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"Wow! I'm not sure I could
agree with you more. I've been playing for 2 months now and got your book about 3 weeks
ago. Last weekend in front of friends and family I played and sang about 15-16 songs with
good success (a few flubs here and there but nothing to stop the music).
Here's how I did it. I knew this weekend was going to be coming up about the time I got
your book and read it. I had picked from a list of songs that I had been playing around
with and could learn in a short amount of time. Most of them had very similar chord
progressions and I knew the melodies very well. I stayed very focused for those weeks
leading up knowing that I would be on the spot.
When the time came, everyone joined in on the singing (I had printed out the words) and we
had a blast. The funny thing is that although I had not actually practiced that weekend,
when I came back I found that my skill had increased dramatically (not to mention my
motivation).
I think that if you really enjoy what you're doing and can set a goal the results will
over-whelm you. I know that they did me."
Wade
"Wow!
That one really hit me. Can you believe that I had a discussion with a friend of mine a
while ago about this same issue. The point he was defending was the importance of having a
good repertoire. He is an excellent singer and an Army musician in his youth. I'm the
guitar player with an ear good enough to challenge him, stating that a repertoire is not
as important as the ability to be able to play what you hear. However, the many times I
have been asked to play something on my own I don't last long. In fact, all my playing
life has been really a practicing life..."
Toby
"I do like the ideas you discuss regarding
repertoire. started playing again after an extended break of four years, I am discovering
the joys of having a collection of pieces to consider my own (although they are still no
way near perfect). However one suggestion I would make is that in preparing a repertoire,
a student strive to play pieces from different musical periods (I play classical guitar so
this is easier I suppose) At present I am working on etude by Villa-Lobos and 'Fantasia'
by Weiss. It keeps me from getting stale or bored, and the different styles help with what
you would call vertical growth."
John from Aberdeen, Scotland
"FYI -- I Agree -- I play a twinkle twinkle little star melody for my
kids every so often and alternate arrangements between a classical straight fingerstyle
accompaniment and a thumbstyle/Kentucky/Travis accompaniment. Doing this with this one
simple song opened up my repertoire very quickly and I find I now can quickly pick-out
tunes and work out arrangements without as much effort. I now have a repertoire I never
had before and it has made a difference. I am still a guitar student but to the people who
hear me, I am a guitar player and that makes me feel good about the effort pout into
scales, modes and theory. Very good point made here. I agree."
Tim Alexander
Jamey,
"Thank you for this insight. This lesson applies to many aspects of life and was just
the guitar principle I needed."
Rick
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