Hey Friend,

I hope you got some value out of the exercise lesson I gave yesterday. Part of learning guitar is preparation - you have to be physically able to learn techniques and stretching is a key to ongoing success. 

While stretching will help you get your hands into shape, it's just the first physical step in playing. There is other preparation you should do before practicing.

Whether you're a self-learner or you have an instructor, you need to know what you're going to practice before you pick up your guitar.

Having an instructor or coach can help answer these question, but do most instructors know to address these questions? Usually, the answer is "no."

For a lot of guitar teachers, they're great guitar players, but they've never learned how to teach. They can show you how to play the chords, solos and riffs from songs, but for many students, this can be pretty overwhelming. Many instructors just don't know how best to teach you.

I know I've struggled with this as well, giving my students far too much information in one sitting so they end up either confused or spinning their wheels. We guitar teachers can get a little excited when we're going over material, so don't be afraid to tell us when we're going too fast!

The good things is, I've learned to recognize this, and I try to scale back on information by breaking it down into smaller chunks. 

Part of that strategy includes taking time for coaching and correction, practicing and implementing the skills and techniques into usable chunks.

I learned this approach from one of my guitar instructors a few years back. I didn't have face-to-face sessions with him, as we were located hundreds of miles apart. It was all through correspondence. But he always emphasized separating out the learning, corrections, good practice skills and implementing those new skills into actual playing.

Because we have all this technology available to us, it's a lot easier to get access to the kind of individualized teaching most of us need. 

Not too long ago I mentioned a site you can visit that opens up lessons from professional musicians. What I like about this site is, it's not just Rock players teaching on it. 

We've all got different tastes in music. There are folks here at Learn To Play Rock Guitar that prefer Country or Blues music. 

Let me introduce Artistworks.com to you. 

This is one of the best online education websites I've come across. Why?

Because you are able to submit videos of your practice session for review and analysis by professional musicians - artists that have been featured on gold and platinum albums. These folks are award-winning, even Grammy nominated artists.

And if Rock isn't your main thing, you can choose Blues, Country, Bluegrass and even Classical. 

What if guitar isn't your main passion. Maybe you're a banjo player. Or a saxophone player. Or even harmonica...

They've got you covered. Here's just a short list of the instruments you can learn from top professionals:

It's a pretty eclectic mix of musical education, but hey, variety is the spice of life, right? 

I'm all about opening up options to y'all. If you're considering getting an online coach and want a chance to interact with a teacher that earns their living doing the music you love, this is a way to  "git 'er done." Hop over to Artistworks to see all the learning opportunities.

Peace~

Dave