Increasing number of guitar gimmick courses

[HungryGuitarStudent]

Am I the only one to see an increasing number of social media ads for magical guitar courses these days?

The latest I've seen was from Joshua Voiles: the guitar acceleration program. It is sold as a methodology to learn any skill in an incredibly small amount of time. It seems to be the guitar equivalent of "get 8-pack abs in 2 weeks".

While the guy can play and is seemingly known by established guitarists, I have absolutely no intention to try out his program. I'm curious to know if some of you have tried similar crash courses or what your thoughts on the subject are.

No judgement on my end, but to be honest I think all these courses try to trick people into thinking the new methods work while all they do is instill a focused and disciplined practice regimen, or maybe we should all read Oprah's secret.

 

[Soya]

If people like that want to make money, they go where the customers are

 

[TedEH]

I don't think it's just guitar. I've been seeing a lot of ads for "learn x skill online today in just a few short video lessons!" I don't doubt there are some legit skills you could pick up online if you took the time to do it, but there's a limit to what you can learn without either proper instruction or the time investment.

My eyes roll so far back I can see through time every time an ad pops up claiming you can become a professional game programmer in a week by watching some videos about Unity.

 

[BenjaminW]

I'm curious to see how other people view MasterClass on here. I personally went through the Carlos Santana/Tom Morello MasterClasses and I really enjoyed them.

Without spoiling it or anything, basically each MasterClass is all obviously on one topic and there are different videos pertaining to said topic. After the video, you can download a PDF which is a summary of lesson and sometimes will contain some optional practice ideas/methods. One of the ones I keep in the back of my mind from these MasterClasses is when it comes to riff writing, is to take 5 riffs that you like and like 2 or so riffs you don't like at all and experiment with learning them backwards or changing the chord progression of the riff.

These MasterClasses I will that despite being expensive, don't really fit the bill for "learn x, y, and z in 2 weeks!" for guitar courses.

 

[Humbuck]

This has been happening forever. It's human nature.

 

[Jason B]

This has been happening forever. It's human nature.

+1

Every product for sale exists to promise instant gratification, including this site. Compare the number of threads presenting the purchase of another guitar as a personal achievement to the number of posts about the music made with that particular guitar. Drawing the line of annoyance at any one product of this free market built on buying your way out of not practicing is as liable to elicit eye-rolls as the highlighted product.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Man, I remember when the last five or six pages of all the major guitar magazines were nothing but classifieds for Play Great Quick classes and Next Big Thing builders.

 

[GatherTheArsenal]

I notice them a lot too, not sure if I were to delete my cookies or something if they would go away?

But I think the abundance of them that we see nowadays speaks to the current climate which we live in, where the pace of everything must be quick and results have to be instant. It's a by-product of the digital era, we want things and we want them now, because it feels good to instantaneously get something.

Generally speaking I'm all for increasing efficiency as long as effectiveness doesn't suffer, it's all in the execution. But that also can breed laziness and unbalanced expectations if not done right... such a slippery slope.

 

[Drew]

If people like that want to make money, they go where the customers are

Why do people rob banks? Because that's where the money is.

I had a similar feeling about the Cracking the Code series when I first saw it - it comes across as "this one weird trick will help you play faster!" Except, it's extremely thoroughly researched, the typical ":guitar teachers everywhere are furious" thing isn't there because Troy is making a lot of it available publicly and WANTS people to start employing his research to teach, and it's not like you watch a video and two weeks later you're a monster, it takes a LOT of practice to make breakthroughs, but what he does is give you the tools to understand why some things work and some don't. That's about the one exception I can think of.

 

[Mathemagician]

Yeah there’s a difference between good lessons/ a single really good lesson and just “I will make you rich, a shredder, fit, whatever in an unreasonably short time.”

 

[Drew]

Yeah there’s a difference between good lessons/ a single really good lesson and just “I will make you rich, a shredder, fit, whatever in an unreasonably short time.”

I guess I posted that mostly to draw the distinction - some of the CtC stuff really CAN have an almost immediate effect, so it's not about time so much as...

Hmm. I guess I'd say any "get better, fast" program should have a reasonable basis, should make logical sense, and you should have some idea what you're getting into, and why, before you get behind the pay wall. CtC, the "secret" really isn't all that secret, and most/all of the core concepts are free on Youtube. "Guitar is a tough instrument to play scale runs on compared to most instruments, the reason for that is the pick has to get inside the plane of the strings to pick notes but above them to switch strings, and most of the 'elite' players have solved this problem by using an angled picking motion so either upstrokes or downstrokes pull above the strings." What you're paying for is excellent slow motion analysis of a number of players' signature licks and how their picking style informs how they build those, which make excellent exercises for building your own technique.

If it doens't make clear sense WHY something should make you faster or smoother, or you have to pay money on a leap of faith to find out, it probably won't.

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

Good points guys. I totally agree that CTC seems to be the exception. In particular, it provides precise analytical insights into the mechanics of some aspects of playing. I had a "used car salesman" vibe watching Troy's old sales pitch videos, but I'm glad I decided to try it for a month last summer. I downloaded all exercises and videos and they have helped me a lot by providing direction and precise action items (e.g. slanting the wrist, etc.) to explore in order to improve my picking game. Ive definitely included some of Troy's exercises in my regular regimen.

All the other "lesson packages" I've seen so far (disclaimer: I've tried zero of them) seem to boil down to generic life lessons like: set precise and measurable goals, stay focused, be disciplined, etc..

It's crazy that there are still "fountain of youth" type charlatans in the modern age, but that's just human nature as some of you pointed out.

 

[Drew]

All the other "lesson packages" I've seen so far (disclaimer: I've tried zero of them) seem to boil down to generic life lessons like: set precise and measurable goals, stay focused, be disciplined, etc..

I mean, all that stuff is good advice.... But, like, idunno, maybe I'm biased here because of what I do for a living, but if anyone has ever spent any time in a professional environment, that's pretty much professional development 101. Define your goals in a way such that they're measurable, break larger objectives up into small discrete tasks so you can track progress as you move through them, carve out time on a consistent basis to work on key objectives, know what your key objectives ARE....

Shit, I should really start a subscription guitar lesson channel, huh?

 

[Humbuck]

The secret is, there is no secret. Perseverance, hard work, elbow grease, time, determination... that's how everything great is made or built. The sooner this is learned, the sooner you can get on with it and stop wasting time looking for time saving miracles. This goes for everything... not just false claims guitar lessons.

 

[Demiurge]

There are certainly some tips & tricks out there that can be communicated easily that can help alter perspective or tie-together other concepts toward the end of fostering improvement. That said, you still need to, as my last guitar instructor (RIP, probably) would say, "get it under your fingers".

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

The secret is, there is no secret. Perseverance, hard work, elbow grease, time, determination... that's how everything great is made or built. The sooner this is learned, the sooner you can get on with it and stop wasting time looking for time saving miracles. This goes for everything... not just false claims guitar lessons.

Personally, I learned most of the meta skills that I use to practice guitar when I started competitive sports when I was 12 (focus, discipline, practice slow then increase speed, break up a task in small parts, etc. etc.). It's unfortunate that although to most of us all the points you mention have been made obvious by early life experience, such gimmicks still manage to attract some attention and buyers.

 

[will_shred]

I'll make my own guitar courses titled "No fucking shortcuts, the truth of good technique"

I saw a guy advertising for guitar lessons on my local music scenes facebook page, and he posted a video of him "shredding" and his technique was fucking awful. He was saying that he would teach you "shortcuts to shred" I just replied "it looks like your technique is the result of many years of shortcuts"

There will always be people who prey on new players promising magical secrets to good technique, and as a guitar teacher myself I hate those kinds of people. The only secret is discipline. The teacher can show you the path but its up to the student to actually put in the work.

 

[prlgmnr]

I just replied "it looks like your technique is the result of many years of shortcuts"

did you get reported for murder?

 

[golliathh]

I agree with you. I've been getting sick of them since Dan Mumm started advertising his sweep picking mastery program a few years ago. He must have wasted a lot of money on Facebook ads because I saw them every day for an abnormally long time.

But I think it's necessary. All these programs, when you boil them down, end up saying the exact same things, and perhaps we need to find a certain person saying it in a certain way before it clicks. Or maybe just waste enough time and money on guitar materials before we simply give up the search for the 'perfect method' and actually practice.