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"They All Laughed As
I Was
Handed That Old Guitar...
Then They Heard Me Play..."
"Though even I admit
I was the unlikeliest Guitar Player
They had ever met before. . . "
Hi I'm
Mike Herberts And Here is How I Got Good on Guitar,and Why
You Can Now Do Exactly The Same
The
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.
Imagine me . . . I was 22 years old and had been playing for less than
18 months. 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) 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
guitar.
I
CAN'T REMEMBER
WHAT
FIRST DREW ME TO THE 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?
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 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 geting 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 was very patient with me, I think because he
could see how enthusiastic I
was, and taught me just about everything he knew.
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 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 GOT THAT 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.
WHATEVER YOU MIGHT
THINK... THE 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
is IS mind bogglingly
simple isn't it.
To
this day
mankind has found no better way to learn a simple instrument like the
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.
So....what
are you
waiting for....?
'Most of the
worlds greatest guitarists learned their craft by
watching others. If it's good enough for Robert Johnson . . . '
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And finally a few random comments about my videos
from various sources around the net. Mostly from Youtube.com
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
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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 havent already :) thank you so much
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helping me a lot. :)
You are a great teacher, thanks!
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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.
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