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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Suggestion Box »

Permalink SG101 University: lessons and curicula

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I was chatting with Will (Staredge), and he brought up the idea of a "lessons" section of SG101.

The idea would be along the lines of some of what we have seen scattered around in various areas: play-along-with-the-Ventures-style karaoke minus-one-part, video lesson (eg Ferenc's video lesson), perhaps some tab, chord or notation lessons. Something like this might include an "Instructor's" section. Trace from the Penetrators? Dave from Slacktone? Abdel? Paul Johnson? Ivan? Don? Dusty?

Staredge mentioned that many music students like to learn tunes from the genres and artists they like. Problem is, there aren't too many instrumental surf instructors out there...

lessons/courses could cover things like: lead guitar technique, rhythm guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, theory, arranging (or re-arranging)...and of course, learning tunes...

what do people think?
would something like this make sense at SG101?

Good idea - would be a useful section for alot of people I'm sure. Always looking to improve my skills or learn from anothers perspective.

It sounds like a very good idea, provided that the more knowledgeable musicians are willing to contribute their time.

Also, since this involves a way of organizing information on the site, we would need to consider Brian's views and the work involved for him.

Paul

Somebody could always host this off-site as well and have a link to it on this page. I don't think you'd want it open on the forum, but a separate site. Maybe on tumblr or something similar if you are going for ease, or a proper website if not.

capital idea!

http://reverbnation.com/Bodysnatchers
http://facebook.com/TheBodysnatchers
http://myspace.com/TheBodysnatchers1

great Idea, but....
if somebody were to do it.
they would probably want some money for doing it.

Jeff(btd)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

bigtikidude
great Idea, but....
if somebody were to do it.
they would probably want some money for doing it.

Jeff(btd)

well...maybe not...

perhaps SG101 University could offer free lessons...and instructors would donate free "surf content" lessons as a way to promote their private activities. SG101 could link to off-site instructor sites for private lessons.

sort of like what MarloweDK (Thomas Risell) does with his PlayBassNow site.
He gives away free mini lessons as a way to promote what he does, and as a way to become a better instructor. Both the Student and the Instructor could benefit from this sort of arrangement. Check it out here: http://playbassnow.com/wp-wall-guestbook/

another idea might to have a "members only" university on the site. for a small annual fee ($10-$20), paying members would have access to the University area...

or, perhaps the University could be funded by Paypal donations.

I'm not sure how difficult or easy any of these ideas would be to implement, I really don't want to add any additional headaches to Brian's original vision of SG101.

If something like a SG101 University could be simple to implement and add value to site users, I think it might be interesting to give it consideration.

Well why don't we start small and see where it goes. We could create a thread in the Surf Musician forum that gathers links to all the learning videos, resources, etc. And then hopefully people will create new content for it and offer feedback. If it gets bigger we could make it a whole sub-forum on its own. And if it gets bigger then, we could expand it to a sub-section on SG101 2.0.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

It's kind of old fashioned, but maybe somebody/ies could write a book - How to Play Chicken Soup for the Complete Surfer or something like that and the forum would be just suggestions on what should go into it while it was planning and then carping about what did go into it afterward. I think it's "somebodies" because there's too much that needs to be in it for any one person, though there are some amazing multi-instrumentalists out there. Put me on the list of people interested in buying a copy or two of the book. You need chapters on gear, practical and ideal, on technique, oninstrumentation and arrangement, on the classical canon and what makes a song suitable, etc. You don't have to teach people to play the instruments per se. Surf Guitar/Bass/Drums/Sax/Keys is really a 201 or higher series. You can aim a portion of the royalties at SG101 for the trademark name, maybe, if you use it. (It is a trademark, right?)

Tuck
It's kind of old fashioned, but maybe somebody/ies could write a book - How to Play Chicken Soup for the Complete Surfer or something like that and the forum would be just suggestions on what should go into it while it was planning and then carping about what did go into it afterward. I think it's "somebodies" because there's too much that needs to be in it for any one person, though there are some amazing multi-instrumentalists out there. Put me on the list of people interested in buying a copy or two of the book. You need chapters on gear, practical and ideal, on technique, oninstrumentation and arrangement, on the classical canon and what makes a song suitable, etc. You don't have to teach people to play the instruments per se. Surf Guitar/Bass/Drums/Sax/Keys is really a 201 or higher series. You can aim a portion of the royalties at SG101 for the trademark name, maybe, if you use it. (It is a trademark, right?)

I wish Paul Johnson would write this book...he's the man, "in the know"...maybe Slacktone Dave (among others) would contribute...Hal Leonard publishing might be interested...

Brian
Well why don't we start small and see where it goes. We could create a thread in the Surf Musician forum that gathers links to all the learning videos, resources, etc. And then hopefully people will create new content for it and offer feedback. If it gets bigger we could make it a whole sub-forum on its own. And if it gets bigger then, we could expand it to a sub-section on SG101 2.0.

sounds like a good plan, Brian...

Personally, I'd be very keen on this. I raised this idea here 2 years ago, but mostly I was told to stop using tabs and try to pick out the notes of the standards by ear. Good advice, but I was looking for more than that.

Maybe part of SGU would be that some of the "faculty" would take on a number of SGU students and give them song assignements (with a backing track) and the student practices, then submits audio (or preferably video) and the faculty offer critique and assign a new challenge if the student is deemed to have passed.

Students could also be assigned to gather information from SG101 and/or other sites and contribute research articles to form the basis of the body of knowledge. This could be edited and validated wiki style by the membership. This might be how the students "pay" their tuition. Just an idea.

https://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=9353f9155b5ff32e14c998495fd00da4&#!/rich.derksen.7

I've kinda been thinking more about this idea lately....trying to pick out bass lines that I can barely hear. Had a few thoughts on what I was originally thinking of when we talked about it.

PLEASE NOTE: These are just IDEAS. Thoughts of mine on what I'd like to have access to. If they are unreasonable, please understand I don't mean to be insulting

Some of the features we already have would apply. The tab/transcription section is one. Would like to see more of these.....bass lines included. Everyone could participate in these.

Videos- The ones that Ferenc and Dave W have done were awesome!!! Wouldn't have to necessarily be the recording artist....anyone that does a good cover of a song could make one. Wouldn't mind seeing other types of videos....technique oriented. We do a pretty good job on gear reviews....maybe some on how to set your equipment up, or ways to get signature tones.

Backing tracks/isolated lines- this is the one that I am concerned about being unreasonable. Much like the bass lines that Trace has on his myspace site. With so much being recorded digitally, I'd love to have access to the master track for different instruments. Would be great to be able to isolate the instrument and learn the line. For backing tracks...maybe mp3s with one of the instruments dropped out? I don't know that much about recording, so I don't know how feasible that really is.

I for one wouldn't mind paying a membership fee to get into a section like that. I haven't donated much to the site, but I can honestly say it is the only website I've ever given money to. I know that we're all busy people, and this would be additional work. A lot of what I mention has been asked about on the forums.....with mixed results. Don't know if it would draw enough interest to make it worthwhile either, but wanted to throw it out there.

Will

"You're done, once you're a surfer you're done. You're in. It's like the mob or something. You're not getting out." - Kelly Slater

The Luau Cinders

Absolutely LOVE the idea and the suggestions put forth. I agree that you'd want to get the best instructors as you can and I'm willing to ensure the folks who will make this happen receive compensation - "application" or membership fee?!

One caveat though, I don't want to have to take the SAT's again...(Surf Aptitude Test?) Wink

Cheers

This is a fantastic idea. One of the great things about surf is that the people who make the music always seem ready to share what they know with other musicians.

Ralph
The Storm Surfers

Be at one with the universe. If you can't do that, at least be at one with your guitar.

As far as backing tracks go...

I know everyone can play MP3s and suchlike, but using something like GuitarPro or similar makes it a lot easier to switch out which tracks are muted, and the files are pretty small. Yes, there's a lot of sequencer programs out there.

Or maybe just MIDI files.

I'm only putting this idea out there because the idea is for education. The sound doesn't have to be perfect for that, and might get in the way.

I'm a member of a Ukulele forum that has been doing this for a couple years now.
Both a weekly free live lesson put on by one of the founders/members and a pay to play lesson format and they both are fantastic!!!

In life there is no need to reinvent the wheel...
Take a look at to see what is going on there http://ukuleleunderground.com/

I would love all the help I can get in my playing, more tabs, pointers what ever...
I am still struggling with the Ewa lesson on just one part and its driving me nutz. I wish I could sit down with Ferenc and have him show me slowly.
Also if someone would do a video lesson on how to do the intro to Bombora you know the part where you slide up and down the strings.

"Maybe there aren't any surf bands; there's only surf music?" Tuck

Last edited: Jan 12, 2011 14:17:29

Well said "In life there is no need to reinvent the wheel..."

Wow! Very cool. Watching that lesson #37 right now. I'd love for this kind of stuff for surf guitar. Really fantastic compliments to the video with the "chord chart" for fingerings on the left and chord progressions across the top.

Fady

El Mirage @ ReverbNation

As so well said earlier "Capital idea". My 2 cents as a newbie is that it would be a fantastic asset to this site. I myself have been trolling through youtube and the TABS site gleaning what I can. MY guitar background is in an entirely different area and have found the guide for basic intro/lessons to SURF to be hard to find. AS in none. A centralized structured lesson guide would be the awesome!

I am not obsolete, I am RETRO.... Cool

What I'd add to this 'thinking out loud' would be to try and keep things fairly tightly focussed.

That is, we might start looking at only a couple of '1st wave' tunes, mainly for the purpose of identifying the techniques/articulations used, rhythms, melodic/lead resources, etc. This would then provide some direction for lesson plans, etc and would allow us to cater for the various instruments.

Speaking for myself, I might have some Ok knowledge of theory that might be useful but actually playing some things is way beyond me. In other forums, it's been something that's been effectively ignored -- posters simply state 'play it using tremolo picking' as if it's something everyone can do -- but a lot of people simply don't have these techniques under their belts... and that is often discouraging for people trying to play this style of guitar... but if we could recognize that fact, we could better tailor/target some of the lessons (technique mastery)... which many people might prefer to pursue, than learning to play specific tunes. This way, we can cover a lot of bases and the lessons will likely appeal to a wider range of readers.

As a sidebar, the 'definition' of what 'surf' music is would likely simply fall out of this process, so that would be helpful for visitors/newcomers to the genre.

I'm as free from money as a frog is from feathers

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