1 month review of the course

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
Been playing with this for almost a month now, so a couple of thoughts

1) I don't think I would ever recommend this to a beginner

why ? I think from the courses I have worked on,this one really requires the the focus @Griff talks about. Since I started it, I have taken his full advice. I set an egg timer ( hey I am old, I do it old school). I focus on nothing else, I stand in one spot, laser focus on the book.That timer is set for 45 minutes, no interuptions, this is olympic training

You cannot rush this course, stay at the speed or slower, this really is a boot camp for your hand and your mind......heck, just the warm ups are one of the toughest things I have tried on guitar. I think when you take this course, you have to want it for yourself to learn to solo, it can't be the guy who just wants to noodle and play the camp fire(but I have been wrong before), this is the dedication lessons.

I am also only allowing myself to go through one box a week.......I review the past material, but I dont go to the next set of box exercises until the following week.

2) Improvements

I have struggled with learning the boxes for a long long time, never seem to get them quite right, now, I am finding in AM, I am almost gliding through them, with very little looking at the guitar or book, big win for me

I have gone back to other solos I struggled with, and found them much easier, I can now concentrate on phrasing and sounds more than where my fingers are, so I dont sound like I am playing a scale....another win

Learning curve on new things is speeding up, I think not thinking so much about my hand position is helping me digest other material quicker

Hearing - this is a big one, I am not sure what to call it, but I am getting better at hearing the differences in notes and sounds, another tough area for me as I am tone deaf. When I hear something on the radio now, I may not know the note, but I know they are somewhere in box 1 sliding into box 2, it just seems to make more sense

Using the fretboard - I can move lots better from one box to another instead of just trying to solo in box 1, I can slip through two boxes up and get back to where I want, still suck at solos, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel

Overall, even though I curse a lot while practicing, and it is frustrating, there is hand fatigue, this is quickly becoming my favorite course, but, I am also at a point where I WANT to dedicate myself to getting better at this specific thing, not just playing around

Tonight, it went awful, but when the timer let off its ding, I realized, as bad as I thought it was, compared to a month ago, it was miles ahead

So yes.................I think this is a must have course for those of us who are not natural solo artists, or who don't have the finger dexterity, this "Boot Camp" is incredibly well written and done

YMMV
 

JestMe

Student Of The Blues
Great review. I'm glad to hear you are getting so much out of it. I own this course [and have an AAP too]. Your review and whetting my appetite to really dig into to and apply much like you are doing.

Keep up the great work!
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
Great review. I'm glad to hear you are getting so much out of it. I own this course [and have an AAP too]. Your review and whetting my appetite to really dig into to and apply much like you are doing.

Keep up the great work!

Its a great course, and a ton of benefits, but man.......I do think it takes some desire to get everything out of it.

If BGU is a pre-med college course, this one is your internship......lol
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Thanks, Mark.

I've recommended this course every chance I get over these last few years.

And now I always suggest following it up with @Griff's new course, "Blues Speed Building Blocks".

A one, two punch.
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
That's a great review, thanks!

And, for what it's worth, I think your assessment of desire being a requirement is spot on. It's not for everyone, but if it's for you, then it does work very well (it worked for me :)
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
That's a great review, thanks!

And, for what it's worth, I think your assessment of desire being a requirement is spot on. It's not for everyone, but if it's for you, then it does work very well (it worked for me :)

All I can say, once I made the mental decision, and really wanted it.........this course is exactly what the trainer ordered
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
Great review! I have talked about this course on the forum for several years now. I mentioned it quite a bit at the last BGU Live at Lake Arrowhead. I emphatically agree if you want to learn to solo this course in a mandatory course. And I too have found my learning curve for other courses and riffs are a lot quicker. As it was one of the first 2 or 3 courses I did in the BGU curriculum it also helped my learn some fundamentals on how to count which has helped me. And all the sequencing of notes 3x 4x 5x ect helped me break the habit of just rifling up and down the fret-board and sounding like I was playing scales. I think you will find that after this course you will find combining the Major and minor scales easier. That will also open up another surge of what you need to learn which I found will need to be somewhat independent. The courses that are available to cover combining the Major and minor are riff based courses and kind of focus on a different thing. But it's all good @sdbrit68! Keep it up!! :Beer:
 
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Dr. Ron

Nuthin’ But The Blues!
Nice review Mark. I have also seriously been going through PSTM. I have been working on it in concert with
Griff's speed building course since April. You are moving faster than me. I have been working the course ~4-5 days/wk and have just finished all 5 boxes. I have all the exercises down pretty well.
The main pearl to date for me has the been to more accurately and comfortably play 1/8, triplets, and 1/16 note rhythms. The repetition really internalizes it well, especially with all the counting. Tapping out a 1/16 note rhythm has been a bit inconsistent for me in the past. This course has definitely given me more confidence in that regard.
I feel my overall touch on the fretboard is slowly improving; but, I haven't been to a jam since Lake Arrowhead.
My hand strength is definitely increasing which I am really happy about. Upper extremity weakness from DJD
eventuated in a cervical fusion some years ago; so, any strength gained is a plus.
My only disagreement with your review is that I would have liked to have done this course when I first started playing blues. I believe the 5 boxes would have been internalized much faster than the way I learned them. I do see your point however. It is a labor intensive course and could be discouraging to some. Looking forward to jamming again with you.
 
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sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
The only reason I would say NOT to do it at the beginning, I feel it's not sexy, it's a bow down and put work into it. Where as I think a beginner is usually more interested in sounding musical. To my thinking, they would get bored and frustrated. I remember when I first started playing, it was scales and exercises, I got bored and quit.

I learned more and got more excited when people would show me something that sounded like a song.

Going to the jams at first, I realized my rhythm needed work, so I did it.............then I watched you guys solo, and that gave me the motivation for this course with a goal of being a solo player by the end of the year, it just seems to me to need a desire and dedication to stick with it, if that makes sense
 

Dr. Ron

Nuthin’ But The Blues!
Good point Mark. One additional thing...some of us (like me) are OCD enough to really enjoy doing endless scales and fret board exercises.
 
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sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
Good point Mark. One additional thing...some of us (like me) are OCD enough to really enjoy doing endless scales and fret board exercises.
me too..............but, after going out and playing, I can see the end result, and the reasons why
 

Walt H

cloudbase - Aint got time for gravity
@sdbrit68 - its been a while since your 1 month review. Was wondering how you made out with the course. Appreciate any insights

thanks!!
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
@sdbrit68 - its been a while since your 1 month review. Was wondering how you made out with the course. Appreciate any insights

thanks!!
It was great, and honestly, I still use the warm ups 3 times a week. Being able to move all over the fretboard from any string has been fantastic, and the best part of it, I can almost hear the note before I move to it which helps build confidence
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
This is one I want to start taking a look at as well. I got to talk briefly with Griff in July at the workshop, and he suggested that I start going through BSBB, so I've been doing that since August. I figure this might be a good technique supplement. Kind of like you said, with Speed Builders I set my timer up on the bookshelf, turn the metronome on until I have a handle on the pacing (I can't count a specific bpm off the top of my head - I count throughout), and start into the licks and phrases beginning with the warm-up exercises. I'm curious if the exercises that Griff has you do to start your playing in BSBB are the same or similar to the ones in PSTM.
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
I agree snarf, the other thing this course helps with is an area I struggle, trying to be melodic on a solo to fit the song, well, since I am less concerned where my fingers are now, I can try and concentrate on the sounds and not the placement.

As I said before, I dont think this is a course to do just to do, you get the most out of it when you flip the switch to wanting to have a dedicated practice session
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
I agree snarf, the other thing this course helps with is an area I struggle, trying to be melodic on a solo to fit the song, well, since I am less concerned where my fingers are now, I can try and concentrate on the sounds and not the placement.
That, right there, is pretty much the definition of why you do technique practice. When you don't have to concentrate on "how," you get to concentrate on "what."
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
I'm curious if the exercises that Griff has you do to start your playing in BSBB are the same or similar to the ones in PSTM.

The first 2 warm-up exercises are the same in both. "The Stretch" and "The Finger Crawl".

PSTM then has variations on the Crawl, by alternating fingers and then "slur" practice, also alternating fingers.

BSBB has a different "slur" exercise, followed by a bending exercise.
 
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