Passing On Some Hard Earned Advice, Variation of practice and some structure Options

[kevvyg]

Hi, just wanted to pass on some ideas on how to progress with GMC, if anyone's interested. For years, I practised by myself, and unfortunately ended up just playing the same old thing, slowly losing my faith (bit like REM...). I have found that with GMC, the following works well for me, so if anyone's still floating in limbo, they could try this...although I guess it's pretty obvious. Learn as much theory as possible. It's invaluable. Relate this theory to the guitar - it will help you to understand what you're doing. This is vital when it comes to using the info in an exercise you've learned. Pick it to pieces and use these 'bits' elsewhere.
Bookmark as many video lessons as you like, especially those in the style of your favourite bands, and also pieces where you think, "that's brilliant, although I think it may be a bit hard for me". If you are excited by the lesson, try it and get out of it what you can, then move on to something else. In my case, this approach stops me getting bored and stagnating, as one minute I'm practising some blues, and the next I'm doing some shredding!
Don't spend years trying to perfect each piece though, get out of it what you can, then move on.
As well as this, use the stuctured lesson 'packages', and work through them lesson by lesson. This will give you a sense that you are actually progressing, which I find is very important to the psychological aspect of practising. I need to 'feel' that I'm moving forward. I think this is what I lacked in recent years!
Hope this helps - it might just be an obvious approach, but if it stops someone making the same mistakes I made, then it was worth the time it took to write this!
Just as an after-thought - I saw a section on best solos, how about Randy Rhoads' solo from 'Revelation (Mother Earth)' on the 'Blizzard of Ozz' album? Also Alex Lifeson's 'Working Man' solo? Oh, and Dimebag's from 'Cemetary Gates', on 'Cowboys from Hell'? There're many more!

Thanks eveyone!
KG

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This post has been edited by kevvyg: Sep 9 2008, 01:35 PM

[fatb0t]

I was at a point of stagnation in my playing as well, GMC solved this for sure!

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[Canis]

Indeed, I have the same approach. I have a boatload of lessons bookmarked (and sorted into a folder depending on their style, where they're alphabetized )

I practice a lot of them. When I find a lesson that gives me that "spark", it goes right into my daily routine ^^
This way, I can see, feel and hear that I progress every week =)

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[kevvyg]

Indeed, I have the same approach. I have a boatload of lessons bookmarked (and sorted into a folder depending on their style, where they're alphabetized )

I practice a lot of them. When I find a lesson that gives me that "spark", it goes right into my daily routine ^^
This way, I can see, feel and hear that I progress every week =)

Oh, that's interesting!
How did you arrange your bookmarks - I thought it might be a good idea to do that, but I don't know how!!!

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[Canis]

First off, I use Firefox ^^
I just made a new folder on the toolbar for bookmarks, then branched folders out from there.
I took a screenshot



Small translations: "Lært" = "Learned", and "Øvelser" = "Exercices" ^^

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This post has been edited by Canis: Sep 9 2008, 04:20 PM

[wollace03]

First off, I use Firefox ^^
I just made a new folder on the toolbar for bookmarks, then branched folders out from there.
I took a screenshot



Small translations: "Lært" = "Learned", and "Øvelser" = "Exercices" ^^

thanx!

that´s exactly what i needed...a way to sort my bookmarks..

thanx a lot!!

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[sigma7]

i would feel bad to stop a lesson when i dont learn it 100 percent u guys are lucky that u are able to pass lessons

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[Canis]

i would feel bad to stop a lesson when i dont learn it 100 percent u guys are lucky that u are able to pass lessons

Of course, I do learn most lessons I start on to the fullest

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[Toroso]

i would feel bad to stop a lesson when i dont learn it 100 percent u guys are lucky that u are able to pass lessons

It's not so much that. I have developed this same approach. I practice a lesson. No I don't get it all down. But I move on and try other things. When I come back to it. I find it easier to get back into the groove of that lesson and get further along with it as well.

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[sigma7]

oohhhhhhhhhhh ok i get it now, thats not a bad idea but i do learn like 5 lessons at once so i guess im kind of doing it now

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[Guitar1969]

This is great advice - I have been getting really discouraged in GMC. Its not GMCs fault, but if you are self teaching and still in the lower end of skill level like me, once your past the initial Beginner kickoff, you can get lost on what you should be working on and in what order for development as a guitarist. For some reason I have a hard time sticking with one lesson, get bored, and jump around alot. I don't know what I should be practricing(As you can probably tell by my previous posts). Even level 2 and 3 lessons seem hard to me. Unfortunately, that is where a real teacher can help a lot.

your idea on bookmarks is great, as I was using the GMC bookmarking system, and found myself putting too many lessons in there, which was causing me not to focus.

At this point I am actually working through some books and then using the GMC lessons to supplement specific topics. working on Funk strumming right now, and using Joe Kataldo;s funk lessons with it.

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[Bogdan Radovic]

Great advices guys!
One thing to add, I would suggest opening a thread in GMC's forum or in your favorite instructors private board with a question what to practice next (when you get stuck)..You write what you want to develop , your level and I'm sure you will get nice recommendations! Also I suggest checking out next GMC lessons series for more focused practicing. (https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/lesson-series.htm)

Cheers

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[midnight]

Good advice. I bookmark tons of lessons and practice more than one lesson at a time. I think it's out being inspired by so many lessons , that I can't wait to learn another.

As for learning theory, I'm doing the 'Absolutely Understand Guitar' course and it's been great. Everything seems to flow in order and it's much easier for me to understand, especially intervals. For people serious about theory, or struggling to grasp it, check it out.

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[kevvyg]

I'm glad that my ideas were helpful. Obviously everyone has their own preferences for learning, but it's definitely important to have some structure to your learning - that's why I think the structured lessons on the site are so good. With respect to not practising a piece to death, if you can get it down exactly, then that's great - I just want people to avoid what I did, and spend absolutely ages on one thing. It's like learning to read at school. You start off with something really easy, but when you've struggled through it a couple of times, the teacher turns the page and you do the same to the next (ever so slightly harder) lesson. When you've struggled through that, you go back to the previous one, and you can read it easier than you could before! I made the mistake of spending ages stuck on the first page. I might get to the point where can read it pretty well, but I've not progressed.
Keep practising guys!

KG
ps Can I do the bookmark arranging thingy in Internet Explorer?

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[jacmoe]

Great advice!

Maybe something to be added to GMC, a way to arrange your bookmarks ?
Put them in folders.
View them by difficulty, style/category, instructor ?

That would rock!

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[Guitar1969]

I'm glad that my ideas were helpful. Obviously everyone has their own preferences for learning, but it's definitely important to have some structure to your learning - that's why I think the structured lessons on the site are so good. With respect to not practising a piece to death, if you can get it down exactly, then that's great - I just want people to avoid what I did, and spend absolutely ages on one thing. It's like learning to read at school. You start off with something really easy, but when you've struggled through it a couple of times, the teacher turns the page and you do the same to the next (ever so slightly harder) lesson. When you've struggled through that, you go back to the previous one, and you can read it easier than you could before! I made the mistake of spending ages stuck on the first page. I might get to the point where can read it pretty well, but I've not progressed.
Keep practising guys!

KG
ps Can I do the bookmark arranging thingy in Internet Explorer?

In IE the bookmarks is your Favorites menu, where you can create subfolders.

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[kevvyg]

In IE the bookmarks is your Favorites menu, where you can create subfolders.

Oh yes! thanks!

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[TheOldOnes]

I think this is a great way to organize your lessons - makes things fairly interesting.

With myself, I don't have access to highspeed internet at home so I download the gp5 files and organize them on my desktop. At the moment, I organize them by instructer and each night I pick one or two lessons from each instructer and practice them. Then I pick a new lesson and try to work on each part putting them together and after a few days, I add that lesson to my practice regime usually dropping one lesson that I feel I have done a good job with or need some time away before I can make better progression. What I have realized is that for most lessons particularly the more advanced lessons, I can only achieve 80% of the speed by repetitive practice and taking a week or two off enables me to play these lessons more precisely and with more enthusiasm.

I also have a folder with gp5 files for regular songs that I have been playing for years (most not particularly well) and play along with a few of these songs each night relearning parts I play differently (songs like Two Minutes to Midnight, Trooper, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, Remember Tomorrow, La Villa Strangliata, Wrathchild, Xanadu, etc) or on rare occassions, change the gp5 tabs to reflect what I sometimes think is a better way to play the song).

I have a question that someone more computer savvy can perhaps answer - I recently bought a new computer and realized that with some of the amazing computer speaker systems now available, can you convert your computer into a decent sounding HI-Fi system? I used to play alot along with cd's but I hate lugging my guitar equipment from one part of the house to another and so now I play solely infront of the computer. If I can use the computer to play cd's (I am pretty sure my computer can handle this well, is it worth investing in high quality computer speakers to use my computer to play cd's?).

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[kevvyg]

I think this is a great way to organize your lessons - makes things fairly interesting.

With myself, I don't have access to highspeed internet at home so I download the gp5 files and organize them on my desktop. At the moment, I organize them by instructer and each night I pick one or two lessons from each instructer and practice them. Then I pick a new lesson and try to work on each part putting them together and after a few days, I add that lesson to my practice regime usually dropping one lesson that I feel I have done a good job with or need some time away before I can make better progression. What I have realized is that for most lessons particularly the more advanced lessons, I can only achieve 80% of the speed by repetitive practice and taking a week or two off enables me to play these lessons more precisely and with more enthusiasm.

I also have a folder with gp5 files for regular songs that I have been playing for years (most not particularly well) and play along with a few of these songs each night relearning parts I play differently (songs like Two Minutes to Midnight, Trooper, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, Remember Tomorrow, La Villa Strangliata, Wrathchild, Xanadu, etc) or on rare occassions, change the gp5 tabs to reflect what I sometimes think is a better way to play the song).

I have a question that someone more computer savvy can perhaps answer - I recently bought a new computer and realized that with some of the amazing computer speaker systems now available, can you convert your computer into a decent sounding HI-Fi system? I used to play alot along with cd's but I hate lugging my guitar equipment from one part of the house to another and so now I play solely infront of the computer. If I can use the computer to play cd's (I am pretty sure my computer can handle this well, is it worth investing in high quality computer speakers to use my computer to play cd's?).

Hi, some good ideas there! And nice to hear from a (fellow) Rush fan!
Computers now come with excellent sound cards and playback facilities. If you have a motherboard with on-board sound, or a seperate sound card, and they are relatively modern, then you should have the capability to plug in a 5.1, or better, speaker system. Check the device manager in the control panel on your PC for more info, or check out the documentation that came with the PC. If you have an old-ish motherboard, you can still buy a PCI sound card with 5.1 surround sound capability relatively cheap. Not sure where you live, but any computer store will help you out with a sound card and/or a compatible speaker system. Hope that helps!
KG

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[TheOldOnes]

Thanks Kevvyg - I just bought the computer 3 weeks ago to serve as a distraction while my arm heals up from tendinitis (3 weeks and counting - nightmarish!). Looking at the specs, it looks quite capable of handling anything out there at the moment. I'll soon be picking up a Line 6 PodXT or Pod 3 (I haven't broken the news to my wife yet so I am trying to figure out how to get one after getting a new guitar 2 months ago and a new computer last month - it looks like I may be mortgaging several future Xmas'.

Yeah, I love Rush - I picked up lots of little Rush licks over the years but I only know the rhythm tracks for a few songs. I think the recent call for lessons on things like the solo for Working Man may be a nice call.

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