[srick]

Hi Hamilton -

thanks for filling me in on the details. I have been through a number of the subscription courses and honestly, very few have held my attention including Activemelody, Jamplay, TrueFire and Banjo Ben (plus countless books, Homespun videos and Stefan Grossman videos) Presently I am subscribed to Toby Walkers lessons and have to say, they have never let me down... but sometimes, it takes a lot of energy to get into the routine and take advantage of what the instructor has to offer. All of the aforementioned series have been excellent, but if you’re not in the learning mindset, they won’t do any good.

Lately I have been hit by a bunch of Tony Polecastro’s ads. His concept is pretty fair - he wants you to set goals and gives you daily assignments for practice. He also admits that you have to have a backup plan for those days when you don’t want to practice, or life gets in the way. He has received many nice comments on the AGF and if I can get over his verbal issues (he talks A LOT), I might just pull the trigger.

Others mentioned frequently on AGF are Bryan Sutton, Justinguitar and Guitar Tricks.

The Popsci lessons are comparatively inexpensive, so in a way, you can’t go wrong, but perhaps the real secret to all this is persistence and motivation.

And, I’ll add, that some of my best motivation has come from in person lessons and workshops. A good teacher can pinpoint your issues in just a few minutes. Finding that teacher can be difficult though. Think of it all this way - as hobbies go, guitar is pretty inexpensive when you compare it with say, golf or boating or skiing, etc. So, set a budget and enjoy your time with your guitar... you can get hours of entertainment for mere pennies.

Best,

Rick