By Mike P Hayes
Before beginning this article I ran a Google search for 'learn guitar' the result was 45,000,000 and you can bet that 90% of these will be about learning to play guitar in some unbelievably short time frame.
Sound familiar? Sound too good to be true?
The story: The internet is a good place for stories... there are literally hundreds if not thousands of guitar 'experts' who are trying to lure unsuspecting newbie (and not so-newbie) guitarists to buy their 'instant fix-it-all-in-five-minutes' guitar course, software or guitar system, some are very convincing with
impressive sales pages and flashy videos... but do they really work?
To find the answer we need to step back from the computer for a moment and take a realistic look at what is really happening using good old fashioned (but quite rare) common sense.
What we can learn: We live in a 'microwave mentality', instant gratification, quick fix society... that's a fact we want everything and we want it now!
Our so-called experts target would-be guitarists with this 'instant results' type marketing; any experienced guitarist knows that you can't learn the guitar in five minutes any more than you can learn how to play the piano in five minutes or learn how to fly an airplane or become a doctor in five minutes.
What do we get for our 'instant guitar' program? Lots' of goodies or worthless junk? Pandering to the popular idea that more is better they will no doubt give you piles of stuff... here's what you can expect.
* heaps of videos
* lots of licks
* piles of guitar TAB
and the list goes on...
A closer look by the discerning guitarist reveals...
* heaps of videos - chock full of lightning fast, very impressive show-off style guitar playing which confirms the fact that your 'instructor' can play faster and louder than you; unfortunately that's the way it's going to stay because your 'video star/ guitar expert' isn't in the slightest bit interested in helping you play better, he or she just wants you to watch in amazement at their Olympic style guitar achievements.
* lots of licks - heaps of 'chicken-pickin' fun here; again played as fast as possible for maximum entertainment value (unfortunately very little educational value).
* piles and piles of guitar TAB - most of which you could pick up for free on the internet! Don't worry about how accurate it is, you have heaps of them to try.
Why am I being so hard on these guys surely it's all good fun... the truth is a lot of people love this stuff, they want to believe they will be able to play the guitar before lunch they buy all these 'easy play' type stuff and generally they get what the pay for!
My interest is not in this type of person but rather the serious player who genuinely loves music and wants to play the guitar properly; it is tragic when this type of player is messed up by all this junk.
Principles for life: Anything worthwhile doing is worthwhile doing well!
Can you plant a tomato seed, water it and expect to eat fresh tomatoes from that plant this afternoon?... of course not!
Can to buy a guitar, plug it in, watch a video on YouTube and master the guitar in five minutes?... of course not!
The principle of learning to play apply in the same way as the 'law of the farm' works in nature... everything takes time to grow, develop and mature.
There's a great saying that applies here "the dedicated take care of their time and time takes care of the un-dedicated", I think that sums things up beautifully for the 'instant guitar hero' type player, they will mess around with all types of guitars and guitar related gadgets but will remain a stranger to music for
their entire life!
To sum things up...
1. If you don't know what you are doing why bother doing it?
2. You can't learn flying from a guy who has never been off the ground... does your instructor have any 'real world' credibility or is their only qualification their ability to set up a seductive website.
3. Learning little snippets of unrelated information will only confuse the student, in order to learn anything you need STRUCTURE! Where fact 'A' is learnt and then that fact is connected to and related to fact 'B' that's how students progress by connected learning... there is no other way forward; there never has been nor will you ever be able to by-pass this process that's how human beings learn.
4. There's a great saying that applies here "the dedicated take care of their time and time takes care of the un-dedicated", I think that sums things up beautifully for the 'instant guitar hero' type player, they will mess around with all types of guitars and guitar related gadgets but will remain a stranger to music for their entire life!
5. Learning to play a musical instrument is an exciting journey where you learn a lot more about yourself than you ever learn about your instrument; but everything in life has a price, if you pay the price you will get your rewards if you are looking for shortcuts... you miss the whole point.
Enjoy the journey of playing the guitar.
And now I'd like to invite you to get free access to my "How To Remember 1,000 Songs" eCourse. You can download the course for free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com
You'll learn about hit song templates, easy chords, simple scales, red hot rhythms, and successful practice strategies in text, audio and video.
From Mike Hayes - The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar System
Article Source: Learn Guitar - Master the Guitar in Five Minutes
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