Nick's Guitar Lessons

18/05/2022

Yeah! Well done Australia.

In recent years, Australia has been battered by record-breaking rains, floods and wildfires, causing loss of lives and damage to the country's environment. Yet Australia has one of the weakest targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the world. CNN looks back at how Australia's government has t...

30/05/2021

CONGRATULATIONS!
To all my students (8 of you) who auditioned for the Woodvale Senior College guitar ensemble and for Wanneroo High School. Everyone passed their audition! WELL DONE!👏😃🎸

17/02/2020

My students often say to me “I can’t do it”... I always tell them that there is a word missing from that statement. That word is “yet”!
There are two completely different philosophies contained in these two statements.
One says “ I can’t do it...full stop”! The other says “I can’t do it now.... but I will do it later”.
Adding that one word “yet” changes everything!
“Yet” adds hope.
“Yet” adds ambition
“Yet” adds a vision of future progress
and that hope, ambition and vision become stronger and more certain each time you overcome a small hurdle in your playing...
So how do you turn “I can’t do it yet” into “I can do now”?
Practice for 10 minutes each day and trust in yourself!

27/01/2020

Take a good look in the musical mirror. Is your guitar practice matching your goals?

If so, then you have nothing to feel bad about. No apologies necessary!

If your practice habits do not match your goals, then you’ll have to ask yourself why. Be honest; maybe your goals are not truly what you thought they were.

Some people don’t realise how difficult it is and what level of dedication it takes to play at a high musical level. When they do, they sometimes adjust their goals downward, since they know in their hearts that they will likely NOT put forth that type of effort. And that’s okay. My goals do not have to be your goals. It’s all good in the musical neighbourhood.

Maybe you just need a re-focus and a better plan for scheduling your guitar practice. Look for a time of day that seems to consistently be “down time” and play guitar then. (My first instinct is to look at TV time, video game time, Facebook time, or YouTube/Netflix time. Some of this can surely be sacrificed to become a better guitarist, no?)

No matter your personal situation, guitar practice should be fun, not drudgery. Keep it fun by matching it to your goals. Start and finish with something you can do and work on something you can’t do, in between. And enjoy what you can do!😃🎸

20/01/2020

Many people think that learning to play guitar is hard...and it can be....if you make it hard. Learning to play guitar requires just a few simple steps, repeated day in and day out, over a period of time. My step by step practice sessions are less than 15 minutes and each session is accompanied by a play-along video, which shows the student exactly what to do. This makes learning to play guitar simple and easy. Trying to get there too fast or listening to the voice in your head that says ‘ you can’t do this’ is what makes it hard. Just do what you can and be consistent. Anyone can get there - you too, if you have the patience and the want to.

13/01/2020

As a guitar teacher, I sometimes hear people say that their fingers are too short or too fat to play guitar. Yet many great guitar players have very short fingers. It’s really not about finger length or thickness....it’s all about hand position! Drop your thumb lower on the back of the neck and bring your hand forward - then you can easily reach. If you can’t play full chords, play partial chords first and then add more fingers as you progress. This simple idea makes all the difference.😃🎸

06/01/2020

Would you like to play guitar? To have the ability to play songs you like with the simplest method around? Will you play along to a practice video for less than 15 minutes every day to become a guitar player? If so, click this link: https://youtu.be/lSmkvNBmPag
Each step of my system is accompanied by an easy-to-follow video that you can practice and play along to at home. A little time spent each day will have you playing songs you love without the frustration. If you’d like to know more or try my lessons, check out my ad on gumtree:
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/tapping/classes/guitar-lessons-and-tuition-teacher-in-wanneroo-joondalup-area/1155167600?utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_ios&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ios_social

Learn these first 4 Chords the Easy way! 2 of these are partial chords and the fi*****ng used here allows you to maintain contact with the fretboard whilst c...

26/10/2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAF3_Ggakv0&feature=share

This song is at 75% tempo. I have simplified the strum to make it easier to focus on the chord changes.

15/10/2018

Here’s a very useful useful chord progression.

Here is a useful chord progression which is used in many songs. Well worth knowing.

07/10/2018

My classes will be focusing on songs this term. Much more fun that way.🤪

07/04/2018

Children as young as 5 can start learning guitar - but they must be taught the right way. Start them off with single finger chords on 4 strings and a quarter note strum with all downstrokes:

This is a way for children under 6 to play their chords on four strings. I have removed the low E and A strings from the guitar.