Welcome to my free instruction page!
This is a work in progress! All my educational material is original and this takes time. Some of it is kind of rough. I was frustrated with how long it was taking to get this project off the ground when I laughed and realised that just as I encourage you to view your musical journey as a process…and to enjoy that process…I must do the same. I want to you see that process as well as my struggle and my weaknesses in the area of technology. One of my favorite new quotes is “Done is better than perfect!” I hope that it helps to be real with each other like that.
My long range plan is to have a well rounded basic music education curriculum (not just guitar) that is appropriate for absolute beginners. One problem that beginners often run into is that they are educated in one area, but not another important area. The neglected area will cause problems. We have some basic music theory lessons here and some supplements for guitar lessons I have on YouTube. I’m focusing mostly on guitar lessons for now, but once I get my beginning guitarists rolling, I want to make some courses that are helpful for all musicians.
GUITAR:
You may have already seen these if you found me on YouTube, but here are a couple of good starting places for beginning guitarists or guitarists who struggle with pain or getting your fingers to obey your will. I have some work to do to link them to the rest of each series, but each of these is a beginning of a series. Both of these will help you get ready for my beginner guitar class. My regular newsletter will let you know whenever I start up a new guitar class.
Developing Good Guitar Technique:
How to Make Your Fingers Reach Chord Shapes on the Guitar:
Fingerpicking 101:
If your left hand gives you any trouble here, watch the above lessons first.
link to fingerpicking 101 YouTube lesson 1.1
PDF for Fingerpicking 101 lesson 1.4 and 1.4s
PDF for Fingerpicking 101 lesson 1.5
MUSIC COURSES:
Music Language Basics:
Trust me; this is easy. You don’t have to figure anything out….just follow along.
Before you learn some music basics, there are a lot of things about music that seem random, and nonsensical. It's a mystery how anyone knows what to do or when. When people play music, especially if they are improvising, it seems like magic. You can be magic too. You can learn a few basics of music language that are no harder than learning how to spell CAT in kindergarten. Then you'll understand how they are doing it. Then you practice; then you can do it too. There will be some unanswered questions at first. When you are in Kindergarten, you're ok with that. When you are an adult, you are not. Try to be ok with that.
Unit 1 Lessons 1 through 5:
Download PDF for music Language Basics.
Lessons 1, 2, and 3, will be easy for anyone. You could even do this as a family activity with young children. You will make important connections. Here are the YouTube links for lessons 1, 2, and 3:
Unit 1 Lesson 1 (C major and G major)
Unit 1 Lesson 2 ( D, A, and E major)
Unit 1 Lesson 3 (The Magical Music Map)
When I started recording Unit 1, I thought there would be three lessons. Then I decided to make lesson 4: how to apply this to your music making....and lesson 5: how to transpose a melody. Lessons 4 and 5 are good for people who already play some music. I still have to record lesson 5, but here is lesson 4:
Unit 1 Lesson 4 (Why lessons 1-3 matter and how to use it)
Unit 1 Lesson 5: In production (How to transpose a melody)
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS OF LEARNING MUSIC (Metacognition):
This blog is also a work in progress, but it can help a lot to understand how the brain learns music: