I tip my hat to you sir. One of the biggest things to overcome to learn something is one's own ego and the fear of looking inept. Accepting that beginner status publicly on camera shows that you are going to succeed at this. I'm about a year into learning and once I spent about a month and a half doing the spider exercise daily, my ring finger finally started moving easily on it's own. It was weird and fun to stare down at it doing it's thing. Keep at it!
I’m learning with you guys just borrowed my brothers guitar to make sure I stick with it before I go and buy one of my own the guitar looks good except a slight crack around the sound box but it isn’t affecting the sound from what I can tell atleast not enough for me to not be able to play it and it sound good
You’re doing great! And the only one you need to please is yourself. I’m 70 and just started… between accidents and arthritis there’s things I just can’t do! So I do what I can in my own way.. bottom line is… I’m having fun!!
Great video. I'm 73 and started teaching myself guitar with RU-vid, videos and books about 3yrs.ago. I can totally relate to your dad's struggles. I think doing this video the way you did was perfect for it's purpose. Keep up the good work.
What a great idea! I'm on my second week, and it's quite inspiring to share similar beginner-related-issues with your father. For me, the spider exercises are also difficult, my fingers keep returning to their rest state. Of course, I'll keep practicing. :)
Thanks for the great video! I teach guitar (mostly beginning students) and really appreciated hearing the feedback you offered your Dad. If I may offer a suggestion, I noticed throughout the video that your Dad was holding the guitar so the headstock was pointing down. Asking him to hold the guitar so the neck is at least level or slightly pointed up (like you were holding your guitar) will help with some of the issues he was having. A strap will also help.
Awesome video! I'm 70 and picked up my old acoustic after not playing for over 40 years. I'm struggling to get my fingers doing what my brain wants 'em to but I keep trying. Total respect to you and your dad, you've really inspired me to push on and keep trying. Thanks to you both! 👍
Thanks for the kind words - keep going and keep us updated - it’s cool to hear from fellow aspiring guitarists. Yeah, “aspiring guitarists” that sounds better than “students” we are too damn old to be students😊
Great video! Your Dad is doing great! I’m 60 and just started learning a few months ago. Your videos have been very helpful. Thank you and please keep this series going. Many of us are rooting for your Dad to stick with it and do well!
I think the most important part that really hinders people from learning is knowing how and what to practice. What you said in the beginning about 20 minutes a song, 15 practicing chords, and 15 minuts practicing spider ex is the gold content in this video. Honestly you should provide a pdf with your learning guitar videos that just breaks down that schedule. When I learned how to play and instrument my instructor did that but he broke it up into 4 things and he had it set up for an hour but i modified it for 50 minutes and i was practicing the same thing every other day (so essentially an A day and a B day). Those 15 minutes trying to learn the first couple licks of the slowed down song went so fast that it didnt even feel like practicing (Having something NOT feel like a chore is what practicing should be) but after a month of practicing everyday I was playing it at full speed. I would even make a how to practice and what to practice video. It probably the most important part about learning how to play... obviously. If you dont practice you dont learn. If your struggling and doing inefficient practice sessions then you will quite soon after.
This IS pure gold, Kevin! I started out some weeks ago, been watching several videos for beginners, there are good ones and bad ones - of course, but THIS is one-of-a-kind 👏 Love the idea! And thanks to dad for being a real sport!
Great video. I’m a 70+ beginner and really enjoyed sitting in on your lesson with your dad. I could see his/my challenges and how you showed us how to overcome them. I hope lesson evolves into a series. Good luck to both of you.
This was incredibly helpful. I’m a little older than your dad and a few days into your instruction course. Of course, there are areas where I struggle and it’s good to know I’m not alone. Also, thanks for the tips on how to “not let it ring out”. M
Love this - and great job Kevin's dad. I just started last June and remember how difficult things were in the beginning. There were so many things I just thought, well I won't be able to do that - and now I'm doing them. Hang in there and you will be amazed at how much you will progress over time. Much love to you both. 💙
Great video as always Kevin; This is such a great complement to your normal videos and the format is really fresh and interesting. . all these little tips and tweaks have so much value. I hope you continue this series. Can't wait for the next video!
I'm in my first week of learning and came across this series, I can't thank you enough. This is tremendously helpful! And Don, you don't suck. You're practicing!
I love this, I'm 64 years old and started learning and I find the most frustrating thing is how bad I sound. I keep telling myself it will get better and after 2 months I hear improvement. I will follow this series and watch mine and your dads improvement.
Kevin - you’ve got a wonderful thing going here! I’m older than your Dad, and I’m just now trying to learn guitar. Your lessons seem perfect for me, and you have great patience. Thank you so very much for posting these on RU-vid. I look forward to more!
Thank you, Kevin, for being vulnerable! Same to your dad! It is so hard to learn a new skill at a new age, let alone putting it on the internet. This has truly helped my confidence with learning. You are changing the way people learn to play guitar! You have a bright future ahead with a great marketing tactic!
Awesome point about practising super-fast. It can be a bit demoralising but that all dissapears when you go back down to a slower speed and find it just soooo much easier (it's like doing magic)
hey dad! way to go. i am 60 and in the same position. i noticed your left thumb is out of position often also, made effort, which cleaned my chord sounds. Keep going! What I am learning is that guitarists make it look easy, but thats because of thousands of hours of hard work and passion.
Just wanted to chime in on the compliments for the videos. The struggle with the spider exercise is relatable. Just picked up my first guitar at age 44. As an educator I have to say I love your references to the zone of proximal development in the chord changing exercise. That is exactly where you want to be: in the struggle, but with some assistance to keep confident. Your videos are helping with that. Thanks.
It may be helpful if you number these videos. I may not be able to watch every week so it would help to watch them in order. Thank you for doing this series.
This is great. Answered a lot of questions so I can improve the practice routine. I was having a lot of the same problems as your dad with the spider exercise.
Might be a good idea for your Dad to think about his posture and the position he is holding the guitar. Neck is pointing down and he’s resting his left elbow on his leg which seems to be restricting him especially on the spider exercise. Great video and don’t mean to sound critical.
That was really interesting! I enjoyed that longer format, and all the beginner frustration is very familiar haha. Kudos to you both, this is great. Keep going Kevin's dad!!
So excellent! Such a great idea. Would be great to see you have students at different levels with different needs join you in the lesson format. Really enjoying your channel!!
I actually have no songs I would like to play on guitar. I would like to learn to play guitar so I can make the sounds in my head available for others to hear.
I just started guitar two weeks ago in my mid-thirties. I would love to play fast songs, but I am realistic about the slow and steady progress of guitar, that it'll likely take several years of consistent practice to be at a competent level, and I'm completely fine with that. People who are used to instant gratification, will have issues learning the guitar. But I don't mind if the guitar takes a long time to learn. It just sounds nice.
Your dad angles the neck of the guitar downward. Wouldn’t it help to angle upwards? I’m the same age as your dad and just started learning myself. I have to really angle the neck upwards to make it easier.
Question!! All the time I've been learning chords and spider walk with fingers but i wanted to learn how to play using pick. Is it just me or using pick takes you back to level -100 with everything. Is it necessary to learn playing guitar with the pick or using just your finger for the rest of your life is considered fine??
Kevin, no idea if this is helpful but here's my 1 year progress with an hour a day (featuring Hotel California lol): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tTXLo9tEeK0.html - look forward to seeing your Pops progress! "Justin teaches guitar is a good app too" lmao!
Thanks for another great video. Is possible to ask a question? I've started my guitar journey 1 week ago, I started with the D and A chord, and havig really a hard time mastering those 2 chords, and even worse doing the chords changes, because is like my fingers have mind of there own. Any advice? Thank you.
First thanks for this series and i hope you keep going. I have one question which may be irrelevant but hear me out - Q. When doing chord changes, only down streaming and not doing Up streaming , can it affect learning streaming with difficult streaming patterns or playing songs in the long term?
Not really, or at least I wouldn’t worry about it. With my dad, we will move on to strumming exercises a little further down the road, for now I just want him to focus on the skill of chord changing rather than strumming
I have a question from a south paw point of view. Would you recommend starting out with a left handed guitar or right handed? I bought myself a really nice right handed prs to learn on but now im wondering if that was the best decision. Could you weigh in on your thoughts as a guitar teacher?
So obviously I'm not a lefty, but I think you made the correct decision to get a right handed guitar. It's gonna be hard and difficult when you first start out no matter what orientation guitar you get, so you might as well learn to play right handed. You'll have so many more options when it comes to buying guitars in the future. Hope this helps!
Great video, but dad ain't a complete beginner! He can already place fingers on chords without looking! I can't even begin to think about that, and started 3 weeks ago, having never picked up a guitar in my life.
Hi - this is Kevin’s dad - you’re right I messed around with Kevin’s guitars when he was learning, but never put any effort into it. I pretty much figured out how to play a little Wagon Wheel. But I can’t apply that to anything else. It’s kind of like I learned a trick I can do on the Guitar. But I really have no concept of what I’m doing.
@@KevinsdadNorb Hi Norbert, Well done! I really enjoyed the natural way the video was presented. You are brave to take on this challenge and I am going to try and keep up with you on this learning to play guitar journey. Fran
The metronome chord change exercise that you tought was what helped me improve the most. I started at 60 and went up by 5 bpm increments. Now I can comfortable change open cords at 120 bpm.
Very interesting video,fair play to the old man for exposing himself to the internet. The most thing he needs to work on is to slow down his chord changes so that he keeps the strumming going while getting fingers on the next chord. By the way,every beginner makes this mistake. Finally when you do your next video with the old man,do less talking and more actual hands on playing and visual instruction. I've been teaching beginners for almost 25 years.
Entirely unrelated but don't wear black socks with white shoes. The outfit is somehow nonchalant cool, but the socks will make an actual upgrade, trust me
*The UNIVERSE\CREATION was and is 1000% AGAINST ME from ever learning and comprehending music for the past 45 frickin years, YUP.....45 FRICKIN YEARS!!!* *I WASTED 45 BLOODY YEARS TRYING TO COMPREHEND THE INFINITE CONCEPTS OF ITS INFRASTRUCTURE FROM BASIC TO IMPROVISING OF WHAT GOES WITH WHAT.....I AM THE KING OF FAILURE!!!!*
Just like losing weight the only way to progress is discomfort. If you are comfortable in your attempt to reach a goal of any kind you are going to fail.
