Personally, I don’t feel compelled even to take Tom up on this generous offer–I fully intend to sign up for lessons (or at least A lesson) with him soon. The approach he takes to guitar and his fluency with sophisticated ideas have already been extremely helpful to me and have leveled up my own playing. My only reason for not signing up for lessons already is that I essentially don’t know what to even ask.
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My 2 cents, I’ve consulted you,Tom, at least 40 times in the last 3 and a half years, and asked you for analyses and tips, mostly about the right hand but also left hand issues, you could help me with everything, you’ve demonstrated each exercise and gave me very important insights with your outstanding understanding of anatomy and your experience. Thank you very much and forget these people.
See you soon.
Robert
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I deal with this attitude A LOT when it comes to my observations on EVH with regard to the actual playing and his use of tuning offsets, even though I have mountains of evidence for everything. One guy trolled me for almost ten years saying I didn’t know what I was talking about. About a month ago he made a post in which he apologized for not understanding and that he has finally seen the light and he apologized. Which I appreciated…it takes a big person to admit something like that.
But that’s a best case scenario. The overwhelming majority of doubters and people that you just can’t break the comprehension bubble for are just doomed to remain ignorant. You just do your best to help and then move on…that’s what I do at least. The presence of these doubters is one of those perverse signs of breaking through on the Internet or into the general consciousness of the audience you are trying to reach…I say “Huzzah!” for you and me. More haters and doubters means we’re getting somewhere!
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Objectively speaking… if you’re going to offer advice about guitar… and you’re a guitar teacher on youtube … its usually followed up with a demonstration? That’s not that hard to accept is it? At least not for me.
If you can’t demonstrate your ability on the instrument… and you’re trying to teach something on the guitar… then you shouldnt be surprised about a degree of skepticism
Y’all need to develop thicker skin lol.
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With everything that’s happened over the past couple of days, I forgot about this thread completely.
I’m not arguing against the practice or value of demonstration.
I am neither a YouTuber nor a YouTube guitar teacher.
The videos that were posted on YouTube were made essentially as video CTC video comments before I started teaching privately, when I was very uncomfortable in front of a camera.
I can demonstrate everything I’ve discussed, as every student of mine who has commented here has said.
I don’t post clips or demonstrate in YouTube lessons because I don’t want to. I don’t know how to record or edit video professionally, nor do I have the time or incentive to learn these skills. I am not trying to build a YouTube channel or a following on social media.
I do not want videos that are shot in one continuous take without any editing to be judged in comparison to the highly polished and edited (and often outright faked) videos that are the standard on YouTube.
I am a private teacher, and I demonstrate in private lessons. Live and in real time, without any editing or fakery. That is all I am obligated to do. Every student who has taken a lesson with me has been satisifed by my ability to do so, as testimony here plainly shows.
Yes, some degree of reasonable skepticism is fair and acceptable. To outright me of being a fraud, or to insult me on a public platform is not reasonable. Anybody who is respectful is welcome to contact me, and I will happily demonstrate what I do. Everybody else is free to ignore me, I don’t owe them anything at all.
I’ve been commenting here for nearly a decade. Whatever respect and recognition I have earned here has come about organically based on the strength of my writing and analysis, and my willingness to help others. A few persistent people here asked me to begin offering lessons, so I began offering lessons. Student testimony was positive and my reputation as a teacher and player developed.
I was approached by Troy and the team about the possibility of creating a series of seminars, which I kept quiet about until plans were announced here. I’ve been sitting on a significant amount of work and lesson material specifically because I didn’t want to undercut those projects. I was absolutely not “angling” for this opportunity when I joined here, in fact I was initially quite hesitant.
This weekend, I discovered that my work had been plagiarised on Instagram by somebody in a deliberate attempt to mislead viewers and potential students. I was reminded of all of the reasons that I have avoided these spaces the past. It’s also hardened my resolve to get my work out there in the right ways.
Thank you Robert. Your continued support over the years is much appreciated.
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I think you’re letting the trolls get to you, you have spent quite a lot of energy defending yourself but is it really necessary? If you’re confident in yourself than no need to give the troll what he wants.
Because this thread seems to be the definition of feeding the troll if that troll is trying to get a rise out of you. Just saying.
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You’re probably right, at least to some degree. The insults I can take, but I don’t deal well with insinuation or accusations of fraud or dishonesty.
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That’s fair. Tbh I’d personally be more mad about that instagram dude blatantly plagiarizing your shit, that was one of the most blatant examples I think I’ve ever seen lol.
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Yeah, that was much worse.
It’s funny though, the trolls were saying that I’m spouting BS, while my work was being lifted and circulating Instagram and being received positively. It’s a wild world.
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Tom, these YT videos, are you posting them as “public” or “unlisted”? If you only want people from the forum discussions to find them, post them as “unlisted.”
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About the “needing to prove you can do it” - I understand why people would want that, but it is not needed if you think about it logically. The only thing that matters is the quality of the advice. Try the advice - does it work? If yes, great! Who cares about the playing abilities of the person who gave you the advice.
Sports analogy: a great coach does not need to be a great champion. Do you expect Michael Phelps’s coach to swim faster than (or at a similar speed of) Phelps? Would Phelps ask his coach to demonstrate every single workout before executing it?
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This is my position, too. We know that great players often don’t understand how their technique works or how they were able to achieve it. We have overwhelming evidence of this.
Exactly. Be skeptical, but be willing to try something.
I’d rather be taught to box by Cus D’Amato than Mike Tyson.
Almost certainly not. Demonstrations may help to educate a learners attenttions and intentions, but you don’t learn to move skillfully by watching.
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Trying advice does take time and effort though, and some methods require sticking with them for a while to see if they’ll work. So a student/viewer needs some reason to be confident that the strategy is worth trying, before trying it.
I’m commenting more broadly on the issue - in Tom’s case, obviously he’s not trying to “convert” anybody or prove anything, so not wanting to demo is imo a perfectly valid choice.
I’d say for any teacher online that has the explicit goal of getting people to try the advice, then some sort of “here’s why you should try this” is necessary, and that could probably be in some form like
“I personally was not able to do X, I applied strategy Y, and now, behold, I can do X”
Or a case study from a student, before and after
Or, something about the presentation of the argument would have to be compelling enough (yet digestible enough) to “convert” on its own.
Obviously, the personal clips or even clips of a student can’t “prove” the principles but I’d argue they give the student more reason to consider trying a strategy.
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I totally understand that.
I will say, I’m in something of a priviliged position. The students who come to me are often more experienced. They’ve tried traditional approaches for years, or even decades and had no success. They know that their lack of success is not due to a lack of time or effort, and they’re ready to try something else. They know that a skilled demonstrator is not necessarily a skilled instructor.
It’s not so much confidence in me or my approach, but a total lack of confidence in the traditional approaches.
I don’t really advertise. I made one post here announcing my availability because I received a lot of messages here asking if I taught lessons. When I initially said that I didn’t, I was asked if I would be willing to start teaching, or if I would take payment for analysis. That’s how it happened. Since then, I get enough bookings based on repeat business and student testimony.
My students may have some inital skepticism, but they’re willing skeptics. I don’t want to waste my time trying to convert people who are are not ready to let go of their belief in guitar dogma.
If you’re ready to see, I’ll show you.
That can definitely be convincing, but there’s no real way to prove that I got to where I am by walking the path I tell you to take.
I would like to do this, but it’s a lot to ask of students, and certainly not something I would do without consent.
On that, I only post here on this forum. On this forum, there are members who have voluntarily posted footage of their playing from before and after they have worked with me, with clear evidence of progress, that they attribute to working with me. However, I feel that they do not give themselves enough credit. I’m am not comfortable with collecting that evidence together to sell myself. I only use student testimony with explicit permission, even if it was originally shared here publicly.
This is what I’m trying to do, but I definitely struggle with the “digestible” part.
Of the dozen or so vids that you’ve uploaded… have you taken any of them down?
I don’t think I’ve ever taken down anything. I wonder why you’re asking.
Edit: Troll comments have been deleted across most of them. There’s been more than are now visible.
I only see 1 snarky comment on one video.
I assumed there were several, so I’m guessing you deleted the most obnoxious ones
Every now and then, somebody will comment across several or all of the videos I’ve posted.
I don’t know if it’s always the same person, but it’s always the same theme. Direct insults and obnoxious demands that I prove myself to them. If I ignore it, they leave more comments until I block them completely. The accounts are always anonymous.
Got it. My guess, from your approach, you probably wanted these private… I know I set my motion tests vids to private in the past.
Sorry for the grief… moreso the plagiarism… so uncool to everyone who has to deal with it
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery…
But stealing… content and propriety info… very scummy
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