Should I buy or should I wait...

[PeterSchroeder]

I am about half way through BBG, bought it last year but let it rest to do a more generic beginner course. Eighth notes, pentatonic boxes, one or the other mode scale, power chords, bends, vibratos, Hammer Ons, pull offs have improved a lot in the meantime. Judging from the famous PDF I consider myself as between level 2 and 3. Playing since one and a half years now. In BBG I got some difficulties with changing to B7 chord, otherwise doing fine. I guess it won’t take another year to finish. As Black Friday is near I consider buying BGU. Or is it too early for this one ?

thanks for any recommendation !

 

[MarcV]

Hey Peter. Just took a look at BBG course. My two cents would be to go for it and check out BGU.

A couple measuring sticks:
if you can play Full Out Blues on page 17 even moderately well then you are all set to check out BGU. Also it would be good to have down the strumming parts that Griff refers to on page 23, where is says to make sure you have this section down before moving on.

Don't worry about that B7 shape on second fret that is tough for everyone at first. Keep working on it and in the mean time you can "cheat" by moving an A7 bottom (4 string bar) up two frets to 4th fret for an easier B7 if you need it in a song.

 

[MarcV]

Hi Peter again,
Just checking price on BGU and it is more money than I thought
I was assuming that it was $97 or less like a lot of the other courses.
I would now say that if you have the money, it is a good investment, however there may be cheaper options. Check out the 5 easy blues solo course for example and while not as comprehensive as BGU may get you to where you want to go.
Another thing to consider is the All Access Pass: for $29 per month instead of owning any particular course you have full access to everything in the course catalog. This is what I did after I bought my first few courses

 

[PeterSchroeder]

Hi MarcV, with Black Friday coming up there was an email from Griff with a promo code, which will bring BGU down to 100 bucks. I already got the 5 easy solos but didn‘t have a closer look at it yet. As I am a slow learner (not because I am too dim witted but because I have to manage job, family and sports besides playing the guitar...) I am not considering the AAP yet, although I got to do a „business case“ to compare costs.

 

[MarcV]

Yep definitely depends on your situation. However, I would say at $100 it is definitely worth it. Also the time you have available to play is always a factor. I am retired so I have a bunch of free time and really get my money's worth with the AAP. Cheers Marc.

 

[MikeS]

Yeah, if funds are really limited, Id go ahead and get BGU when he announces his discount, but I've been an AAP member for over three years now and I still think it's the best bang for your money.
You get
- streaming access to ALL his courses,
- Every 60 days you get a "Golden Ticket" that lets you own any one of his courses, so after 60 days you could own BGU for free and still have streaming access to everything else Your 60 day clock for your next "Golden Ticket" starts again after your use your ticket. If you decide to leave AAP, you still have access to any course that you have bought (Cash or Golden Ticket)
- 6 live session per month on Technique, Theory and Gear, with an occasional "Misc" thrown in for fun.

IMO the live session alone are worth the price.

 

[PeterSchroeder]

Coming to the „BGU readiness“ issue. Didn‘t buy BGU at discount time because, after doing the math, I decided to go for the AAP anyway. Didn‘t pull the trigger yet because of Christmas and stuff. Instead, I intensified my work on BBG. Now I can play Full Out Blues, most of the time. About to reach that level for Hideaway Blues, getting better at Mary had a Little Lamb. Doing well in the strumming lessons, except fluid chord changes from G7 to C7, which give me the same headache as open G and C. I keep on working on that. Barely started working on barre chords.

From MarcV‘s comment, I could start with BGU. Or will my lack of barre chord playing ability block me ?

 

[MarcV]

Hey Peter. Glad you decided to go for the AAP. As for where to go next:
Your an AAP member so you can check out whatever you want. A couple of comments:

1)Go for it with BGU, some things will definitely be harder because there are bar chords in there.

2)I would also strongly recommend checking out the following two for help with chord changes and barre chords:
a)Strumming and Rhythm Mastery
b)52 Rhythm fills and variations (no, or very few full barre chords here, instead partial bar chords which actually turn out to be more useful and easier to play)

3)Barre chords are very important especially if you want to play any type of rhythm guitar.
However, they are hard and take a while. Not sure when you first picked up a guitar but playing barre chords smoothly can actually take a few years to get nice and smooth.
I am guessing you will find that G7 to C7 transition will come in before the full barre chord does

4)There are all sorts of partial 3 and 4 string barre chords that may be easier.

5)Maybe most important: now that you are AAP member feel free to email Griff in private email. He is pretty good about getting back to you and offering advice.

Keep strumming

 

[david moon]

the AAP is great way to access all the courses for a minimal monthly fee. And accumulate points toward owning one.

The little chords over 3 or 4 strings are more important than the full barre chords over all six strings. A lot of times the six string chords are played as "power chords" using just the lower strings. To get just the one and five of the chord

 

[david moon]

Once more about AAP, compare the cost to your phone bill, cable bill.
Access to EVERYTHING and build up points to own courses.

Also gives Griff a steady revenue stream from all his past good work.

 

[PeterSchroeder]

I spent a lot of time checking all the courses, consulted the courses and levels PDF, read comments in the forum. In BBG I enjoy the whole content, the example songs, the strumming. I guess I will start with BGU to improve my skills, so this will also be the obvious choice for the first GT. I doubt that I will be far into soloing once the second GT will be imminent, so will have to make an educated guess then....

also, I would like to learn Finger style to play some Billy Gibbons stuff, and the classic rock course is intriguing as well.... so many options and only so much time each day....