Learning made easy with the MBR

[Tony W]

So in the last 2 nights, I've averaged 4 hours of tinkering per night. I have some songs that I thought sounded simple to play, but couldn't ever make them recognizable to friends family, and my poor girlfriend...

I can't believe just how easy those "easy" songs really were to play. I slowed them down to 70% speed, and wow, I get it now! I spent $200 on lessons which were a complete waste, and $206 getting everything I needed for the MBR. After comparing lessons/MBR, I have this urge to drive to the music store, and body slam the instructor.

the guy was apparently used to instructing "young" musicians, and I'm a rather large, somewhat intimidating person, so we never clicked on any level. He would look at the clock 5 minutes into the lesson, giving me the impression he wanted nothing to do with me. Going in to lessons, I had all the common chords on lock, I practiced transitions religiously, so it certainly wasn't starting from scratch.
I eventually gave up on lessons, and nearly quit trying to play. The only comparison I can make between what I could do on a guitar last week to today is the first Matrix movie. "I know Kung Foo"

Thank you MBR, and thanks to the helpful users on this forum!

**EDIT** Just a little update, but I've spent about 4 hours listening to several pages worth of "post your own" I'm so incredibly impressed with everyone! This board is run amuck with talent!

[Wiley]

You will love it here when you get to now everyone. They are so helpful. Just have patience and it will all come.

[64Guitars]

Anyone have any luck with guitar instruction DVDs? Yesterday, I picked up "Guitar World Presents How To Play The Best Of The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Electric Ladyland". I had a quick look at it last night and it looks pretty good. Although, I don't know when I'll ever find time to learn the songs. I bought their "How To Play Axis: Bold As Love" DVD over a year ago and I still haven't got around to learning any of the songs. I spend too much time in this forum. 

I've also seen many of the DVDs from Lick Library and I think they're quite good. I actually learned a few songs from those videos.

Beginning guitarists have it so much easier today with excellent instructional DVDs and tools such as the BR's Phrase Trainer. When I was starting out, the instruction books were childish rubbish and sheet music was always wrong. The best way I found of learning songs was to record them on my reel-to-reel recorder so I could easily stop and rewind to play a section as many times as necessary without scratching my vinyl records. And I could slow difficult lead solos to half speed to make them a bit easier to figure out. I wish I had a BR back then!

[Tony]

I agree with you about the strength of the MBR as a learning tool.  I go so far as to record a short section (what I want to learn) from my iPod (because it is typically as I'm walking and listening to music that I find something I want to be able to do), save as an mp3 and play it over and over.  I still think that is preferable to learning from lead sheets.  You learn so much more when you do it with your ears.  If I learn something from a lead sheet, I forget it much quicker than if I figure it out from the record/mp3.

[Bro]

I've also seen many of the DVDs from Lick Library and I think they're quite good. I actually learned a few songs from those videos.

I've learned SO MUCH from lick library!

[Tony W]

Interesting stuff. In life, I've found in anything I do, if I want to excel, I surround myself at people who are better than me. That philosophy works from snowboarding to carpentry (I've never applied this to open heart surgery though). This is a slightly more difficult thing to do with guitar, since I don't know that many people who play, or people who make time to sit around and have a jam session.

Since I'm stuck learning by myself, I often tend to throw money at my inability to play. I have 3 books that are filled with song that I don't care to play, and can't read or understand anyway. I've never branched into the DVD's to learn because I believed they would be over my head like every other approach I've tried.

The one sure fire method I've found for advancing is a combination of http://www.e-chords.com and loading up the MBR with those tunes. I have been pleasantly surprised at the progress made in just under 2 weeks.

I've tinkered with "other peoples" guitars for a few years. I purchased a guitar in May of 2008, and have not had significant progress until the MBR. Now I am completely open to other mediums for success.