David Hamburger - Fretboard Confidential Review

[srick]

Quick background:

I have been playing for fifteen years. My quest to be competent at fingerstyle guitar probably began about eight years ago. Most of my learning has been online, but I have taken several weekends of in person courses, notably with Toby Walker and Martin Grosswendt. I have downloaded more lessons than I care to admit and have subscribed to many services like Truefire, Active Melody and Jamplay. In short, I am always searching for a better learning experience. And as much as I adore a live workshop, these are expensive and require a lot of juggling in my personal life. So online lessons have been a mainstay.

You’ve heard the adage that when you’re ready, the right teacher will appear. And for now, it looks like I have found him. Highly respected AGF friend "Reeve21" (we're on similar playing paths) recommended "Fretboard Confidental" earlier in the month. I had previously taken David Hamburger’s courses on Truefire. They were good, but not the leap I needed. On Bob's reccommendation, I re-visited his site and gave him my credit card.

Fretboard Confidential:

I was happy to see that as much as I have been working on my playing style over the years, David has been working on his teaching style and organization. The site is centered around month long lessons. David breaks a monthly song into its component parts. This last month, the song was “House of the Rising Sun.” Of course, the past months are available along with a good number of videos on technique and theory.

This month's components were:

• Fundamental Song
• Embellished Song
• Vamp
• Shout Chorus

Horizontal three step Exercise(his description)

1) Isolate the bass
2) Isolate the melody
3) Put them together

• Groove and Syncopation Technique Exercises
• Accompaniment
• Improvisation

1) Resolutions
2) Scale choices
3) Creating a solo
4) Combining lines
5) Variations within the lines

• Arranging the piece
• And more, and more, and more

David takes this simple chord progression and over the course of a month travels down the rabbit hole of variations to be applied. The great thing is, you can stop at any time because you’ve learned the fundamental song. But what will take your performance from a good one to a great one will be incorporating some, or all of the components listed above.

There is a heavy jazz influence in his arrangements, and I find myself picking up some of this lingo (ie. Common tone voicings, guide tones, pedal point bass among others) more easily than I have in the past. David uses a lot of examples, and he effortlessly throws a lot of theory into each video. Again, I find myself grokking it more than I have ever done in the past.

And he’s not afraid to school on the basics. Early on in the month, he threw in a bunch of syncopation exercises to help develop the all-important groove. I appreciated this greatly because rhythm, let alone syncopation, has been my weak point.

I have a couple of thoughts as to where the weaknesses in the lessons are, too. David’s voice is low and monotone. In person, I’m sure it’s effective, but online, while staring at a screen, it can lull you to sleep. I cranked up my EQ to give me plenty of vocal highs and watched the lessons in shorter parts. Similarly, his sound in the earlier videos has not been great. I’ve noticed that he has switched to a lapel mic and this has helped a lot.

There is no looping available. I’ve been spoiled by Truefire’s Soundslice interface. The looping is a wonderful feature, as is the rolling tab. But it does make you dependent on the tab, which is a bad thing. His site admin\helper has been able to use a rudimentary looper with the YouTube videos, and this is good enough. And there is always the option of using a screen capture program and feeding the capture into a program like 'Transcribe!' to loop and adjust tempo. But you can waste a lot of time capturing while not practicing.

Unfortunately, I jumped into this month's song (HOTRS) mid-month. There's a lot of catching up to do. I am looking forward to starting on a fresh song next week.

Bottom line: the site is exactly what I needed, right now, in my journey. It's well worth a month's subscription. He's not offering any deals or free months, so it is what it is. I am looking forward to learning a lot and polishing up my performances.

best,

Rick

[whm3223]

Great review! I appreciate the time you took to write out such a detailed report because I've considered this course after seeing it recommended here. I think I'm going to spend a couple of months on Dan Holloway's site as well.

[Bjbny]

Rick,

I have been a member of Hamburger’s Fingerstyle Five since its inception and I can also endorse it wholeheartedly for anyone that wants to play fingerstyle blues. He allows access for both beginners and advanced players. When I started my goal was to master his basic version of each monthly tune. I have now progress to the advanced version and creating my own arrangements based on the various building blocks he offers. Moreover, he has continued to evolve and improve the format over the course of the membership to make it better.

Your comment about the tech platform is fair and that would be my only criticism as well. It certainly doesn’t compare to the tech at Truefire, but I haven’t found it to be a huge problem. That said, it definitely could improve and David has recognized the need to improve it.

Overall, my playing and knowledge of the guitar has improved significantly by participating over the last two years.

[reeve21]

Good review, Rick. I'm glad its working for you. In my next email to David I will invoice him for my cut

DH is a very good teacher, one of the best online imo. And he has a unique approach that comes close to one on one.

I have been in an out Fretboard Confidential a couple of times. Right now I'm out, but not due to any shortcoming in the material. I just don't have the time to devote to his stuff and learn a 2-3 tunes a month with my in person instructor.

But I will still put his free YouTube videos on and listen to them when exercising. For someone who isn't ready to commit to a paid subscription you can learn a lot from those materials. Right now he is doing a 10 part series for Acoustic Guitar magazine that is quite good, and totally free. He is a wealth of knowledge about not just the blues but also jazz, rock and certainly theory.

And for those who are just starting out the fundamental versions of the monthly tune are pretty accessible and a good way to build repertoire. His newsletter style emails I find to be quite entertaining, he is a very articulate writer. I'll be back when I retire or in my next life, whichever comes first

[godfreydaniel]

I signed up with Fretboard Confidential just over a week ago. I really like his method. I’m looking forward to working my way along. My only issue has been some confusion with navigating the site.

[Arapaho G]

Good to hear the positive reviews on Fretboard Confidential. I also became aware after reading about it here and will eventually sign up. I am in the middle of a major remodel right now and just don't have the time to make it worthwhile. Do these lessons include slide and open tunings?

[fwellers]

Originally Posted by Arapaho G

... Do these lessons include slide and open tunings?

No. Not to preclude the possibility of that ever being the case, but I remember him explaining once about why he doesn't teach slide and open tunings.
I think it has to do with that there's not a big enough desire for it among his students and it being a big enough subject to distract from his main teachings.
Something like that but don't quote me.

I would say the overwhelming majority of his teachings are alternating base fingerpicking in the keys of E and A.

[Piker99]

I'm curious, what tune is this months project at Fingerstyle Five.

[Jdogblues]

Originally Posted by Piker99

I'm curious, what tune is this months project at Fingerstyle Five.

"Prefundo" a 16 bar blues in E minor

[Piker99]

Thanks Jdogblues.
Sounds like one of Davids "originals".

[Andyrondack]

I am not a suscriber to Fretboard Confidential but I learned a lot from David Hamburger's AGmag contributions of years ago and allways felt like I had learned some valuable lesson on creating music rather than just following a script.

[srick]

Originally Posted by Andyrondack

I am not a suscriber to Fretboard Confidential but I learned a lot from David Hamburger's AGmag contributions of years ago and allways felt like I had learned some valuable lesson on creating music rather than just following a script.

Interesting observation Andy. I agree. The point of his teaching seems to get away from learning songs and instead, to develop a framework to build upon. A lot of his approach is oriented toward ear training. Plus, he’s always interjecting theory along the way.

This months song is basically an e minor progression. But it is taking me back to the woodshed in developing timing and syncopation. It’s not exciting stuff, but it’s oh, so important.

The concept of working on one piece per month is a good one. One problem I have with most sites is that there is too much to choose from and it’s so easy to get distracted by all of the bright and shiny lessons. I can’t count how many times that has happened to me.

Again, I wish I had the clips and looping at my fingertips, but With a little effort, I can capture a clip and use Transcribe! to loop and slow down.

Rick

[Andyrondack]

Shame he doesn't use Soundslice, I suscribe to Active Melody and Soundslice really helps to get Brian's more jazzy syncopated phrasing.
House of the Rising Sun, at least Dave Van Ronk's version, has a great progression to improvise over... that should be a lot of fun once you get comfortable with it.

[Deliberate1]

Rick, since a new song is introduced monthly, as I understand it, is the best time to jump in at the first of the month?

I concur with those who find value in David's approach. I have watched several of his vids and really appreciate how he not only teaches the tunes, but pulls back the curtain, explaining the "why's" as well. I would had jumped on this month, but just signed up for Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers' Song Camp which will explore a new tune each week for five consecutive weeks.

Forgive me for what likely pegs me a wide-eyed "boomer," but isn't it amazing and wonderful to have this kind of education, from some of the finest teachers of the age, instantly available at the touch of a button.
David

[srick]

David - actually, all of the songs and lessons from the past are available for the taking. So you could merely set up your own schedule and lesson plan. As for me, I like the real time aspect of things and am much more apt to practice if I am part of a group.

And of course, as soon as the month started, I am loaded with chores and distractions. So I am back to my old habits of not practicing as regularly as I should

Rick