I’ve been trying out the JamPlay video course, Fingerstyle With Don Ross, and I have to say, it’s really good. For a few reasons:
- Don is a really likable guy.
- He’s very clear in his teaching and easy to follow.
- The exercises build in a sensible and achievable way.
- The technical side of the course (audio/video quality, etc.) is all high quality.
The Real Reason
I’ve played finger style acoustic guitar for a while, but what strikes me in this course is how much room there is for improvement in fundamental techniques.
For example:
Ross does a nice job in the opening lessons of building up to an intermediate level fingerpicking pattern. Thumb and three fingers working a Travis picking pattern over G – Em – C – Am. Shouldn’t be too much of a challenge, right? Au contraire, mon frere!
When Ross plays, it sounds flawless, evenly timed, and with great tone. When I tried to follow along? Well… let’s it was less than flawless. Keeping consistent time across the chord changes proved to be harder than I expected.
So I’ll be finishing up the course over the next couple weeks. Evidently I need to work on my fundamentals. And as Michael Jordan once said,
“Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”
![Screen Shot 2016-01-04 at 4.35.53 PM](https://i0.wp.com/www.theguitarjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Screen-Shot-2016-01-04-at-4.35.53-PM.png?resize=1309%2C647)
Screenshot from Video Course.
More info on Don Ross here: www.gobyfish.com
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