A standing offer to everyone (regulars, lurkers, and doubters)

Teacher's Lounge
#1

Hello everybody.

Sometimes, (not all the time, but sometimes) I get some anonymous troll comments on the few YouTube videos I’ve shared here on this forum. I know they come from here as this is the only online guitar space where I post or comment anymore. The usual content is something to the effect that I write a lot here and try to “talk a big game,” but that I can’t really do the things I claim I can do, usually with a few insults thrown in, too.

I have given lessons to many members of this forum, who have all seen me do the things I’ve claimed that I can do, and many have attested to that here. My teaching methods have been very successful with students and have been very positively reviewed here. There has not been a single occasion where somebody who has taken a lesson with me has commented that I haven’t lived up to my words. Not once.

Seemingly, none of this matters. The anonymous trolls feel that if they don’t see it, it must be bullshit. They feel entitled to see proof.

I should just ignore this completely and accept that this is part of being online. However, I’ve had a few conversations with students recently that have made me think on this a little.

One student said that some of the things I’ve written seemed unbelievable to them, and that while they were satisfied and happy they took the lesson, they had their doubts when they first made contact. Another student told me some time ago that if they had seen a video of some of the things I demonstrated to them, they would have just assumed that the video had been faked. Frankly, given the now very well documented fakery that is ubiquitous in online guitar videos, I wouldn’t blame them.

I only started teaching hesitantly after a few very persistent members began contacting me through private messages. However, before that, I had some Skype/Zoom conversations with members here where I demonstrated some things I had been working on. We chatted, got to know eachother a little bit and it was generally a good time.

So here’s a standing offer to everyone, whether they’re regulars, lurkers or doubters. If you’d like to hop on a Zoom call with me sometime, I’ll be more than happy to demonstrate some things for you. We can chat for a while and nerd out on guitar nerd stuff. I don’t mind answering some questions, but I’m not getting into lesson territory or promising any set call duration.

All you have to do is contact me and introduce yourself, and we can set something up. Frankly, if that offer isn’t good enough for you, then feel free to ignore my posts and comments here.

6 Likes
#2

You’re the real deal, @Tom_Gilroy your lessons were literally game changing for my playing. Its a shame you’re getting trolled, but consider this post a student testimony, I believe I learned more about developing right hand mechanics from you than any other singular source. It even allowed me to get more out of the Pickslanting Primer material on this site.

2 Likes
#3

Thank you @BlackInMind, I really do appreciate it. That said, this post wasn’t made to gather student testimony (which I doubt will convince the trolls anyway).

I made this post because I think it’s fair that some members may have reasonable doubts, and if student testimony doesn’t convince them, then they’re welcome to jump on a call with me. Be friendly and respectful, and I’ll be totally forthcoming.

There are a number of reasons why I don’t post videos. It might sound like an excuse, but I genuinely had struggled with performance anxiety (red light syndrome) for a long time. It’s gotten much better in the past few years that I’ve been teaching, but I still don’t love being in front of a camera.

I have never learned how to properly record and edit videos, and frankly I don’t want the bother of it. I don’t want attention or recognition. I don’t want subscribers or followers. I don’t care about revenue from ads or lessons. I don’t need any of it. I’m permanent (tenured).

More than that, there’s a principle to it. I’m not jumping through hoops to prove myself to anonymous trolls. Why won’t I post a simple video to put you (@JC-hk5on or one of the others) in your place? Because fuck you, that’s why.

I’m not anonymous, I’m not running and I’m not hiding anything.

I’m doing this on my terms. I don’t owe anybody anything and nobody is entitled to my time.

5 Likes
#4

I view you as unusual because you are imaginative and yet you also demand self-consistency (where the pieces must fit together), so everything that you conclude turns out to be quite interesting. I look forward to signing up and getting to meet you.

2 Likes
#5

I would just ignore the trolls. They want a reaction. Some people just like to mess with others. Don’t feed them. You could be God on the guitar (also known as Yngwie in 84/85 J/k) and they will criticize your note choice or clothing or something. Maybe even criticize your objectively God like playing. These people are at the end of the day sadistic and may even rationalize it as he deserves it if he reacts to it. Plus it is all far away in the interwebs. A decent person who had “doubts” would state this in a non insulting way or may even contact you privately. Anyway, i can understand the response but just wanted to comment.

2 Likes
#6

Agree with the others, I’d just ignore the trolls and possibly delete their comments from your YT channel.

Many of us appreciate the info you have shared over the years, I’d recommend wasting the least possible amount of time / energy on this.

4 Likes
#7

@Tom_Gilroy I have been watching your modes of picking videos. Mode 1 for crosspicking looks really cool. I may have to take you up on offer if I get stuck trying to replicate. Cool video, glad you didn’t follow Lane’s advice.

2 Likes
#8

I’m sure that some part of this is my mathematical training, but some part of this is just my personality and how I think.

Please do! Send me a PM and we’ll find some time to have a call together.

Yeah, I won’t be engaging with them in future. I learned a long time ago that you can’t satisfy these people. They’ll find some way to discredit you or shift the goal posts after the fact.

That’s exactly it. It’s fair that some decent people will have some reasonable doubts. Those people are welcome to contact me.

That’s what I’ve done. This post isn’t really for the trolls, it’s to invite the good people of this forum to contact me privately. I’ve been steadily decreasing my involvement in other forums and on social media for the past few years. This is the only place online that I’m still active. I like it here, I’ve had good public exchanges and private conversations with the members here. If people want to chat privately, see some of what I do, or share some of their own thoughts and ideas with me, I’d be delighted.

I should say also, I’ve gotten far more positive responses than negative, and I genuinely appreciate it. This place has been great to me since I joined in 2017.

I should really re-do those videos at some stage. They’re quite old, they don’t reflect my current understanding or mechanical preferences, and I had no experience with guitar teaching at the time.

Before the pandemic, every picking movement I had was some variant of RDT. The “Mode 1” style that I described back then is RDT with some rotation (incidental on the basic movement, and deliberate on string changes, etc). It was built for strict alternate picking and it works very well in that context.

Please do!

Honestly, that comment wasn’t upsetting at all, the video just wasn’t made for that person. Some people want short form content with less talking and exploration of ideas, and that’s cool, it’s just not me.

The anonymous trolls who call me a fraud, and who demand me to “prove” myself to them while they call me a “freak” or a “clown” are getting blocked.

4 Likes
#9

The internet can be the most toxic environment in the universe, but it also allowed me to connect with this community and you in particular @Tom_Gilroy , who have helped me overcome my musical (and to a certain extent, mental) insecurities with a verifiable technique method, and I do appreciate that.

2 Likes
#10

Tom, you helped me out big time - I will scream it from the rooftops. It’s seems there’s always a bottom feeder or two trying to drag a person down, eh? Heck with 'em. Keep on keeping on.

3 Likes
#11

Thanks @steve506 , I appreciate you.

It might be a generational thing, but I’ve been much less comfortable in online spaces over the past few years. I miss the early internet that I grew up with. I don’t enjoy modern social media, and I struggle to see what’s “social” about it at all anymore. It’s just endless advertisements, bot accounts, algorithm chasing engagement bait content and AI slop.

Most discussion forums have died off completely. Everything has moved to Reddit, which only promotes “popular” opinion by design. If you say anything that disagrees with the “conventional wisdom,” you’ll be downvoted heavily.

There’s still excellent information available on YouTube, but only if you already know where to find it. It’s totally saturated, it has become almost impossible to find anything among the engagement bait and algorithm chasing content.

I first searched “guitar” on YouTube in 2005 before it was acquired by Google. There were 17 videos in the results.

I’ve only ever been anonymous on sites that specifically did not allow members to use their real names. Real name, screen name, same thing.

I appreciate you @Scottulus .

3 Likes
#12

A post was merged into an existing topic: TC platform help

#13

A post was split to a new topic: TC platform help

#14

Hey Tom I think everybody’s already said the important stuff about ignoring the trolls. I bet all the guitar videos we see online have tons of negative comments, the creator just usually deletes them.

Just a small point but if you are doing any demonstrations as a regular part of your lessons, you can simply use zoom to record the lesson and if you ever happen to play something you’re happy with, you can go back through the lesson and cut out the clip. I know this isn’t a priority for you, but if you ever DID want to have some shareable documentation of the abilities without having to sit down and take time to record clips, that would be a fairly painless way to do it.

3 Likes