Hey there, Martin here.

I just wanna say that i love Gmc, but there is a thing that is bothering me, and that is the lessons.


The thing that is constantly bothering me is that almost every lesson here is like a song - you listen, you learn it, you play it. And there is nothing wrong with that, but for me, i want something else. And i know, Gmc cant take care of everyone, but there is something that i think can be fixed.

A common lesson here at Gmc would look like this:

Vid 1: Show the lesson
Vid 2 and onwards: go through the lesson, technique, notes etc...

But for me, i would like to have it this way:

Vid 1: Show the lesson
Vid 2: Show the chord progression, show different variations of playing the chords.
vid 3: Let us jam with the chord progression, show example (Jam with the backing track)
Vid 4: Send us a link perhaps to one of Andrews lesson that you find is essential to this lesson, to get more insight you could also tell us some of your own thoughts about it.
Vid 5: Do some ear traing, you hit a note, and then you ask us what note you're hitting
Vid 6: Go through the first lick/riff - Etc: This lick is very common to Jimi Hendrix.
Vid 7 and onwards - go through the the licks/riffs

Hey, this is just me, mabye you don't like this idea, anyway, i just wanna say - cuz i think this can really improve Gmc. Im sorry if i have offended anybody - it was not my intention to do that.

Ps: We've had some rough conversations about Gmc, thats why you'll find the title a little offending - it was meant to draw attention.

Rock on!

I'd also like to see more explanation in lessons, but it does seem to be improving as more instructores are including verbal sections in their lessons.

I think its great feedback Martin - you are right, a lot of lessons are "In the style of" - and that is a great way of building your lick vocabulary and technique, however, you are right, there is certainly room for more in depth lessons as you describe (GMC always has room for improvement!). I'll point this out to Kris.

+1

I feel the same and a lot of the time i think that these are more songs you are learning rather than lessons. I'm not saying stop teaching your own material but explain how you did it and how we can make that stuff as well

I agree on with Steve, please teach. Don't just play as an example, no realy speak and teach stuff. It's probably a bit harder then only doing examples, but that's what makes the diffrence between teachers and players. Some teachers think their english isn't good enough, but Muris for example, I heard him speak in the Good Year GMC 2008 video and it's very understandable. Juan M Valero did a 1-on-1 lesson, and his english isn't world's best either (sorry Juan ) but the video was very good and it was easy to understand. Don't be afraid to do things in english, no problem if you have a bit of an accent.

I think it's very good that more and more one-on-one talking lessons appear, so we're on the good way! Good topic Martin!!

thanks

Ohh,I can say few sentences without problems
but don't expect me to do deep briefing.

That's why we have Andrew,thanks Andrew!!

i agree to some extent. I sometimes feel that some videos are just examples of styles, with tabs. And similar quality content could be found on youtube with a little searching.

I think that the focus should be in-depth explanations, because that is what the difference between a good player and a good teacher really is IMO.

i agree, that would help.

I agree it would be nice with more in-depth lessons, but I am also very fond of the "in the style of..." lessons
So I want more of both

I agree as well, the lessons are great but I would like to see more explanations of the theory. I find often there are notes used that fall outside of the scale and it would be nice to see explanations for that as well explanation of how they made note choices over specific chords, that would be great.

Yeah that could be more help.

Muris: Don't you sing as well? I think I saw you sing at your Myspace.. So the answer is: Sing the theory

+1

If you read what's written under the videos, you can often find really good theories, for example take a look on Shred Funk Legato Lesson, that's the newest one, but there's a lot of them... Sometimes the answer can be really close, but we just don't see it;)
and you don't understand you can always ask instructors,
As for ear training, the way i did it, is to play to notes on your guitar and try to figure out wich interval is it
you can also try to tune your guitar with your ears without a guitar tuner ... it works for octave interval training

i must admit- i'm really pleased with that lesson. I checked through all the videos and looked at the explanations- i couldn't be happier with it.

That's definitely a great example lesson as far as explanations go.

Acknowledged guys. From now on I will try to make more beginner friendly, 101 lessons.

Great suggestions.

Take a look at the One on One Lessons or even take a look at some of the lessons posted by Smells. Those lessons break down the song,etc and talk about the technique or little tricks to maybe make playing a certain chord eaiser,etc. You get the idea. It's not always about memorizing a song and being able to play it. You want to be able to pick apart the things that make up the song and understand what you are doing.

I agree that's an awesome lesson with great explanations, but I wouldn't say that those in depth explanations are typical of most lessons

I think some good very points are made here - there are obvious pros and cons with 101 lessons, which I think you have touched upon here!

I also agree that we don't have enough of the 101 lessons you are speaking about.

Perhaps we can use this occasion and create and similar plan as the one Andrew has done for the theory lessons. Covering basic "modules" aimed for the beginner guitarist (to start with). Once we have got something that looks like a good plan - we can bounce this off to our instructors and see who wants to cover what.

Let's discuss this a little more - and then create a new thread when we have started to reach some conclusions.

So the question now is - what basic lesson topics would you like to see covered in future 101 lessons?

Thanks for the good feedback Martin!

PS I changed the topic to "more 101 lessons suggestion" as I think it suits the topic better.

So im the first one with a free wish?

I would like to see some 1on1 lessons for some technique basics like muting.
This is very important for playing rockguitar with strong distortion and must be shown by a teacher. learning it by yourself with own ideas is frustrating.
The technique for the right and left hand, to keep the notplayed-strings quite when playing a solo.

This the only thing im missing here.

petar

That is a great suggestion.....It took me a while to learn to do it

ye kris, the title was meant to bring attention and it surely did

I would like one on muting too its my worst technique by far

Hybrid Picking or Simple Country Style with a Thumb Pick maybe.

i would like some hot blues lessons, covering the basis. Licks that are essential for blues. Showing some boring chords that can be transfered into a flashy song