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The Road Map of a Guitar Student [T-1]


As a new aspiring guitarist, one of the first questions you will ask yourself is, "So, where do I start?"

In this era of information, you will find loads of data on the web; on Youtube and online content, it easy to get lost in it. Why do we even need a coach when you can study online? Of course, you can, and if you have the talent for music, you will eventually learn as I did. When I grew up and was a teenager of 11 years when I started playing guitar, we never had the content freely available nowadays, all on your fingertips. There was a time my new guitar friends and I will visit an older peer who plays guitar well; we will do him favors or give him cigarettes so that he will teach us the new cool scale or the new Steve Vai fretting exercises that will 'super-speed up' your fingers etc. We would absorb any teeny tiny bit of information on guitar we could find, or anyone would teach us, and play it to shreds. Hell, I remember the first time I bought a full course was a VHS tape from Island Music store, it was a course called exotic guitar techniques by Marty Friedman. I drank the whole of it in one gulp with one hand holding the guitar and the other reaching out to my VCR to pause & play my VHS tape. Well, that's a whole story & chapter all of its own, so I'll leave it at that.

The content we got is more today. It's easier to have access to almost any knowledge on the web; this is great. But novice players will still fall into the same dilemma I did back then; how do we go on about applying this new thing I'm learning?, or more importantly, what should I be learning to get to the goal you have set for your self? So thus we all need a road map. Whether to go on a road trip driving a car or learning to play the guitar like Jimi Hendrix, it's still one overlooked aspect when you start learning to play the guitar.

What was the day that you thought of learning to play the guitar?
What was the song, guitar solo, or groove that triggered this yearning? Was it the cool guitar solo performance of some artists? Whatever the reason, we still need to understand the knowledge we taught. We also need guidance on how to apply that new guitar information to your playing so that you may one day achieve your personal goal. That's why my first lesson in the technical aspect of the guitar will focus on this 'guitar road map,' and each map will be different as each student has his/her unique guitar goal. It will also include "What is a Guitar"  session where I break down the anatomy of the guitar, the physics in music, and how the guitar functions. Just like any fantastic car racer needs to know about the car and it's mechanical parts to be the best, so does a guitarist need to know the parts of the guitar.

Therefore my first lesson will be based on these two concepts. I feel it's essential to have a mentor who will guide you in the proper steps. Too much info can be harmful because you might find yourself lost with this vast amount on content on blogs, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, youtube, you name it, they've got it. As the role of your guitar tutor, it's my responsibility to keep you on the right path by reviewing each student's very own road map and so that we can start this journey with the essential baby steps towards your guitar goal.

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