Hi
Advice please.
I was wondering about these courses and how much benefit I would get from grade 1 as opposed to going straight to grade 2.
I still class myself as a, “learning to play”, guitarist rather than a, “I play guitar”, guitarist, but, with my strumming, when attempting to play through songs or part of songs, I have got to a stage of not being, “rigid”, with my strumming, and without thinking are throwing in, “extra” strums or “fills”, that just “feel” right, almost on auto-pilot.
I don’t want to miss out on important teaching by missing a grade, but, don’t want to purchase something that may not be fully appropriate for me.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards
Ian
@coops1959 whereabouts are you on the “free” beginners course? I haven’t done the SOS (I don’t feel I need to) but I guess it’s aimed at those that are really struggling with strumming rather than those that are making good progress following the normal course. It sounds like you from your description you are comfortable with where you are so probably no need at this point.
Be a little careful with your terminology…there really isn’t a concept of throwing in an “extra strum” or “fills”… you play to a fixed pattern and by the bar e.g. 4:4 and as long as those extra strums fit part of that pattern e.g. playing an 8th or 16th note pattern it’s fine…if you’re adding extras in outside of that then you’ll struggle to play along with backing tracks and others.
Hi @Rossco01 , thanks for your input.
Wasn’t too sure how describe my strumming, but yes I did mean to a fixed pattern, and did mean throwing an extra 8th or 16th. I tend to try to play a strumming pattern that feels right to me, rather than follow a suggested pattern, then maybe look at the suggested one to see if they are the same.
Sometimes I could be listening to some music at work with a friend, and we try to find the work the pattern out by “feel”, never actually thought I would be able to do that.
Hello, on one hand I think there is always benefit in re-working the foundations and that it applies to more advanced learners too, as more solid the foundations are the better you’ll be able to build upon them…but, on the other hand if you have worked properly on the beginner course it’s very likely you don’t need the Strumming SOS. I’m doing the course because I wasn’t able to work properly on the Beginner Course Lessons (too long to explain why) and I’m having great benefit in fixing all those things I wasn’t confident with. Self-assessment is not an easy task…if you can self-assess positevely on the Beginner Course then skip to Grade 2, but if you have doubts or feel unconfident with something you could use the SOS Course as an effective way to self-assess yourself…there’s also a discount in the following grades if you purchase Grade1. Hope this helps.
I did the strumming SOS and am working on the Dynamics now. I had already done Justin’s strumming DVDs, the old course, so I found the SOS pretty much redundant for me. It is pretty basic, but well thought out and organized (as typical around here).
HOWEVER…it still was really valuable to go through it an revisit and think about patterns and basic timing, etc.
Reading the OP, although you may find it well below your level, you express that you strum in less than an organized way. To me that sound very, very advanced or more likely less than optimal. I would think getting an organized and practiced approach would be ideal. Then, when that is solid, let loose as you see fit.
The cost of the course is not much for me, I can’t speak for you. But you can always think of it as a well deserved donation to Justin. It is likely that all of us are getting a bargain here, so if you have the means, I think it would set you up better for strumming in general and for the Dynamics course.
I’m currently finishing Grade 2 and planning to do Strumming Dynamics as part of my consolidation. I also asked myself, if restarting with Strumming SOS (bought the old course right before the new one came out and stopped somewhere in the middle) makes sense.
That’s the point for me too. Even if the course may start below my current abilities, it’s worth it for sure. Recap the basics never hurts and in any case it’s supportive for Justin.
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@Jamolay , thanks for your thoughts on this, some good points there.
You are right, I had thought I had used too much of the free stuff , off the back of some small Justin app purchases, some books and a small donation.