Song play in the app (red or green lights?)

Discuss the JustinGuitar Lessons & Songs App
1

I learned on Simply Guitar which has songs that indicate if you are hitting the right strings with Green or Red if your not hitting the right strings.

Question # 1 - Is it correct that nothing happens in Justin? There is no indication of right or wrong?

Question #2 - are all the songs just strumming? I don’t see any finger picking or note playing or combos.

Thanks

2
  1. Simply Guitar is an automated guitar trainer. Justin’s app is an adjunct to his lessons and allows you to get a karaoke style assistant to play along with. Justin’s lessons are mostly videos where a real person is talking to you and guiding you through the process of playing. There is an automated tool that is is currently in very early testing on the web site now, but is starting with songs more complex than a beginner should be expected to play.
  2. No. there is also string picking songs as well. The early songs are simplified for beginners. As ability grows, the student can add complexity as desired but it is not generally handed to them in the app. You would need to learn it with the help of the lessons.

Personal opinions:

  • Apps like simply guitar do not teach you to play with emotion and are similar to games. You may become competent with copying the app, but you will miss much of the emotional playing and music knowledge in the process.
  • Justin’s lessons are structured with a plan in mind. He is building foundational capability (i.e. strumming) before adding complexity (i.e. single note picking). This builds a guitar player that is capable of being self-sufficient to hear and play by ear, by reading tab, by listening to lessons, etc. This is a more complete education than I believe just copying an app will give.
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Nothing wrong with gamification however.

Apps like Yousician and Simply Guitar (never tested that one) can be very useful for getting better at certain skills. I, for example, benefitted a lot from making an excursion to simple melody and riff playing in Yousician when I was faced with my first scale in Justin’s Grade 2, module 8 and my lame and clumsy fingers simple couldn’t do it no matter what I tried.

@Bethp It depends on your goals of course. While the Justin Guitar app does not listen to you playing songs and accordingly does not show red or green lights, it’s still useful and fun playing along to backing tracks.

I would suggest that adding Justin’s app and following Justin’s lessons to using Simply Guitar will make you more competent at playing guitar.

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4

On Justin guitar you ll learn to rely on your own ability to distinguish if you re doing right or wrong

there is but at later grades , at first you learn rythm

Simply guitar is like Yousician , its a great app for practicing
The ideal is to mix it with Justin’s lessons
The more you ll learn on JG , the less you ll need the simply guitar app and become independent

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