them a reality and maybe even expand on them. All while being reminded how to synchronize the theory and technique... I like teachers who use creative techniques, humor, and relating them to other things in life to help them make more sense. Sometimes theory feels so taxing to process, and some teachers and resources are so broad, boring, cut and dry and fail to deliver the information with proper perspective, so I've relied on my ear for many many years to write my music. To make this possible and efficient, I need a teacher that's aware of all the common mistakes that the average novice guitarist makes, which hinders them from making this break through at a quicker rate. Once I find a teacher who can develop a program to solidify this proper perspective, and teach me how to use it in application as I progress... that's when I'll feel like I'll be able to take the next big step as a guitarist...

I hope that makes sense! Excited to see where you plan to take this!

It's been my experience too with my few past teachers: they rarely used a simple language, and i found them teaching me either very simple stuff that didn't tickle me, either unreasonably advanced stuff that was way over my skills and i couldn't understand, or worse some of their personal "experimental wankeries" -sorry, don't know how to define that stuff lol- that didn't actually teach me anything, but just consumed my money and time.

After months of non-playing due to university work, i'd be happy to start all over again with your personal approach, as i'm sure it will be interesting.

 

[AnnihilateThis]

This sounds very exciting. I have read many of your posts, and always find them very inspirational. Your words have helped me through a lot of difficult times, and I'm very interested to see what comes of this project.

In regards to your question, I feel the biggest thing holding me back is understanding what's going on in great players' heads when improvising, and applying this thought process to my own playing. Some players that come to mind are Guthrie Govan, Allan Holdsworth, Tom Quayle, Greg Howe, Rick Graham, and Scott Henderson. They all not only have monster chops, but are able to seemingly play anything that comes into their head immediately and effortlessly. This is a topic that continues to puzzle me, and I feel it is one that is holding me back the most from where I would like to be.

Thanks again for your inspiration, I will be following this project very closely!

 

[Rizzo]

^^^ i subscribe for awareness in improvisation!

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I'm loving where this thread and your project may be going and I support it by answering your questions.

A big problem I have is a physical one. I have ulnar fasciitis in both arms. My hands and fingers can move faster than when I was a teenaged player, but I can't play very fast for very long. My main goal in my playing isn't to play fast all the time, I'm not too into that. I'm happy with how I play/improvise otherwise.

Writing with others is something that I would like to work on.

 

[Poltergeist]

I know I've already posted in regard of 80H's questions but I have another thing to add that I think is essential after I was reading some theory books tonight and had an epiphany about a fault in my mental process of music theory .

I want to know how to think outside of the basic Major and Minor scale and all the chords comprised in them... I honestly have a hard time understanding how musicians incorporate all kinds of exotic scales or harmonies and melodies which are outside of the root/key of the song. I feel like I think about the keys too rigged and mechanically... almost to the point where I feel uncomfortable changing key or using chords outside of the Major or Minor scale I'm playing. Does anyone else have this issue?

 

[Leveebreaks]

80H your posts are really inspiring, can't wait for whatever it is you have cooked up for yourself and for us. I'd really personally like some basics and fundamentals dealt with properly. I'm self-taught and started pre-internet, and am only now realising that the way I played even up to a year ago was not good for me. This site has changed completely the way I play and practise, but youtube sucks for any useful stuff that really digs into things like:

Pick action, how to hold the pick most effectively and planes of picking angle. How to get started on theory, best ways of learning notes and the most effective ways of learning your fretboard.
How to best provide building blocks to improve strength and stamina, and most importantly of all, how to make effective musical and relevant "patterns" and "runs" that are actually useful to you in practise and composing, instead of "oh just learn 1-2-3-4 / -2-3-4-5 etc etc over and over.

Subscribed cos I know it will be awesome

 

[innovine]

will these lessons be given for free? Because if not, this is just spam and should be deleted.

 

[Poltergeist]

will these lessons be given for free? Because if not, this is just spam and should be deleted.

Wow, spam? He's asking ss.org personally what type of lesson materials he should clarify that most people have trouble with. Did you even read it? Almost all the information he releases is free. He's doing this because he's fed up with average online lessons and teachers who waste students time with broad bullshit lessons. He's doing it strictly for the the love of the subject and to help benefit music and players in general. It's still a work in progress, but he's asking for our input to help him further develop this.

 

[80H]

Been busy! Friend got a DUI! Dad's moving and 50% owner of his new business! WHATS GOING ON LIFE??? WOOOOOOOOOOOOOAHHHHHHH

on to the replies!

(will be home all day tomorrow! wed feb. 5th!)

haha dude no problem! I see your efforts and I appreciate them, just never had the chances to tell you, and credit must be due where it's due!... I'll be checking back here.. I did make some additional edits to my first post an added some other comments to elaborate further on what I was trying to say. You're doing fine man! Don't let it overwhelm you. I think you have a pretty clear vision of where youre headed.

Well thank you ! Most of the time I have no idea who's reading and who's not. It's always cool to find out it really was helping.

The vision is more of bits and pieces of the puzzle and jamming them all into place with a timer ticking. It's fun this way though.

As for your post, it's definitely included and the outline of how I will be constructing it is already finished!

I'll be following this with great pleasure, 80H. You sure are inspirational and motivational to me, and i'm sure you'll do an awesome work.

Now on to your question: i think that the musical-didactical "internet material" of nowadays always focuses on "over the top" and "weird" things. These are surely interesting, but i'm quite feeling everyone leaves out the fundamentals. Like, i always end up feeling i'm missing something that will then let me truly understand and appreciate advanced skills.
This is for a major part issued by being almost totally self-taught, but i'm sure you're getting what i mean.

AND i'm absolutely quoting Poltergeist on all of this:



It's been my experience too with my few past teachers: they rarely used a simple language, and i found them teaching me either very simple stuff that didn't tickle me, either unreasonably advanced stuff that was way over my skills and i couldn't understand, or worse some of their personal "experimental wankeries" -sorry, don't know how to define that stuff lol- that didn't actually teach me anything, but just consumed my money and time.

After months of non-playing due to university work, i'd be happy to start all over again with your personal approach, as i'm sure it will be interesting.

Thanks for the bid of confidence! It means so much to have people that are already interested in what I'm doing, especially when most of it is just a continuation of what I want to do. I reread that and I'm not sure if it makes sense, but hopefully it does. It's very profound to know that someone thousands of miles away from me can have their quality of life improved by the same ideas and concepts that are improving mine.

Again, the irony here is that I literally started my book with practice principles. In other words, my entire perspective and opinion of this instrument is sculpted by ideas that are basic, but in being basic are worth living true to. For example, I learned about efficiency when I was 16 years old from a player named Shazara in a game called Poxnora. Ever since then, I have considered efficiency to be the godliness that cleanliness is close to, if you've ever heard the expression I'm referencing. However, most people don't concern themselves with efficiency, and it's not actually highly valued in our society, even though it's extremely valuable in our society. It's kind of bizarre.

In other words, what you put in changes what you get out, and comparing inputs to outputs will eventually lead to a more ideal path of action. This works with time, but it also works with technique. It's so integral and yet so misunderstood. It bothers me more than most things in life do.

This sounds very exciting. I have read many of your posts, and always find them very inspirational. Your words have helped me through a lot of difficult times, and I'm very interested to see what comes of this project.

In regards to your question, I feel the biggest thing holding me back is understanding what's going on in great players' heads when improvising, and applying this thought process to my own playing. Some players that come to mind are Guthrie Govan, Allan Holdsworth, Tom Quayle, Greg Howe, Rick Graham, and Scott Henderson. They all not only have monster chops, but are able to seemingly play anything that comes into their head immediately and effortlessly. This is a topic that continues to puzzle me, and I feel it is one that is holding me back the most from where I would like to be.

Thanks again for your inspiration, I will be following this project very closely!

What's going on in their head is usually far from technical. It's music. What I mean by this is that improvisation is improvisation. It is a natural flow of expression, and it isn't predefined. Whatever you can improvise at the time, based on your skill level, is what comes out. What you probably really want is a feeling of unrestricted expression or artistic freedom.

When you see those guys improvising and it seems unfathomable, that's when you need to learn to respect the sweat. That isn't an accident. That's the years that THEY spent behind closed doors working on their art. By taking the time and focusing on YOUR instrument, you are already earning your abilities in the exact same way that they did. You are a person with a guitar in your hands, your own limitations, emotions, mental capabilities...as are they. If you deidolize and rehumanize them, you will probably start to realize that you are way closer to the holy grail than you thought you were.

I'm loving where this thread and your project may be going and I support it by answering your questions.

A big problem I have is a physical one. I have ulnar fasciitis in both arms. My hands and fingers can move faster than when I was a teenaged player, but I can't play very fast for very long. My main goal in my playing isn't to play fast all the time, I'm not too into that. I'm happy with how I play/improvise otherwise.

Writing with others is something that I would like to work on.

Man, I feel you there. I've had a lot of problems with my right arm and wrist. I had to write to pay the bills, developed multiple problems (mild compression in the ulnar & carpal nerves, very close to needing surgery but pulled through) and know exactly what it's like to have to sandbag yourself.


What I would do personally first and foremost is pay very close attention to countries that have stem cell programs that are alive and well. I sincerely believe that is the way forward and that everything you have could probably be addressed by something that is pending approval in some laboratory already or is already available but unknown to most. Other than that, I'm sure you already know that massages and stretching are the way to go, but I'm not sure how intense your problems are. I know fasciitis is the nasty one because your body basically glues itself to itself.

How'd you get it in both arms? Got a huge heart for anyone that's gotta deal with that nonsense because of the crisis I had when my hand started hurting and cramping up, know exactly how that stuff goes...but I'd probably just end up ranting on health care which is never fun

I know I've already posted in regard of 80H's questions but I have another thing to add that I think is essential after I was reading some theory books tonight and had an epiphany about a fault in my mental process of music theory .

I want to know how to think outside of the basic Major and Minor scale and all the chords comprised in them... I honestly have a hard time understanding how musicians incorporate all kinds of exotic scales or harmonies and melodies which are outside of the root/key of the song. I feel like I think about the keys too rigged and mechanically... almost to the point where I feel uncomfortable changing key or using chords outside of the Major or Minor scale I'm playing. Does anyone else have this issue?

I used to suck so bad with key changes, still do from time to time because I like trying difficult things even if I know the result is just gonna piss me off a little bit. I think in terms of plot twists, changes in weather...etc, the way you can get that sudden change in life, and then try to translate that feeling to music, but I know that's an obscure way of explaining it. The theory is one part...anyone can use the circle of fifths, but fully understanding the art of the key change is a bitch. For example, I'm playing a lot in A Major these days. Every diatonic note can be used to suggest one of the modes of A major...which is sweet. But then if you realize that you can change key from a mode, and then you have all of your outside notes...you have quite a shitshow of stuff to work with. This goes back to the principle of focusing on the music that you WANT to make over the music that you COULD make. Listen to music, play with notes, find what you like, capture emotions. That's what it's really all about anyways. And then you move on from there.

80H your posts are really inspiring, can't wait for whatever it is you have cooked up for yourself and for us. I'd really personally like some basics and fundamentals dealt with properly. I'm self-taught and started pre-internet, and am only now realising that the way I played even up to a year ago was not good for me. This site has changed completely the way I play and practise, but youtube sucks for any useful stuff that really digs into things like:

Pick action, how to hold the pick most effectively and planes of picking angle. How to get started on theory, best ways of learning notes and the most effective ways of learning your fretboard.
How to best provide building blocks to improve strength and stamina, and most importantly of all, how to make effective musical and relevant "patterns" and "runs" that are actually useful to you in practise and composing, instead of "oh just learn 1-2-3-4 / -2-3-4-5 etc etc over and over.

Subscribed cos I know it will be awesome

Glad to have inspired you! There's more to come, and thanks for your support from the other side of the world.

I'll definitely be covering what you mentioned. If you're thinking pick angle, that's probably why you're confused. Think angles. There's lots of ways to hit a note and no reason why you should ever turn yourself into a 45 degree angle robot except when that's most appropriate


Pattern/run is just the marriage between melody and technique. Learn about melody and guitar techniques and they'll make way more sense. Melody is where it's at.

will these lessons be given for free? Because if not, this is just spam and should be deleted.

Well, even if they weren't free, there are promotional privileges given to the contributing members of the forum by the moderation staff on a regular basis. If all I were doing were promoting stuff, then maybe..? The reality is that I write fairly regularly for nothing in return because this is what I do with my life, and it's a small part of my bliss.


But yes, they will be free. Profit will come indirectly and only as a measure of how well I have done on my job of spreading the wisdom that I have been fortunate enough to have found myself and directing it to one specific place.

Wow, spam? He's asking ss.org personally what type of lesson materials he should clarify that most people have trouble with. Did you even read it? Almost all the information he releases is free. He's doing this because he's fed up with average online lessons and teachers who waste students time with broad bullshit lessons. He's doing it strictly for the the love of the subject and to help benefit music and players in general. It's still a work in progress, but he's asking for our input to help him further develop this.

The irony is that his attitude towards my post was developed by the lesson culture that I'm talking about...funny if you think about it really!

And also, broad isn't always bad. Sometimes too specific is bad. It's a balancing act. But we definitely see eye-to-damn-eye with the bullshit part. Also thanks for the wingmanship on that one

 

[innovine]

What attitude? I was just asking. The op did not make it clear if this involved free lessons or some kind of service, and in fact the op mentions an ultimate goal of doing this for a living. But now that thats been made clear, good luck on what sounds like an interesting project.

 

[asher]

What attitude? I was just asking. The op did not make it clear if this involved free lessons or some kind of service, and in fact the op mentions an ultimate goal of doing this for a living. But now that thats been made clear, good luck on what sounds like an interesting project.

That's fair. It also woulda just gotten moved to the Dealers section

OT: Very curious to see what comes out, but no input right now!

 

[80H]

What attitude? I was just asking. The op did not make it clear if this involved free lessons or some kind of service, and in fact the op mentions an ultimate goal of doing this for a living. But now that thats been made clear, good luck on what sounds like an interesting project.

Ha You misunderstood what I meant by attitude it seems. You were curious as to whether or not this was just another scabby attempt to milk you for cash with a mini-lesson that lacks depth or effectiveness.

In other words, you were prepared for exactly the type of material that I believe is sucking the life out of the upper ends of the instrument and holding people back.

"This" for a living is not the project, "this" is being able to practice & play guitar while ensuring that I can still eat and won't die of hypothermia in the winter (lol california).

As melodramatic as it may sound, this is life or death for me, as I've already burned all my bridges, boats and bank notes.. And I am certain that it will be successful.

That's fair. It also woulda just gotten moved to the Dealers section

OT: Very curious to see what comes out, but no input right now!

Actually, I have definitely had verbal clearance from a moderator before that releasing promotional material in this forum was acceptable as long as it wasn't shady/prolific/pure marketing. I am paraphrasing here, but that was the gist of it as I recall. I despise shady/prolific/typical marketing, so it's oddly funny to me that it's perceived that way sometimes. Ah well, people have their guard up for a reason.

With that said, I don't have anything to sell when it comes to lessons and information, and my project itself will only serve. The money that I make from the project will be indirect and shared with artists, because I believe we have to create a safety net for each other to be successful, as society is not exactly springboarding artists of any kind into success.




I will also give skype (eventually) lessons due to demand. I am figuring out how to optimize a camera and recording setup. This is different from the mysterious superproject itself, and I have no idea how I'm going to work out pricing or slots yet, but to those of you who have wondered/asked/yelled at me, it will definitely happen.


Also gonna be giving out a bunch of sweet free stuff cuz I've always wanted to get down with my inner Oprah. More on that a little later.

 

[Vzmike]

You are one interesting fellow Mr. 8...

But since you asked so kindly...one major issue I have is not being able to focus when trying to learn theory. Whether it be because I'm not interested enough or that I've jumped ahead past what I should know already, I always find the process of learning it to be unfulfilling and always ending in a roadblock. I believe it's mostly a personal issue but...only thing I can think of at the moment.

 

[80H]

You are one interesting fellow Mr. 8...

But since you asked so kindly...one major issue I have is not being able to focus when trying to learn theory. Whether it be because I'm not interested enough or that I've jumped ahead past what I should know already, I always find the process of learning it to be unfulfilling and always ending in a roadblock. I believe it's mostly a personal issue but...only thing I can think of at the moment.

Gotta get yourself amped up, or at the very least in the zone first. There is a lot of science behind the dopamine response & learning, or the effects of happiness on how fast you pick up and learn a subject. Your brain is always trying to make you better off by mitigating pain and supplementing pleasure, but if your brain is confusing the value of a certain action, it will avoid or supplement it. Think of alcoholism; the brain thinks the alcohol is a positive change, even when the alcoholic logically understands that it is bad for them. You are having the opposite problem with theory: the temporary grudging work of going through theory basics results in bad emotions, which leads to an avoidance effect.


If you feel like shit while you're learning theory, you will avoid theory. It's subconscious. Why would you do something repeatedly that makes you feel bad? You have to take control over your sense of joy/contentedness while learning or you will essentially be putting yourself in a state of pain. Your body isn't cool with that. Some people can barely jump into a pool of cold water, even knowing that they'll warm up in ~2-5 mins and adjust. How do you think your body is processing you jumping into theory? It's associating a sense of pain or punishment with the ordeal.


You have to rewire yourself. You have to find reasons to like it. You have to have thoughts about theory that put it in a more charming light.

The funny thing about theory is that you really don't need much more than some systematic memorization and a general intuition to know more than like 90% of musicians that get exposure. Most people never push past the barrier you're describing and end up working on their showmanship or appeal over their theoretical understandings of music.

The good news is that if you do push past that barrier, the problems that most people have start to seem really trivial. I heard someone say once that they couldn't find any new chord progressions...dude, what the hell? Seriously? Are we playing the same instrument?! I can make so many 2-chord progressions without even trying at the drop of a dime, way more 3-chord, etc...then we have ascending/descending ideas and ignoring cadences entirely for a while, mixed arpeggios, nothingbutarpeggios, key change, etc. How am I supposed to run out?


Issues like those completely disappear with a general grasp on theory. The benefits of theory are real, but it's hard to see the forest through the trees sometimes. Gotta get your noggin on your team. Best of luck I would recommend starting sooner than later also, because there's a lot worth learning and you can only process so much per day.

 

[innovine]

I do a lot of other stuff, like cleaning the studio, rewiring things, adjusting intonation, installing plugins etc instead of sitting down and writing and working on songs. It's a kind of avoidance. I even change genre, and get into techno and drum n bass production, which requires lots of rewiring again. I'm aware that it's an avoidance thing but can't seem to break out of it. I'm happiest when I have exercises and drills and so on to practice. I'm getting slowly better all the time, but I don't think I'm making any progress towards my long time goal of writing-recording a few tracks. Any tips?

 

[80H]

I do a lot of other stuff, like cleaning the studio, rewiring things, adjusting intonation, installing plugins etc instead of sitting down and writing and working on songs. It's a kind of avoidance. I even change genre, and get into techno and drum n bass production, which requires lots of rewiring again. I'm aware that it's an avoidance thing but can't seem to break out of it. I'm happiest when I have exercises and drills and so on to practice. I'm getting slowly better all the time, but I don't think I'm making any progress towards my long time goal of writing-recording a few tracks. Any tips?

What usually gets me going is sitting down and making either an intro or an outro. I have a lot that I could say on the subject, but all of it was learned when I realized that I hate hearing the end of a song without knowing what the rest of it was, and the same with an intro.

I basically get a small piece of a song so stuck in my head that it would drive me mad not to finish it. So I start hearing the rest of it, deciding what I want to do with it, figuring out what my mind wants to hear...and then it's just like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It also helps to realize that you are the only human being in existence that can fully make the music you want to hear in your mind, and that other people will probably like it if you do too. Being a musician is like being Santa Claus to the listeners. They need music, and you as a musician are their only way to get that. If you look at the number of fully documented positive effects that music can have on someone's psychological well-being, you are essentially filling the role of a gift-giver through your own process of finding what you want to hear.


Think about yourself, the listeners, whatever. Get in the artistic zone. It doesn't matter if it's sappy, cheesy...whatever. You'll get used to it and develop more control over it as time passes. You should be almost weighted down or uplifted by some kind of emotion if you're heading in the right way. That emotion will push you harder than I, you or anyone else can.



This image of a poached rhinoceros does it for me currently, but these things lose their charm after a few times. It's just mutilated and left there to die for someone's profit. The symbolism there of humanity and the way that we treat this place to adapt to our economy is profound for me personally, but even just the empathy of wondering what it was like to be that rhino is enough to set me on fire for a few good hours.

Warning: Very Mild Animal Gore For the Sake of Art, please do not click if extremely sensitive
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll163/tracyhcole/ANIMAL%20RIGHTS/rhino-in-africa.jpg