General Question on the timeline of the course

JoshuaSimon

Blues Newbie
I just bought BGU 2.0 about two weeks ago and am REALLY enjoying it so far. Probably the best product I've seen put together on guitar instruction. I've already made some noticeable progress after getting back into playing 2 months ago following a decade plus layoff.

I have a general question about a good gauge of progress with the program. Obviously, I know everyone is different, but is there a reasonable timeline for progression through various stages of the course if someone is committed to working on it 30-60 minutes a day?

Maybe more specifically for Griff, how long would it take you to teach someone these lessons if giving an individual private instruction?

As an FYI,I feel I'm an average beginner level player.
 

jmin

Student Of The Blues
BGU 1.0: December, 2014 - October, 2016. (1 yr 10 mos).
I’m one of those weird exceptions...I went straight through. I retired and wanted to play guitar as a hobby. I have played guitar since I was about 12 years old. I didn’t have much “formal” training, but played in a band in high school and played casual gigs in my 30’s with a “wedding” band. After I retired, I found Griff on the internet and have been here ever since. I’ve completed some of Griff’s other smaller courses and am in the process of completing ABGU (started February, 2017). I try to play/practice about 1-2 hours a day, about 5-6 days a week. I do every lesson, and attempt to record it as close to Griff’s recording as I can (realistically), then move on to the next lesson. I feel that I’m moving at a pretty slow pace (retired hobby pace!).
...long answer to your question - I think Mark’s (sdbrit68) right, about 2-3 years!
Good luck and enjoy!
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
I can't be the only person to start and finish the course page by page? It's been a few years for this course (and many others) and I need to go back and refresh along with the many others. :Beer:
 
Last edited:

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
no, there are like 3 of you, there will be a support group started soon
Thank-you very much cuz as you can guess it is very needed. Please bring beer! Lots of good beer! Maybe an entire Single Barrel too and we can BBQ and really do the support group thing up good and proper!! :Beer::Beer::Beer::Beer:

Just don't make me keep count to a metronome! That'll get really messy after we tap the Single Barrel!
 

JoshuaSimon

Blues Newbie
Thanks guys. Just trying to get a general feel from others.

I've had a tendency to jump around a bit before as well when trying to learn guitar in the past. However, I think part of that is feeling like the material I was working with was incomplete or not really interesting enough. However, I really feel like I'll be able to stick with this program until finished based on my experience thus far. Here's hoping!
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
Thanks guys. Just trying to get a general feel from others.

I've had a tendency to jump around a bit before as well when trying to learn guitar in the past. However, I think part of that is feeling like the material I was working with was incomplete or not really interesting enough. However, I really feel like I'll be able to stick with this program until finished based on my experience thus far. Here's hoping!

2 years ago, I set myself up with a spread sheet on what days I would practice what, a goal of learning 30 songs by the end of the year, all soup to nuts.

I learned the songs, got better at a lot of things, and didnt have much fun. Now, I do the elssons, go to something else that interests me, go back to things, and I have a ball.

Right now, writing and recording my own stuff is my main focus, when it comes time to write solos, I go back tot eh solo lessons

Point being, it doesnt really matter what or when we finish, just that we have a good time getting there
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Keep in mind that the course is presented in "sections".

Lessons 1-4 on chords. A must for everyone.

Lessons 5-14 is various "rhythms". Order not important. (Some of these I've never done.!!!!)

Lessons 15- 28. Scales and soloing. Order important. (I've done all of these.)

Lesson 29 on "Chord Soloing" is basically "double stops".

Lessons 30 & 31 what Griff likes to call "Playing On The Porch", i.e. playing by yourself.

Just don't get caught up thinking you have to finish every lesson in order before going on to the next.

Follow your interests.:)
 
Last edited:

Jalapeno

Student Of The Blues
It took me about a year to get all the way through BGU, about two years to get through Acoustic BGU, but I took a month off halfway through ABGU to do the Five Easy Blues Solos and Killer Blues Solos Made Easy.

I find, for me, I learn best if I follow the program from start to finish rather than jumping around. I’d lose focus if I jumped around and probably wouldn’t actually learn much of anything, other than “how to noodle” :LOL:. I’ve learned that hard work first play later gets more accomplished. YMMV of course.

Eric
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
I started with Lesson 1 and methodically worked up to Solo 3. Then Griff released SWS, and I got distracted and I never made it back to BGU. After SWS there was another course. And then another. And, having the shiny-object syndrome, I've never gotten back and finished. I think Lesson 1 to Solo 3 took 4 to 5 months. Going back and listening to some of the recordings I made back then, it seems I should've spent more time on some of those lessons. lol Despite a couple of renewed attempts to go back and finish, I haven't ever actually done that. Maybe I should some day.

I think I heard Griff talking about it once and he said "at least a year of lessons" were in BGU.

Total tangent: Thinking back to BGU and SWS, and I can't believe I've been a follower of Griff for almost 10 years now. It doesn't seem like it's been that long.
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
I went straight through and I think it was a little less than a year and a half but i did skip a handful of lessons. Trying to go through 2.0 has taken a lot longer, as i keep getting distracted
 

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
I tend to glean through many courses looking for areas I'm weak in to work on, but I did purchase BBG with the intent of going through from the very basics to help fill in some gaps in my technique,
 

ChrisG

Blues Newbie
I’m working through the course lesson by lesson now. I’ve had it for a while but have recently committed to doing it.
 

JohnHurley

Rock and Roll
Joshua i think best advice is to go thru at least lessons 1 - 9 and then see if you want to keep going thru the others or start hunting around. Take 2 weeks or so on each and keep practicing and repeating skills from earlier lessons.

Find songs that you love and keep practicing till you can make chord changes on time with those songs.

Get a year under your belt before tackling Stormy Monday yikes!

Keep the Faith!
 

Walt H

cloudbase - Aint got time for gravity
I am working on AGBU - not quite your question, but information none the less. I started playing guitar in January of this year. I signed up for one of the most popular guitar teaching sites on the net. It served its purpose...but I was looking for more. I discovered Griff and ABGU on may 9th. I play/practice on average 2+hrs per day. I have a lot of time to dedicate to guitar and I had a stint of several weeks where I was playing 4+. I never play less than 1 hr per day 7 days per week. Yesterday I started lesson 23 out of 35. I am on page 93 out of 140 on the manual (so approx 2/3 complete) in exactly 2.5 months. I have had total focus and dedication to the plan. I do not skip around and I make sure I have the goal of that lesson on lockdown before I move on. I now have 6 of Griffs blues songs that I "own" as Griff would say (one more on the way there). I could not be happier with the course or my progress.

I studied Jazz piano and was reasonably good so I know how to practice and obv have a fair amt of music theory background

If I were to do a back of the envelope guess as to how many hours between 175 and 225 total hours of practice to get 2/3 through
 

WimVD

Every day I have the blues
I started BGU 2.0 after finishing the Gibson Learn and Master Guitar course, so I was at an intermediate level before entering.
BGU 2.0 took me 5 months from start till finish, which must have been about 250 to 300 hours of practice. I tried not to get distracted and just learned some additional blues songs in that timeframe.
At this moment I am 3/4 through CRGU (Griff's Classic Rock course) but this time I did get distracted by the "How to jam blues alone" course, which is more acoustic oriented. So I am doing these in parallel and hope to finish them within the next 3 months.

Wim.
 

PatrickHuhn

Blues Newbie
I purchased BGU in May of last year and just finished this week. I learned a ton of stuff and it has made a noticeable difference in my playing. I hit a few rough spots and really took my time on the solos, but I couldn’t be happier. I have to decide what course to do next and get myself ready for jam sessions. Definitely worth sticking with it. Best lessons i have ever had!
 
Top