JamPlay

[thechariot1x]

So following my most recent post asking for video lesson advice I decided to join JamPlay. i just got the 1 month membership at this point to try it out, but if it is good I will most likely get the one year and the music technique and theory pack. As I am just testing it out as this point I was curious what you all thought of it? Previously I had yousician, but ultimately decided I didn't like this as it was too much like playing a video game and the actual lessons were too few and not detailed or informative enough for my own personal liking (although I know many people like it and it has a good reputation, just not to my own personal taste).

[srick]

The old saying here on AGF is that YMMV (your mileage may vary). I tried Jamplay for awhile, but eventually went in a direction that wasn’t adequately covered there. Also, at that time (maybe six years ago), they didn’t do a great job with acoustic instruments. One thing I adored about Jamplay was the ‘live’ workshops with the teachers and the interaction.

Over the years, I have found my favorite teachers and stuck with their lessons. One is our very own Toby Walker (who now has a subscription website), and the others are the Homespun and Guitar Workshop (Stefan Grossman) videos. But that is the style of music that I want to play too!

My biggest leap forward in my playing has occurred at live workshops. A few hours with a sharp teacher can totally transform your playing and develop your ear (which is the key to everything)

Good luck with your journey!

Rick

[Riverwolf]

I did the one year package a few years ago.
I think I finished several courses and even dabbled in fingerstyle and bluegrass.
While I got a lot from it, I found other sites to be more for me.
Also it seemed that most lessons that I liked the instructor had moved on and was no longer available to message with questions.
Often just typing a song lesson into youtube will reveal much more interesting things to me.

[dhalbert]

TL;DR: JamPlay is fine, but you can also buy some standalone courses that would be good as well. Details:

I have had a JamPlay subscription for several years. I started as a moderate beginner, and liked Eve Goldberg's lessons a lot. Jim Deeming is also good with fingerstyle. He did a number of live workshops, which are available in the recorded archives. I tried some of the other beginner courses as well. Which ones you would like is a matter of personal taste

Eve Goldberg does a Thursday night live 2-hour lesson most weeks when she is not away from home. She starts with a good song, well-know or not so well-known, does it with simple strumming and boom-chuck, and then adds fingerstyle or other techniques later. I liked these sessions a lot. The students chat with her by text. She is also one of the few video instructors I have ever seen who sings: this adds a lot to the lessons.

I would suggest that you don't need to pay for the extra "packs" that come with JamPlay with these days: there's a wealth of stuff in the regular lessons.

A couple of years ago I stopped playing very much due to a job change. I planned to drop the JamPlay subscription but had accidentally signed up for auto-renew and didn't notice it well after the payment went through.

Recently I bought some fingerstyle lessons from TrueFire. They constantly have sales, so you can get a good deal often. Of the ones I bought (including Tommy Emmanuel), by far the best for me has been David Hamburger's Fingerstyle Blues Handbook. It assumes a higher level of competence: for instance, he doesn't explain the possible fingerings for various chords, so you need to figure out which fingers to use on which fret. Nevertheless, the pace is just right, and I'm enjoying the short little pieces he uses as exercises.

I also have a couple of beginner DVD courses by David Hamburger, and some Homespun beginning fingerstyle courses, and a bunch of Toby Walker's courses, and I like https://justinguitar.com too. All are good, though I have my particular preferences about whose technique I like best. Everything requires practice: one point is which set of lessons you'll be willing to repeat over and over and still tolerate. As I think you know, you need to practice everything slowly, as slowly as necessary to minimize your mistakes.

[thechariot1x]

Thanks everyone for your feedback! Yeah I definitely get different strokes for different folks haha. Personally, I found it appealing because it has a ton of different lessons some of which are from people who's work I was even familiar with (like Don Ross and Mike Dawes). But I think the breadth of topics was what really sold me. I would consider myself an intermediate player but my theory (and arguably my rhythm when playing lead) are my weaknesses so I like being able to sift through and find videos for stuff I don't know yet (plus videos so I can listen to them while I do other things, not the best, but I do what I can) while skipping stuff I already do (I also played Piano before taking up guitar but I wasn't very good haha).

Yeah, I have a couple of courses I got through acoustic guitar mag (including Alex Degrassi's fingerstyle course which has been awesome so far), the biggest issue is that I don't have as much time to read due to classes, videos are easier because i can utilize times when I am doing chores and other mundane tasks.

Nice! Good to know I don't need the packs. I keep hearing about homespun, is it just broad fingerstyle guitar technique or is it related to a particular subgenre?

[dhalbert]

Originally Posted by thechariot1x

I keep hearing about homespun, is it just broad fingerstyle guitar technique or is it related to a particular subgenre?

There's a ton of different fingerstyle stuff on Homespun: https://www.homespun.com/fingerstyle-guitar/. That's true of most of the sites with fingerstyle lessons, including Homespun, TrueFire, Stefan Grossman (http://www.guitarvideos.com/), etc. Toby Walker concentrates mostly on blues. There's also https://pegheadnation.com/string-sch...rstyle-guitar/ .

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by thechariot1x

So following my most recent post asking for video lesson advice I decided to join JamPlay. i just got the 1 month membership at this point to try it out, but if it is good I will most likely get the one year and the music technique and theory pack. As I am just testing it out as this point I was curious what you all thought of it? Previously I had yousician, but ultimately decided I didn't like this as it was too much like playing a video game and the actual lessons were too few and not detailed or informative enough for my own personal liking (although I know many people like it and it has a good reputation, just not to my own personal taste).

Hey tc1x…

Keep us posted along the way on your new adventure. Have fun, and learn more than you know now!!

[Blueser100]

I tried Jamplay for a while and found it had a lot songs I wanted to learn in fingerstyle and country (though they have a lot more in rock, etc). I liked Eve Goldberg and Jim Deeming as well. I came away from Jamplay having learned “Alice’s Restaurant” which I can now play from memory.

[KeyofB#]

Originally Posted by thechariot1x

So following my most recent post asking for video lesson advice I decided to join JamPlay. i just got the 1 month membership at this point to try it out, but if it is good I will most likely get the one year and the music technique and theory pack. As I am just testing it out as this point I was curious what you all thought of it? Previously I had yousician, but ultimately decided I didn't like this as it was too much like playing a video game and the actual lessons were too few and not detailed or informative enough for my own personal liking (although I know many people like it and it has a good reputation, just not to my own personal taste).

Mary Flowers’ lessons are an absolute treasure. Overall they tend to be heavier on the electric guitar side. Overall it’s a very helpful program, big mix of styles and personalities.

[KeyofB#]

Originally Posted by dhalbert

There's a ton of different fingerstyle stuff on Homespun: https://www.homespun.com/fingerstyle-guitar/. That's true of most of the sites with fingerstyle lessons, including Homespun, TrueFire, Stefan Grossman (http://www.guitarvideos.com/), etc. Toby Walker concentrates mostly on blues. There's also https://pegheadnation.com/string-sch...rstyle-guitar/ .

Very true, only issue with those are you have to buy individual dvd lessons ($20-30 each) where Jamplay is open season to all their offerings for a little over 100 annually.

[KeyofB#]

Originally Posted by Blueser100

I tried Jamplay for a while and found it had a lot songs I wanted to learn in fingerstyle and country (though they have a lot more in rock, etc). I liked Eve Goldberg and Jim Deeming as well. I came away from Jamplay having learned “Alice’s Restaurant” which I can now play from memory.

Jim Deeming is a National Treasure

[thechariot1x]

Originally Posted by KeyofB#

Jim Deeming is a National Treasure

I'll check his stuff out. So far I have been working through Steve Eulberg's theory 101 to brush up and fill any gaps in my knowledge (although I skipped some when I felt comfortable with the topic already), and Don Ross's fingerstyle series, I am also about to start Don Ross's ear training.

[thechariot1x]

Originally Posted by KeyofB#

Very true, only issue with those are you have to buy individual dvd lessons ($20-30 each) where Jamplay is open season to all their offerings for a little over 100 annually.

Yeah this is my issue unfortunately, but it is definitely tempting me as they have several Al Petteway lessons and he is currently my favorite artist. Still though there is plenty of stuff on JamPlay and I have the Alex De Grassi fingerstyle book to work through. Hopefully that will give me a very solid foundation but then I'll definitely get one of his at some point. If only he would start teaching on JamPlay!