Welcome to The Ten Week Worship Guitar blog.
As well as my recent resurrection of my YouTube channel, on which I’ve now begun sharing a weekly worship guitar focused workshop called ‘Worship Workshop Wednesday’, I’ve also decided to resume blogging here on my website. All of this stems from my ‘why’, and the reason I decided to teach worship guitar in the first place.
Over the next few weeks, here on the blog, I’ll be sharing more about why I teach worship guitar, as opposed to just playing it (which you might expect from someone who’s been a professional musician for over 30 years!)
A new post will be shared here on the blog every Monday, so do ensure that you’re following the journey, and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, where you’ll receive a free workshop every week which will teach you not only a new worship song to add to your repertoire, but also a skill, which will continue to carry you forward in your worship guitar journey.
Why I Teach Guitar: Part Two
Two things that drive me: The thrill of discovery & the desire to pass on knowledge. Thrill of discovery involves the study of music, particularly as it relates to expression on the guitar; the passing on of knowledge is in the form of writing courses and coalface teaching – particularly in the worship context.
I have a desire to inspire people – to help people through the pain of learning the guitar towards the point where they feel joy at what they can do. You might have seen this blog by Seth Godin which goes a little deeper into this idea.
I was recently looking through some old music notes and came across material from a three-day seminar that I attended in the ‘80s. The eminent LA session guitarist Howard Roberts taught it. I was struck by the impact and influence that this had had on me, and I had forgotten that much of the structure and thought behind my own music teaching had originated in Roberts’ seminar. He had studied the psychology of learning and formulated a comprehensive, step-by-step methodology examining “insights into professional playing; mastery of the fingerboard; practical music theory and accelerated learning methods.”
I did a little internet research into Roberts and found “From the late 1960s, Roberts began to focus on teaching rather than recording. He traveled around the USA giving guitar seminars, and wrote several instructional books. For some years he also wrote an acclaimed column “Jazz Improvisation” for Guitar Player magazine. To support his teaching activities, he founded the Guitar Institute of Technology.”
The Advancing Guitarist
Mick Goodrick, guitarist and author of the excellent The Advancing Guitarist, says “Many guitarists never had a chance to learn the instrument in an intelligent, logical and complete manner. The fact is that the vast majority of method books don’t really explain very much at all, and the vast majority of guitar teachers are the product of these methods”.
We set up the guitar course over fifteen years ago. At the end of the Beginner Guitar Course (which is now available online here) the students asked, “What do we do next? We want more.” So I wrote the intermediate course. Eventually the intermediate students wanted more too; so I wrote the advanced course.
What happens next
At the end of a recent Advanced guitar course I was asked again “what happens next?” I found myself saying “well there’s a guitar colleges in London.” I felt uncomfortable saying this as I have heard from one college’s ex-students that it is a money making machine. I currently have the idea to set up a music school and look into getting the courses accredited so watch this space!…
Join me here on the blog next week as I continue to dive into this journey exploring why I teach worship guitar and what led me to that point many years ago. Have you ever reached a moment like this? A moment where you’ve decided that it was time for you to grow beyond what was ‘familiar’ and move into something bigger? That’s certainly how it felt for me. I’d love to hear your experiences too. How did it feel when God was leading you out of your comfort zone? Share your thoughts with me in the comments below.
By the way, if you’ve always wanted to play worship guitar but have never found the time, I’d love to introduce you to learning to play from scratch by going through my FREE 3-part miniseries which will give you not only the skills, but will also give you three new worship songs to add to your repertoire. Click HERE to access the free series and start (or continue!) your worship guitar journey today!
