TIME STAMPS - 0:00 Intro 3:01 Natural Guitar Talent 4:28 Fine Motor Skills 6:22 What is Talent? 9:39 Learning WITH Talent 10:57 Learning WITHOUT Talent 11:52 The Talent Advantage 12:45 Practise for Subconscious 13:44 Effective Practise 14:41 Practise Makes Consistent! 15:36 The Learning Cliff! 17:36 Accept Your Genetics! 18:54 Use Your Strengths 20:22 Playing in a Cave! 21:35 Playing Left or Right Handed?
Rick Beato is an incredible all around musical talent. He plays several instruments very well but I think his analysis of music is his biggest talent. He lives and breathes music and his passion is obvious. Fil’s and Rick’s channels are the only ones I watch!
Considering the money involved in the music industry, I think you should most definitely analyse music. Even if you take away the fact that it's fascinating as fuck 😁
I'm a mediocre guitarist who is an advocate of the 'are you enjoying yourself' ? guitar tuition method. If you are, then you have nailed it !!!! This is a great channel and the advice is bang on though. Extremely well presented. Many thanks from Cornwall.
I love it when Rick figures out today's top hits in three seconds because they are so basic. You have to do a video with Rick, Fil. Watching the two of you talk music in general and guitar in particular would be fascinating.
LOVE these 2!!! I don't play any instrument but I've ALWAYS had the desire so I'm fascinated by everything they teach, even when it's over my head. I'm right hand dominant with a ruined right shoulder but I STILL want so much to learn. What do you recommend? Yuke or mandolin? (Small/light weight). To play mandolin would be a dream come true!! Sure, I'd LOVE to shred an electric guitar one day but just not physically possible. I'm 58 BTW so hurry!!! 🤣😂🤣❤jk
@@loriholloway5866 Ukulele might be a better bet for playing songs (you can always sing when everyone's gone out if you're worried) and it s tuned the same as the top four strings on the guitar so the potential for 'playing along' is probably greater. Mandolin is a wonderful single line instrument and there are many stellar players out there but less interesting chords-wise. Mind you I say that as a guitar player so I may be biased. You can get decent ukes for less money than decent mandolins and with the softer nylon strings it might be the place to start. The worse that might happen is that you end up owning a uke and a mandolin and maybe even a tenor guitar down the line. The world's a mess bu Christmas is coming. Treat yourself.
I played guitar and violin right handed until I was 24. Had an accident and lost part of two fingers on my left hand. Restrung my guitar left handed and started the journey of a lefty. Here I am 42 years later and can play guitar reasonably well. I was harder than learning left handed guitar the first time. The left brain right brian swap is very difficult. For years I would flip my guitar over and figure the parts out right handed first. To this day I play my left handed guitar right handed quite often and find writing songs still comes much more naturally right handed. Now in 2005 I bought a left handed violin and wanted to give it a shot. I thought learning guitar left handed was hard, violin 10 times harder. So 16 years later I sound like 3rd or 4th year student on violin. But still enjoy the challenge and smile with joy that have accomplished what I have.
As a middle-aged adult I learned to write with my left hand, after being writing a lot daily with my right hand in high speed (legible to me). It truly was at a first-grader's level in the beginning. But doable, I came up to about 2/3 of the speed of writing right handedly, after months. The left hand tired easily. My right hand got the rest it needed. I admire your tenacity and progress from understanding a bit of your struggles. Our brains and the motorskills are a fantastic intervowen complexity, evolutionary developed in tandem. Keep them up and be very protective of your brain!
This is one of the best vids I've seen about music. Not just playing, but how to approach playing as a human, and accepting differences. Thank you Fil, you bloody legend! I wish I was in the UK to button hole you for a few lessons. Rock on dude. Regards from Australia.
I am a trained music teacher and qualified guitar teacher here in Australia . Fil has nailed it. I play left handed if I want to remember what my students are trying to learn. I am right handed on guitar and bass.I have met many students have much passion for learning the guitar but have no natural talent. They are keen but they are musical dyslexics!. They cannot extrapolate and apply what they know to play any variations. Musical memory is also a learnt skill.
This is an excellent description of learning and teaching Fil. I’ve been a tennis coach for 40 years and all the same things apply. Tennis came easily to me as I was a talented learner. As a piano student I am the classic untalented learner, and a permanent beginner. I have a lot of trouble hearing things, and even if I think I can hear correctly my search for the right note is usually a random exploration of the keyboard. Nevertheless I have also learned as a tennis coach and a pianist that you can enjoy the activity regardless of your level of skill.
As an Untalented Learner myself on Guitar the 'eureka' moment when you finally play something correctly is worth all of the frustrating hours just moving your fingers around hoping to get them in the right place! Tennis and other athletic pursuits is different though because a lot of it comes down to hand-eye coordination and reflexes which really is more of a god given talent than learning to play music.
@@Veaseify They are genetically influenced talents. There are no gods watching us or giving us stuff, nor are they around watching us in the bathroom. They aren't there.
Beautiful. I've been playing guitar 2 1/2 years. So frequently I must remind myself that I'm not working on a song. I must treat it as practicing or playing a song.
This has been very encouraging, especially the part about the 5-7 minute rule because I've noticed that in my practicing and I thought I had to power through it. Now practicing will be more relaxing. Thanks!
To teach anything you must be willing to meet the learner where the learner is and have patience. Joe Satriani in a magazine interview I read years ago said Steve Vai came to him as a total beginner guitarist, with his guitar unstrung.
I lost my ring finger on my left hand 9 years ago and I’m a right handed player. People kept asking me why I did t just play left handed. And for exactly the same reasons I kept telling them I’d rather adapt rather than start from the beginning
Minsky wrote a book called the Society of the Mind all about how we learn and how brains work. He invented the first Univac computer. You video is as close to that concept as I have ever encountered. Briiliant presentation.
Rick Beato is an amazing musician. There are exceptions to having a natural aptitude for music. Steve Winwood is a prime example of that. Thanks for sharing this analysis video. Cheers, Fil! ✌️
I am right handed and have been playing bass for 50 years now. Back in the early days, I knew another bassist who would occasionally come over to my gig and and sit in. He was left-handed and would take my bass and flip it over upside down and could play exceptionally well. Funny thing is that his own left-handed basses were strung left-handed and he was a monster player. I always asked him how he was able to play that way and his answer was that it was easy. He was also able to write equally well with both hands as well. A true ambidextrous!
I’ll guarantee that the fellow knew music theory or at least the theory behind how a bass is organized. It’s not simply being “gifted”, but being a good, knowledgeable musician (even if not formally trained!).
That 5-7 minute, multiple technique tip is GOLD! A great idea that can be used across many different topics, I'd think. Always great stuff from this channel.
Rick is awesome...he has so much heart and passion for music. To me, if you put your heart and feeling into guitar and bass guitar playing...it comes through musically. Hard work pays off too. One reason I always admired John Entwistle, Eric Clapton, John Bonham, and Ray Manzarek.
Really glad you made this video, Fil. Pretty much everything you covered here can be applied to playing any instrument, not just guitar. You broke it down in a way that can be understood by all - which is why you're such a good teacher!
This, good sir, was absolutely Perfect for me. You touched on many things that I'm working on some that I noticed yesterday and such. For example, I have big hands but I've also had Carpal surgery on both wrists so I Bar/Barre like a champ and struggle terribly to make any chords that require arches. Yesterday I was learning some Kinks riffs and was so happy that I just picked them up in a few seconds but within a few minutes I had to force myself to do what was so easy a few minutes before. So I needed to hear this very much. Thank you.
I once had a lefthanded student, so I decided to prepare. I tried my hardest to play simple chords lefthanded, and I just couldn't do it. So I decided to use a mirror when showing her the basic chords, and that worked ;)
@@cazgerald9471 that is what I thought initially, but the mirror thing worked a charm. Basically it turns a right handed player into a lefthanded player
As an ear player for more than 40 years who ended up going to music school 30 years into my playing, interval training was the most useful part of my formal musical education. My professor called it hunting and pecking when folks searched the fretboard for the right note. Being able to instantly put the sounds in your head to the fretboard is zen. Another great video
Your point of practicing a skill for 5-7 minutes with good form, then moving to another skill, working in chunks, is huge. Using that learning style from the start would help maintain positive attitude while steadily building ability. Fil, you are a gifted teacher and generous in sharing what you have learned!
I remember watching a live stream of the protest in Ferguson Missouri and there was a live streamer filming with his camera while he was riding his bicycle. he was riding the bike backwards, he was sitting on the handlebars with his back facing forward and peddling with his feet while filming it was absolutely amazing
Fil great job explaining what's involved in the quest to play guitar , I've been got 50 years of active playing , practicing & study . My hands still work so I continue to enjoy the gift of Guitar every day of my life . Thx well .
I cut most of the tendons and 2 of the 3 nerves in my fretting hand 11 1/2 years ago, in a work accident . I couldn't even hold a guitar let alone fret a note. I tried playing Hendrix style, lefty .Couldn't do it. Even now I struggle to play clean chords. I am now nearly at a level with 11 years of practice, which took me 6 months to achieve in 1982.
Many years ago on the way to a gig my bass guitar got damaged so we contacted the venue and they said 'no problem we can provide a bass guitar'' when we arrived and went to set up I discovered the bass was a left handed one (I play right handed) , luckily we played all original songs and so I played the left handed bass right handed, effectively upside down, and although I could not play the same bass lines exactly, it took some time to get my head around playing upside down but I managed to carry it off and the audience was none the wiser. Fun times !
Most people can’t even sing the guitar solo to popular songs. No way they notice a bad unless it’s a first rate mess up. A lot of times the average person doesn’t notice that the singer/rhythm guitarist isn’t playing the solo unless the lead player literally steps into the spotlight.
Otis Rush and Dick Dale were lefties that played upside down. Ritchie Valens was a lefty but didn't have the patience to re-string his guitar, so he taught himself to play right handed. They ended up doing pretty well. A friend of mine writes lefty, but plays guitar righty, which is great because we can swap guitars!
You've basically told the entire story of every guitarist's life, whether they know it or not! Wish you had been around when I was young and learning!!!
Thanks for the very thought provoking video regarding what’s really required to be able to hear and play music on a guitar. Rick Beato is a musical genius and has the “talent” you speak of to hear and play back as well as describe the musical theory behind the songs he analyzes. Rick has spent a lifetime studying and teaching guitar and bass at the university level, he’s just an amazing talent. It would be great if you could do some sort of collaboration with him, maybe have him listen to and break down one of your songs? 👍🎸
I've been meaning to watch that video of Rick's. Yours and his - my favorite music channels! It's almost painful creating those new neural pathways, no matter what you're learning.
Outstanding episode, Fil. It seems so few, if any, guitar teachers ever bring this up. Thanks for the obvious and common Sense. I always learn from you!
You are such a great guy. Love the empathy aspect of teaching by turning the guitar the other way. Thank goodness the piano is an ambidextrous instrument. But as an experiment to this, I tried playing my keyboard facing backwards. Yeah... I achieved the "new student" effect.
Talk about the ultimate TH-cam battle of the bands between Fil and Rick, two musicians who love what they (each of you do) and are good at what they (each of you) have as their (your) gifts. Both of you are really good at what you do. Keep the good stuff going guys.
I'm not a musician ( two years of badly playing oboe in middle school band doesn't count 😂) but the concepts discussed in this video are applicable to all sorts of pursuits! loved your discussion of "practice makes consistency" because it's so true, and "playing to your strengths" is always good advice, especially if you can get good at hiding your weaknesses 😉
Oboes are interesting instruments, I recently got into listening to jazz on a bassoon (also an interesting instrument), it's actually cooler than you might think. 😂
Fil, you are an excellent instructor. You seem to have a natural talent and great communication skills. Bravo. Love all of your videos. I learn so much.
I have to turn my paper upside down to have nice left handed writing...I was an obedient child and held my hand EXACTLY like the teacher taught us, just kept edging my paper around til I could write comfortably. Many left handed writers end up turning their hand and the writing slants backwards. This was fun to think about in terms of guitar playing! Thanks, Fil!
@Lynn Dow. The main problem with handwriting in English for a leftie is that your writing hand obscures what you have just written! Right handers "drag/draw" the pen away from the left side of the paper and so can see what they have written. Lots of lefties write from over the top of the page and over the preceding lines of writing to see what they have written. Lefties must have had a seriously difficult job writing in the days of quill pens and wet ink! Stay safe and well,
And in school days of yore, they would force the "out of line" leftie to write with their right hand by tying their left hand behind their back. Such fun!
@@Shell6424 Oh no! That is seriously terrible! I have heard of the forcing left handers to use their right hand, but never being actually abused physically. I'm so sorry to hear that.
I must say that Rick Beato is the only other guitarist whose analysis videos I actually do watch, other than yours, Phil. So it's nice that you have evidently hear of, and even watch, his videos. Rick Beato has also provided some of the very best, and more importantly, most useful, musical theory that I've ever seen. Love you BOTH! Rock on! 😉
I learnt something from his video, and that's that I'm apparently not left handed after all, but cross dominant. I also figured out why I struggle to use a pick as I play guitar right handed. I'm a music teacher too and we've got a left handed guitar. We sometimes pick it up just to remind it how difficult it is to learn guitar at first. I love yours and Rick's videos because they always make me think about things in a different way which is really handy if you're a teacher. Thanks!
Just hearing that different hand sizes and shapes mean that not everyone can play the same chords the same way was well worth the price of admission, and more. My fingers twist in a weird direction and I have very stiff joints so playing a barred D at the 5th fret is pretty much impossible for me to do cleanly. Now I don't feel like a failure. Also I was under the impression that I should keep playing the same thing over and over, so your advice to mix it up and not get bogged down on one thing and start to unlearn was something I needed to hear. Thank you so much for this video, Fil. Wherever you are, Seattle says Hi and we love you.
I had a helluva hard time as a beginner guitarist back in 1971, and as a guy busting his hump to learn barre chords in early 1972. Definitely no natural talent happening in my case. But I did have a good ear. Once I got barre chords kinda-sorta under my fingers, I'd sit on the side of my bed for hours every night working out songs by ear, and by necessity, by memory as well, I was not in a position to be able to lift the needle on the record player and repeat a difficult passage, and Cassettes weren't commonplace in 1972 either. In 1971 at a Christmas to New Years youth camp a guy I looked up to as a guitarist was in his hut playing songs from the music book from George Harrison's All Things Must Pass album. He said to me: Arthur, if you really want your playing to take a giant leap forwards, get yourself a copy of this book. Well, a recommendation from Peter Ham was good enough for me. And no, not the Peter Ham from Badfinger, but the cousin of the lunatic who built that replica of Noah's Ark. Even back then he was a weirdo with that Quaker beard . . but I digress. That music book was one of the best put-together music books I ever bought. George probably had some creative control over its design. It had beginner versions of every song, using a capo to be able to still play simple chords and be in the right key. It also had full chord diagrams of every chord used in each song, on each page. Using that book, and a lot of practise, I eventually got to grips with barre chords and could give Peter a run for his money by the end of 1972. By the way, the real talent in that family was little brother Don Ham. It was like having Rick Wakeman playing in your band!! Now Souris, I have my own story about my hands not being the typical guitarist's hands. I'm short at just 5' 7", or actually an inch shorter now that I'm in my late 60s, and I'm small boned, being of Celtic ancestry. I have a size 9 shoe size, which is typical for a guy of my height. But my hands are like a gorilla's hands! Ten inch span from thumb to pinky finger when spread out, but having short thick fingers. When I was 12 my fist was half as big again as my father's fist. I dunno where that all came from, but since I haven't met many of my relatives, I'll probably never know. I always, right from the start, had all kind of trouble trying to do anything that involved stretching the fingers. Just couldn't do it. Then of course, at the other end of the neck, my hands and fingers have all kind of trouble trying to play up in Gary Moore-ville. I'm talking about above the 15th fret. I play The Loner and have trouble fitting my fingers between the frets up in the cutaway region of the neck. That's not ever gonna change because even in my senior years I still have my huge hands and fingers.
@@arthurblackhistoric I got the same book. Previous to that I bought CCR's Cosmo's Factory songbook as I discovered it in a music shop after I already had the album. I had bought a guitar with my first paypacket from a vacation job. I learnt a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs after that. When I bought my guitar, I bought a book of chords as well and diligently learnt and practised these without knowing what to do with these. It wasn't until I actually started learning songs that I started to get somewhere.
If you want a follow up to this video, you should look into Justin from Justin Guitar who decided to start learning guitar as a lefty even though he is right handed and has played right handed his entire life. He’s been documenting the process on video. It’s been very interesting to watch his progress and how he struggles like a beginner all over again! Maybe you can interview Justin about his experience with doing this experiment!
Nice lesson! Picked up my acoustic yesterday after a long time and working out some fingerstyle blues again, which somehow brought me here. You've got a talent for teaching.
Fil, I wish I would have had you as my guitar teacher years ago, maybe I could actually play something today. I took lessons for quite a while and got nowhere. I did some self study and learning, but other than a few simple melodies, I've given up trying anything more serious. Keep your students inspired and well done!
Just happened to return to this vid after 2 yrs. Gotta thank you AGAIN, cos it has inspired me AGAIN! 🎸❤🎸❤🎸❤ Still learning, still not much good, but still going for it. 👍👍👍 Thanks again, Fil!
Great insight, Man. I started "playing" bass on a guitar I built myself at 12 (who hasn't done that?). 1st tune I taught myself was Inside Looking Out - Grand Funk RR. Later I played in a couple of bands w/ a Precision - we were OK. Along and during the way I learned chords/ movable shapes, etc - about what 45 years of playing can bring and have been able to make tunes sound OK on electric (and on my beloved then-new 1981 Yamaha 340). I'm somewhere around "Learning WITH Talent" and "Learning WITHOUT Talent" (mostly WITHOUT I'll admit). Some have the gift (as you do) and I'm just glad to be able to make some music (and occasionally piss off my neighbors..!). Thanks for all you do, Fil.
This is a fun video Fil. I'm left handed I started playing after I retired as a mechanic. I had motor skills for all the tools I can use them left or right handed trying to learn new motor skills is really hard. After you get used to a screw driver, Now I tell my hands to play the G7 chord and they laugh at me. I saw on Justin guitar he redid his site and started following all his lessons lefthanded. To see how the site was and to see it from a beginners view . and he talked about how hard it was starting over
Yay, my online worlds colliding again! I look forward to watching this when I'm able. I love Rick's channel! (Even though I have no musical training & often can't follow what he's talking about. I just love how much he loves music!)
There are those that have a natural talent and good ear, they have an advantage over most and if they have the genetics as well their learning curve is even more accelerated. Then you have the savants. These guys defy all logic. It doesn't matter what instrument, or even if they never played certain instruments, they can pick it up and be familiar within minutes and better than most in a day or so. But the guys who work for it; the dogged determination, struggling through the sticky spots, taking care to be accurate, developing techniques, proficiency and mastery of skills by _sheer force of will;_ I admire them the most. Every note they play is _earned._
I had a left handed guitar teacher. I remember when he was setting up my Strat... adjusting the tremolo. He took my guitar, and to this day I cannot play as well as him backwards and upside down. He taught so many righties he learned to play right handed.
I once taught basic guitar to Year 3 children (7-8 year olds). Lessons lasted approximately 30 minutes and took place once a week, and the children received approximately 15 lessons in all. It was noticeable that if they didn’t drop out after the first few weeks, the ones who mostly learned were the ones where there was a member in the family who also played guitar. It would seem that extra encouragement and extra lessons (‘Come on, show me what you’ve learned’) made all the difference in learning the guitar. I should add that I never came across a ‘natural’, though the more practice they did, and wanted to learn, the more they did so.
Great explanation. You're describing moving from learning to a state of zen! Ask a motorist to describe their journey to work and realise they weren't concentrating on gear changes etc.,but more about the journey?
I happened to catch Rick’s vid yesterday. There are 4 or 5 really good music analysis vids I watch regularly, with yours at the top of the list. Interestingly in the visual arts, when teaching painting, a common teaching technique is to have a student make a painting from a picture that is turned upside down, so that all of the focus is on the use of color, not composition. I sometimes flip my right-handed guitar upside down, to shake things up as well. 👍
I have big hands with strength in my fingers . I've dedicated myself to improvised lead. Thru practice evety day 2 hour's. I love it. Put on my favorite albums and jam.
And this is why folks like me who maybe play woodwind or brass instruments will have a communication disconnection with guitarists, string instrumentalists, maybe ditto for percussion. Likely those guitar instruction manuals were written by someone who started out playing clarinet! Just teasing you fellow clarinet players. We get the subconscious performance when moving to play jazz, the blues or any style allowing for improv --- clean educated pitch drops away and the primal scream and scat step in. Very interesting learning your teaching philosophy, I hope your new students start out watching this video.
As one who played an instrument for many years, there is the mechanic skill level, which means you can play music, even very challenging music, well. The highest tier is the creative skill level. I saw this demonstrated many times with improvisation. I could mechanically play well, but I could not reach the higher step, no matter how much I practiced. I pretty much hit a wall at that point. That experience/frustration gave me a higher respect for the musicians who create, like the wrecking crew. They created solos cold, first time through a song. They created solos that have lasted for decades. Amazing.
Fascinating. I'm not a musician, but I am left handed, and I can totally understand the physicality and psychology of learning any new task. Fil, I think you are a superb teacher, in that you take those two important aspects and intermingle them, helping students (or anyone really) adapt and play guitar for instance, to the best of their ability. The God given 'feel' of the music is either there, or not (my opinion). Really into this type of analysis!!👍👌💜
Yes, interesting. The psychology of learning applied here seems transferrable to almost anything. The layers of insightful analysis had me hypnotized. Intuition v technique. Copying v creating. Lacking in one area, then develop skill in another. Seriously love this type of analysis also. You have to be really smart to not only be this observant but explain it as fluidly and brilliantly as Fil does. 🙂
@@cindypowers4993 You're a doll 🙃 This analysis was as intense as Fil's "How and Why were Queen So good at Live Aid in 1985?" The detailed analysis was wild. I feel like I just catch his wave and come out the other side always better for the experience. ☺️ 🤓 Have a great day. ann
It’s the strumming/picking hand that’s telling for me. You can know all the chords and notes, but the other hand makes the rhythm and the feel. I’ve seen it in so many guitarists/bass players.
Played lefty since I was 5 yrs old. By the time my father bought me a real lefty, i was 7. I found it quite hard to find lefty guitars in the 1960-70s. I also learned to play righty just enough to try out guitars so I could order a custom lefty. I also can just flip a righty upside down and play. I covered all the bases. Actually being a left handed guitarist helped in my piano playing dexterity. My fretting hand was able to play piano quite easily. My brother is 10 yrs older than me and we learned guitar together. I was use to watching a righty. It was easy to follow. But very hard to watch another lefty.
I watch Rick too. He's also really knowledgeable & interesting. I actually sent a few of his vids to my daughter since she's taking Vocal Performance/Songwriting/Producing at Berklee.
Listening to Nick Drake's album Pink Moon inspired me to finally buy a guitar and take lessons. I looked around for a while to find a left-handed guitar and bought a beautiful guitar and was so excited to take lessons! Until about my third lesson when my guitar teacher, who is a fantastic guitarist, told me that "some people just can't be taught". That was the most discouraging thing I think I've ever been told - about anything. I've never taken another lesson and my guitar sits in the corner gathering dust, reminding me daily that I "just can't be taught". I wish you'd been my teacher; I might have had an actual chance to learn something with your positive attitude towards looking for a student strengths.
First off, no teacher should ever say that someone can't be taught. That's absurd and extremely dumb. But you have to take some of the responsibility, too, because you seem to have paid attention to his conclusion. Stop being defeatist, dust your guitar off, tune it (plenty of free apps online as well as tutorials here!) and learn three chords. ANYONE with hands and fingers can learn three chords. When you can play those three chords cleanly, and can change between them quickly and cleanly, you will have dozens of songs at your fingertips....literally. And when you can play a song that you and others can recognise, guess what...you can play guitar. Now get going!
Also, re your last comment, the "chance" you're talking about is down to you. Teachers show you the path - you're the one who has to do the walking! It's down to you, not your teacher/s.
@@scrumpymanjack wow dude, you don't know me at all, so don't come on here and berate me for how I felt in response to my teacher's comments. The point was - which you seem to have e missed - his teaching style and attitude didn't work for me, and I may have done better with someone like Fil who said he looks for a student's strengths; that's what any really good teacher does.
Very interesting. I love music but has never learned to play an instrument (except a recorder in school). Now I am too old but I still found it interesting to hear from a professional teacher the psychology involved in the teaching process and the pitfalls of the process of learning. Fil is always so good at explaining.
Your intro about flipping the guitar over reminds me of learning to drive on the left in the UK (I'm American). So I wouldn't get anyone killed, I studied for a month before our trip, watching UK dash cam videos. But the first two days were still terrifying, because my internalized map for the car was all wrong. It felt as if the right side of the car was mysteriously gone and my friend (now seated on my left) must be floating in the air, since my brain had no space for a passenger seat on the left side of the car. I only got good at it when I realized I had to surrender and feel like a total-beginner driver again, not try to directly transfer all my knowledge from driving in the US. I didn't hit anyone and by day 4 I was feeling pretty comfortable. But I think that the *better* you are at doing something on one side, the harder to switch, because you expect it will be "just the same, except mirror image" -- but you can't get it by thinking like that. Reversing left and right is such a huge change, the brain needs to adjust to the new reality bit-by-bit.
"I absolutely loved your critique; it’s sharp, insightful, and truly hits the mark. I’m really taken by the way you’ve articulated this - it resonates deeply with me. I also appreciate you taking the time to speak out and expose these individuals who often present themselves as authorities on things, yet fail to live up to that image in reality. Your words are spot on, and I think it’s fantastic how you’ve stripped away the façade. Truly brilliant - you're amazing!"
I had a dentist friend in Malaysia. He was a leftie, but he used a right-handed guitar, which isn't that unusual, but he DIDN'T roll the strings over. His chord formations almost looked painful, but he could really play, especially solo. It was very difficult to jam with him because following his chord positions was nearly impossible!
Yes, this often happens when people had to share one guitar with their right-handed siblings. I've come across several such people over the years; Mind-blowing! 🙂
I can't even fathom playing like that. Watching someone play like that I would never try and follow. I'd make them either tell me ahead what chord progression we're visiting or have them shout it out when we're playing.
@@bearculb7717 Dick Dale was a lefty who originally played a right-handed guitar upside-down. Later, when he bought lefty guitars, he still had them strung upside-down, because that's how he learned to play.
Im a lefty who plays right handed. I started out the other way around but there were no left handed guitars in the small town i grew up in amd i got tired of having everything flipped upside down. lol Excellent video my friend!
Wow!!!! Been there, tried that, with drawing. I'm mainly right-handed, but I can be cross dominant for posture (crossing arms, and other stuff). Once I was heavily assaulted at work, so the therapist made me draw all my feelings left-handed. It worked, since it linked my hand with my subconscious a lot better. I can play a very few guitar chords left-handed, but it is hard. Yet for certain things I have to do them left handed. My bro is left-handed and my poor dad was forced to be right-handed. That screwed up his coordination... what a sick mentality. But, since he loved jazz, he was a great saxophonist. About muscle memory and creation, I can relate. I had to play the flute 3 hours a week, but decided to do it3 hours a day. I didn't need sheet music by the time I started playing along with Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull, and even created my own variations. Weird. I never ever remember song lyrics, but yet if I want to write a song, I can only write lyrics, since I never remember the music I'm humming and record on my phone if I'm doing it, say in the street. I love this other guy's channel, too. Incredible...
Brilliant video fil!! I can relate to everything you said. I started lessons at age 8 ( am 53 now) and unfortunately my teachers were no where what I'd call enthusiastic about teaching. In fact I wasn't told chords and scales were movable across the fretboard for the longest time as silly as that sounds!! I'm right handed and my brother is left handed and after watching Rick's video we did a swap and it was comically disastrous! But made us appreciate how difficult the beginners have it. I wish I could have had you as a teacher, but you weren't born yet lol thanks for the video!!
You & Rick are ummong the brightest stars on TH-cam :-) I started all on my own - switching from violin to guitar - with an easy Beatles songbook with its simplified or even wrong chords plus tabs. "I should have known better" was the start. The songbook did it's job very well for a beginner and Beatles fan :-)
what a great video full of great advice, Fil. I often get to the edge of the cliff and fall all the way to the bottom, thinking that this bloody guitar has got it in for me. Your advice is top motivation!! Thanks a million, mate!! Cheers. Marty.
Rick and Fil- the only 2 music dudes I watch on YT. Please- keep on keeping, boys. Pretty cool to be entertained whilst absorbing a lesson; good times. That’s why alot of us return time and again. Big fan. Thanks-
I enjoy both yours and Rick's videos. I'm glad you support each other instead of getting competitive and bring each other down. I have time for both of you guy's great videos.
My brother and I both play the guitar and couldn't be more different: I can start with a basic idea for a melody and keep hearing the "continuation" of that melody until I have an entire song. I took up guitar in my twenties and lack much of the basic techniques for finding chords (just fiddling around until I find what I hear in my head), but tend to make up for it with creativity. He, on the other hand, has never written a song in his life but can hear just about any song on the radio and play it within a matter of minutes.
"Was nailing this and now I can't do it!" Falling off the cliff is actually PART of my learning process. Oh how I wish I had known this when I was in primary school and college! Whether it's math, history, music, dancing, or technological (programming or something similar), the fact is that I have to learn something, then LOSE IT, then relearn it again. Sometimes this cycle will happen 3 or 4 times before I really start to own it. And then eventually, I will own it forever. But I have to earn that forever by putting in the hard work first.
Oh man, THANK YOU! The learning cliff is exactly what I NEEDED to hear! Thank you, thank you, thank you! 🎸❤️👍 Such an inspirational vid, for me - 60+ yrs, learning for 1 year.😎 @Justinguitar does the left-handed thing on some of his guitar lessons - very encouraging!👍🎸👍🎸👍🎸❤️ @rickbeato is a joy to watch! ❤️🎶❤️
As someone who has been playing guitar for about 5 years, I have to say you're absolutely correct about musical talent. I can play some pretty nice covers to prove it.
Ahhh, thanks for the reinforcement of what many teachers/instructors are starting to practice.. the bite-size chunks then doing something else for a bit. My fly fishing mentor makes sure students take breaks and stretch, change from casting a line to tying knots or some other related skill/task, and always reminds students to quit the practice session when able to complete three good casts, or knots or whatever, so that you always stop the session on a POSITIVE note, vs. stopping when frustrated from the "going off the cliff" you described so well. THANKS coach! 🥰🥰
Geat video, Fil! So many people reckon there is no such thing as 'talent', to which I disagree, and I like your definition 🙂 And on the 'Lefty' subject: The Police have been one of my favourite bands for 40 years, but I found out only this year that Stewart Copeland is actually left-handed, but he plays the drums right-handed and also the guitar! 🤯 I also play the drums and tried switching to lefty a few times myself, but nah, it's impossible! 😄
TIME STAMPS -
0:00 Intro
3:01 Natural Guitar Talent
4:28 Fine Motor Skills
6:22 What is Talent?
9:39 Learning WITH Talent
10:57 Learning WITHOUT Talent
11:52 The Talent Advantage
12:45 Practise for Subconscious
13:44 Effective Practise
14:41 Practise Makes Consistent!
15:36 The Learning Cliff!
17:36 Accept Your Genetics!
18:54 Use Your Strengths
20:22 Playing in a Cave!
21:35 Playing Left or Right Handed?
Rick Beato is an incredible all around musical talent. He plays several instruments very well but I think his analysis of music is his biggest talent. He lives and breathes music and his passion is obvious. Fil’s and Rick’s channels are the only ones I watch!
Well you shouldnt be analysing music , no one did at the time , & pop & rock are pop & rock thats all , bit of fun . It was fun at the time
@@Marcus538 It's not a zero sum game, working out what's good about it doesn't make it less fun.
Considering the money involved in the music industry, I think you should most definitely analyse music. Even if you take away the fact that it's fascinating as fuck 😁
Also, I'm sure people have alway analysed music!
@@Meeckle u 👍uuku io👍ookkugop 🙏y 👍ujhpki 🙏😊o
Both these guys are excellent at what they do and they’re so likable and engaging as well.
Both present with a smile throughout each video they present.
I'm a mediocre guitarist who is an advocate of the 'are you enjoying yourself' ? guitar tuition method. If you are, then you have nailed it !!!! This is a great channel and the advice is bang on though. Extremely well presented. Many thanks from Cornwall.
Exactly!!!
Thanks Fil. Another reason I respect both you and Rick... Very humble... promoting each other.. How refreshing
I love it when Rick figures out today's top hits in three seconds because they are so basic. You have to do a video with Rick, Fil. Watching the two of you talk music in general and guitar in particular would be fascinating.
Would be fun to give Rick a Billy Strings song to figure out. _Turmoil & Tinfoil_ comes to mind : )
LOVE these 2!!! I don't play any instrument but I've ALWAYS had the desire so I'm fascinated by everything they teach, even when it's over my head. I'm right hand dominant with a ruined right shoulder but I STILL want so much to learn. What do you recommend? Yuke or mandolin? (Small/light weight). To play mandolin would be a dream come true!! Sure, I'd LOVE to shred an electric guitar one day but just not physically possible. I'm 58 BTW so hurry!!! 🤣😂🤣❤jk
Just watched that video!!!
@@loriholloway5866 Ukulele might be a better bet for playing songs (you can always sing when everyone's gone out if you're worried) and it s tuned the same as the top four strings on the guitar so the potential for 'playing along' is probably greater. Mandolin is a wonderful single line instrument and there are many stellar players out there but less interesting chords-wise. Mind you I say that as a guitar player so I may be biased. You can get decent ukes for less money than decent mandolins and with the softer nylon strings it might be the place to start. The worse that might happen is that you end up owning a uke and a mandolin and maybe even a tenor guitar down the line. The world's a mess bu Christmas is coming. Treat yourself.
You can also do that with a lot of the old hits. In pop and rock music you can play many songs with 3 or four chords.
I enjoy listening to both you and Rick how you both analyze songs and musicians. Thank you.
You don't practice until you get it right, you practice until you can't get it wrong
sounds like alot of fun.
Practice for the worst case, not the best
@@chiefinspector7280 well said
Practice till you make it yours !!
Didn't Julie Andrews say that based on what her music teacher told her?
I played guitar and violin right handed until I was 24. Had an accident and lost part of two fingers on my left hand. Restrung my guitar left handed and started the journey of a lefty. Here I am 42 years later and can play guitar reasonably well. I was harder than learning left handed guitar the first time. The left brain right brian swap is very difficult. For years I would flip my guitar over and figure the parts out right handed first. To this day I play my left handed guitar right handed quite often and find writing songs still comes much more naturally right handed. Now in 2005 I bought a left handed violin and wanted to give it a shot. I thought learning guitar left handed was hard, violin 10 times harder. So 16 years later I sound like 3rd or 4th year student on violin. But still enjoy the challenge and smile with joy that have accomplished what I have.
That's soo interesting, just goes to show people can be very resilient.
As a middle-aged adult I learned to write with my left hand, after being writing a lot daily with my right hand in high speed (legible to me). It truly was at a first-grader's level in the beginning. But doable, I came up to about 2/3 of the speed of writing right handedly, after months. The left hand tired easily. My right hand got the rest it needed.
I admire your tenacity and progress from understanding a bit of your struggles.
Our brains and the motorskills are a fantastic intervowen complexity, evolutionary developed in tandem.
Keep them up and be very protective of your brain!
That's my worst nightmare as a guitarist but so much respect to you for going through all that and not giving up!
This is one of the best vids I've seen about music. Not just playing, but how to approach playing as a human, and accepting differences. Thank you Fil, you bloody legend! I wish I was in the UK to button hole you for a few lessons. Rock on dude. Regards from Australia.
Aus me too...St K
I am a trained music teacher and qualified guitar teacher here in Australia . Fil has nailed it. I play left handed if I want to remember what my students are trying to learn. I am right handed on guitar and bass.I have met many students have much passion for learning the guitar but have no natural talent. They are keen but they are musical dyslexics!. They cannot extrapolate and apply what they know to play any variations. Musical memory is also a learnt skill.
This is an excellent description of learning and teaching Fil. I’ve been a tennis coach for 40 years and all the same things apply. Tennis came easily to me as I was a talented learner. As a piano student I am the classic untalented learner, and a permanent beginner. I have a lot of trouble hearing things, and even if I think I can hear correctly my search for the right note is usually a random exploration of the keyboard. Nevertheless I have also learned as a tennis coach and a pianist that you can enjoy the activity regardless of your level of skill.
As an Untalented Learner myself on Guitar the 'eureka' moment when you finally play something correctly is worth all of the frustrating hours just moving your fingers around hoping to get them in the right place! Tennis and other athletic pursuits is different though because a lot of it comes down to hand-eye coordination and reflexes which really is more of a god given talent than learning to play music.
@@Veaseify They are genetically influenced talents. There are no gods watching us or giving us stuff, nor are they around watching us in the bathroom. They aren't there.
Beautiful. I've been playing guitar 2 1/2 years. So frequently I must remind myself that I'm not working on a song. I must treat it as practicing or playing a song.
My two favorite music youtubers. Totally Awesome!
This has been very encouraging, especially the part about the 5-7 minute rule because I've noticed that in my practicing and I thought I had to power through it. Now practicing will be more relaxing. Thanks!
I was 100% positive that Fil is a terrific and considerate person even before he made the comment about his attempts and being even more empathetic.
To teach anything you must be willing to meet the learner where the learner is and have patience.
Joe Satriani in a magazine interview I read years ago said Steve Vai came to him as a total beginner guitarist, with his guitar unstrung.
That’s right!
I lost my ring finger on my left hand 9 years ago and I’m a right handed player. People kept asking me why I did t just play left handed. And for exactly the same reasons I kept telling them I’d rather adapt rather than start from the beginning
Minsky wrote a book called the Society of the Mind all about how we learn and how brains work. He invented the first Univac computer. You video is as close to that concept as I have ever encountered. Briiliant presentation.
Rick Beato is an amazing musician. There are exceptions to having a natural aptitude for music. Steve Winwood is a prime example of that. Thanks for sharing this analysis video. Cheers, Fil! ✌️
I am right handed and have been playing bass for 50 years now. Back in the early days, I knew another bassist who would occasionally come over to my gig and and sit in. He was left-handed and would take my bass and flip it over upside down and could play exceptionally well. Funny thing is that his own left-handed basses were strung left-handed and he was a monster player. I always asked him how he was able to play that way and his answer was that it was easy. He was also able to write equally well with both hands as well.
A true ambidextrous!
M A Batio is like that...phenomenal
Check out Paul DiLeo. Nena, Fozzy, Adrenaline Mob. A lefty, Plays a right handed bass upside down.
I’ll guarantee that the fellow knew music theory or at least the theory behind how a bass is organized. It’s not simply being “gifted”, but being a good, knowledgeable musician (even if not formally trained!).
Rick is unbelievable as are you Fil. ❤
That 5-7 minute, multiple technique tip is GOLD! A great idea that can be used across many different topics, I'd think. Always great stuff from this channel.
Rick is awesome...he has so much heart and passion for music. To me, if you put your heart and feeling into guitar and bass guitar playing...it comes through musically. Hard work pays off too. One reason I always admired John Entwistle, Eric Clapton, John Bonham, and Ray Manzarek.
Really glad you made this video, Fil. Pretty much everything you covered here can be applied to playing any instrument, not just guitar. You broke it down in a way that can be understood by all - which is why you're such a good teacher!
Thanks!
This, good sir, was absolutely Perfect for me. You touched on many things that I'm working on some that I noticed yesterday and such. For example, I have big hands but I've also had Carpal surgery on both wrists so I Bar/Barre like a champ and struggle terribly to make any chords that require arches. Yesterday I was learning some Kinks riffs and was so happy that I just picked them up in a few seconds but within a few minutes I had to force myself to do what was so easy a few minutes before. So I needed to hear this very much. Thank you.
I once had a lefthanded student, so I decided to prepare. I tried my hardest to play simple chords lefthanded, and I just couldn't do it. So I decided to use a mirror when showing her the basic chords, and that worked ;)
Interesting, I would have thought just facing each other would be like a mirror image and easier to demonstrate.
@@cazgerald9471 that is what I thought initially, but the mirror thing worked a charm. Basically it turns a right handed player into a lefthanded player
As an ear player for more than 40 years who ended up going to music school 30 years into my playing, interval training was the most useful part of my formal musical education. My professor called it hunting and pecking when folks searched the fretboard for the right note. Being able to instantly put the sounds in your head to the fretboard is zen. Another great video
Your point of practicing a skill for 5-7 minutes with good form, then moving to another skill, working in chunks, is huge. Using that learning style from the start would help maintain positive attitude while steadily building ability. Fil, you are a gifted teacher and generous in sharing what you have learned!
I remember watching a live stream of the protest in Ferguson Missouri and there was a live streamer filming with his camera while he was riding his bicycle. he was riding the bike backwards, he was sitting on the handlebars with his back facing forward and peddling with his feet while filming it was absolutely amazing
Fil great job explaining what's involved in the quest to play guitar , I've been got 50 years of active playing , practicing & study . My hands still work so I continue to enjoy the gift of Guitar every day of my life . Thx well .
I cut most of the tendons and 2 of the 3 nerves in my fretting hand 11 1/2 years ago, in a work accident . I couldn't even hold a guitar let alone fret a note. I tried playing Hendrix style, lefty .Couldn't do it. Even now I struggle to play clean chords. I am now nearly at a level with 11 years of practice, which took me 6 months to achieve in 1982.
Many years ago on the way to a gig my bass guitar got damaged so we contacted the venue and they said 'no problem we can provide a bass guitar'' when we arrived and went to set up I discovered the bass was a left handed one (I play right handed) , luckily we played all original songs and so I played the left handed bass right handed, effectively upside down, and although I could not play the same bass lines exactly, it took some time to get my head around playing upside down but I managed to carry it off and the audience was none the wiser. Fun times !
Most people can’t even sing the guitar solo to popular songs. No way they notice a bad unless it’s a first rate mess up.
A lot of times the average person doesn’t notice that the singer/rhythm guitarist isn’t playing the solo unless the lead player literally steps into the spotlight.
Otis Rush and Dick Dale were lefties that played upside down. Ritchie Valens was a lefty but didn't have the patience to re-string his guitar, so he taught himself to play right handed. They ended up doing pretty well.
A friend of mine writes lefty, but plays guitar righty, which is great because we can swap guitars!
You've basically told the entire story of every guitarist's life, whether they know it or not! Wish you had been around when I was young and learning!!!
Thanks for the very thought provoking video regarding what’s really required to be able to hear and play music on a guitar. Rick Beato is a musical genius and has the “talent” you speak of to hear and play back as well as describe the musical theory behind the songs he analyzes. Rick has spent a lifetime studying and teaching guitar and bass at the university level, he’s just an amazing talent. It would be great if you could do some sort of collaboration with him, maybe have him listen to and break down one of your songs? 👍🎸
Rick is a very talented person. Have seen his videos. 👍🏼🤘🏼
I've been meaning to watch that video of Rick's. Yours and his - my favorite music channels! It's almost painful creating those new neural pathways, no matter what you're learning.
Thank you for this well rounded introspective look at the ups , downs ,in and outs of how people learn guitar. Nicely thought out presentation .
Your comments on the 5 - 7 minute time frame for learning a technique was extremely meaningful for me - Thanks!
Outstanding episode, Fil. It seems so few, if any, guitar teachers ever bring this up. Thanks for the obvious and common Sense. I always learn from you!
You are such a great guy. Love the empathy aspect of teaching by turning the guitar the other way. Thank goodness the piano is an ambidextrous instrument. But as an experiment to this, I tried playing my keyboard facing backwards. Yeah... I achieved the "new student" effect.
Talk about the ultimate TH-cam battle of the bands between Fil and Rick, two musicians who love what they (each of you do) and are good at what they (each of you) have as their (your) gifts. Both of you are really good at what you do. Keep the good stuff going guys.
I'm not a musician ( two years of badly playing oboe in middle school band doesn't count 😂) but the concepts discussed in this video are applicable to all sorts of pursuits! loved your discussion of "practice makes consistency" because it's so true, and "playing to your strengths" is always good advice, especially if you can get good at hiding your weaknesses 😉
Oboes are interesting instruments, I recently got into listening to jazz on a bassoon (also an interesting instrument), it's actually cooler than you might think. 😂
Fil, you are an excellent instructor. You seem to have a natural talent and great communication skills. Bravo. Love all of your videos. I learn so much.
I have to turn my paper upside down to have nice left handed writing...I was an obedient child and held my hand EXACTLY like the teacher taught us, just kept edging my paper around til I could write comfortably. Many left handed writers end up turning their hand and the writing slants backwards. This was fun to think about in terms of guitar playing! Thanks, Fil!
@@konstantia1607 Haha! Thanks, Konstantia, that's very kind!
@Lynn Dow. The main problem with handwriting in English for a leftie is that your writing hand obscures what you have just written! Right handers "drag/draw" the pen away from the left side of the paper and so can see what they have written. Lots of lefties write from over the top of the page and over the preceding lines of writing to see what they have written. Lefties must have had a seriously difficult job writing in the days of quill pens and wet ink! Stay safe and well,
Back in my day, left handed writing got you the cane. I couldn't even hold the pencil/pen properly with the right hand. I wish I was ambidextrous.
And in school days of yore, they would force the "out of line" leftie to write with their right hand by tying their left hand behind their back. Such fun!
@@Shell6424 Oh no! That is seriously terrible! I have heard of the forcing left handers to use their right hand, but never being actually abused physically. I'm so sorry to hear that.
I must say that Rick Beato is the only other guitarist whose analysis videos I actually do watch, other than yours, Phil. So it's nice that you have evidently hear of, and even watch, his videos. Rick Beato has also provided some of the very best, and more importantly, most useful, musical theory that I've ever seen. Love you BOTH! Rock on! 😉
I learnt something from his video, and that's that I'm apparently not left handed after all, but cross dominant. I also figured out why I struggle to use a pick as I play guitar right handed. I'm a music teacher too and we've got a left handed guitar. We sometimes pick it up just to remind it how difficult it is to learn guitar at first. I love yours and Rick's videos because they always make me think about things in a different way which is really handy if you're a teacher. Thanks!
Rick Beato has taught me so much about music theory. He has such a good ear and is really talented. You are in the same camp.
Just hearing that different hand sizes and shapes mean that not everyone can play the same chords the same way was well worth the price of admission, and more. My fingers twist in a weird direction and I have very stiff joints so playing a barred D at the 5th fret is pretty much impossible for me to do cleanly. Now I don't feel like a failure. Also I was under the impression that I should keep playing the same thing over and over, so your advice to mix it up and not get bogged down on one thing and start to unlearn was something I needed to hear. Thank you so much for this video, Fil. Wherever you are, Seattle says Hi and we love you.
No problem!
I had a helluva hard time as a beginner guitarist back in 1971, and as a guy busting his hump to learn barre chords in early 1972. Definitely no natural talent happening in my case. But I did have a good ear. Once I got barre chords kinda-sorta under my fingers, I'd sit on the side of my bed for hours every night working out songs by ear, and by necessity, by memory as well, I was not in a position to be able to lift the needle on the record player and repeat a difficult passage, and Cassettes weren't commonplace in 1972 either.
In 1971 at a Christmas to New Years youth camp a guy I looked up to as a guitarist was in his hut playing songs from the music book from George Harrison's All Things Must Pass album. He said to me: Arthur, if you really want your playing to take a giant leap forwards, get yourself a copy of this book. Well, a recommendation from Peter Ham was good enough for me. And no, not the Peter Ham from Badfinger, but the cousin of the lunatic who built that replica of Noah's Ark. Even back then he was a weirdo with that Quaker beard . . but I digress. That music book was one of the best put-together music books I ever bought. George probably had some creative control over its design. It had beginner versions of every song, using a capo to be able to still play simple chords and be in the right key. It also had full chord diagrams of every chord used in each song, on each page. Using that book, and a lot of practise, I eventually got to grips with barre chords and could give Peter a run for his money by the end of 1972. By the way, the real talent in that family was little brother Don Ham. It was like having Rick Wakeman playing in your band!!
Now Souris, I have my own story about my hands not being the typical guitarist's hands. I'm short at just 5' 7", or actually an inch shorter now that I'm in my late 60s, and I'm small boned, being of Celtic ancestry. I have a size 9 shoe size, which is typical for a guy of my height. But my hands are like a gorilla's hands! Ten inch span from thumb to pinky finger when spread out, but having short thick fingers. When I was 12 my fist was half as big again as my father's fist. I dunno where that all came from, but since I haven't met many of my relatives, I'll probably never know. I always, right from the start, had all kind of trouble trying to do anything that involved stretching the fingers. Just couldn't do it. Then of course, at the other end of the neck, my hands and fingers have all kind of trouble trying to play up in Gary Moore-ville. I'm talking about above the 15th fret. I play The Loner and have trouble fitting my fingers between the frets up in the cutaway region of the neck. That's not ever gonna change because even in my senior years I still have my huge hands and fingers.
@@arthurblackhistoric Thank you for sharing that. I might go look for that Harrison book. There's some d*mn fine music on that album.
@@sourisvoleur4854 . . Good luck
@@arthurblackhistoric I got the same book. Previous to that I bought CCR's Cosmo's Factory songbook as I discovered it in a music shop after I already had the album. I had bought a guitar with my first paypacket from a vacation job. I learnt a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs after that. When I bought my guitar, I bought a book of chords as well and diligently learnt and practised these without knowing what to do with these. It wasn't until I actually started learning songs that I started to get somewhere.
This is one of the best videos a starting teacher/student should watch.
If you want a follow up to this video, you should look into Justin from Justin Guitar who decided to start learning guitar as a lefty even though he is right handed and has played right handed his entire life. He’s been documenting the process on video. It’s been very interesting to watch his progress and how he struggles like a beginner all over again! Maybe you can interview Justin about his experience with doing this experiment!
Nice lesson! Picked up my acoustic yesterday after a long time and working out some fingerstyle blues again, which somehow brought me here. You've got a talent for teaching.
Fil, I wish I would have had you as my guitar teacher years ago, maybe I could actually play something today. I took lessons for quite a while and got nowhere. I did some self study and learning, but other than a few simple melodies, I've given up trying anything more serious. Keep your students inspired and well done!
Just happened to return to this vid after 2 yrs.
Gotta thank you AGAIN, cos it has inspired me AGAIN!
🎸❤🎸❤🎸❤
Still learning, still not much good, but still going for it. 👍👍👍 Thanks again, Fil!
Great insight, Man. I started "playing" bass on a guitar I built myself at 12 (who hasn't done that?). 1st tune I taught myself was Inside Looking Out - Grand Funk RR. Later I played in a couple of bands w/ a Precision - we were OK. Along and during the way I learned chords/ movable shapes, etc - about what 45 years of playing can bring and have been able to make tunes sound OK on electric (and on my beloved then-new 1981 Yamaha 340). I'm somewhere around "Learning WITH Talent" and "Learning WITHOUT Talent" (mostly WITHOUT I'll admit). Some have the gift (as you do) and I'm just glad to be able to make some music (and occasionally piss off my neighbors..!). Thanks for all you do, Fil.
This is a fun video Fil. I'm left handed I started playing after I retired as a mechanic. I had motor skills for all the tools I can use them left or right handed trying to learn new motor skills is really hard. After you get used to a screw driver, Now I tell my hands to play the G7 chord and they laugh at me. I saw on Justin guitar he redid his site and started following all his lessons lefthanded. To see how the site was and to see it from a beginners view . and he talked about how hard it was starting over
This is interesting and informative. Fil You do have a love for playing the Guitar and teaching it shows 👍🤘🙂
Yay, my online worlds colliding again! I look forward to watching this when I'm able. I love Rick's channel! (Even though I have no musical training & often can't follow what he's talking about. I just love how much he loves music!)
There are those that have a natural talent and good ear, they have an advantage over most and if they have the genetics as well their learning curve is even more accelerated.
Then you have the savants. These guys defy all logic. It doesn't matter what instrument, or even if they never played certain instruments, they can pick it up and be familiar within minutes and better than most in a day or so.
But the guys who work for it; the dogged determination, struggling through the sticky spots, taking care to be accurate, developing techniques, proficiency and mastery of skills by _sheer force of will;_ I admire them the most.
Every note they play is _earned._
I had a left handed guitar teacher. I remember when he was setting up my Strat... adjusting the tremolo. He took my guitar, and to this day I cannot play as well as him backwards and upside down. He taught so many righties he learned to play right handed.
I once taught basic guitar to Year 3 children (7-8 year olds). Lessons lasted approximately 30 minutes and took place once a week, and the children received approximately 15 lessons in all.
It was noticeable that if they didn’t drop out after the first few weeks, the ones who mostly learned were the ones where there was a member in the family who also played guitar. It would seem that extra encouragement and extra lessons (‘Come on, show me what you’ve learned’) made all the difference in learning the guitar.
I should add that I never came across a ‘natural’, though the more practice they did, and wanted to learn, the more they did so.
Great explanation. You're describing moving from learning to a state of zen! Ask a motorist to describe their journey to work and realise they weren't concentrating on gear changes etc.,but more about the journey?
I happened to catch Rick’s vid yesterday. There are 4 or 5 really good music analysis vids I watch regularly, with yours at the top of the list. Interestingly in the visual arts, when teaching painting, a common teaching technique is to have a student make a painting from a picture that is turned upside down, so that all of the focus is on the use of color, not composition. I sometimes flip my right-handed guitar upside down, to shake things up as well. 👍
I have big hands with strength in my fingers . I've dedicated myself to improvised lead. Thru practice evety day 2 hour's. I love it. Put on my favorite albums and jam.
And this is why folks like me who maybe play woodwind or brass instruments will have a communication disconnection with guitarists, string instrumentalists, maybe ditto for percussion. Likely those guitar instruction manuals were written by someone who started out playing clarinet! Just teasing you fellow clarinet players. We get the subconscious performance when moving to play jazz, the blues or any style allowing for improv --- clean educated pitch drops away and the primal scream and scat step in.
Very interesting learning your teaching philosophy, I hope your new students start out watching this video.
As one who played an instrument for many years, there is the mechanic skill level, which means you can play music, even very challenging music, well. The highest tier is the creative skill level. I saw this demonstrated many times with improvisation. I could mechanically play well, but I could not reach the higher step, no matter how much I practiced. I pretty much hit a wall at that point. That experience/frustration gave me a higher respect for the musicians who create, like the wrecking crew. They created solos cold, first time through a song. They created solos that have lasted for decades. Amazing.
There's a guitar player woman on TH-cam. She's Guitareo. I learned so much from her videos.
I respect and enjoy Rick Beato and you as well, for being an accomplished musician and your intellect and analysis.
The Talent Advantage: Jose Feliciano retuning one string and continuing the performance on 'Light My Fire' at Daryl's Place
Rick is THE MAN. I love both of you. Thanks Fil!
Fascinating. I'm not a musician, but I am left handed, and I can totally understand the physicality and psychology of learning any new task. Fil, I think you are a superb teacher, in that you take those two important aspects and intermingle them, helping students (or anyone really) adapt and play guitar for instance, to the best of their ability. The God given 'feel' of the music is either there, or not (my opinion). Really into this type of analysis!!👍👌💜
Yes, interesting. The psychology of learning applied here seems transferrable to almost anything. The layers of insightful analysis had me hypnotized. Intuition v technique. Copying v creating. Lacking in one area, then develop skill in another. Seriously love this type of analysis also. You have to be really smart to not only be this observant but explain it as fluidly and brilliantly as Fil does. 🙂
@@mydailybread7 Love your insightful comments, also quite intriguing 👍
@@cindypowers4993 You're a doll 🙃 This analysis was as intense as Fil's "How and Why were Queen So good at Live Aid in 1985?" The detailed analysis was wild. I feel like I just catch his wave and come out the other side always better for the experience. ☺️ 🤓 Have a great day. ann
It’s the strumming/picking hand that’s telling for me. You can know all the chords and notes, but the other hand makes the rhythm and the feel. I’ve seen it in so many guitarists/bass players.
Played lefty since I was 5 yrs old. By the time my father bought me a real lefty, i was 7. I found it quite hard to find lefty guitars in the 1960-70s. I also learned to play righty just enough to try out guitars so I could order a custom lefty. I also can just flip a righty upside down and play. I covered all the bases. Actually being a left handed guitarist helped in my piano playing dexterity. My fretting hand was able to play piano quite easily. My brother is 10 yrs older than me and we learned guitar together. I was use to watching a righty. It was easy to follow. But very hard to watch another lefty.
I watch Rick too. He's also really knowledgeable & interesting. I actually sent a few of his vids to my daughter since she's taking Vocal Performance/Songwriting/Producing at Berklee.
Listening to Nick Drake's album Pink Moon inspired me to finally buy a guitar and take lessons. I looked around for a while to find a left-handed guitar and bought a beautiful guitar and was so excited to take lessons! Until about my third lesson when my guitar teacher, who is a fantastic guitarist, told me that "some people just can't be taught". That was the most discouraging thing I think I've ever been told - about anything. I've never taken another lesson and my guitar sits in the corner gathering dust, reminding me daily that I "just can't be taught".
I wish you'd been my teacher; I might have had an actual chance to learn something with your positive attitude towards looking for a student strengths.
First off, no teacher should ever say that someone can't be taught. That's absurd and extremely dumb. But you have to take some of the responsibility, too, because you seem to have paid attention to his conclusion. Stop being defeatist, dust your guitar off, tune it (plenty of free apps online as well as tutorials here!) and learn three chords. ANYONE with hands and fingers can learn three chords. When you can play those three chords cleanly, and can change between them quickly and cleanly, you will have dozens of songs at your fingertips....literally. And when you can play a song that you and others can recognise, guess what...you can play guitar. Now get going!
Also, re your last comment, the "chance" you're talking about is down to you. Teachers show you the path - you're the one who has to do the walking! It's down to you, not your teacher/s.
@@scrumpymanjack wow dude, you don't know me at all, so don't come on here and berate me for how I felt in response to my teacher's comments. The point was - which you seem to have e missed - his teaching style and attitude didn't work for me, and I may have done better with someone like Fil who said he looks for a student's strengths; that's what any really good teacher does.
Very interesting. I love music but has never learned to play an instrument (except a recorder in school). Now I am too old but I still found it interesting to hear from a professional teacher the psychology involved in the teaching process and the pitfalls of the process of learning. Fil is always so good at explaining.
Your intro about flipping the guitar over reminds me of learning to drive on the left in the UK (I'm American). So I wouldn't get anyone killed, I studied for a month before our trip, watching UK dash cam videos. But the first two days were still terrifying, because my internalized map for the car was all wrong. It felt as if the right side of the car was mysteriously gone and my friend (now seated on my left) must be floating in the air, since my brain had no space for a passenger seat on the left side of the car. I only got good at it when I realized I had to surrender and feel like a total-beginner driver again, not try to directly transfer all my knowledge from driving in the US. I didn't hit anyone and by day 4 I was feeling pretty comfortable. But I think that the *better* you are at doing something on one side, the harder to switch, because you expect it will be "just the same, except mirror image" -- but you can't get it by thinking like that. Reversing left and right is such a huge change, the brain needs to adjust to the new reality bit-by-bit.
"I absolutely loved your critique; it’s sharp, insightful, and truly hits the mark. I’m really taken by the way you’ve articulated this - it resonates deeply with me. I also appreciate you taking the time to speak out and expose these individuals who often present themselves as authorities on things, yet fail to live up to that image in reality. Your words are spot on, and I think it’s fantastic how you’ve stripped away the façade. Truly brilliant - you're amazing!"
I had a dentist friend in Malaysia. He was a leftie, but he used a right-handed guitar, which isn't that unusual, but he DIDN'T roll the strings over. His chord formations almost looked painful, but he could really play, especially solo. It was very difficult to jam with him because following his chord positions was nearly impossible!
Yes, this often happens when people had to share one guitar with their right-handed siblings. I've come across several such people over the years; Mind-blowing! 🙂
Albert King played that way with the low E on the bottom.
I can't even fathom playing like that. Watching someone play like that I would never try and follow. I'd make them either tell me ahead what chord progression we're visiting or have them shout it out when we're playing.
I've seen dozens of people that play that way, the oldest example of that would be Elisabeth Cotten,more modern Eric Gales ,or Doyle Bramhall II.
@@bearculb7717 Dick Dale was a lefty who originally played a right-handed guitar upside-down. Later, when he bought lefty guitars, he still had them strung upside-down, because that's how he learned to play.
Im a lefty who plays right handed. I started out the other way around but there were no left handed guitars in the small town i grew up in amd i got tired of having everything flipped upside down. lol Excellent video my friend!
Wow!!!! Been there, tried that, with drawing. I'm mainly right-handed, but I can be cross dominant for posture (crossing arms, and other stuff). Once I was heavily assaulted at work, so the therapist made me draw all my feelings left-handed. It worked, since it linked my hand with my subconscious a lot better. I can play a very few guitar chords left-handed, but it is hard. Yet for certain things I have to do them left handed. My bro is left-handed and my poor dad was forced to be right-handed. That screwed up his coordination... what a sick mentality. But, since he loved jazz, he was a great saxophonist. About muscle memory and creation, I can relate. I had to play the flute 3 hours a week, but decided to do it3 hours a day. I didn't need sheet music by the time I started playing along with Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull, and even created my own variations.
Weird. I never ever remember song lyrics, but yet if I want to write a song, I can only write lyrics, since I never remember the music I'm humming and record on my phone if I'm doing it, say in the street.
I love this other guy's channel, too. Incredible...
Brilliant video fil!! I can relate to everything you said. I started lessons at age 8 ( am 53 now) and unfortunately my teachers were no where what I'd call enthusiastic about teaching. In fact I wasn't told chords and scales were movable across the fretboard for the longest time as silly as that sounds!! I'm right handed and my brother is left handed and after watching Rick's video we did a swap and it was comically disastrous! But made us appreciate how difficult the beginners have it. I wish I could have had you as a teacher, but you weren't born yet lol thanks for the video!!
Super video and a great topic. Both of you do amazing channels.
You & Rick are ummong the brightest stars on TH-cam :-)
I started all on my own - switching from violin to guitar - with an easy Beatles songbook with its simplified or even wrong chords plus tabs.
"I should have known better" was the start.
The songbook did it's job very well for a beginner and Beatles fan :-)
I love when the pros have humility. You and Rick both have that quality. I appreciate that! God Bless!
what a great video full of great advice, Fil. I often get to the edge of the cliff and fall all the way to the bottom, thinking that this bloody guitar has got it in for me. Your advice is top motivation!! Thanks a million, mate!! Cheers. Marty.
Rick is an absolute beast. Great pianist too. Great producer too. Deep into theory as well.
Rick always has a positive vibe ,I watch his content
I took Chorus throughout All my school years and i can't say enough about how important Choir was for Ear training for me.
Rick and Fil- the only 2 music dudes I watch on YT.
Please- keep on keeping, boys. Pretty cool to be entertained whilst absorbing a lesson; good times.
That’s why alot of us return time and again. Big fan.
Thanks-
I enjoy both yours and Rick's videos. I'm glad you support each other instead of getting competitive and bring each other down. I have time for both of you guy's great videos.
My brother and I both play the guitar and couldn't be more different: I can start with a basic idea for a melody and keep hearing the "continuation" of that melody until I have an entire song. I took up guitar in my twenties and lack much of the basic techniques for finding chords (just fiddling around until I find what I hear in my head), but tend to make up for it with creativity. He, on the other hand, has never written a song in his life but can hear just about any song on the radio and play it within a matter of minutes.
Thanks, Fil. I am cross dominant, too. Thanks for the great video. Have a good weekend.
"Was nailing this and now I can't do it!"
Falling off the cliff is actually PART of my learning process.
Oh how I wish I had known this when I was in primary school and college!
Whether it's math, history, music, dancing, or technological (programming or something similar), the fact is that I have to learn something, then LOSE IT, then relearn it again. Sometimes this cycle will happen 3 or 4 times before I really start to own it. And then eventually, I will own it forever. But I have to earn that forever by putting in the hard work first.
Oh man, THANK YOU! The learning cliff is exactly what I NEEDED to hear! Thank you, thank you, thank you! 🎸❤️👍
Such an inspirational vid, for me - 60+ yrs, learning for 1 year.😎
@Justinguitar does the left-handed thing on some of his guitar lessons - very encouraging!👍🎸👍🎸👍🎸❤️
@rickbeato is a joy to watch! ❤️🎶❤️
As someone who has been playing guitar for about 5 years, I have to say you're absolutely correct about musical talent. I can play some pretty nice covers to prove it.
As a three-year learning player at age 55 this is very helpful, great explanation of these nuanced concepts.
Rick has always been like the Carl Sagan of understanding music for the guitar.
Ahhh, thanks for the reinforcement of what many teachers/instructors are starting to practice.. the bite-size chunks then doing something else for a bit. My fly fishing mentor makes sure students take breaks and stretch, change from casting a line to tying knots or some other related skill/task, and always reminds students to quit the practice session when able to complete three good casts, or knots or whatever, so that you always stop the session on a POSITIVE note, vs. stopping when frustrated from the "going off the cliff" you described so well. THANKS coach! 🥰🥰
Geat video, Fil! So many people reckon there is no such thing as 'talent', to which I disagree, and I like your definition 🙂 And on the 'Lefty' subject: The Police have been one of my favourite bands for 40 years, but I found out only this year that Stewart Copeland is actually left-handed, but he plays the drums right-handed and also the guitar! 🤯 I also play the drums and tried switching to lefty a few times myself, but nah, it's impossible! 😄
One of my favourite vids (though there are many) of yours so far.