Answers To Questions About The Membership

Published: Wed, 02/02/22

One of my favorite things about the Fingerstyle Five community is that at this point, when someone new shows up with a question, another member is likely to pop up with the answer before I can even get to it. There were lots of questions at yesterday's Q&A live stream, as well as questions that came in ahead of time via email. In the answers below, I've included responses from current members wherever possible. If you'd still like to watch a replay of the live stream itself, which includes an onscreen tour of the community forum and my performances of a variety of songs you can learn in the membership, you can find it here:

Play Better Fingerstyle Blues: Tunes And Q&A

On to the questions:

1. I'm working through one of your Truefire courses right now. Should I finish that first before joining the membership? Do I need to be at a certain level to benefit from the lessons?

I was exposed to DH's TrueFire teaching when I started guitar in 2018. I debated for a year, which now I feel is a lost year. I highly recommend that beginners will find a home in the Fingerstyle Five.
–Mike

I joined a year ago and was very new to this style … virtually no right hand. For me the month-long work on a single tune is a wonderful discipline given my limited available practice time.
–Jim

I wouldn’t wait. The membership is really great and there is a whole month of material [for each song] with additional live stream recordings.
– Bruce

2. Can you share the types of tunes and lessons you have covered in the past? Is all of the previous content available online to new subscribers?

Here's a list of all the songs we've done so far. Songs with asterisks are blues tunes created specifically for the membership and not available in any other format (Truefire, Acoustic Guitar, etc). As a new member, you have access to the entire library of tunes we've done, including any accompanying lessons and live streams:

Avalon Dreams *
Baby Please Don't Go
Careless Love
Crow Black Chicken
Crow Jane
House of the Rising Sun
Ivory Ghost *
Jackson's Cadillac *
Midnight Special
Minor Details *
Motherless Child
Mueslissippi Ibis *
Nine Pound Hammer
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Ramsey Avenue Swell *
See See Rider
Sitting On Top Of The World
Soulstice *
St. James Infirmary
Stagolee
Trifecta Rag *
Trouble In Mind
Wayfaring Stranger

3. How can I cancel the membership? Are there any deadlines which I have to observe?

Your subscription is month-to-month. If you decide to cancel, just do so before the next billing cycle and you won't be charged any further.

4. I’ve been playing a long time, but I feel like I won’t be up to par with other people in the community.

I think you will, because I was really amazed what I could learn.
–Guido

There is a wide range. When I started I could barely manage the fundamental in the month, but it builds on itself and you would be amazed how much progress you can make.
–Bruce

If you saw my video you would change your mind!
–Jim

5. Just wondering if I should shelve my thumb pick for the blues stuff?

That is entirely up to you. I don't personally use a thumb pick at the moment, but I have in the past. There are certain blues rakes and string snaps you can only get with bare fingers, but if the thumb pick is working for you, it's totally cool to stick with it.

6. Are there any lessons on syncopated hammer on/pull off techniques? I really struggle with the timing of that.

In each month's Horizontal 3-Step lesson I go through the Fundamental version of that month's song in detail. Since we're looking pretty closely at syncopation at that point, I'll usually highlight any hammerons or pulloffs and suggest ways to practice coordinating them with the thumb.

7. Is it a new song per month . . . Or is there no set timing?

One song per month, but you decide if you want to continue on the song of last month. You probably also want to come back to old songs to work on them again or simply refresh the repertoire. You set the pace, not David. That's nice once you realize it.
–Guido

8. I don't know the names of the notes I'm playing, and I hear you calling out things like thirds, fifths, etc., when you teach. Do I need to know theory to do the membership?
Not necessarily. Theory helps a lot when it comes to improvising and arranging, but you can work on the fundamentals of fingerstyle technique without it. If theory is something you'd like to learn more about, I've included a theory module in the membership that starts from absolute scratch.

9. Can you provide some sample lessons from the membership?

Each month of the Fingerstyle Five follows the format of this past week's lessons on Groove, Improvisation and Arranging. If you've watched these three hour-long live streams and downloaded the accompanying PDF booklet, you've been through a month of lessons in the membership, learning a tune we've actually done.

The Play Better Fingerstyle Blues lessons will remain up on Youtube through Friday night, at which point they'll be archived inside the membership. Until then, you can watch them all in one place at the link below:

Play Better Fingerstyle Blues

10. I'm trying to sign up, but I can't get Paypal/Stripe/the login to work.

Drop me a line directly (just respond to this email) and I'll do what I can to sort you out! If you still have questions, you can continue to email them to me as well.

Click below to join now:

Join Now

More soon,

David

P.S. Between now and Friday, you can take an entire month of Fingerstyle Five lessons for free by watching the three live streams on Youtube. If you'd prefer not to hear any more about the Fingerstyle Five but still want to receive the weekly Letter, click below to opt out of further membership notifications for the next few days:

Just the weekly Letter, please!