Hi All,

I posted this originally in the subscriber section, but thought that perhaps it needs opening out.

Let's get this ball running with a thought provoke attempt.

So, most people don't want to learn to play an instrument - they want to play an instrument. Why? Normally because they love music and want to play like their heroes.

Reasonable so far?

So, Gigajam was created because we know how frustrating it is when you want to be great and play the songs you love but you just cannot do it. Gigajam is about providing you with the step by step skills that you need to create some foundation that allows you to open up your musical world. We show you where the outline of your house is and dig down and drop some solid concrete into the ground. You build the house you want on top of it - your design.

The Essential Skills Courses are therefore about providing you with skills. We then want you to take those skills and mix them up and make your music in the way you want to make it. Each lesson is about giving you a new tool for your toolbox. Each lesson just adds more tools to the box, so you can create more with the tools you have. If we take guitar as an example, at the end of lesson 1 on the guitar you have these skills, these tools in the toolbox.

2 Chords A5 and G5 (left hand position and right hand strum)
1 Rhythm Whole Note

With the chord shape that Dave teaches you though, you have a shape that you can play over 48 chords! Take a quick squint at the lessons 1-5 so you can see what is ahead, it is very exciting. Dave has written a really accessible course, designed to get you going and sounding great quickly - but no gimmicks or tricks, all solid musical skills. There are no short cuts to being a good musician - it takes practise and you need to be motivated. However, we have stripped out the kind of knowledge and hurdles that stop you seeing how good you can be. So we only give you the theory or reading you need to play the next exercise.

By the end of lesson 6, you can play power chords to pretty much every rock song ever written. Whether you like Greenday, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Gary Moore...your choice.

Once you have a few chords you can use sheetmusicdirect in our music matrix to search for songs you like and have a look at the chords to see if you can play them. Check out the latest rock and pop favourites. Where the chord looks complex, like Bsus2, you can just play a B5. Each of the songs is previewed and you can hear it using their Scorch facility. If you have the cd/mp3, then you can follow the music and play along...!!

It is a great way of getting into songs.

All of the instruments' course have been written in the same way.

Bass players and Keyboard players can play the root notes and basic triad to begin with. If you get curious and want to know how to create the more sophisticated chords, take a look at the Music Theory course, it is all in there.

Drummers, well take those grooves from the first couple of lessons and just drop those on some of your favourite tracks. You can just add your fills every four or eight bars. Try and copy the fills by listening and repeating the phrases initially, you don't need to write them down or be able to read them. Hear them and copy the rhythm back.

Well just a few thoughts. Let me know if this raises any questions, then we can share those and come up with loads of answers, one of them will work for you at the very least.

Dave Hassell (brilliant drum teacher) said to me once ' students have to survive their teachers, don't believe a teacher who tells you there is only one way to do something, it just means that they either only know one way, or they don't know how to expain the others' .

Cheers all.

Brian
Brian Greene
Managing Director
Gigajam
w: www.gigajam.com
e: brian.greene@gigajam.com
t: 0800 055 6797

Hi There,

Thanks for the post.

Developing a 'guitar hero' style interaction with real learning outcomes is on our list of possible developments for content. Song licensing and which songs to choose for a wide range of styles has some complex issues if we really want to support our students learning.

Difficulties aside, this general area of developing song playing is very much on our radar and once we can integrate logically with our course progression then that will be come a reality.

Cheers,

Brian

I think you have nailed that absolutely Ian.

I hope you enjoy using the site with your students and let me know if you have any thoughts about what you do with students at particular points in the lessons.

Best wishes,

Brian