yer screwin' me up

[Help!I'maRock!]

the entire Mel Bay book is in the first position. but Foundations teaches the same notes in the fifth position. so i end up playing the exercises in first position to keep everything moving. its gonna come back to bite me later on.

[Mark Wein]

yeah.

What you should do is play the Mel Bay in both firts and 5th positions.

My book 2 is going to have position work like that.

[Help!I'maRock!]

yeah.

What you should do is play the Mel Bay in both firts and 5th positions.

My book 2 is going to have position work like that.


its difficult, because the whole book is in first position. so the students aren't going to ask "hey, can i learn this in all the positions?!" they're just going to want to get through it as quickly as possible. just like i do.

but with your book, i've got to learn it in a way that makes sense to me right now, and then learn it in 5th position because i'll screw them up if i say "ok, so we're gonna learn these a different way than in the book." so i'm going to work through them on my own in the first position and then as they get up to these exercises, i'll do it at the 5th.

[Mark Wein]

Cool...luckily you can play pretty much everything in the open position until you get to the A, B and C notes on the first string page.

The one thing that you will be missing out on are the position shifts I have built into the single note lessons with the suggested fingerings. Its not very overt but I try to get the student a little more flexible and efficient with their fingerings when it comes to moving in and out of positions...that stuff won't translate to the 1st position...

[Help!I'maRock!]

well like i said, i'm going to have to learn everything in the 5th position as the students get there. but right now, one kid is on page 20 and another i just told to buy the book on Saturday. i'm on page 46 (though i have to go back to exercise 8 on 41, i just didn't want to do it this morning). so i've got some time before they get into it.

[Mark Wein]

Thats cool...another few months and you be happening in both positions without even thinking about it...

[Help!I'maRock!]

Thats cool...another few months and you be happening in both positions without even thinking about it...


that's what i'm hoping for.

even better is that all this focusing on basics is making everything else better. the ideas are flowing better, i'm playing faster, and i don't seem to be as wanky. yet i'm not even working on soloing stuff. just Foundations and Mel Bay 1 for both bass and guitar. and i'm not very far along in any of them.

[Mark Wein]

even better is that all this focusing on basics is making everything else better. the ideas are flowing better, i'm playing faster, and i don't seem to be as wanky. yet i'm not even working on soloing stuff. just Foundations and Mel Bay 1 for both bass and guitar. and i'm not very far along in any of them.


Thats the idea, and that is what most people miss out on. My students go farther faster if they stay on track even though the first few months seem pretty boring.

I kind of wish I had been started this way...

[Help!I'maRock!]

even better is that all this focusing on basics is making everything else better. the ideas are flowing better, i'm playing faster, and i don't seem to be as wanky. yet i'm not even working on soloing stuff. just Foundations and Mel Bay 1 for both bass and guitar. and i'm not very far along in any of them.


Thats the idea, and that is what most people miss out on. My students go farther faster if they stay on track even though the first few months seem pretty boring.

I kind of wish I had been started this way...


take the arpeggio exercise i was working on last week as an example. i can play that kinda stuff, no problem. but seeing it written out in the book as an exercise makes me focus on that particular pattern. its not that i can't do it, but focusing on it makes me look again at what i'm doing and not just gloss over mistakes like i would if i were learning a song (i tend to go "aw hell, its good enough for rock n roll"). but i'm being careful to learn it exact, because i'm going to have to teach it to somebody.

[Mark Wein]

Having the ideas "codified" and presented that way (especially as it relates to time and rhythm) really focuses a student on how to execute a specific idea. I don't really remember the Mel Bay book doing much more than teaching note reading. I wanted to have something that would give those skills and also work the techniques that get you playing music in a more "guitaristic" sense as well.

I think every guitar player should teach someone else the basics at least once. I learn so much from having to teach that I consider it part of my continuing music education.

[Help!I'maRock!]

the problem with the Mel Bay book is that it jumps in difficulty so much from piece to piece, that there's really no time to get down a technique. yes, it focuses on reading music, but it also focuses on everything else that's in Foundations. its just not apparent because there aren't enough exercises in the standard edition.

the version i have is the expanded edition. it comes with a dvd and cd. exercises are on either one, but not both, so its a bit annoying. but what it does give you are additional exercises that help you drive home a concept and get it under your fingers.

[Mark Wein]

I haven't seen a Mel Bay book in years...likely its been updated (besides the digital media) since I've seen one.

[Help!I'maRock!]

I haven't seen a Mel Bay book in years...likely its been updated (besides the digital media) since I've seen one.


only the expanded edition. the regular ones are pretty much the same.

my suggestion for Foundations is to include a cd or downloadable mp3's. that way students have to listen and read instead of watching the dvd. i try not to watch the dvd to see what they're playing, but having an idea of what the piece sounds like when you're trying to work it out for the first time is invaluable.

[Mark Wein]

I've been pondering the CD or mp3 thing for a while. I can't package them together through my publisher so it would have to be a separate purchase or a an mp3 download.

[Help!I'maRock!]

I've been pondering the CD or mp3 thing for a while. I can't package them together through my publisher so it would have to be a separate purchase or a an mp3 download.


if it were me, i'd offer it on the site. see if you can't edit the text on page 17 (the first clapping exercise) to include a link to the website with a code for the free content. that way only people who have bought the book and are actually using it will see its there.

[Mark Wein]

That would be the thing to do. Re-publishing the book will be a pain, though. I'm not sure I can change the content at this point without having all of the online sales stuff (amazon and whatnot) change, too....

[Help!I'maRock!]

see if you can't make a single revision without upsetting the rest of it. if not, then just put the content up on your site for everybody. the mp3's aren't going to do anybody good without some kinda written content anyway.

[Mark Wein]

I'll look into it.

I was planning on doing the song examples as a play along with a real band but I don't think I want to spend the money right now...

[Help!I'maRock!]

I'll look into it.

I was planning on doing the song examples as a play along with a real band but I don't think I want to spend the money right now...


if you could do it all in Garageband or something like that, then that'd be cool. otherwise, forget it. not worth it. maybe for book two.

also, can you make the book available to buy from your website as an e-book, or does that complicate things?