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Post by creamburmese on Mar 10, 2015 14:44:45 GMT
So now I'm reinvigorated and starting to look forward again, and I'm thinking I need a summer project. I'm hoping I can get some ideas courtesy of all the wonderfully experienced people on this board I get to take a break from weekly classical lessons over the summer - school breaks are a lot longer over here than in the UK so I've probably got nearly 3 months to play with. I'm not very good at keeping myself focused so I do need some regular input (do they make guitar trainers)? So I thought I would sign up for a few months on a website - I looked at artistworks... does anyone have any experiences, positive or negative with aritistworks or an alternative online teaching resource? I think it has to be something where there can be some feedback because I have a great tendency to do things wrong if left to my own devices. I briefly thought about doing beginner flat picking - it would be useful for the steel string, but on the other hand I showed absolutely zero ability to control a pick when I started to play and I'm pretty sure it hasn't got any better since, so instead it might be nice to learn a new tune or 2 fingerstyle, although I also thought looking at some Celtic music (I know there are a lot of experts on this on this board) or Bossa Nova. What do people think? Has anyone else taken a genre break for a few months and concentrated on something different? What did you do and how did you go about it? Julie
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Martin
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Post by Martin on Mar 10, 2015 22:49:53 GMT
I constantly break and change between acoustic, classical, electric, bass, banjo, mandolin and even accordion!
On the plus side it keeps me fresh and interested. On the negative side, I'm rubbish at all of them!
I've been looking at the ArtistWorks website for their mandolin tuition, and might try that, time permitting.
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Post by Cams on Mar 11, 2015 20:31:36 GMT
I posted recently about the flatpicking course I'm doing on Artistworks with Bryan Sutton. Another poster delb0y is also a student there and has been for longer than I. I would recommend that course if you're interested in that style, and even if you're not, you'd probably still get a lot out of it. I've also bought a course from TrueFire, the Tony McManus fingerstyle course. The advantage of that one was that you can download it and use it offline, but there's no feedback element. The video exchanges on Artistworks alone are worth the price of admission. You can view exchanges that other students have sent in too, as well as the responses. The McManus course goes into dropped D and DADGAD and I'm sure you'd get a lot out of playing around with altered tunings if you haven't already. It's a lot of fun and somehow liberating, at least that's how I find it. And it's fun!
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Akquarius
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Post by Akquarius on Mar 11, 2015 21:00:50 GMT
+ 1 to what cams said. Diving into altered tunings for a while might be an interesting alternative. I remember my first time exploring DADGAD. I didn't have a clue, a book, a course. I retuned and simply explored the "new" fretboard. This was pure fun without any kind of stress to "having to get somewhere". And don't believe a word Martin said. He's a brilliant musician and only fishing for compliments
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Post by vikingblues on Mar 12, 2015 8:20:37 GMT
I agree about altered and open tunings. There is a great deal of fun to be had in exploring them as Bernd and cams mention. The sounds that can be found doing this are so rich and resonant it makes standard tuning seem a tad dull when you return to it. What I don't recommend is learning the standard chords for an altered tuning which is what so many books seem to have as a starting point - if you want to play standard chords why use an altered tuning! Also I found a Spider Capo is very invigorating, albeit mind bending. Having the guitar tuned in standard tuning but having some strings fretted by the capo at a different fret gives a whole new perspective. As does, to a lesser extent perhaps, a partial capo. Now I think back on it I recall it was the spider capo that persuaded me it was worth trying to play acoustic steel string guitar at all - I would return to using it more if I didn't keep finding new altered tunings to explore. A change in genre, style or instrument can be very useful to maintain interest, though I do sometimes feel I'm struggling to maintain proper levels of even half decent playing with so many of them - as Martin has already said there is a negative in that regard! With acoustic guitars, a resonator, electric guitars, bass, members of the mandolin family, and the various genres and styles of folk, celtic, blues, modal playing, improvisations (my favourite ), slide, open and altered tuning, partial and spider capo I maybe am spreading myself a bit thin - as proved by some less successful musical attempts. But I would mention that changing genres for "a few months" might not end up being for just that time - most new things I've tried that have proved to be of any interest have stayed with me long term! Good luck with whatever you decide Julie - it's good that you feel so reinvigorated. Mark
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brianr2
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Post by brianr2 on Mar 12, 2015 9:08:13 GMT
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Post by creamburmese on Mar 12, 2015 15:08:26 GMT
Altered tuning - I hadn't thought of that! I guess what scares me is that I'm a bit limited on the improvisation side - I usually learn stuff from sheet music, and that would be a problem if the strings were retuned! However I guess the point is NOT to play from music... I'll take a look at the sites you suggested Brian and see if anything appeals. I will say I took a couple of workshops (2h a day for 5 days) with Pat Kirtley last year, and he is a great example of someone who does not read music (as he repeatedly told us) but plays phenomenally, It was too advanced for me because I didn't know the jazz chords he was using and I couldn't keep up, but it was fun to follow along.
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