Favorite online courses/lessons etc?

[jco5055]

Hi guys,

I'm curious, what are your favorite online resources for lessons/courses/tuition? I feel like overall as a player I have definitely increased my theory knowledge (coming from a pure technique/all I do is pratice Intense Rock kinda thing background from like age 16 all through college to only the past 3 years or so), but I'm still striving at my ultimate goal of having my own style/technique, like how we don't fault players like Holdsworth for not doing fast alternate picking runs a la Petrucci, or basically expect every player to be like Chris Broderick or other extremely clinical players, it's all what each person personally wants and strives for in their playing. I've found that a key component imo is how one approaches thinking/learning the instrument, like I've become deeply intrigued by methods like Mick Goodwick and others who almost recommend "position free playing" so that one isn't using patterns and thinking in notes instead. I definitely want to not be a position thinking player, I'm fine with courses/materials that teach positions but don't want to be reliant on that and become a shapes player.

With that said, here's some thoughts/experiences with instruction/lessons/sites etc that I've had or am interested in:

Truefire: I currently subscribe to this, and have been going through the rock and jazz learning paths concurrently. It does have some good courses and a wide variety, I think the flaw is that with so many teachers/courses that sometimes there's a weird overlap or knowledge gap as you learn, and the actual learning path (as opposed to the supplemental courses) is really just a collection of lessons from various courses and they are more focused on the "play along, no reading or theory needed" which I'm not a fan of. Also at least in the Jazz path there seems to be some big jumps that aren't necessarily a logical fashion, I've had the experience of going from easy 2-5-1 progression play alongs to full jazz trio song examples with no explanation of the advanced chords and such, just information like "I accent to match the drummer's snare hits" etc.

Jam Track Central: I am interested in it, since a lot of great players have courses, and they have courses on improvising (a key issue for me to develop) and fusion, but it seems to really mainly focus on just that one aspect of guitar, since they have like 3 total courses out of hundreds detailing chords.

Tim Miller Academy: Great layout, though it seems to be a bit more advanced for a non-jazz experienced guy like myself.

The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodwick: I love the idea behind it in terms of the thought process in being position-free, being your unique self etc, I just wonder if there haven't been advancements or at least online/video instruction since it feels like in 2021 there should be some more immersive ways to learn than just books.

Individual lessons via Skype: I have had experience with both Derryl Gabel and Jon Bjork. Both were good, however I had issues with both that made me decide to stop. With Derryl, it was more that I felt at times it was rather directionless, like I wouldn't exactly know how to structure a practice plan because one week we might go over the modes, the next drop 2 chords, the next Gambale-esque 3-1-3 pentatonic shapes etc, but there wasn't a logical progression to things. With Jon, it was actually more that I had some financial issues where our regular lessons had to stop, but with him it was more a style thing, as he is much more a of Gilbert/Yngwie chops machine and actually more of a classical guy, so it was just missing that non-Andy James ultra shredder vibe. But he definitely was much better organized.

Individual bought lessons on one topic a la webstore on artist sites (Tom Quayle/Rick Graham etc): I've only bought Rick Graham's killer technique (really haven't worked with it) and David Beebee's Pathways to Jazz (literally bought it yesterday but seems like a great resource to REALLY learn the notes and be a fretboard visualization tool). Other ones I have thought of/are of note include Tom Quayle's stuff, as well as his Solo app. My main issue is that obviously they are specific topics, but often without an actual teacher it's hard to know what topics one should be focusing on at the moment for optimal growth. It's also obviously hard to find all the good stuff out there since it's not curated on one site etc, but I guess technically it's most likely the optimal courses/education out there would be combining from different places.


Any insight or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

Depends on your objectives. Here's my 2 cents.

For my needs, these are the pre-made lessons I'm currently working on.

- Tom Quayle fretboard visualization
- Tom Quayle modal harmony
- Tom Quayle jazz harmony
- Tom Quayle guide to mel min.

I tend to stray away from the "here are 2000 exercises whose sole value is being exhaustive" lesson packs, but to each his own, they just don't work for me. I strive to make every practice musical and therefore come up with most of my own exercises or extract them from song passages I like. I also dedicate time to improvisation (partly via limitation exercises) as well as learn-analyze pieces of music I like; every time I hear something I like, I take a note on my phone so that I can get back to it later.

When I'm done with the pre-made lessons, I'll take lessons with Tom for a fusion perspective, possibly also with Josh De La Victoria for metric modulation ideas and possibly with Giuseppe Gilardi to tie everything in an instrumental modern prog context, although I'm not dead set on any style. In summary, I'll take in person lessons when I need guidance, notably on "real-life" improvisational/compositional applications. For technique, there are so many resources in the pre-made lessons realm (Cracking the Code for alt picking, Tom Quayle for legato, etc.) that I haven't felt the need to buy in-person lessons for that yet.

 

[JohnToulupe]

I totally get where you're coming from with the whole guitar journey thing. It's a wild ride trying to find the right resources and methods to level up your skills. I've been there, too, bouncing between different courses and instructors, trying to figure out what works best for me.It sounds like you've explored a ton of options, from Truefire to individual Skype lessons, which is pretty impressive. But hey, have you ever considered diving into LinkedIn For Business? I've heard some real success stories from people who've used it to boost their professional game. It might be worth a shot, especially if you're looking to expand your network and skills in a more structured way.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Do they teach shutting the fuck up? That's a skill you could expand in a structured way.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

The robots, they're coming for us!!

 

[NickK-UK]

So I'm starting my 'journey'..

First I have bought Rick Beato's full set of courses (they were on offer). It's music orientated but with some guitar. I will then probably look at Bernt's course to that that forward in a more guitar orientated fashion.

Will let you know how I get on and feedback.

 

[Drew]

I think the Cracking the Code program is pretty eye-opening - at a minimum, signing up to their (free) discussion forum is worth the time.

The original video series is a lot of fun but a little outdated now, but at the end of the day, Troy Grady deserves a statue in his honor for the simple observation that moving the pick back and forth isn't the hard part, it's moving it up above and then back down into the plane of the strings so you can switch strings, and that playing fast picked runs almost always requires a pickstroke that "escapes" above the strings at some point in its movement. And, that a lot of world-class players have evolved vocabularies of runs and licks that are actually relatively easy for them to play because of how their pick escapes from the plane of the strings.