Registration Closes Tonight For The Fingerstyle Five
Published: Tue, 09/29/20
At the same time, the week I do membership registration has become really enjoyable. I love doing the live streams, seeing where everyone is tuning in from, and answering questions about everything from right-hand technique and chord voicings to improvisation strategies and chord substitutions. Plus, now there are people who've been doing this for the past six months, or for a year, and over the past couple of weeks they've been showing up in the stream chat too, talking about what they've learned so far and how the lessons have helped.
When I first offered The Fingerstyle Five a year ago, it was just a theory: "Hey, come do this thing. It should work...What could possibly go wrong?" Now, I get to say: "Hey, come do this thing over three hundred people have done so far, and seem to be having a really good time with." Over the past twelve months, running variations on the same rhythm every month has allowed me to test, hone and improve the basic membership format. Because it's so much more interactive than just publishing a book or releasing a video, I've been able to take note of how people respond, see what they post, hear about where they get stuck, and address requests to tweak the format as they come up.
It didn't occur to me until the second or third month, for example, to demonstrate the tunes slowed down, as well as up to tempo. That's one of the ways I've always learned best: by asking someone to do what they just did, but as slowly as possible. After a few people asked, I started making "the slow version" a part of every month's material.
At the other end of the spectrum, a few months later I posted a full three-minute performance of the month's tune. I had recorded it just to test that day's camera setup, and since it wasn't horrible, I put it up on the forum, just for fun. "Here, this is how I'd play the tune in real life." The next month, a bunch of people asked if I would do so again, with the latest song. I've always tried hard not to play at people, and focus instead on providing clear, understandable learning tools. But numerous people said it did help them to see how all the pieces were ultimately supposed to fit together. So now I include a complete performance version of the tune as a regular feature of the monthly content as well.
No one would ever mistake me for a Deadhead, but I remember hearing an account recently of how the band's business decisions got made. Apparently, whenever a new project, tour or other idea was being knocked around, Jerry Garcia's first question was always: "Will it be fun?" Now I know the basic parameters of the membership work, and going into the second year of The Fingerstyle Five, I'm sure things will continue to evolve and improve, too. And that is at least half of the appeal, to me anyway. As for you, if you're thinking of joining but have Jerry-esque reservations, based on past and current student experience, I think I can safely say, "Yes. Yes, it will be fun."
You can sign up until midnight Eastern time tonight:
Fingerstyle Five Registration
More soon,
David