Hello
Mike,
I
am not sure if this is the best way to contact you or not.
I
am not a beginner at all. I am a 53 year old man with
Parkinson's
and I have come to use my guitar playing as my primary
therapy in
my Disease. Your free videos you have provided via the your
mailing list have been God Send to my therapy and playing, and I am so
psyched.
I
highly recommend your site to friends and anyone else that ask me about
learning resources. I was playing a small gig awhile back and
someone asked "Wow where did you learn Classical Gas?" And of
course my answer was Mike Herberts :-)
Thank
you for all
Robert
Saunders |
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A
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Hi
Guys,
I don't know if you read replies to to your generated e-mails, however
Mike I had been struggling with guitar for 25 years prior to finding
your lessons way back when you first started off I never
had any lessons (should have when I was younger I
am in my
fifties like you Mike).
However you get married settle down have a couple of kids, get
a
loan for the family home and everything else goes on the backburner.
Then BINGO one night whilst having a brouse on the internet I find this
guy who is giving me free lessons on how to actually make the guitar
sound okay.
Mike I have purchased most of your early stuff and really enjoyed
working through the lessons I thought I will be right now. THEN UP POPS
JERRY I have a Gibson SG Standard thats
been in
the wardrobe for 30 years My younger brother plays
pretty
good electric guitar and I always wanted to give it a go. I purchased
the set, bought a little Epiphone valve special amp,
practised what you and Jerry put together (LOOK OUT LITTLE
BROTHER
STEVES ROCKIN)
Anyway guys you have given me the ability to enjoy the instrument that
I fell in love with so many years ago, YOU GUYS stopped my frustration
with guitar and showed me how to play and enjoy. Merry Christmas
Guys looking forward to your endeavours next year.
Kind
regards.
Steve
Denmark |
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| A |
Mike,
You
were
there at the right time, with the right song, presented in the most
wonderfully "learnable" way.
You seem like such a great guy and what you've done for me and others
I'm sure will stay with us forever.
I'm full of appreciation and just wanted to tell you how much you've
touched my life.
John
R. CA. USA
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| A |
Mike,
I have been playing since the age of 11 and am now almost thirty but i
got stuck in a rut and stumbled across your good self on Youtube many
months ago.
Since then I have passed on your site to 7 other people and they all
love your teaching methods as much as me.
You are fantastic and you helped me come up with some new
material for my album i am working on.
I have picked up some excellent blues techniques and even tho I have
been playing for a long time it never hurts to go back to basics and I
am truly grateful for the help I have found your videos so far.
Laura S.
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Hi Mike,
Thank you for
your help and patience, I was able to download all the videos and am
delighted.
I have enjoyed
my guitar more in the past week than I have done in the past 3 years
since I discovered
your website.
Thank you once again and will look forward to progressing further with
your excellent teaching method.
Best Regards,
Bob M.
Northern Ireland.
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| A |
Hi Mike,
I've only just seen your
first instructional video
and I've learned more in
20minutes than in the last
2 months.
Can you help with another
problem. I'm not little
and I'm having problems
with conventional F chords.
are there any alternatives?
Thanks
Matty
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| A |
Hi
Mike,
I feel I must congratulate you on your superb choice of tunes
for
us novices to have a go at. They seem to fit the part perfectly not to
difficult and sound good to me even on my first attempts,
although I've a long way to go to play them properly.
Having tried a few tutorial sites on the internet over the
past
12 months yours is the best byfar. Your short freebies (a bit of
spanish, vestapol etc.) you send out are great motivators and at 72
years of age I need all the motification I can get. But I do really
enjoy trying to play the guitar, and it beats watching some of the
rubbish on TV.
I hope your side of your business prooves profitable you deserve it and
I wish you the best of luck for the future.
Many thanks,
Ken Harrison
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| A |
Dear
Mike,
Just wanted to thank you for all the great e-mails with songs to try! I
am really enjoying the guitar and so is my family, listening to me
play. I have a long way to go yet but i'll keep plugging along.
I have blackbird down and also tears in heaven, although it's still
rough ;-) I am still working on never going back again....I
love
that song and I will someday get it...but like you said the timing is
really tough, I'll keep working on it!!
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for your help in my playing, your
videos are just great!
Monique
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| A |
Dear
Mike,
I am a 63 year old man who has had 3
rounds , 2
heart attacks, triple bypass
surgery and my last great adventure was lyarnx cancer I have licked all
3 of them the only thing that I have left now is a feeding tube in my
stomache , that is where the guitar sits.
I just wanted to tell you I have learned more just by watching your
free videos then I could learn out of any books I could of had.
Always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but I couldnt afford it
so I found a real deal on an electric guitar and I bought it is not the
best but it serves its purpose although I am on limited income thanks
to you I have learned a little bit and I am getting there slow but sure.
When the feeding tube comes out I will be able to play more often..
Thanks for the videos they have been very helpful. All the videos that
I have looked at on the web your videos are
the best.. My fingers do hurt but I enjoy learning. Thanks for the
videos.
Ed Sharon, PA USA
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| A |
Hi
Mike
Just like to say your videos are great.
I've only been playing guitar for 5 months and was getting nowhere
until I found your web site.
I've down loaded the
videos and now I can actually play something!
The way you explain them step by step is so easy to follow. if I hadn't
found your site I think I would of given up. Must go now as I've just
downloaded another one to learn.
Thanks once again
Mark Waterfall
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| A |
Mike,
I think your videos are great. Thank you so much for sending them!
I've been playing guitar for 4 years, and yet, I know barely anything.
I have a years worth of REAL experience. You've taught me
more
things in this year than I have learnt in the past 3 years.
Again, thank you, so much.
Ash.
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| A |
Mike,
These instructional videos are fantastic.
I am 40 years old, I regretted that I never learnt an instrument and
decided that this was something I wanted to do in my 41st year.
These instructional videos are fantastic and I just what I wanted to
tell you that they have given me a flying start.
Please continue with the lesson videos, but instructional videos on
learning tabs would be sensational.
I look forward to hearing more from you.
Cheers
Darren Longridge
Australia
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| A |
Mike,
Thanks for the new pieces. They are absolutely great.
I can't believe how much I have learned from the videos. I
never
thought I could actually learn
how to play the guitar!!!
I thank you for all the instruction, they have
made all the difference.
Best regards,
Nefi
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| A |
Hi
Mike,
Just thought I would drop you a quick note...
I've been having lessons now for 4 years and slowly but surely, making
progress.
I came across your website about 3 weeks ago and thought 'Oh great,
another how to play guitar really quick website that says the same old,
same old stuff'. Boy did I get that wrong!
I downloaded your trial Eric Clapton 'Tears In Heaven' video and was
playing it end to end in about 2 hours - I was soooo happy!
I then took the plunge and purchased the Fleetwood Mac video (always
loved that song!), that's taken a little longer to play fluently but
I'm all over it. I ordered it Wednesday and it arrived the following
Monday
- Very impressive considering I'm in Australia
Just wanted to let you know, keep up your great website!!!!!
Best Regards
Mark Rettig
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| A |
Hi
Mike
Just like to say thank you for the free guitar lessons.
I've just started practicing after about 10 years abstinence!
Surprising how quickly the fingers harden up after all this
while. I remember when I first
started my fingers hurt for weeks.
I'm probably one of your oldest students, I am now on long term sick so
this gives me plenty of time to practice. I have arthritis in
my
hands and playing the guitar helps to keep the fingers mobile, with
your help and the
resources available on the net it has made learning again much more
enjoyable and progress is much quicker.
It is always easier to learn if you can hear and see the way guitar is
played and because of restricted finances any free stuff I can find is
always very much appreciated.
Yours is the only free video lessons I've found so this is a great big
THANK YOU for allowing people like me to share and learn whilst
expecting nothing in return.
I look forward to your next lesson.
Kindest regards
(No Name Sent)
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| A |
Hi
Mike,
I am one of your older students, 44 years old.
Just like to thank you for
the videos and the inspiration I have got out of them, I had a 21 year
break from guitar and have learned and gained more experience over the
last few months than ever before.
Many thanks once again,
Graham Leadbetter
Near Glasgow, Scotland
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| A |
Hiya
Mike,
Site looks great !!!!
Gotta tell ya, I have been playing for a number of
years, and my daughter recently wanted to start. Well, it was
just after she took up learning that I happened across your
site.
What I really like about it is I can sit her down to follow your lead
and she is learning
quickly. Coupled with that, I have found the site an
inspiration
and have improved my playing significantly .. you must be an
inspiration !!!!
Thanks for a great idea and I hope the site continues to grow
John -- Canada
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| A |
Dear
Mike,
Thank you for the guitar lessons, they're a great boon!
Months ago I reached a plateu that rendered me unable to advance
further, even with the help of ultimate-guitar.com and the like.
But seeing a piece played is so much more different than plain
tablatures, and now i feel my guitar skills progressing again thanks to
your videos.
Once again, thank you so much. You're a good guitarist and with good
heart.
Jeremy
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| A |
Dear
Mike,
The lessons are going great, I really really enjoy what you are doing
for not just me but the world, and to me thats a really big thing
...when you can do something for the whole world at one time.
I'm not a beginner at all and yet I still find your lessons very
pleasant and at many
times very insightful, take that from a veteran of 18 years playing
guitar.
To you I salute you sir keep it up!!!
Kevin Bishop
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| A |
Mike,
I thought I’d take the
opportunity to drop you a quick email and say . . .Thank You!
For your generosity firstly, the videos you have produced and made
available for free download are fantastic.
I hadn’t played the guitar since I was at school and it was
always one of those things I wanted to take up again but never did.
There were always too many problems, too much expense with guitar
tutors and (dare I say) too much time required for practice!
What your videos have shown is that (re)learning to
play the guitar needn’t be too difficult and can
actually be fun! (especially your comments in your
email of early February) It’s obvious that you get a
lot of enjoyment out of playing and it’s great that
the enthusiasm comes across in the videos.
Especially the beginners videos which show how great the guitar can
sound with 4 basic chords and some well practiced
picking!
I understand you are running a business but I have to say you have a
great way of attracting customers! I shall certainly be investing in a
couple of your videos (and investing is the right word given the
quality of the teaching!), it’s just a shame I missed out on
the
recent offer for ‘Layla’ and
‘Vincent’.
(That’ll teach me to go away and not check my emails!)
Anyway, I look forward to more great videos in the future (another
Spanish piece or an extension to the existing piece would be wonderful
. . . . ) and I look forward to making the first of what I hope will be
many purchases in the future.
With best regards,
Chris Bulmer
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| A |
Thank
you for the free guitar videos... I'm a guitar teacher, always on the
look out for ways to stimulate students and increase their access and
enablement...
your freebies are just the job for those who can't access TAB or
notation.
They think its great... I give them your web address, so its up to them
from
there on. Good job.
Chris.
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| A |
Hi
Mike,
Just a quick line to say thanks for all the hard work you've put in to
make your site the best on the web.
I'm enjoying learning to play the guitar more each day, I'm
even
trying to learn some of the theory and learning to read music now.
I look forward to purchasing more great vids from you in the
future.
Many thanks,
Graham Quantrill.
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| A |
Hi
Mike,
I would like you to know that apart from your personal talent, you have
that incredible ability,
to show an intermediate player like me, something that I have searched
for 20 years, how to play solo and melody simultaniously.
And you actually show how it is done in four frets, I have looked at
the video twice, and I want you to know, that I have had teachers for
four years and did not teach me what I have learned watching your
session on my first day.
Congratulation on a great learning technique
Respectfully,
Giuseppe De Carlo
Turramura-Sydney
Australia
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| A |
HI
Mike thanks for the lessons.
I would love to learn tab and also yes the link worked great for the
other songs.
I was wondering what other songs you had available to download I would
love to have some Bob Seager, Journey or Eagles to learn.
The songs that are on the site to buy are good songs but not ones that
I was wanting to learn so if you have a complete list of songs I can
learn I would love to have it.
I have no problem buying the lessons for these songs.
Once again let me say thanks so much for your lessons you really are a
great teacher the best I have seen that is why I have no problem paying
for lessons that really work.
I was blown away to see that you actually reply to the e-mails yourself
that is the mark of a great teacher that cares about his students.
The lessons are easy to follow and! you go through them slow enough so
we can learn.
Once again thank you so much.
Darrell Whitledge.
Chicago IL USA.
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| A |
Mike Hi ya,
First thanks thanks for doing this ,I have been trying to play a
guitar for more years then I care to remember.
The blues have always held
something for me and I just want to play THE BLUES .I could never ask
anybody to show me ,so I tried to learn myself .
I found out how to tune my
guitar just by watching others then I would listern to bits and parts
of music and I found I could play a bit of 12 bar blues which kept me
going for
years and years knowing that there is a whole lot more to be found but
still cannot ask anybody how.
I dont no why but maybe its just the way Im built. I was all this time
trying to play on a old classical guitar but only getting
so far ,I would drive my partner mad just play the same 12 bar riff
over and over again.
Anyway I wont go on ,I'm just so pleased that I found you and
even after just a short time I have gone forward in my playing thanks
to you.
.Ill stop now Im sure you have lots of things to do then just to
listen to me go on and on about my pain as a guitar
player..
Thanks again and
again Pip.45
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Read my own 'guitar learning' story
cc
 he
exact date has long since gone from my memory but I CAN still remember
how good it felt AND more importantly how unlikely the situation was.
Picture
me now . . . I was 22 years old (I had hair) and had been playing guitar
for less than 18
months. (This was long before
the creation of online acoustic
guitar
lessons)
My fulltime job, the one that fed the twin boys we had, and kept the
roof above our heads, was as a door to door insurance agent. OK so it
wasn't glamourous but it paid the mortgage on the tiny house we had.
Most days I wore a cheap suit
and travelled round on a 50cc
motor cycle. Visiting clients in their own homes and collecting their
weekly premiums and trying (not very well in those days, I sucked) to
sell them more life/car/house insurance.
The
only
good part about that job was meeting people in the evenings and getting
to spend most of the daytime with my kids and indulging my new
found passion . . . the acoustic guitar.
Can
YOU remember what first got
you
interested in Guitar?
I can't remember what
first drew me to the guitar. I can remember the smell of the wood and
the sound of the strings and the feel of the thing but not the reason I
was drawn to it so completely.
I
remember the first time I tried to
hold down a chord. The pain was unbelievable. I remember thinking surely it can't feel like
this when you
play...otherwise
why would anyone do it? All
I needed was a few easy
acoustic guitar lessons to
learn
Then
I started to think .
. . . . this is impossible!
When
I read those first books on guitar, not one of them mentioned that it
actually hurt
your fingers. They
all made it sound so easy. 'Hold down a G chord and strum four times .
. then change to a C chord and Woah... wait a minute ....THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE.
I
admit that I
am a very compulsive and driven person, but I couldn't see how I was
going to get past holding down those first couple of chords. I'd bought
a few books by now and had a go at some tabs, but I was getting
nowhere.
Couldn't play a damn song
to save my life . . . but I
could hold down a G chord . . . well
yippidee dah!
"The
Story
Could Have
Ended Right There . . ."
The
story
could very easily have ended right there had it not been for a little
coincidence.
The
house next door to ours was vacant and the owner asked if I could show
potential tenants round if they showed up.
I
said yes and one day a guy turned up to look at the house and he had a guitar case
with him. I asked him if
he could play and he said yes...and
took out the guitar and started turning me green with envy.
The
story
races on here...he moved in and we became great friends despite the
fact that I was round there every night (almost every night) for the
next 12 months. Paul (his real name) was very patient with me, I think
because he could see how enthusiastic I was, and taught me just about
everything he knew.
If he
showed me something
that I found too difficult then he'd show me a way round it. He would
substitute easier fingering, simplified chord shapes. Sometimes we'd
just change key and suddenly everything got easier.
A
year later we both realised that I had more of a talent for guitar than
he did but with his patience and his willingness to show me (sometimes
over and over again for hours) I had
learned at a pace that was breathtaking.
They
were
going to regret this!
So
here we were about 18 months after I had first picked up a guitar,
a
room full of smirking
wannabe 'musicians' all looking cool
with long hair, torn jeans, smiling at this dude in the cheap suit who
had asked to look at one of the guitars.
I had turned up at one
of my usual calls
and the house was full of guys who were home from college...and they
had a band (well kind of a band) and were rehearsing!
'Do
you play?' one of them asked. 'A bit' I replied, as another one of them
passed this beaten up old acoustic guitar to me with a 'come
on
then smart-ass show us what you can do'
look on his face.
Four
guys
staring with wide eyes
and even wider mouths . . .
There
are some times in your life when you just feel soooo good...and
this was one of those times. I'm not a 'show off' by nature but just
for that few minutes I was revelling in the glory.
I casually rattled off half a dozen classic guitar pieces of the day, I
still can't remember what I played that day, but I
CAN REMEMBER
THEIR FACES.
When
I'd finished there was no applause. I just passed the guitar back and
said 'I better get going guys..' All eyes were on me as I left the
room. There was nothing else
to say, I'd just let my playing do
the talking.
How
had I managed to get so
good in such a short time?
Well
there
are many ways to learn guitar but they are not
all
equal. Books
and tabs work ok if you have the talent, time and determination. If you
are human like me then there is a much better and faster way. . . .
once you figure out one simple fact.
The
acoustic guitar IS
a folk instrument
And
what do you think is the best way to learn how to play a folk
instrument? Well for the last few thousand years we've learned by......
Watching
folks play it.
Yes!
It IS soooooooo simple isn't it?
To
this day mankind has found no
better way to learn a simple instrument like the acoustic guitar, than
by getting someone to show us how to do it.
That simple fact, that I had learned all those years ago, was the
single reason that I started this entire venture in the first place.
Just remember I've done what you've done. I've bought the books, looked
at the chord charts, tried the tabs . . . .I've suffered the
frustration of thinking 'it must be me. I must just be too stupid to
learn guitar'. NO
It's not YOU.
It's the idiots who produce
the books who are stupid.
Stupid to think that seeing a line of text like G - C - D...
is going to teach you anything about making music.
Fast
forward 30 years
I did eventually get quite good as a salesman. In fact I became a sales
training consultant guru (whatever they're called)
I'd travelled the world, had a big house and lots of other expensive
toys and one day came to my senses. I sat back, looked at all this
stuff around me and thought......why?
I'd taught dozens of people to play guitar in the same way I'd learned
and decided I wanted to change my life completely.
Could I teach guitar full-time,
from home, on the internet?
Well
the early videos I made make
me cringe a bit now.
The content is still good but the lighting, sound and image quality are
from a different era. (7 years is a long time in technology terms)
Anyhow...I studied this internet thing and soon saw that the way
forward was to produce loads of quality videos to give away in order to
establish my credibility and the quality of what was
being produced...so I did that.
The early days were spent figuring out exactly what music people like
you wanted to play and then making the videos. The theory is that if
you get some quality freebies from me then you might part with some
cash for some of the paid content later on.
The
good news is...that model works
and
so here we are today doing what we do.
As I said up the page, sign up to start getting the free lessons and
every now and then you'll get an email about something new that's been
produced and you'll have a chance to buy it.
A percentage of people will never buy anything, and that's absolutely
fine.
A percentage will want to learn the exact latest piece that's been
produced and.....between the two types of subscriber.....I make a
living.
Well it's been nice
talking to you but....better go now.....I've got videos to get made.
Click one of the links and start getting the free stuff immediately and
we'll talk again soon.
Mike Herberts
|
What
makes Mike Herberts' different?
 ost
people
who find me don't want to learn any theory or boring stuff
when
they start playing.
And
that's
fine because I can have you playing tons of songs on acoustic guitar
without learning any theory at all.
All you really need is
someone to SHOW
you where to put your fingers and talk you through the moves.
January. 2011
Dear
fellow acoustic guitarist,
I'm
going to teach you some nice easy
songs to
start with and you'll be instantly inspired.
So,
if
you're at the point where you think that your guitar might be more
useful as firewood just hang on a second before
you get out the matches and turn that lovely guitar into a pile of
ashes.
I
don't know if these are the most important reasons that you should sign
up to the site, only YOU will know that.
These
are just SOME of the things we've thought of to get you playing more
music and getting a LOT more pleasure from your guitar playing.
As you read
through this list I'm
sure you'll start to understand that THIS SITE is different and maybe
THIS TIME YOU REALLY ARE GOING TO SEE SOME MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT.
|
1. Over-The-Shoulder-View
How
one really weird idea
changed
the way you learn
to
play guitar.
|
 couple
of years ago I was watching the split screen shot of one of my early
videos and I had this wacky idea
I thought to my self "wouldn't it be great if I could make these videos
showing the hands
on-screen from the same angle that you see them in real life".
I reckoned that shooting the videos this
way would make it a lot easier and quicker for you to learn them.
I
wasn't sure how my customers and subscribers would like that idea so I
made a really short snippet of video in
the new format and sent it out to get some feedback. Anyway
to cut a long story short....everybody really liked the idea.
So
all the videos made since then, have been shot in, what has become
known as, Over-The-Shoulder-Vision.
This means that when you look at the video on-screen, the view you see
of the fretting hand is from the
viewpoint as the player.
As you follow the on-screen action you simply move your hands and place
your
fingers exactly like you see them on the screen.
This
'players eye' view is not 100% perfect yet however (especially for left
handers) but it does give you a new and unique
way of viewing our video guitar lessons.
I suppose I should also tell you about a really odd side effect too.
As
you progress with any particular piece and can play it close to normal
speed something really crazy happens.
It's hard to describe the effect but it is something like virtual
reallity. You can see the piece being
played on-screen but it is almost like YOU are controlling the action.
I guess it is a bit like the new games
consoles (I think you know which ones I mean)
A
few people told me about this strange, and very useful, side effect
before I tried it and I couldn't wait to try
it for myself. Within seconds I could see exactly what they meant.
So,
the original experiment turned out to be a great success in more ways
than one and all new material is
now made this way.
The
next development is to get the same 'guitarists eye view' on the
righthand. This is a bit more tricky but we are
near the end of the experiments and should soon have something so
totally unique it will blow everybodys'
mind.
Using this method definitely makes these acoustic
guitar lessons....even
easier to learn
 here
is a big problem for people learning new pieces on guitar that doesn't
happen with most other instruments.
I am sure you'll recognise the problem, It goes something like this:
You
start learning the new piece and everthing is going fine until.....you
get to the bit that is way beyond your
ability.
It could be the sudden introduction of a barre chord that you may not
have learned to do yet.
Or
may be some enormous stretch that takes years of practise to perfect.
I'm sure you know what I'm talking
about, but whatever it is, it spoils the piece and makes it unplayable
for you which is a shame.
This
is not a new problem however. It is something we all encounter when we
are first learning to play acoustic guitar and the good news is,
with a little bit of thought and experience there is almost always a
way round the tricky bits.
All the videos you'll
get from us will have had the Mike Herberts 'Work Around' treatment if
there are any difficult sections.
This
means you'll have a much better chance to learn the pieces ALL THE WAY
THROUGH.
Who
knows, with any luck, we might get you to the point where the next time
someone says 'what can you play', you'll
be able to play them something all the way through, instead of playing
the first 30 seconds of six different
pieces.
You'll start to feel a lot more like a guitarist instead of just
someone who messes around on guitar.
How
good is that going to make you feel?
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3. No Theory and Scales
Why
we don't do any
theory
or scales.
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re
you here because you want to learn theory . . . . . or because you want
to learn guitar?
There
is nothing wrong with learning theory of course, if that is what you
want.
The thing is, probably 99% of people
are not intending to become the next Eric Clapton. For that reason we
simply don't bother trying to
teach you any theory or scales.
In
my opinion, the best way to get you fired up and learning fast is to
show you how to play some of the pieces
you've always wanted to play.
Once you've got a few great pieces under your belt, and if you really think
it will help you, then there are loads of excellent websites that will
give you a deeper understanding of the
theory
of music.
We
just want to help you get those first 50 or 60 songs into your
repertoire so that you can then decide what direction
you want your playing to take.
Now,
I am sure there are many people who disagree about 'staying away from
theory'.
All I'm saying is, it didn't help
me in any way when I started playing and that is the reason I teach you
the way I do.
One thing I know for certain
is, I have had a lot of success doing it this way. At the time of
writing, the website has a total of 52,061
subscribers . . . . I hope you would like to join them, since being a
subscriber gets you a ton of my videos to
download, and the best bit is . . . it's completely free.
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4. Learning With Tablature
You
can think of tablature
as a picture of your
guitar fretboard.
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ablature
is a very important element in your future success as a guitarist and
we have a couple of great tools
that we use to help you progress.
You can think of tablature as a picture of your guitar fretboard.
It shows the
six strings as if you were looking at them whilst holding the guitar.
(If you're right handed)
If
you hold your guitar in playing position and then lean forward and look
down you'll understand how tablature (tab or
tabs for short) works.
So
looking at a tab we'll see the thinnest string (1st of high 'E' string)
at the top, and then the other strings get
thicker (and sound lower) as we look down, until we get to the thickest
string (the 6th or low 'E' string)
If
we were to see a number 1 shown on the top string (High 'E') this means
'play/pick/pluck' the thinnest string whilst
fretting it (pressing your finger on it) just behind the first fret
If
we then saw a number 2 on the 2nd string, that means 'play/pick/pluck'
the second string whilst fretting just behind the
second fret.
So
what we have here is a literal view of the fretboard and a system that
tells you exactly which strings to hit and which
fret to hold down.
This is much easier than having to read music and means you can learn
much more quickly.
For
most of the videos we make, we will supply a tab. Even better than
that, we also supply some free software that will actually
'play' the tab right in front of your eyes.
You just install the free software and open the tab file we supply and
you can see and listen to the piece being played.
As
if that wasn't good enough, you can also slow down a section. You can
highlight, and have a section repeat.
You
can play the same measure over and over again at slow speed until the
way to play it is memorised to perfection.
Using
this software (it's called TefView if you were wondering) along with
the video lesson increases your ability to learn
new pieces at an astonishing rate.
Tefview
is so well used around the world that you can also search online and
find 1,000's and 1,000's of .tef files
of other guitar pieces that you might want to learn.
Oh
I almost forgot: We'll also give you a printable version of the
tab so
you can learn anywhere, not just while sitting in front of your
computer screen.
Just print off the song and put it in your
guitar case so that you can take it wherever you go for that sneaky
little 10 minute practise session.
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5. Free LifeTime Access
Computers
are not perfect and
neither
are we human beings.
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 or
any video you download from the site, and that includes any
free ones as well as ones you've bought, we'll give you lifetime access.
That
means that you don't have to worry about ever losing a video. If your
computer goes up in smoke or you get a new one
and can't transfer you files, getting them again is very simple.
You just drop us an email (or give us a call) and we'll simply
send you the download page again.
That's
it. Nothing to it really is there. So in our case, lifetime access
means just that.
You'll never have to worry about backing
up our stuff (can't vouch for anything else on your computer though)
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6. Great Song Collection
We'll
bring you the best
(in
our opinion) range
of
songs we know.
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 ou
won't
find any
electric/ metal/ thrash/ shredding type of music here I'm afraid. If
that's what you're looking for there are 1,000's of websites
you could try.
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Nor do we have any Flamenco at the moment, so you'll need to look
elsewhere for that.
To
categorise the kind of offerings we have I would use headings like:
Fingerstyle
Blues, Singer Songwriter, Original Ragtime, Country Blues, Folk Rock
Standards, Fingerpicking.
For
the beginner we have a whole range of material. The first 6 or 7 videos
in the free subscribers are for the absolute beginner.
We'll cover tuning up first and then show you how to hold down the
simplest of chords, some with just one or two fingers.
We'll show you how to get some music out of your guitar within the
first five minutes (yes really, that's all it takes)
As
you progress then you'll see we have a video set aimed directly at
total beginners'.
Using the basic tricks we taught you in the first
few free videos we'll show you how to use those and build up a
repertoire of 20 well known songs.
This is a very quick way of
gettting you a useful repertoire in the time it usually takes beginners
to learn their first few 'exercises' (Reminder:
We don't do ANY exercises)
Intermediate
guitarists will find a ton of old favourites here as we
have some of the greatest acoustic pieces ever recorded.
We have lessons to learn pieces by:
The Beatles, John Denver, James
Taylor, Eric Clapton, Simon and Garfunkel, Ralph McTell, Donovan, Elton
John, Rolling Stones, Arlo Guthrie, Buddy Holly, Robert
Johnson, Skip James, Blind Blake, Greenday, Led Zeppelin, Elvis
Presley, Willie Nelson, Michael Chapman, John Fahey, Bryan Adams, Dion,
The Eagles, Queen, Neil Diamond, Roxy Music, Sammi Smith, The
Byrds, The Kinks, U2, Fleetwood Mac, Paul McCartney.
We have many basic beginners pieces using techniques like strumming,
fingerpicking, flatpicking, fingerstyle instrumental.
Experienced
guitarists will find plenty of material to challenge them too.
We have some pretty complex pieces that take a long time to
even figure out (never mind play). To save you all the drudgery, we've
done all that figuring out for you so that you can pick up even
quite complex pieces in half the time it used to take.
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7. Relaxed Teaching Style
What
about the
teaching
style?
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Mike
and Jerry are two very experienced teachers.
 e
have no need
of ego. We don't need to show off, making you feel inadequate
with your playing. We are just straight talking guys.
We'll
go through the pieces slowly and you'll get plenty of repetitions if
the piece needs it. We won't get technical and we won't assume
that an 'easy' section is easy for you.
We'll talk more in terms of "put this finger here and that finger
there" rather than
saying "hold an F#maj7 2nd position whilst playing a 6 string arpeggio"
because we know most people won't have a clue what
that means (including me says Mike)
8.
You Can Reach Us
The
best result for us,
is if you learn the
pieces really well.
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If you need help, (and most days we regret this offer) we'll help.
here
are
several ways to get in touch with us. Email, telephone, the blog, the
forum and now, I've placed one of those message boxes on
the home page where you can type in a message and it pops up on our
computers.
This is the only 100% guaranteed way to get in touch apart
from picking up the phone. (The phone number is up there too)
What
we're saying guys and gals, is that we don't hide ourselves away. We
will answer your questions, we will talk to you if you call. I'm
not sure we'll be able to do this for ever as the site grows, but
anyway we ARE able to do it at the moment. D'ya wanna test us?
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9.
We're Not Just
After Your Money
The
most important thing
for us is not, as you might think, that we extract money from you.
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 t
is that you
actually learn and enjoy the
pieces. We want you to be so 'knocked out' at your progress that you'll
just keep coming back again and again.
That
would be a real result for you because you'd obviously be benefitting
from our stuff and it would be a result for us to have been
a part of your progress, and it's likely that you'll not only buy
something in the future, but you'll recommend the site to other
people.
10. What we Won't Do
These
are no-no's to us.
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e
will treat the
storage space on your hard drive with the same respect that YOU do.
We won't fill up your hard drive with useless 100,000 chord ebooks or
any other nasty little public domain guitar learning ebooks.
We
won't ever offer you other 'guitar related' products from affiliate
sites. Truth is, we don't know of anything else available on
the net that would be of any great use to you.
We
won't send you pointless emails just for the sake of it.
Everything we send by email will be relevent and of great value to you in
your quest to become an accomplished guitarist.
We
won't be offering you any expensive courses.
We don't do any courses because that will almost certainly involve
teaching you theory,
and we don't do that remember.
Oh
did I say? We don't do theory.
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11.
We Don't Just Say It
We
Prove It.
You'll
be getting NOT LESS THAN 50
FREE Video Lessons.
(No Obligation)
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he
only way we know to convince you that this is the right place to be is
to prove it to you by
letting you experience it for yourself, for FREE,
and then hope
that you'll come back and maybe spend some money one day.
So, if you want to finally
start playing
real actual
music instead of just chords.
If you keep getting so
far through a
piece and then hit a brick wall when the tricky bit shows up.
If
you're sick with disappointment when your latest purchase turns out to
be garbage yet again.....watch
the video above.
Click one of the links on this page and start
getting something that is really going to help.
And best of all
. . it's FREE
.
Mike Herberts
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icture
a
time when YOU are playing a full repertoire of songs while other 'back
bedroom 
