Acoustic Guitar Lessons - Play The Music But Don't Get Bogged Down With The Theory

OK Mike I like the look of you and I believe you, so just send me the FREE Videos?

Email Address:
acoustic guitar lesson image
Your details are 100% safe with us. You can unsubscribe with one click whenever you want. You absolutely WILL NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES be sent unwanted emails from this or any third party site as a result of entering your email address here. 


beginner guitar lesson image
improver guitar lesson image


Hi Mike,

 Thank you for your very prompt answer to my recent question on Streets of London.

I was absolutely amazed to be able to talk to you on the telephone, as well as being able to hear an audio response on your new blog web page.

 Your explanation was spot on and it has clarified weeks of confusion for me trying to interpret different tabs found on the internet.

 I would recommend your site to anyone as you give the best and most accurate information for people wishing to learn the guitar at home.

 Finger picking has always been a desire of mine to achieve, there are not many internet sites that teach finger picking for beginners, but I feel since I have found your web site I have advanced a great deal in just a few weeks.

 Thank you again for your videos and the inspiration you have given me.

 My very best regards.

Dick Peckam.

Southend. UK


Hello Mike (and your team),

I bought my first guitar at the age of fifteen in 1956 so you can see i am knocking  on for near 70 ish,for all those years i have loved playing my guitar ..but always the hard way...
you have introduced me to a very enjoyable simple way (don't be offended) which brings fast results.

You are the only teacher i have come across that takes the bull
by the horns and turns the whole process into a lamb (so to speak) within a few minutes a newbie can actually get a grasp of, and begin to play something musical...where were you when i was struggling to play 'House of the rising sun' for instance? You have broken the ice for today's newbie's..and some of us oldie's.

I congratulate you for helping so many people to own the pure enjoyment of the ability to play music on the guitar.

I am  usually a quiet sort of person but your website is something to shout about and i always look forward to your next email.
I give you my heartfelt thanks.

John Gilboy. (learning all the time)

 


Below are just a few of your FREE Lessons !

(Grab these now then sign up for more)

Some Essential Printable Guitar Chords.
Before you start the online guitar lessons here is a handy little page to print out the four main chords for each of the easiest two keys on guitar. Read More...


Wanna Get Tuned Up Before you start your online guitar lessons? Here is where you want to be....
You need to start somewhere. Nothing fancy....just a simple/basic page to train your ear and get your guitar in perfect tune before you start the lessons. Read More..

Basic Guitar Chords
Close up photographs, Chord Charts and Sound/MP3 button so that you can hear what those chords should sound like. Arranged in the two 'easiest' keys of C Major and G Major. Read More...

Sore Fingers? Let Me Make life a whole lot easier for you.
Mike reveals one of the biggest secrets that you've never been told about how to make your guitar playing progress, well.....progress.

How The Guitar Lessons Are Made:
How to make Your Own Online Guitar Lessons.

Firstly decide on a song to teach. It has to have wide appeal and it can't be too advanced. Advanced guitarists wouldn't need a video would they? Also it has to be something that you enjoy playing yourself........

View Mikes YouTube Guitar Videos:
Besides the 30+ guitar videos that I give away to my subscribers, there are 20+ Acoustic Guitar Lessons Videos that I have posted on YouTube. These are great online lessons and you can view them all here and use as much bandwidth as you want, courtesy of YouTube.

DOWNLOAD VIDEO: Great Guitar Strumming Technique
Most guitarists experience the same problems and challenges.One of the biggest challenges is learning how to strum correctly. You could spend years learning chords and left hand technique without making much music at all. This video shows you the technique that turns dull sounding guitar noise into beautiful music...in one easy lesson
. Read More...

How to string a guitar
A new set of guitar strings, especially if those old ones have been on for a long time, will transform your guitar playing. Read More...


How to Read Guitar Tabs

Tabs can be totally mystifying to the beginner but this useful video guide will get you started. Once you can learn how to read guitar tabs you open up a whole new world of guitar playing possibilities. Read More . .

DOWNLOAD VIDEO: The Dreaded 'F' Chord.
Avoid the biggest mistake beginners make when trying to learn the dreaded 'F' Chord on guitar. Watch this video lesson by Mike Herberts and melt away the mystery of the biggest challenge a new guitarist faces. Read More...


DOWNLOAD VIDEO: There's more than one way to skin a cat. or tune a guitar
And there is more than one way to tune an acoustic guitar. Open up a whole world of new playing opportunities as Mike takes you through the basics of this alternative tuning.

Acoustic Guitar Lessons From
Mike Herberts. 0044(0)1524 274214
Kirkby Lonsdale. Cumbria. UK
Mon-Fri 10am-5pm UK Time
acoustic guitar collections image

acoustic guitar songs image

acoustic guitar dvds image

acoustic guitar collections image

Gibson Guitars Logo
Fylde Guitars Logo
Takamine Guitars Logo
Taylor Guitars Logo
Guitars Image


Maple Acoustic Image

Your friendly manner is a breath of fresh air and I (like many others I am  sure) feel like I know you

 ~

I think you have got it just right! I look forward to opening my e-mails every day in hope that there is another Mike Herbert's snippet.

~
You have enough free material to keep us visiting your site and enough  tempting material to make us part with our hard earned cash.

~


I've only just seen your first instructional video and I've learned more in 20 minutes than in the last 2 months.

~

"The Best I've Seen!"
I must congratulate you on your superb choice of guitar tunes for us novices to have a go at. They seem to fit the part perfectly not too difficult and sound good to me even on my first attempts. Having tried a few tutorial  sites on the internet over the past 12 months yours is the best by far.

 Acoustic Guitar Fretboard image

 

Thank you very much. Straight ahead and to the point. Love you!

Lovely simple instruction, great for a beginner. Talented guy thanks for taking the time to do the videos

Great teacher, keep up the good work. You're the best :D I seem to learn so much faster when you teach, please make more videos or upload some songs that you have created if you haven't already :) thank you so much

I'm sure you get this a lot, but...you're a wonderful teacher. this is helping me a lot.

You are a great teacher! Never seen such a clear explanation for a beginner. Thanks for all the lessons.

Excellent  beginner blues tuition video. This is great instruction, plain, simple and easy to understand. Thank you so much for your time.

You play well, speak well, film well, and teach well. Thanks a million for your videos. All the best to you.

  
martin guitars logo
videos lessons graphic



fender guitars lessons images

martin guitars logo
Gibson Guitars Logo
Acoustic video lessons graphic


fender guitars lessons images

martin guitars logo
Gibson Guitars Logo

Acoustic video lessons graphic

fender guitars lessons images

martin guitars logo
Gibson Guitars Logo


Acoustic video lessons graphic
fender guitars lessons images

martin guitars logo
Gibson Guitars Logo



Acoustic video lessons graphic

martin guitars logo
Gibson Guitars Logo



fender guitars lessons images
Acoustic video lessons graphic



fender guitars lessons images

martin guitars logo
Gibson Guitars Logo



fender guitars lessons images

martin guitars logo



Mike,

Thank you thank you thank you thank you.

 I can't tell you how much pleasure And I love her has given me in these few days. The FIRST piece I've ever been able to play properly and almost from the word go.

I always look at your pieces and wonder at your ability to simplify things - but then at the last moment spot a little chord I struggle with.  With this from the absolute beginning I could play it - though not as good as you obviously.

 After 12 months of my husband begging me to come downstairs to play, I feel confident enough to play this in front of an audience - albeit a not very critical one.

Thanks again Mike - especially for your incredible generosity.

Pat B. Wales

Guitars Image




Mike Herberts Imageost 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.


Sept. 2009

Dear fellow acoustic guitarist,

You can learn as much guitar as you want with no theory at all . . .


You can easily start playing all those great pieces you've always wanted to learn even if you've just started and just know a couple of chords right now

On this site we are going to give you 47 videos completely free of charge just to prove it. (No you didn't mis-read that last sentence)

It makes no difference if you've been playing 10 minutes or 10 years.

You'll soon be playing all your favourites without having to learn any of the tricky stuff like barre chords.

ou won't need to learn any big stretches or other difficult obstacles that are holding you back right now. . . because I've made these video lessons of easy-to-play-songs.

They're easy to play but still really impressive sounding and the best bit is . . . you won't have to practise for weeks on end to learn them.

People will think you've been playing for a whole lifetime but YOU'LL secretly know that you've only been playing for a few hours with me.



Just imagine what it will feel like when you can play a couple dozen well known songs all the way through.


Playing Guitar image
icture a time when YOU are playing a full repertoire of songs while other 'back bedroom twangers' are still messing around with the three chord trick and getting nowhere fast.

Imagine a time when someone says 'what can you play?' and you're able to pick up your guitar and rattle off a half dozen well known songs.

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.

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


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.

Guitar Lesson Screen


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


2. Video Lesson Simplification

How we make the pieces easier to play so
that more people can learn to play them.
f chord image

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?



3. No Theory and Scales

 

Why we don't do any
theory or scales.
Guitar Scales fingering Image

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.


Tablature Guitar Image

4. Learning With Tablature



You can think of tablature
as a picture of your
guitar fretboard.

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.



5. Free LifeTime Access



Computers are not perfect and

neither are we human beings.
metronome image
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)



6. Great Song Collection


We'll bring you the best
(in our opinion) range
of songs we know.

Favourite Acoustic Songs Image
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.

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.


chimp guitarist laughing image

7. Relaxed Teaching Style

What about the
teaching style?

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)

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.



8. You Can Reach Us

The best result for us,
is if you learn the
pieces really well.

email phone

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?

guitar salesman
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.

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.
fingers image
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.


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.

maple acoustic guitar image
11. We Don't Just Say It
We Prove It.
You'll be getting NOT LESS THAN 50 FREE Video Lessons.
(No Obligation)

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.

Enter your details in one of the boxes on this page (at the bottom) and start getting something that is really going to help. And best of all . . it's FREE
.


MIKE HERBERTS
Mike Herberts

Hi From Mike Herberts: Internet Guitar Innovator.




Read my own 'guitar learning' story
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 songs 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.