Practice, Practice, Practice

GaryPosner

Blues Newbie
Dear Griff,
I have recently purchased BGU. I would say I am an advanced beginner guitarist and a professional keyboard player. I have only gone through a few lessons, so it is hard for me to comment on all the merits of the program. It feels very well organized and documented. What I felt missing from the very beginning was "what else" or "what with.?" It feels like BGU is one course of many that I should be working on at the same time. From the content in the emails, I felt I was going to get a full program. IE. what I should be working on. For example, "with lesson content you should also be practicing these scales, working on the chords in all twelve keys, etc. So that while I go through the BGU program, I am developing all the skills I will need by the time I am finished. It feels like for that, I would have to buy many more of your products??
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I'm not Griff, but I'll take a stab at an answer.
1) You won't get Beginner to Masters degree in one course. IT would cost WAY too much.
2) With BGU you WILL get a systematic path to soloing. If my memory serves me, you will Learn box 1 early in BGU and the rest of the boxes in later lessons.
3) other courses teach specific thing (Technique, theory, slide, rhythm examples, complete sols...) and reinforce things you learned in BGU,
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
Dear Griff,
I have recently purchased BGU. I would say I am an advanced beginner guitarist and a professional keyboard player. I have only gone through a few lessons, so it is hard for me to comment on all the merits of the program. It feels very well organized and documented. What I felt missing from the very beginning was "what else" or "what with.?" It feels like BGU is one course of many that I should be working on at the same time. From the content in the emails, I felt I was going to get a full program. IE. what I should be working on. For example, "with lesson content you should also be practicing these scales, working on the chords in all twelve keys, etc. So that while I go through the BGU program, I am developing all the skills I will need by the time I am finished. It feels like for that, I would have to buy many more of your products??
Great question, and I can answer it :)

If you go through BGU and actually learn everything in there, there is nothing else you'll ever need and you'll be able to play at any blues jam and hang just fine and sound great.

That's why BGU came first, and everything else has come after. As time has moved on and I've worked with more and more people in this community, I've found a variety of "holes" in their general education or found that a lot of people wanted to dig more deeply into one particular area, and that's why other courses have come along. Not a single one was even thought of when I started this!

As for "what to work on," go in order, don't skip around, and you'll be doing it right. It's inherently built to lead you down the path perfectly. It's not a coincidence that the rhythm stuff comes first, you need that more. After all, most songs are 90% rhythm with a short lead break. So you have to get that together. I don't tell you to learn all 5 boxes at first because I don't want you to. When the time comes, you'll learn them.

I don't like the idea of "working" on scales or chords, just play and you'll learn them. That's why there are a lot of examples. The more you play those examples and really do everything in the course, the more you'll realize there is nothing else you need... only other avenues that you may want to explore further.
 
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