Your BGU journey

jporzelius

jporzelius

Blues Junior
I would love to hear your stories of how you came to BGU and where you've gone with it. Thought I'd start with mine:

10 years ago at the age of 49 I decided it was time to learn guitar and bought a cheap acoustic. I had my teenage son teach me a couple chords and I got on youtube to find some songs I could strum. I found the 4 note solo and BGU. I sold my acoustic and bought a used Les Paul 100 and dove in. I should have gotten Beginning Blues Guitar but didn't know about it. Anyway, I set out to learn the blues guitar. I figured I would give myself 5 years to see if it took. I had tried to learn guitar a couple times as a kid, but quit in less than 5 days. My rule this time was that I had to pick up the guitar every day. No rules about how long I had to play or what I had to play, just pick it up and see what happened. Most days, I played at least a half hour. A lot of days I thought I was too tired after work to play but once I picked it up I felt better and time just zipped by.

The next phase was finding people to jam with. I went to the local blues jam and it was all guys from local bands who were amazing musicians just making great music for fun. They were super nice but no way could I jump up on that stage. I thought I'd wait a year or so and by the time I was ready, the jam had dissolved.

My other approach was to find people to come jam with me. A neighbor was starting to play and he came and joined me and my son a couple times. He soon gave up on the guitar but thought he might learn bass so he did that for a few months. Meanwhile, I told everyone I knew that I was learning guitar and if they played anything, I invited them over to jam. A couple women I work with sent their spouses. One had a saxophone in his closet he hadn't played for years, one was learning bass. I found a friend who had played drums in highschool but not in 30 years and I dragged him in. For about three years we jammed at my house once a month or so. Meanwhile I kept buying Griff's programs and worked through several of them.

Eventually we had a consistent group of guys and a couple sets of songs. We decided to do a performance. We threw a party, bought a keg, invited friends to potluck it and played our two sets. I thought that might be a one off, but at the end of the night, we were a band.

A few months later we had 3 sets, and booked a bar gig. That was 3 years ago. Some band members have changed but we now have a website, facebook page and instagram. We booked about 8 gigs last year but are aiming to limit it to 6 a year and have 3 booked this year.

To sum it up, thanks to the 4 note solo and BGU courses and this forum, I started a hobby 10 years ago with one guitar and one dvd course. I now have 6 guitars, 3 amps, a lot of courses. I've been to two mini BGU events in Seattle and met some great guys, and I play in a blues band. My social network is primarily the guys in the band, most of whom I would never have met otherwise. I still don't feel like a real guitar player, but I do have fun and see progress continuing.

My deepest thanks to Griff for the courses and to the forum for the support, encouragement, and enabling. It's been a great 10 year journey and I'm hoping for 10 more.

Please share your stories. :Beer:

jim

www.jackwagonblues.weebly.com
 
PapaBear

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
10 Years ago I was laid up with a back injury, I had played rhythm guitar in a couple of bands, but wanted to learn to play better lead guitar, while out of work recovering I was on the web trying to find something to help with my goal and stumbled onto the 4 note solo, bought BGU and several other courses and came to the realization I needed to work on a lot more than lead (counting and technique mainly) so I focused on tuning into the beat more, playing smaller chords and staying out of the way when comping in the band I was in, and all the guys said "man you really been woodshedding while you were laid up" but, alas life got in the way of that band, three of us went through divorces and ended up too many miles apart to hold it together. So I make a BGU event when I can and play in a nearby acoustic circle and have finally started working on playing more and better lead guitar, but is still very much a work in progress hampered by the fact that I don't want to play the licks of others and would rather create my own, but have come to the realization I'm not that good so I've started to study their licks and am trying to make them my own, most recently studying playing in the style of Jimi Hendrix
 
Terry B

Terry B

Humble student of the blues
Some time in 2007 I was at a house party with several co-workers, the host being an amateur musician and I admitted I "used to play guitar." Next thing I knew he handed me a guitar and started playing harmonica. Embarrassed that after not playing guitar in about a quarter century, I froze and couldn't do a thing. I was determined not to let that happen again so I dug my old guitars out of the basement and made an effort once again to get back into it.

Not much happened over the next couple of years but at the end of 2010 while contemplating retirement from my 30 some year career I decided I should treat myself to a new guitar. So I bought my Olympic White American Standard Strat and my wife got me a Blues Junior Amp to go with it.

So now armed with some serious gear I knew I needed to really knuckle down and apply myself, so I did what one does and went to the internet. Soon I was getting emails from Griff and a few others, and around summertime 2011 I purchased the original BGU course. Still I didn't get into it too heavy but that all changed around the end of that year when I got an email from Griff that he would be holding the second annual BGU Live in a few months with the chance to come to Southern California and play with his band and other like minded individuals. Once my enrolment was confirmed, I knew now I had to get serious!

It was the greatest experience, and motivated me to work to ensure that I sucked less next year, and I've been to most of the BGU live events since, got the t-shirts and made many great friends over the years. I've also added a bunch of gear.

Unfortunately I've never made it into a band just the odd jam session, on the deck or around the campfire playing and singing. But I have a drummer now. I got my wife a set of drums awhile back and she's taking Chris' course, so there's that.
 
dwparker

dwparker

Bluesologist
So I came back to guitar about 3 years ago after stupidly dropping it about 20 years because of wife, work, etc., what I thought it meant to live a responsible life. I was previously mainly playing acoustic guitar, though I did own a strat and a Peavey amp. Started playing again with the goal getting through the William Leavitt Modern Method for Guitar series of books, something I failed to do but wanted to accomplish when I was younger. About somewhere in the middle of book 2 I got so bored with the material that I decided something needed to change. I love the blues and have been eyeing BGU now for several years, and so I decided to take the plunge last October. I am currently in the middle of the course and practice between 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week. I admittadly miss playing some of the chord melodies I used to play, and a part of me worries about using so much tab instead of reading music, but I really do like playing blues and this course is really good. I've got about 6 or 7 of Griff's courses I want to get through, and so I will keep plugging along at this and see where my journey takes me.
 
artyman

artyman

Fareham UK
I originally learnt to play in my late teens and early twenties, just cowboy chords enough to accompany my singing. Really got into dinghy racing, and sailing took up the next 35 years. About five years ago I was up in the loft looking for something amongst the junk that always seems to accumulate up there and picked up my dad's old acoustic and strummed a few chords, my wife heard me playing and asked if I would like an electric guitar for Christmas, I ended up buying a secondhand Encore Les Paul that came with a terrible sounding little practice amp from Ebay and that started me off playing again. I had always a great fan of "The Shadows" and a few months later acquired a secondhand Fender Strat which was in disgusting condition, refurbed this and it ended up as my 70th birthday present again from my very kind wife. I came across Griff and bought the "Killer Blues Solo" course, as I hoped this would assist me in learning "The Shadows" solos..

One of the guitarists at my church heard that I was playing again and asked me to cover for him in a couple of weeks as he was going to be away, this developed into me becoming a permanent member of the music team. It was here that I met my playing partner when we discovered we both had a love of 60's music, and we jammed together at my house for a while before forming a duo "Jigsaw" about two years ago. We now play regularly at various rest homes (though not at the moment because of Corona Virus).

But back to BGU, after discovering the forum I learnt of the BGU-UK annual get together, and signed up for my first one in 2015 and was made to feel most welcome, I even fumbled few tentative solos later in that first weekend. It was also a joy to meet Griff in person as he had come over to the UK that year, he is just as warm and friendly as he comes across in his videos. The annual BGU-UK weekend has now become a must go event for me ever since, we always have a great time, and it's not to be missed.

I discovered the Virtual Jam Room a while back and have great fun playing along, so why not look in down there and join the rest us, it's a great way to improve your playing.
 
Shodai

Shodai

Blues Junior
I'll play, though I don't remember much of the journey.

I was a very active musician as a teenager, and played several instruments, though I was primarily a drum and percussion guy playing drum set, orchestral snare drum, tympani, and mallet instruments. I had a girlfriend that played flute, so I learned flute. I also learned some violin, and picked up a little guitar. The guitar was mostly barre chords and open chords, and nothing even intermediate level. Basic major and minor chords and some strumming. Never did any lead guitar work or soloing of any kind.

Even though I was a drummer, I always had a fascination with the construction of guitars. They were really works of art, and I enjoyed them for their aesthetics, even if I couldn't play them very well. I liked the grain of the wood, the colors of of the sunbursts, the little add-ons like fretboard inlays and binding. I liked getting guitars that had something different, or special about them. Different pick up configurations, or switching, things like that. So I became, more or less, a collector. I'd pick up guitars because I liked them, not necessarily because I could play them.

So here I was with a very nice collection of guitars, and couldn't do more than play a few cowboy chords. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to play them, I just didn't have the right road map. Like many of us here on the forum, I'd pick up bits and pieces here and there from books, dvd's, the internet. But nothing that ever made me "play" any better. Sure, I could play a few songs, but I couldn't improvise anything to save my life.

Around 2012 I came across a video by Griff. It was not the 4 note solo. He's a great teacher. I teach myself, and have found for all of the teachers in the various disciplines out there, there are very few that can actually teach. Griff can teach. I was impressed, and a short time later bought my first course. Then another, then another. The courses came with information about accessing the Members Forum, which I didn't do right away. Partly because I hadn't accomplished anything yet, and partly because I shunned social media. I don't have Facebook, twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, or any of those others. In fact, this is the only online forum that I belong to.

As I said, my first introduction to Griff was not the 4 Note Solo. In fact it was several years before I even saw that video, and I only bought the soloing without scales course this year. I don't remember which course was the first that I bought, but I have amassed a large collection at this point. Even with the course materials I never really got focused until recently. I'd look at a lesson from this course, bounce to something else, see that Griff was releasing something entirely new, buy it and take a look. At this point I have so much material that there is no possible way I will every be able to finish it all in my lifetime.

So, as much as I'd like to say my journey has been fruitful, a truly honest assessment would be this: I am better now than I was in 2012, but nowhere near as good as I could have been had I focused and actually gone through even a single course start to finish.

This year I tool a long hard look at my lack of progress, and made an honest assessment of my progress, my lack of progress, and the reasons for both. It wasn't lack of information, it wasn't lack of materials, and I certainly can't say it is because I had sub-standard beginner guitars with bad set ups that wouldn't stay in tune and were hard to play. The only reason had to be... me. Lack of direction wasn't the problem. Griff lays everything out, step by step, in each of his courses is a way that is easy to understand, and at a pace that allows you to progress. Direction has been there, right in front of me the whole time. No, the problem was lack of focus. It was all this bouncing around from course to course, learning a bit of this and a bit of that, but never progressing past the first few lessons in anything. It was, oh, I should look at that... ooh, slide looks interesting... oh, playing on the porch, yes, yes I should try that... oh, there's a new course?, ooh, look something shiny and new, oh, SQUIRREL!".

So I packed it all up. ALL OF IT! Except for my copy of BGU 2.0. I decided that this year I was going to finish a course. Completely, step by step, each complete lesson, the whole damned thing, and not be distracted by shiny objects and squirrels. I got a study buddy to keep me on track, and, so far, its working.

So my journey? Lets just say I took the long road around, and found myself back at the beginning. The difference between then and now is that then I had a vague idea that I wanted to play. Now I have a specific goal, and plan to reach it.

You guys are a part of that plan, and I thank you for it.
 
MikeS

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I played in a garage band in the late 60's and played acoustic songs in the 70's. I mostly played cowboy chords and got comfortable with E & A shaped barre chords. I never really had a clue how people were able to solo and just figured it was beyond me. As the 70's wound down, so did my playing and over the next 30 years or so I'd pick up my guitar for a bit of time then put it away fro a bit of time. The playing time got shorter and the put it away times got longer.
I retire back in 2005. Spent 4-5 years helping my mother-in-law in a nursing home. At that point I started to realize that my own life was slipping away (Fewer years ahead than behind). I Decided to pick up the guitar again.

That's when I found Griff & the 4 Note Solo (Early 2009). It seemed like "Hey, that's something I can do!"
I joined the forum in April of 2009.
At that time Blues Guitar Unleashed was the only course available and for the next couple of years I bludgeoned my way through it. During those early years, Griff came out with several other courses, and I bought every one he published. I Went back and did Beginning Blues Guitar, which turned out to be an easy course for me, but not without a few tidbits that helped. From that point on, I've jumped in and out of most of the courses, but I started Soloing Without Scales when I was about half way through BGU & that clicked and I started soloing, not just playing scales.

One thing I found that kept me motivated was this forum. I was listening others stories and their recorded lessons eventually recording my own lessons and posting them here. Peer feedback was great and helped me improve.

A member in Maine (Cowboy) and one in Maryland (Alan Hamm) decided to host the first BGU Jams. I was able to make it to Alan's and had a blast. In 2011 Griff took up the jam challenge and began hosting BGU Live events in California. I've made all but one of Griff's jams and several "local BGU" jams too. Early ones were terrifying, but like anything else, the more you do it the more comfortable you are doing it. Getting to play with Griff & his band is something that every member should aspire to & make every attempt to do.

I'm still what I would consider a mediocre guitarist, but what I've found is that you don't have to be Griff level to be entertaining to an audience. I've been solo gigging now for the last 5-6 years with occasional jumps into Blues jams where I sometimes embarrass myself and sometimes rock the house. I suspect which one it is on any given night depends more on the other players carrying me or not carrying me.
So at 69, I'm having the musical time of my life and it's all thanks to Griff.

http://MikeSdfw.com
 
Dr. Ron

Dr. Ron

Nuthin’ But The Blues!
Joined BGU in 2011. Some classical guitar background. No band experience. 99% of what i produce
as a guitarist/bandmate/singer is due to Griff's teachings and a lot of participation in BGU activities.
Griff is "the Man", and I am grateful for his help in fulfilling this bucket list dream...and it continues!
A bonus has been forming some great friendships along the way.
 
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cowboy

cowboy

Blues, Booze & BBQ
I played in a band in the late 60's and early 70's....typical high school garage band...no tab, no internet and no lessons were available so it was a huge self learning curve. Had tons of fun...most of which should probably remain unknown...also was lucky enough to do enough gigs to have some decent gear...you know, the stuff you'd like to have back...Gibson Les Paul, Dan Armstrong polyglass, Vox Super Beatle, etc., ...got out of playing when I meet my wife and the drugs got to be too much...

move ahead twenty plus years and my son wanted to play drums...after spending a bit of money on drums, I decided that Dad deserved to have an electric guitar again...thus the journey started over again...my old 60's music led me into the blues...did a little bit of playing with my son at some school events and then got an offer to play in a blues band...even made it to Memphis a couple of times...did that for about five years but had always just played rhythm and wanted to work on lead....found Blues Guitar Unleashed online and bought the course...it stayed in the wrapper for about six months til I found the BGU forum...then my world turned upside down...

after being on the forum for a bit, I decided I wanted to meet some of my new "friends"...best way to do it was offer a jam...my wife thought I was crazy (she's right)....we had the FIRST ever BGU jam in Maine in 2010...guys showed up from Seattle (Wally), Indy (chick), Maryland (Alan) and some guy from Texas was on standby and never got here...that changed quickly....(love ya MikeS)...have to add that Chuck is always with me...:Beer::Beer::Beer:....

I've made most every BGU Live jam except Arrowhead....sometimes life (tennis) gets in the way...I have about everything Griff has every put out...I've started everything and finished nothing...got a roomful of gear and not enough motivation to get much done...

but I've got a great group of every expanding friends that love to get together, play some music and have a few beers...life is good...

I'm the luckiest guy in the world...love ya all...later.

cowboy
 
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sloslunas

sloslunas

NM Blues
Mine started with a traumatic brain injury in 2006. After learning how to read, write, walk, and talk again. I thought that maybe learning how to play music would help me re-connect the dots. It would help my eye and hand coordination, and force me to really focus. My doctors were amazed that I was even attempting this. Long story short, I kept with it. The healing process was amazing over the years. I still very much suck at the guitar...but who cares?? Griff knew from the very first BGU Live in 2011 what I was dealing with, and took me under his wing. We have become very good friends every since. I always joke that if Griff can teach me how to play the guitar that he can teach anyone! Since then, Griff and I have played together In California, Maine, Memphis, Dallas, and New York (I may be forgetting a few others??). It's all good brothers...you have found the sweet spot for learning how to continue in your musical journey, and I salute you for that. You guys are absolutely amazing...

Steve

PS. I realize that I will never regain my full capacity. But I continue to support everyone out there on their musical adventures...
 
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Griff

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
I've spent the last 40 minutes reading through these... I can't thank you all enough.

I've just heard that the governor of California has called a statewide ban on gatherings, so I've had to cancel my Sunday plans to have the band here and do a web concert for you all, and I'm super bummed.

I love music, I've loved it my whole life, since I was a kid. I can't remember a time when I didn't love it. I've basically done it as a career since I was 16 years old (with a few odd jobs here and there, but not many.)

I love performing, I love teaching, I love seeing those lightbulb moments and working with students to find them when they seem so far out of reach.

If you need ANYTHING at all to help you on your way, I hope you know you can reach out to me and I will always do my best to try and help.

And by all means, if you have a story and you haven't yet, please share it. You would be surprised how often I hear from people that are shocked to discover there is an entire forum full of people "just like them." These stories do wonders for those folks.
 
Elio

Elio

Student Of The Blues
My story is similar to the others except that my guitar playing during my younger days in the early 70's was probably a much lower level than the rest of you guys. Growing up, I spent a couple summers in Italy with my relatives, where my grandfather taught me to play mandolin, and then I played clarinet in high school, and then nothing at all for a very long time. 30 years later I went from being able to sight-read notation to pretty much being musically illiterate again.

When my kids were in middle school, my son took a guitar class so I went off to buy him an acoustic guitar. After that whenever his teacher sent him home a with a new blues rhythm or licks, I would commandeer his guitar to see what I could do. In 2011 I finally told my wife it was time to buy an electric guitar, followed by a search for some online instructional materials, which is how I found Griff (I'm probably one of the few people who didn't find him via the 4-note solo). I have a graduate degree in educational technology and am really particular about the approach taken for any sort of online instruction. My sense when I looked at Griff's materials was that he was taking exactly the sort of approach that I was looking for, and that he has a firm handle on the technology.

Since then I've added a bunch more of his courses, attended BGU Live events, I meet up fairly regularly to jam with other local BGUers, and have made some great friends, including Griff, Laura and the band. ...and I've had Griff come out a few times to speak to my educational technology doctoral students about how he does what he does!
 
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jmin

jmin

Student Of The Blues
PapaRaptor said:
Several years ago (2012 to be exact) I had a website and blog where I described my journey in far too much detail. The old blog is long gone, but I found the entry and re-posted it on my current website.
For your dining and dancing pleasure: https://fuzzypinkstrap.com/2020/03/20/quality-of-life/
Click to expand...

Great blog Papa! I have mentioned in past posts that if it weren’t for meeting an accordion player in high school, I probably never would have played a single gig. He also played a Cordovox and blew me away with his Booker T renditions. He also bought a Fender Rhodes for our Surf band.
And, 47 years later, we just played at an Italian-American social club dinner dance!
We gotta get together at a BGU Live event...I can back you on a mean Tarantella!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogeXnnCXX8A&list=RDogeXnnCXX8A&start_radio=1
 
Elio

Elio

Student Of The Blues
jmin said:
Great blog Papa! I have mentioned in past posts that if it weren’t for meeting an accordion player in high school, I probably never would have played a single gig. He also played a Cordovox and blew me away with his Booker T renditions. He also bought a Fender Rhodes for our Surf band.
And, 47 years later, we just played at an Italian-American social club dinner dance!
We gotta get together at a BGU Live event...I can back you on a mean Tarantella!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogeXnnCXX8A&list=RDogeXnnCXX8A&start_radio=1
Click to expand...

That warms my Southern Italian heart!
 
JestMe

JestMe

Student Of The Blues
I haven't seen a story similar to mine so here goes...

As many have said, I played many years ago and gave it up for family then more recently picked it back up. I was amazed at ther resources now available for helping to learn guitar... and purchased many courses, joined several forums...

Now comes the unique part... a BGU forum person, that I knew form another forum was telling me about BGU and urging me to pick it up. I had seen references to it. Then BGU v2 came out. My 'friend', whom I've never met in person and who lives hundreds if not thousands of miles away mailed BGU v1 to me, as a loan so I could review it and decide if it was right for me!!! I kept it for a week or so and decided to get my own copy of BGU v2.

I was really impressed with the thoughtfulness and trusting nature of my forum friend... now i have a couple dozen more Griff Hamlin courses! ;-)

Thanks @matonanjin ...
 
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