If you’re anything like me, you own dozens of instructional books and videos. I’ve gleaned something important from every one of the many books I own, but there are only a tiny handful that I’ve worked through in their entirety.
Some, like Chord Chemistry and The Advancing Guitarist, aren’t really meant to be worked through page by page, but rather used as a jumping-off point for further exploration.
Still, it bothers me that the washout rate for instructional materials is higher than that for Navy SEALS, especially because I consider myself a fairly dedicated student and enthusiastic learner.
What follows is my own personal wish list for the perfect guitar instructional book/course.
Fellow teachers, it’s time to step up our game.
Prerequisites
What is this course assuming that I already know? That I read music? That I’m a raw beginner? That I play some jazz but want to improve? That I’ve studied classical harmony but want to learn to arrange horn sections for pop tunes?
I get that publishers might be wary of scaring off any potential students, but I like to think of it as an opportunity to serve a market over and over. Hey, before you get to this thing you want to study, you’d do well to work through this book first.
Tell me who it’s for.
What Will I Learn
I want a non-hyped description of what gets covered, not magazine-cover promises that are quickly broken. (Lose 5 Pounds by the Weekend! 30 Bedroom Tips Your Man Will Love! Get Six Pack Abs While Eating Pizza!).
Tell me it’s 50 Jazz-Blues Licks, each with an analysis of harmonic functions; don’t yell at me that Yes You Can Master Jazz-Blues Today!
Tell me what I’ll learn.
Time Frame
How long will it take to work through this material if I put in an hour each day? If I put in 30 minutes? Should certain exercises be repeated until x level of proficiency is reached before moving on?
Tell me how long it should take.
Portion Size
To the above point, are the lessons clearly split up into consumable units? How much should I do each day? Is there a logical stopping point? Can you nudge me tomorrow so I remember to keep going?
Help me pace myself.
Review
Does what I work on the next day start by reviewing what we did the day before?
Make it stick.
Sequence
If it doesn’t have built-in review, is it maybe because there’s no logical sequence that’s been charted between my starting point (Prereqs) and my ending point (What Will I Learn)?
Today, teach me just the ONE thing I need next.
Tomorrow, teach me the next one.
Linear
Is this laid out in an order that makes sense?
Bazillions of students have studied with the Aebersold books, and there’s good stuff between those covers, but the layout of the book is a clusterfuck. How To Use This Book: Do the thing on page 30, then turn to page 108, work through those exercises, review the scales in Appendix C, then play through the song on page 13. ARRRGGGHHH! Why? Is this really the best we can do?
Lay out the material in the right order.
Progressive
Does it build on the lessons that came before it?
Challenge me. Make me grow. Help me connect the dots.
Excessive Hand-holding vs Complete Overwhelm
Does this book sometimes assume that I’m a half-wit who’s never heard a song before, and other times assume that I’m a genius capable of taking in vast swaths of information from one poorly worded sentence?
This is hopefully settled by having the Prereqs clear from the start, but there’s also an art in writing in a way that doesn’t bore the experienced and doesn’t overwhelm the uninitiated.
(For a perfect example of that kind of writing, check out Guitar: An American Life by Tim Brookes. To learn how to do it, check out On Writing Well by William Zinnser.)
Don’t bore me. Don’t overwhelm me.
The Curse Of Knowledge
Has the author completely forgotten what it was like to not know this material? It’s awfully hard to communicate clearly when you can’t (or won’t) empathize with your audience.
Teach me like you want me to learn, not like you’re trying to impress me.
What’s My Homework
Is this one of those books where the implied homework is “oh hey, work this out in all twelve keys and we’ll see you on the next page…”?
Or is this a well-planned mission that takes me on a transformative journey? Spending the time & pages necessary to make the homework explicit is well worth the cost if student outcomes are drastically better.
This of course also ties in with the idea of portion size––nothing in music is difficult to understand if it’s presented in the right order, in the right sized chunk.
Sure, there’s a massive amount of information to learn and internalize, but that doesn’t mean that we as teachers should throw our hands up in the air and say whhaaaaa it’s too hard to design a good teaching system.
Tell me what I need to do.
History
Humans like stories. Does this style of music have a superhero-like origin story? Tell it to me! Maybe in a sidebar?
One of the coolest learning experiences I’ve ever had was having a badass drummer walk me through The Salsa Guidebook, playing each separate rhythm and talking about where it came from, which instrument plays it, and where it fits into the giant beautiful machine that is the Afro-Cuban rhythm section. Then we did the same for the history of reggae. Mind blowing stuff.
Give it a context.
Stylistically Ambivalent
Does this assume that I want to play a certain style?
That’s cool if you pitched me on the idea of learning how to (let’s say) play rhythm guitar in a bluegrass band, but not so much if you’re simply assuming that everyone everywhere aspires to play prog metal just because you do.
If this isn’t a book about a specific style, is it something that will either help everyday people enjoy making music more or make working musicians more hire-able?
I pick on the metal players too much already, but this maniacal focus on sweep picking, two-handed tapping, & modes is distracting players from more useful, more employable skills.
Don’t assume that I’m you. Make sure it’s useful for me.
Who Else Is Working Through This?
Last year, a big group of guys and I all joined a one-year workout/nutrition program for skinny dudes trying to gain muscle. One of the best things about the group is that we’re all on the same journey, working through the same program, sharing the same struggles, offering advice on what’s worked well for us, and supporting one another along the way.
It’s a lonely world. Very few people in your day-to-day life know what it’s like to practice for hours each day, or struggle with thorny theory concepts.
Having someone to talk to along the way is a massive help, both in a practical and a psychological sense.
Connect me to my tribe.
Design
Does the design, typography, & engraving help make things clear to me? I love Chord Chemistry, but design-wise it’s an absolute disaster.
Make it clear visually.
Other Implications of These Ideas
For the most part, the internet is a boon for guitar learners.
But no one should have to waste their time sifting through it all, trying separate the wheat from the chaff.
As of this writing, there’s no good way to wade through the vast uncharted jungle of random tips, tricks, & lessons available and emerge with a full set of tools for being a working guitarist.
Information triage is the new black.
As the availability of information becomes more and more widespread, I think increasingly we’ll see more people offering (and people finding enough value in it to warrant paying money for) curated sets of information, offered in a guided tour format, anchored in a community of similarly motivated individuals.
That’s my intention anyways. I’m making a course for the intermediate guitarist that’s designed to take him or her solidly into the territory usually reserved for music-schooled professional musicians.
I want your help.
The idea is tiny sequential lessons delivered daily to your inbox, each one building on the one that came before it, set up to tap into your creativity, and focusing not only on theoretical concepts, but also on building the physical and mental skills needed for you to leave the upper-intermediate plateau behind forever.
You have a limited amount of time each day to spend playing, practicing, learning new tunes, & jamming with your friends.
It’s tough to make a priority out of something vaguely defined like “learn theory,” especially if the benefits aren’t clear.
But if you had a way to put in a scant 15 minutes each day (over the course of a year or more), and you were learning all the things––both physical and mental––that separate the pros from the hobbyists, would you do it?
Not a bunch of bullshit about plagal cadences and phrygian modes, but actual, useful stuff that gets used in the day-to-day act of learning, understanding, communicating, writing and performing music like a badass.
Tell me who it’s for.
Tell me what I’ll learn.
Tell me how long it should take.
Help me pace myself.
Make it stick.
Today, teach me just the ONE thing I need next. Tomorrow, teach me the next one.
Lay out the material in the right order.
Challenge me. Make me grow. Help me connect the dots.
Don’t bore me. Don’t overwhelm me.
Teach me like you want me to learn, not like you’re trying to impress me.
Tell me what I need to do.
Give it a context.
Don’t assume that I’m you. Make sure it’s useful for me.
Connect me to my tribe.
Make it clear visually.
The points above are all things that consumed my thinking when I started building the course, but I want your input before I go much further.
Do these things matter to you at all?
Did I miss other, more important things?
Is there anything else that annoys you about the current state of guitar instruction?
Does this sound like something you’d be interested in?
(If yes, go ahead and sign up for email updates.)
But if no, please light me up in the comments section here or wherever you found this (reddit, quora, fb, etc) and tell me why this idea sucks.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
