GENERAL LESSON INFORMATION

Thanks for checking out my site for guitar lessons.

Basically, lessons are PRIVATE [not group class lessons] so we can concentrate on what you want or need to learn.

If you are a Beginner it is ok. Also, it means that you don't have any 'bad habits' to correct. Don't worry, I am very patient.

Note: I DON'T treat beginners as idiots. The stuff I show to people starting out is fairly basic, but it is still very interesting and 'listenable'

[as well as PLAYABLE!! Ha ha!]. Also, it will become your very solid base [both technique and theory]

upon which you will add increasingly more 'tasty' and/or more complex stuff.

You can already play! Even better! We can build on what you already know.

HOW LONG ARE THE LESSONS?

Lessons are 60 minutes [1 hour] each, but more than half my students choose to put 2 together for a 2 hour lesson.

NOTE: You will learn MORE than double in a 2 hour lesson [compared with a 1 hour lesson]!

 

Although you can study more per week, my discount packages assume either:

1 hour lessons x 4 times per calender month,

OR

2 hours per week [2 x 1 hour lessons, or a single 2 hour lesson, your choice] so 8 hours per calender month.

 

 

WHAT STYLES AND TECHNIQUES DO YOU TEACH?

I teach both acoustic and electric guitar.

Blues, folk, country, rock, bluegrass, acoustic jazz, funk, pops, rock, etc etc...

RIGHT HAND techniques: flat pick style, finger style, combination of 'pick plus fingers' - [ex: Jimmy Page uses this 'pick plus fingers' technique in Stairway to Heaven].

 

Note for LEFT HANDERS: Actually, I am left handed. However I play guitar in the standard way [not re-strung for left hand].

Either way of playing is ok here at GCG.

However - THINK!! You need 2 hands to play guitar! [Yup! that's TWO]. So, whether you are righthanded or lefthanded you need both hands.

So, a LEFT HANDER playing standard strung guitar might be slicker on chords and scales than a RIGHT HANDER.

The RIGHT HANDER might gain good 'pick' or finger picking style quicker than a LEFT HANDER playing standard strung guitars.

But - it doesn't really make any difference!! [what you gain on the round-a-bout, you lose on the swings! yo dig?]

PRACTICAL POINT: what DOES make a difference is: when you go to visit your mate's house, and wanna play his axe [which is more likely than not to be a standard strung guitar] IF you have learnt on a left strung guitar, you are @$%*!, ain't ya!!

NICE!

You DON'T have to bring YOUR GUITAR to each lesson [assuming you are comfortable to play standard strung guitars].

I have 2 acoustic (steel strings) and 2 electric guitars here.

You are welcome to play those in our lessons. Although a few students WANT to lug their own guitars along - 'cos they jus' does loves thar own guitars!!

 

STUDY MATERIAL

I make my own original guitar study notes.

Chords.

Scales.

TAB [riffs as well as complete songs]

and

Basic practical theory pages - nothing too heavy, just enough so you know WHAT and WHY you are playing stuff.

NOTE: UNDERSTANDING AND USING some of the basic musical theory is the ONLY WAY to really get to know your way around the neck, create original stuff and rip off songs by ear. Even if you are lucky enough to have a 'musical ear', the knowledge of WHY & HOW things work and 'go together' in music REALLY HELPS!!!

However....

YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ MUSIC at GCG!

TAB [a way of writing music for guitars - written on the page in a way that directly represents where the notes are on the neck of the guitar, by

referencing the STRING and the FRET NUMBER. So, very 'visual' and easy to understand.]

I have 2 ring binders FULL of alphabetically filed TAB of the songs [mainly the popular standard songs that guitar players really want to learn, PLUS some VERY bizarre stuff, specialized stuff, that I AIN'T EVEN HEARD OF THE GROUP, let alone the SONG!!]. I will write TAB for songs you are learning, either during your lesson by hand, or if it is a popular song and good for lots of other students, I will make TAB in the computer [= a better presentation of the TAB].

 

I will give you a FREE A4 RING BINDER with section tabs for: THEORY. CHORDS. SCALES. JAMS [not cover songs, repeating chord progressions for players to 'improvise' over] and SONGS [cover songs or your own original songs].

Also, FREE PRACTICE TRACKS so you can listen and study at home. WAV files ready to copy onto your USB memory stick or portable drive.

I can also record something we are studying [either before your lesson, or even during it!] and then

convert it into a 'music' track file [wav file].

I then burn it onto a CDRW disc [or copy it onto your portable drive/memory stick].

You take it home.

You can listen to the cd, play along and practice at home!!!

So the cd helps you play the nuances of what I taught during the lesson [that can't be 'written' in TAB].

See all the pedals? The space in the middle is where I sit when I am teaching. I use these pedals to LIVE record/playback rifs and songs at a SLOW TEMPO to suit the level of the student. I also use the rythmn [drums] machine as a 'metronome' - much better than 'click click click click' at 120bpm.

 

LOOK MOM! NO MUSIC!

I will also show you how to listen to your favourite songs and work 'em out by ear.

A big part of what I teach is showing my students how to 'rip off' their favourite guitarists.

By using U Tube or listening to a cd IN YOUR LESSON, I can almost always:

listen to your favourite songs [even if I have NEVER HEARD THEM BEFORE] and in a couple of minutes [before your amazed ears]

work out: the KEY, the CHORDS, the STYLE and other useful stuff [ex: are they playing bar chords, or using a CAPO and playing open chords? etc..].

Many students are a little 'disappointed' when the song they warned me was "maybe too hard for you to work out" could be unravelled so quickly. This is NOT MEANT AS A BOAST - its simply me USING what I want to teach YOU how to do.

Most music is BASED ON A FEW VERY SIMPLE FORMATS. I'll show 'em to you, as you study. Soon you will begin to recognise them and therefore either play covers quicker or create your own originals faster!! Now - that's sounds like what its supposed to be all about, right?!!

 

ABOUT ME!

I am a university trained teacher [Bachelor of Art Education] so all the lessons are planned, with study notes given plus

LOTS OF REVIEW of previously learned stuff - cos we all forget new stuff, right?!! Now - what was I talking about?.... [ha ha]

I TAUGHT GUITAR before I came to Japan. I am mainly 'self taught' but have had some lessons over the 40 years I have been playing

[including lessons from: Jeff [Skunk] Baxter who played with Steeley Dan, Doobie Brothers] and Joe Walsh: Joe Walsh band, Eagles member].

By taking lessons with me, YOU don't have to spend the next 40 YEARS getting to where I am now!

Studying SHORT CUTS the learning process!!

 

ABOUT YOU

Do you have a guitar?

If 'YES', what have you got??? [Acoustic, steel string, nylon string? Electric?]

If 'NO'- no probem! I can help you buy a guitar in your price range [and probably get you a discount].

NOTE: This is a FREE service I provide for both guitar students and photo students

[meaning that I don't charge for my time to go and check the best deals, get a discount, email the prices to you, then go together so you can buy it].

Why do I both to do that? My motivation is simple: I care about people [my students] ENJOYING playing guitar! This is pretty hard to do if the

'this ol' crappy guitar I's got don't never git in tune and them strangs is a mile off the neck and anyhow it done sound like crap'.

Yo dig?!

 

CHANGE TO A DIFFERENT CLASS - OK!!

LOTS OF CHOICES!

If you have interest in studying PHOTOGRAPHY or LAYOUT & DESIGN or ENGLISH

you can change [even for only a month] to those classes. Study for as long as you like. Switch again! No problem!

NOTE: Because the Guitar, Photogaphy and Layout & Design lessons are spoken in ENGLISH,

this is a GREAT CHANCE to IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH while you are studying. [Also, I speak intermediate level Japanese, so if it helps our communication, I might sometimes speak in Japanese - if you want.]

Lessons at GCG are SO VERTSATILE!! Yeah!!

MAKE AN APPOINTMENT:

My school is called GCG. It is in Nakazakicho, very near Umeda Osaka.

GCG is directly across the street from Nakazakicho station EXIT 2 [Tannimachi subway] or you can walk from Umeda's Hep 5 building

in about 7 minutes. MAP.

When can you come in and have a chat and a FREE coffee or tea or bottled water and cookies?

I will show you my teaching style, and of course explain my prices. Don't worry, they are not too expensive.

I currently have a 80% sign up rate, which means that the price ain't too bad, and everybody enjoys their lessons.

I want YOU to meet ME and check it out for yourself!

So, when is a good time to come?

Email me at: gcg_is_best@hotmail.com

Cheers,

GOTH CARTER

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