Well I'm back after a much needed break.

I spent around 4 weeks in New Zealand with family
and that sunshine really perked me up. This week I am in
the studio and I'll be recording the Godfather Theme
video Lesson so keep an eye out for that.

A couple of things went wrong while I was away.
1. My voicemail filled up as I was unable to access
it (I messed it up somehow for remote access)

2. My new server decided not to play ball and I spent
the best part of a week trying to get it to run properly.

The new server will eliminate many of the download
problems we've had when too many people are downloading
the same piece of video (hopefully)

I have a video to post here soon when I bumped into
a subscriber in New Zealand.

Til soon

Mike

BIG P.S. I am shooting and editing the new Godfather Video
and it will be a giveaway I've decided so watch out for it real soon

http://vidsaveproducer.com/godfather/

It's 10 am, sunny and warm, in February in England.
Well the thing is I'm not in England I'm in New Zealand.

Been here 4 weeks and it's my last day. I'm packing for home
via. 3 days in Hong Kong.

I met a 16 year old subscriber in Tauranga in a music shop. He recognised
me from the website and I and ended up visiting his home and giving him
some private tuition.

I actually bought him a guitar while I was there but that is another
story. If you're wondering where sponges comes into this I'll explain.

The lad in question, Karl, is a guitar nut. He's been playing for a year and
has made some really great progress. The thing is, while I was sitting in front
of him and showing him things on guitar, he learned them almost instantly.

He said to me that he is like a sponge and that got me thinking.

For the last couple of years I have mentioned that we may get on the road
and start to meet some of you wonderful folks.

This time I really mean it. I'll talk to Jerry when I'm back in UK and
we'll put some dates in. I am picturing an open house, drop in and listen
or play .... or ask .....or get a quick lesson .......or bring and buy.

Just a nice relaxed open house chat with myself Jerry and my son Nick.

We'd love to meet you and if you are a bit of a sponge, then maybe
we can give you playing a little boost. If you are really struggling then
maybe we can give you a few tips to get you moving again.

Any how thats all I wanted to say until I get home.

In New Zealand I made a little video interview with
Karl and I'll posting it here soon.

Great to have you as a subscriber.

Mike

This is an audio response from Mike to Rick. The question is 'Do I need to learn all the notes on my guitar.
Click play and listen to the answer that Mike gave

This is my response to an email from one of my new subscribers Jessica.




I hope this helps Jessica.ThanksMike

From Byron....

Hi Mike,

Yes, my fingers are getting there. I've been practising lessons 1 + 2, never
thought I'd be able to pick, but here I am, amazing myself even. I think
what you're offering to us mid-life crisis, second childhood wanabees is
priceless, thankyou. I'm 46 years young this year, and been hunting for a
guitar tutor locally in Tenby, Pembs, before my fingers get too arthritic,
I'm not hunting any more. A mate, down from Liverpool for the weekend
pointed me in your site's direction, and I don't think I'll be looking back,
I'm hungrier than ever before to play this instrument well. I'm getting to
grips with co-ordination between the hands at the moment, but, as you say,
it's only practising every night, even for 10 mins, that'll get you there,
so that's the philosophy I'm working on. My current ambition is that by next
year, I will be good enough to play a gig with some other local musicians at
my local pub. Thankyou Mike, looking forward to lesson 3.

I get a lot of email. Most days I get something like this.
==============================================================================
Thank You, thank you, thank you, ==============================================================================
Thanks Paul....I'm happy to be helping.
Mike Herberts

This is a question that gets asked fairly regularly.

The first part of this article is from one of the posters (Tim) from my forum.
The second part is from me (also from the forum)


This is Tim
I personally think the time a piece takes you to learn depends on what style of guitar you start with or prefer. I only started playing guitar a few months ago from an excellent instructional dvd that covered acoustic fingerstles because i like folk music and especially fingerpicked music. i learnt several picking patterns within a couple of days and my speed was good within a week because i learnt to use the correct fingers straight from the start and practised for 3-8 hours a day depending on whether i was at work or not to really make progress quickly. When Mike put up the classical gas pieces i was fine and have learnt the 4 parts pretty easily (about a day for each part except part 4 which took about 30 mins beacuse we could all see where it was going in part 3!) because i didn't have to spend anytime working out where my fingers go and which strings they will pluck it was just a case of chord shapes and tempo.

But my strumming is a different matter! i had pretty much only learnt chords that were used in the fingersyle dvd and really only knew A,E,C, AND D well. The last month and a half i have mostly been practising changing between chords and strumming patterns and i have found this quite challenging, even a simple sounding piece like the times they are a changin proved initially challenging because i had mostly neglected strumming, changing chords and practising with picks. i couldnt hit the bass note of the c chord without catching the 6th string so the tune sounded terrible. Thankfully i can play it pretty well now but it took me a week's hard practice to be able to play it well! I think in the future fingerpicking is going to be 'my thing' and i will use strummed pieces to broaden my style of playing. my friend at work started a month before me and his strumming is really really good but he can't pick to save his life he could learn times... in a few mins but it would probably take him a long while to learn classical gas part 2 or 3.

keep at it, correct and precise practice is the only way, oh and visualise the chord shape you are about to go into this has helped me a lot, see it in your mind and your fingers will start to get there quicker and more accurately!        

__________________
Tim

And this is Mike
Hi...

I reckon I'm a fairly 'natural' guitarist so I'll give you an idea how long it takes me to learn a new piece.

Obviously it depends on the difficulty of the piece but....out of the starting blocks for a moderately difficult piece, I will practice for say three to four hours a day and I reckon 5 or 6 days to get the piece right.

There are some pieces that have taken me three months to learn and some that I don't suppose I'll ever know perfectly.

In all of this you have to remember that it is the journey not the destination that gives satisfaction. In all these years of going through the "I must learn that!" to the "Well I can play it now so what next" I still forget that I will want to move on to the next piece as soon as the last one is learned.

Your audience have no idea how long it takes which is why they say....oh I'd love to play the guitar......

If only they knew.
Mike

So what do YOU think?
How often and for long do you practice?
How long does it normally take you to learn a new piece?

Oh Bugger....

I didn't expect such a big response. Could any of my long term (or short term) subscribers help me by replying to some of the posters asking for help?
Lots of the questions there can be answered by any number of you, who have a bit of experience.

I will be answering some of the posts asap.

Thanks in advance if you can help.

Mike