To many guitar students Music theory is not high on their list of priorities when it comes to learning guitar. In fact it would be safe to say that most guitarists have a limited knowledge of music theory. Guitar students on the whole are different to most other music students. Most guitarists take up guitar…

Do you ever feel like throwing in the towel? I recently received this email from a student which some of you may be able to relate to now or in the future so I think its worth blogging my response. Student – “I regret to say I’m retiring from guitar lessons! It’s been fun and I…

How do you achieve guitar success? This question in all its forms is the number question on a student’s mind when they first begin guitar. The following 5 rules should help. Rule No.1 – Set a clear definable goal. A student I spoke to recently had been learning with a teacher for around 6 months….

I received the following email from one of our teachers and I think it is one that is on the minds of many parents. Hi David, I have an interesting teaching issue for you. I have heard the same concern from the parents of 13 – 15 year old boys. They say, “All he seems…

Did you know your ear (correct term is aural) is already trained? Music is much like a language. In language our first and probably most important step is the listening. In the first 8 months of a child’s life they hear all languages equally. By 8 months our ear/brain begins to filter focusing only on…

The placebo effect is most commonly applied in medical testing when for example pharmaceutical companies are trying prove their new drugs actually work. In a very simple experiment they will split patients of a particular condition into two groups. They will give one group the new drug and the other group a placebo (an inactive…

Humans have an amazing history of survival and persistence. Last night I watched the first part of a very interesting documentary called ‘The Human Journey’. As the title suggests they tracked the journey of man from the southern region of Africa (where we all began) to our migration into Asia and Europe. The oldest remains…

On one hand learning guitar online once seemed like a distance far off possibility whereas on the other given our current technology it should now be the norm. Everyone is very busy these days so traveling back and forth each week to see a guitar teacher takes time not only for the student but often…

Placement makes a difference Eddie Van Halen is noted for having a guitar in every room in the house including the toilet so its no coincidence that he became a guitar hero. Jimi Hendrix use to sleep with his guitar. While this may seem a little obsessive having your guitar in a place where you…

Improving your practice through physical exercise. In the USA 65% of the population are now obese and the rest of the developed world have similar statistics. What is even more frightening is these numbers are rising even in children. Now if you spend your day sitting at work or school coming home to sit and…

I must say I have known this fact instinctively for a very long time. The reason I was aware as I am sure you are too was simply because of the huge number of examples of successful individuals with average or even seemingly low IQs. World famous psychologist and science journalist Daniel Goldman underwent a…

Learning guitar today is much more advanced compared to past decades and is probably the reason why we are seeing so many amazing players. The standard of the average student after only a few years of learning is about equal to that of a professional session player in the 1960’s. When I first began teaching guitar…