This is an actual email from a customer. He’s a former hair metal guitarist who finally discovered what he had been “missing out on all these years.” I love to hear much people benefit from my Fretboard Theory instruction. Maybe you can relate to Bob’s story. I especially like when he says “I immediately was able to start expressing myself. I felt like a 2 year old must feel like who can finally start talking…frustration left instantly.”
“Hi Desi. I wanted to write and thank you for your excellent Fretboard Theory book and DVDs. They quite simply have changed my life in so many positive ways.
I fell in love with guitar 25 years ago as a teenager during the height of the “hair metal” days. I was obsessed with guitar heroes like George Lynch, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eddie, and many of the lead guitarist in the bands that looking back might appear silly with their long hair and outfits, but could really play their instruments. I soon began playing guitar and spending hours trying to get each tab note for note, which would often take weeks (if ever) given the complexity of some of these guitar solos.
This approach allowed me to build a small repertoire of sorts, while developing technique (bends, hammer/pulls) and impressive speed. But to say that I felt limited in my abilities, despite appearing as a major shredder on a few well learned songs, was an understatement. Soon frustration met college and career, and the guitar remained in its case for extended periods of time.
A few years ago I decided that it was time to take another stab at things and really improve me playing. After shaking the rust off, I quickly regained my earlier skills and even began experimenting with recording. But frustration again would limit my progress, I would play maybe 30-60 minutes a couple times a week and never really make any progress.
The main source of my problem was that in my head I was a complete genius virtuoso. Ever since those hair band days, it seems that on some level 24×7 my mind is composing riffs, leads, rhythms…I even air guitar constantly. But I could not remotely replicate this in real life.
A few months ago I came across your book and DVDs on Amazon, however I was leery of wasting money on a poorly written/organized system. Still, the glowing reviews reassured me and I placed the order.
The layout and format of your product was perfect for me in that it immediately gave me hope with the Pentatonic lessons. The book showed me the patterns that I already kinda knew, but I did practice them more. Following up with the DVD and seeing how they were really applied showed me instantly what I have been missing out on all these years. I immediately was able to start expressing myself. I felt like a 2 year old must feel like who can finally start talking…frustration left instantly.
This incentivized me immensely, I practiced up and down the fretboard in all the keys. My playing went from sporadic to several hours daily. I was finally soloing over all my iTunes songs seemingly at will. This got me over the hump so to speak when I got to the CAGED system. Seeing the value of what I was learning, I would spend hours just practicing arpeggios, whereas before I would have given up well before mastery.
My familiarity with the fretboard peaked just in time for the Major scale, and for the first time in my life I was playing by ear with I, ii, iii, IV,V,and vi after watching the DVD.
I got to Modes in the book, but completely missed the point at first as it seemed a little too “obvious”. But I popped in the DVD, and it immediately brought everything FULL circle for me. THIS was the lesson where I finally felt like I could start playing what I was hearing in my head; designing my own mood versus reacting to randomness and “happy accidents”.
I’m sorry for the long email, but I wanted you to know how massive this was for me and how your format was the catalyst. In less than 2 months, I have learned more about guitar than I have in my entire life, and my playing has improved 10 fold. It’s exponentially improving every day, and being able to express myself has completely enriched my life. Thanks again.” -Bob (Virginia, USA)
I really appreciate feedback like this. I would love to hear your story too. If you haven’t done so already, check out the Fretboard Theory instruction.
I completely feel where Bob is coming from in this email!!..I started playing in ’84 & my mom could barely afford the guitar I was lucky enough to get that Christmas so I knew going in that lessons were out of the question but that didnt matter to me at all..I had a rough start learning open string notes,tuning,5 chords,etc for about the first 4-6 months but I quickly excelerated beyond those first founding months..By my 6th or 7th month I discovered that I was a natural with TABs & began building my own style learning & gleening bits & peices from my fav axemen such as Lynch,DeMartini,Jake E. Lee,Randy Rhoads,EVH,etc,etc,etc..But about 6 years into my musical adventure MTV dropped “the Nirvana bomb” & suddenly finger tapping & fast lead playing wasn’t cool but cliche’..=(Naturally,as all hairband guitar players from the 80’s probably did,I found myself doing quite abit of soul searching as to what direction I was going to go in regarding my own life as a guitar player..It was during this time of self musical reflection that I knew for sure that if I wanted to play guitar professionally I had to learn theory..Unfortunately,this is where all my musical probs started to set in & in alota ways derail my status as a guitarist in the local scene..I had been playing for 8 years so playing the guitar wasnt my problem,understanding what I was playing was my major malfunction but within about 5-6 so-called “guitar teachers” I began to realize that they didn’t know music theory anymore than I did so I began investing in a small collection of musical equipment & any study aids that I felt would help me to at least grow as a self-taught musician..It wouldn’t be until 2010,26 friggin’ years after I started playing guitar,that I would FINALLY find Desi’s Fretboard Theory!!..As soon as I found Desi’s website I immediately knew that his knowledge of theory was genuine,factual & definately what I had been looking for!!..Since the 1st day I entered into Desi’s Fretboard Theory course the mysteries of theory have been quickly turning into a logically understood knowledge of music theory..I’m finally seeing my dreams of playing/teaching guitar legitimately coming to life!..In 2008 my wife & I had decided to try living in her home country of Thailand but we were racking our brains out trying to figure out how we would support ourselves financially..We worked on a coffee shop idea for awhile but in the end it just wasn’t something we felt we could stick with & just about the time we were losing hope I found Fretboard Theory..Within the last 2-3 years of going through Desi’s course & creating my own bi-lingual lesson plan I’m happy to say that I’m already looking at 3 possible offers to teach guitar in Thailand & I’m so excited that I can hardly sit still!!..Playing guitar has been like getting dressed everyday to me for years now & thanks to Desi I’m finally aquiring the knowedge that I need to do what God gifted me to do so long ago!..
I can never say thanx enough Desi but once again,THANX!!..;-)