Guitarlincs - Free Guitar Music

Today's thoughts....

A question first:

Why in life do we say nothing is achieved without effort? Generally, because that is true - even with regard to music! But what is it with some guitar players? Why are they so resistant to learning their craft? Why is notation such a four letter word? The answer probably is, because "what I can't understand ain't worth etc etc etc...."

So.... having experienced a flyby 1 star rating for all my efforts I was feeling a little sensitive when I checked an ad out on the Squidoo site that had the by-line "Why all Guitar teachers hate me". I had to follow it through to find out why of course...

• Point 1. Well, the guy seemed to think we all set out to make learning guitar difficult basically because he couldn't learn to play from books as an adult and his fingers hurt! Well, have I got VERY sad news for anyone here - steel strung acoustic guitars DO hurt, which is why I recommend beginners of all ages to buy nylon strung guitars or electric guitars! Every now and then an ambitious and caring Dad will shell out £200+ for a nice big Fender acoustic for his 9 year old boy who then invariably quits guitar because his fingers hurt. Is that the fault of the teacher who has recommended a child-friendly 3/4 size classic? No way!

• Point 2 was that he couldn't understand the teach yourself books and that of course C D7 G wasn't music, just meaningless theory.... TAB numbers on the other hand were not theory....OK.... So I couldn't understand my first tutor book either. What did I do about it? I looked for help! I found a teacher to show me how to get started. Actually this guy did too - the only difference was that his teacher said "I am not a teacher!" This is because it wasn't his main job and he was a mate - my teacher wasn't a guitar teacher either - he was an English teacher who was very accomplished at jazz and classical guitar!

• Well, again, life is full of paradoxes but anyone who shares knowledge or skills with us is a teacher even if they (or we) choose not to use the word. Joe Satriani was Steve Vai's teacher as well as his friend....

• However and whatever skills you choose to learn there really is no such thing as a free lunch. At some point we all realise we need help with something someone else told us was an unnecessary waste of time. It turns out in the music business that without learning that "waste of time" stuff there are several thousand guys in the queue in front who are more likely to get that music job/place at music college etc etc. It is never to late to learn the mechanics of music - nor is it ever too early!

On a brighter note, Thursday's project went really well. I can't believe how fast the time went and all the children enjoyed the session. We are all set for next week and some great rock songs!

Finally, today's pdf contribution to the site is "Sur Le Pont D'Avignon"

http://www.guitarlincs.com/guitargrouppieces.htm

This is a very simple duet in G major for young players, the main workout is for guitar 2 which intentionally has lots of bass runs. Guitar 1 is actually quite easy! Both parts have note name noteheads to help with confidence for children and early readers. There is an MP3 of course for practice. If you don't like it, please remember that the later pages on this site are less child orientated and geared more to graphics and electric guitar skills!

Have a great Bank Holiday Weekend....

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