Hey guys. I am investigating developing a new web-based application that will allow guitar players to find new songs to add to their repertoire, pull it all together nicely and take them on a journey from not knowing the song at all to being able to perform the song publicly. It will be a spin-off from my Youtube channel of play-along videos.
The idea is that you will only ever need one site to learn, play or perform a particular song (if that song is in the catalog and I am not going down the "tab every song" route like Ultimate Guitar). So say you want to learn to play Country Roads by John Denver and it is in my catalog, you pay, say one dollar and you have everything you need to get from not knowing the song at all to adding it to your "repertoire" and being able to perform it publicly. You have the play-along video and a guitar lesson, the chords and lyrics and maybe even a backing track,etc I would really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete this survey to help me to find product-market fit before building the application
I looked at the survey but after seeing the questions I think I should stay out of this one.
Hey Eddie. I would say that the tool is not aimed at someone like you.
It will be aimed at beginner guitar players and people who have a guitar in their cupboards but haven’t played for years.
They will come across one of my play along videos on YouTube and go “hey, I love that song. I wonder if I could play it” and then find my site and start a song book.
This would take them on a journey that may ultimately get them purchasing biab, making their own tracks and who knows, maybe even writing a few tracks.
Usual disclaimer applies. This is just my opinion.
Joanne, my things is this. Sure it isn't meant for me. However, this kind of "pseudo" learning tool allows people to sneak in under the musician club tent without paying their sweat equity. They may be able to learn the 4 chords it takes to play some song, but they didn't learn anything about music. Being an old school guy, I will cling to my death to the statement "Learn music. THEN learn songs." This tool provides a path to "microwave" learning. They can then start their "song book" without knowing ONE THING about music. About WHY those 2 chords are inter-related. Nothing about steps on a scale. You can't put a roof on a house with no walls or foundation. Well, you CAN, but will immediately fall to the ground.
I had a friend once tell me how much he loves cooking with food from those services that send you the components of a meal and directions about how to cook it. I laughed and said "So even in cooking, you are in a copy band. Call me when you cook that salmon WITHOUT the directions. Then you are cooking. Do you remember the directions when you try to cook it the next time? THAT would be actual cooking." That is similar in concept to what I am saying.
You want to play music? First LEARN music. Then learn an instrument. Then learn songs on that instrument. Otherwise just play CDs and sing along, because being able to mime a real guitar player is just that. Mime. Pretending. Acting.
Eddie, like you I am old school MOST of the time. All young students who come to me must learn how to read music. But for the bucket list people or older people who just want to learn some chords for their campfire sing-a-longs then that's what I teach them.
If one learns music it becomes a lifetime experience. For most whom do not learn music it is just a passing fad. This information is based on the fact that many of my guitar playing friends from the 60's haven't played in years; they were also the ones who did not learn how to read music.
BUT you do not need to learn music to make good music; others have to transcribe what they play. Wes Montgomery couldn't read a note of music but he was a fantastic player. What about The Beatles? They wrote some fantastic music with no music knowledge, just very good ears.
So back to the point Joanne idea is a good one; get people to play music. Even if one person from her audience decides to continue their music education would be a big plus. For the others just play and have fun. YMMV
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You want to play music? First LEARN music. Then learn an instrument. Then learn songs on that instrument. Otherwise just play CDs and sing along, because being able to mime a real guitar player is just that. Mime. Pretending. Acting.
Your disclaimer is noted . (all in good fun).
If this applied to me I would never have learned to play the guitar and would not be on this forum or writing approximately 30 songs a year, be performing at our national arts festival and be having a huge amount of fun doing it.
I come from a very unmusical family. Nobody understands music or anything about it. I persuaded my mum to buy me a guitar at the age of 13 and bought a John Denver song book. I learned to play every song in it. When I tried to work out songs by ear that I heard on the radio, I could never understand why everything was A, D and E!
Without that JD song book, I would probably not be playing today. I have had years of pleasure from my guitar, just learning and singing songs and probably will until my hands can no longer play.
So, all I am trying to do is provide people with the modern equivalent of that JD song book and make a small side hustle business out of doing so.
Eddie, like you I am old school MOST of the time. All young students who come to me must learn how to read music.
Reading is a tool, but it goes deeper. Do they know the Circle of 5ths and WHY chords relate to each other? Do they know the steps of the scale (tonic/root, subdominant/4th dominant/5th) etc? Do they know WWHWWWH (Whole and Half, the intervals of a scale)? If they don't know that stuff, they will only be able to play in C. Throw Eb at them and they don't know the scale.
Quote:
BUT you do not need to learn music to make good music; others have to transcribe what they play. Wes Montgomery couldn't read a note of music but he was a fantastic player. What about The Beatles? They wrote some fantastic music with no music knowledge, just very good ears.
You can throw examples out all day of people who didn't read, but consider it this way. The Beatles did NOT have no musical knowledge. They just didn't KNOW they had a lot of musical knowledge. You don't write chord changes like they did with no knowledge. Learning theory is not knowledge. Theory is tools. When you drive a car, are your tools in the trunk for when you need them or in the front seat next to you?
Quote:
So back to the point Joanne idea is a good one.
Yes. There will be a market for it. I just won't be in it, but she already acknowledged that this isn't aimed at someone with now over 64 years of experience and a degree in the field. This is aimed at the "campfire" player. Run with it and see how it goes.
I'm a big fan of instructional material. I started learning to play after my brother came home from the navy in Okinawa and gave me a Teac or Tascam reel to reel with a whole box full of tapes. CCR, Steppenwolf, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Johnny Rivers, Woodstock, Otis Redding, Jethro Tull and the list goes on.
My Dad taught me the melody to "Wildwood Flower". His left hand had been crushed in a coal mining accident so that was all he could play. A childhood friend taught me the 4 or 5 songs he knew.
I learned everything I could from anyone who would show me how to play a song or riff. It wasn't until I discovered Homespun Tapes in a guitar magazine that I really began to learn how to play and understand music. I taught myself to read music and learned music theory from Mel Bay books.
I then immersed myself in scales, chords and arpeggios form numerous books and videos. Then I went on to diatonic scales, modes and progressions.
I met a bunch of pickers who were much better than me and were playing songs I didn't know. I had to learn to improvise to survive in that environmet. Jay Blankinship was instrumental, (no pun intended), in pushing me to expand my playing ability. He is the guy playing mandolin on the link in my signature. Jay is blind, but he's a great mandolin and guitar player. He's also a dear friend.
I wouldn't have been able to learn all of the new songs Jay was throwing at me if it hadn't been for all of the instructional material I had found over the years.
What you doing is a good thing. Don't let any naysayers discourage you. Keep it up.
Bob. Thank you! Here is a message I got yesterday on my youtube channel. I get loads of these types of comments. People who have not played for years....
Hello Joanne, I'd like to thank you for the play along format you put the songs in, I'm 55 and been trying to learn to play the guitar for awile now on you tube with little success until I found you, now I'm playing along with your songs and love it, your quite the inspiration, especially during these times of covid, thanks so much ,God bless you and much success to you in your endeavors
Usual disclaimer applies. This is just my opinion.
Joanne, my things is this. Sure it isn't meant for me. However, this kind of "pseudo" learning tool allows people to sneak in under the musician club tent without paying their sweat equity. They may be able to learn the 4 chords it takes to play some song, but they didn't learn anything about music. Being an old school guy, I will cling to my death to the statement "Learn music. THEN learn songs." This tool provides a path to "microwave" learning. They can then start their "song book" without knowing ONE THING about music. About WHY those 2 chords are inter-related. Nothing about steps on a scale. You can't put a roof on a house with no walls or foundation. Well, you CAN, but will immediately fall to the ground.
I had a friend once tell me how much he loves cooking with food from those services that send you the components of a meal and directions about how to cook it. I laughed and said "So even in cooking, you are in a copy band. Call me when you cook that salmon WITHOUT the directions. Then you are cooking. Do you remember the directions when you try to cook it the next time? THAT would be actual cooking." That is similar in concept to what I am saying.
You want to play music? First LEARN music. Then learn an instrument. Then learn songs on that instrument. Otherwise just play CDs and sing along, because being able to mime a real guitar player is just that. Mime. Pretending. Acting.
OMG, what a load of elitist bull crap! Music, like everything else in life, can be enjoyed at a multitude of levels. My first guitar teacher wasted a year of my time and a bunch of my dad's money trying to teach me music theory. My second guitar teacher, at my first lesson, asked "what would you like to learn?" to which I replied "Stairway to Heaven"! And I have been hooked on playing and writing music ever since. And no, I have no clue what you mean when you tell me to try a "A minor diminished fifth neutered to the power of 2" nor do I care! I'm having fun and I'm doing it my way.
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