Are You Learning Guitar with the RIGHT Tools? - LIVE Session

Hello everyone! Hello, hello, hello! Hopefully you can hear me here. I'm in my, my office and apparently you can see my printer box. I should have probably should have planned that, my Target bag, but that's all right. This is live. You get to see Lauren live and what's happening in real time. Hello John! Hello Nick! Newbie here, just signed up recently. My question is, will the Strumington come together? Absolutely. And you're at dinner with an earphone in. I think that's a first. That's awesome. Welcome, welcome. Hi, Karina. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. I'm here, um, from lovely, lovely Massachusetts, and I'm in my, my old office where a lot of my YouTube videos, um, were filmed. And today I wanted to talk about tools. So if you're on my mailing list, you probably got an email from me, um, about tools and the right tools. And some people have asked some questions. I'm going to write your strumming question. Does strumming get easier? It does. We'll talk about that in a minute. Does strumming get easier? I'm just going to write that down so I don't forget to answer your question. And I, you know, I have this old car. I have a 1968 Camaro. Some of you have seen pictures of it. It might even have even popped up in some of some videos and stuff before. And I was waxing the car, and I just wasn't using the right thing. I wasn't using the right thing, so I wasn't getting the right result. And I always tell people stories about stuff that happens in real life, and and then I relate it to guitar because I really was. I was so frustrated. I was like, you know what? That's it. I'm done. I'm lit because I had a towel in my hand. I'm like, I'm literally gonna throw the towel in. I'm gonna throw the towel down because I'm like, I'm just fed up and I'm done. And it was a hot day, and it was. Tired and I was exhausted because I'm compound— I had to compound it and then I had to wax it, you know. So you're compounding, you're waxing. My wrists hurt, my elbows hurt. I'm not as young as I used to be when I used to do this. And I was just like, you know what, forget it. I'm gonna give up. I'm just gonna go in the house and I'm gonna be a baby and I'm gonna wallow in my sorrow and my failure. And literally in that moment, in that moment, I thought of you guys. I thought of you guys because I said You know what? Because it's good for us to get reminders of what it feels like sometimes to fail, because especially when you've been playing guitar for a long time. So I've been playing guitar since I was 16, so probably 26 years now. Okay, so I've been playing guitar for 26 years. So sometimes, sometimes you forget what it's like to be a beginner, right? So I was sitting there in my frustration. I said, ah, I said, this is probably how my students feel. This is probably how my students feel. It's good to get those reminders, um, because sometimes you're so separated from the frustration of how hard it is to play a C chord, how hard it is to just get a single note to sound good, right? And I was just like, ah, okay, let me, let me slow down and let me think about this again. And I went back and I realized I just needed to use a different wax for the paint I had. And then I ended up taking the car for a ride, and it was one of like my favorite rides for the entire summer. And kind of the moral is, was if I gave up in that moment, if I gave up in that moment because I didn't have the right tools, if I gave up in that moment, I would have missed out on one of the most enjoyable rides of the entire summer because I was frustrated because things weren't going my way. You know, you probably have that when you practice. You know, you have a practice day and maybe, maybe you had a great day the day before and then you feel like you went 2 steps backwards. I hear that in my community all the time. People are like, feel like I'm going forward and then I'm going backwards. Someone asked, does strumming get easier? You know, and it's in the moment you're just like, man, this is frustrating. I'm not doing it correctly. This— it's— I don't know if it's getting better. I don't know if it's getting worse. Like, does it get better? And, and the answer is yes, it does eventually get better. And, you know, in the beginning stages in the beginning said you're a great teacher. Oh, thank you so much, Chris. I just saw that. Hi from Malaysia's in the house. Woohoo! What kind of tools? We'll talk about some of those in a second, Chris. Um, like for strumming, does it get easier? Yes, if, if you use a metronome. A metronome is a great tool. I talk about this a lot in my 7-Level Guitar System. Okay, I love a good metronome, and, and students also often have a love-hate relationship with the metronome. And I feel like a lot of people, it's mainly because they don't know how to use it in the right way. And I kind of teach that in the course too. But this is your friend, this metronome. Okay. I use a program called Metronome Beats, and I believe it's on— you can get it for both Apple and Android. Okay. And, and that's it. 100 beats per minute. Okay. And that's what that clicking was. It's just the tempo. It's the time beat. But what this does is it helps you Stay at a consistent rhythm, which is, which is hard for a lot of beginners because in the beginning, sometimes you can't even get the downs and the ups. Okay, let me grab this guitar that's hanging on the wall. Whoop. Just grab this real quick here. This is another tool here, a guitar strap. Great tool if you don't have one of those. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Um, so this is a great way to practice strumming. Will your strumming get better? Yeah, you just have to go slow. Okay, sometimes it's about resetting the expectation that this is gonna come instantaneously. We all live in a very instant world. I was talking about this with one of my teachers yesterday, and he's like, oh, everyone, everyone wants everything to happen like right away. And I was like, yeah. I was like, it's your job as a teacher to, to motivate people and keep people interested and break things down for them so that they, they can have those small wins, because everyone needs small wins along the way, right? So So when you're strumming, say you're just working on a 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 1, 2, 3 and 4 and. All right, and I'm just playing a little G chord over here. I'll move my mic out of the way. Okay, you might have to just go very slow. 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 1, 2, 3 and 4 and. Okay, whether it's an easy strum like that or it's a Whether it's a really simple strum or whether it's a really intricate strum, sometimes we need to slow things down to give our brain enough time to think. So a great tool, and I use this a lot in my 7-Level Guitar System, is a metronome. OK, if you don't use a metronome, you can use a drum track online. It's another thing I tell students because some students are like, it's really hard for me to really dial in with the metronome. And I said, that's not a problem. Not a problem at all. Use a drum track. Use a drum track. Steve, thank you so much. Best teacher on the internet right here. Appreciate that. And I see all the comments. I'm trying to stay on track. My ADD wants me to read all the comments. I will pop on over there, guys. Thank you so much for posting your comments. I appreciate it. I have a few students from Arkansas in my course. Yeah. So I need to stop trying to get ahead of myself and slow down. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it's frustrating. It really is. It really is, Nick. It's a frustrating thing because you want to be so much better than you are because you can feel it. You're like, I feel like I should be better than I am, but I'm not quite there yet. And that's okay. Quebec. I'm going to be in Quebec next week. I'm leaving for Canada tomorrow. Woohoo. To go teach some students in person. So that's going to be fun. So that's talking about tools. If you have a live teacher in your area, that's great. Awesome. If not, there are many resources here. Okay. I do have a little— I pinned a post here. I do have a little Labor Day sale that's going on. If you're— well, it's not really a sale, but it's kind of like a bonus. You know, if you're interested in a system. Okay. Because that's one of the best tools you can have. Is either a great teacher that you can work with every week. You know, people— when I, when I was teaching at my music school— I still have music schools in the Boston area— when I was personally teaching at the music school, people would come see me every week. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle power! That's right, Karina. Um, they would come to see me every week, okay? And they would get to touch base with me, and I would create a practice plan for them, and we would work on things in their lessons. And, and that's amazing if you have a great teacher locally. That's a great way to do it. Unfortunately, most people— I don't want to say this in a bad way, but there's a lot of great guitar players out there. There's a lot of really amazing guitar players out there. They're just not great teachers. And I know because many of them have tried to work for me. Okay, I actually didn't— I haven't hired a lot of people because I'm like, you don't get what it's like to be a teacher. You, you're a great guitar player, but you're not a great teacher. There's a, there's a difference. There really is a difference to be able to break those concepts down. So if you can find a teacher locally, awesome, that's the way to go. If you can't, whether it's me, whether it's someone else that you, you resonate with online, um, is a program, is a system. And that's my why I have the 7-Level Guitar System, okay? Because it takes you through step by step. And we're getting to the end of summer, and that's why I wanted to go live, because I'm like, at least here in the US The weather's starting to cool down. Okay, we're getting ready. I'm sorry, sorry everyone. We're getting ready for winter. Winter's right around the corner. I know we don't want to think about the cold weather. I'm here in New England. We don't want to think about the cold weather, but the cold weather's coming. And when that happens, you know, it's kind of the last week of summer. I know Labor Day's in a couple weeks, but everyone's kind of like, okay, you kind of get back into your routine, right? And it's great to sit down with the system. And I love YouTube. Like, I'm on YouTube. I have a ton of stuff on YouTube. Like, you guys can learn so much from me. On YouTube. The downside of YouTube is that there's a lot of information and you don't know if the next video they're going to recommend is the right video for you. Whereas if you have a system, whether it's my system or someone else's system, it's in order, and that's kind of important. Someone asked me about the GS Mini Junior. I just wrote that down. Um, GS Mini Junior, I have nothing against them. So this is a PRS, this is a parlor-sized guitar, probably similar. I don't know if the GS Mini is a little bit smaller, but this is a parlor-sized guitar. It's a very tiny guitar. Um, it's so funny because I'm used to playing my big guitars. I usually play Grand Auditoriums because Dreadnoughts are a little bit too big for me. Um, but this is a very nice— I have a lot of students who have GS Minis and love them. Nothing wrong with them. I think they're great guitars, um, especially if you're someone— if you have a smaller body or you're just feeling like you want a smaller guitar, they're, they're great guitars. So nothing, nothing against, um, the, the Mini, uh, the GS Mini Junior Taylors. Nothing wrong with that. Started the system and so far it's helped so much. Just me being impatient, so slowing myself down will help. And I think that's everyone, Nick. You're not alone in that, Nick. I think a lot of people are impatient. I'm impatient too. Let's be honest, I'm impatient about a lot of things. Um, so it's— I can, I can I'm trying to learn Italian again, and I'm trying to get back into working out. And, and the frustration of being a beginner when you're good at other things in life is very hard. It's very hard to go back and be a beginner and, and learn again. So I, I really empathize with your, your frustration because it is frustrating to go back and be a beginner. Uh, what's your opinion on practicing on the electric versus the acoustic? I think you should do both. That's a great question, so thank you for asking that. Um, the difference is, so the acoustic, the typically on an acoustic guitar, the strings are a little bit thicker. So there's always trade— I always talk about trade-offs in guitar. So it's like speaking of tools, okay? So your guitar picks, the thicker the pick, different, different uses. I usually recommend thinner picks for beginners, okay? Because your, your strumming hand is usually so tight and so stiff, if you use a thinner pick, it compensates and makes the strumming sound a little bit better. But as you get better at strumming, you might want to go to a thicker pick because I feel like it'll give you more control. You're also going to hear less pick noise. So there's another instance of a tool, using the right pick for where you're at. Okay. And I'm just so sorry, I forgot what the question was. I have to go back and find it now. I'm so sorry. Thank you, Nick, for your little donation. I appreciate that. Was so sweet. Sorry, just gonna go back and find that question. Ah, I totally lost it. What were we talking about? Sorry guys, I'm getting old and my brain is, is, is not working anymore. Oh, strings. We were talking about— I think we were talking about strings and acoustic versus electric. So the thicker strings on an acoustic, they're harder to play. Okay, they're thicker. So I always tell people, particularly when we get to bar chords, I'm like, try it on an electric. Typically the electric is going to be easier to play because the The strings are thinner. Okay. The thing you have to worry about with an electric guitar is it's less forgiving on the string noise because you usually play it through an amp. So an acoustic guitar can be a little bit more forgiving with hiding your mistakes where an electric may not. The electric's definitely easier. I don't know if it was Keith Richards' book. It was someone's book, but it might have been Keith Richards. And he talked about, you know, when— if you can play something on an acoustic, he said it's an injustice if you start on an electric. He said you're doing yourself a disservice if you start on an electric guitar, because he said the acoustic really is— it is that much harder. But he's like, if you can play an acoustic, you can literally play anything you want on an electric. So I recommend going between both because, you know, if you're feeling frustrated with acoustic, go over to the electric, it's going to make things a little bit easier. And then go back to the acoustic, especially when you're learning barre chords. I find for a lot of students, It's much easier for them to play barre chords on the electric and build up the strength on the electric and then move back over to, um, the acoustic. Getting hotter in New Orleans. Oh no. Do you prefer metal strings or nylon strings? I prefer metal. The, um, I have the brand in the other room. I use D'Addario and I use what's called phosphor bronze. The reason I use phosphor bronze versus like 80/20 bronze It has a little bit of a warmer sound. I believe these are phosphor bronze. It has a little bit of a warmer sound where 80/20 has more of a bright punch to it, a punchier sound. So that's the strings that I tend to use. I tend to use 11s, which— 11s or— no, I don't use 10s. 11s, which are custom lights, or 12s, which are light strings. I tend not to play with mediums just because even for me, when I use mediums, they make bar chords. Very hard to play. But typically I'm playing with 11s on my guitar, phosphor bronze 11. And again, it's a trade-off because you can even go thinner. And sometimes with students on acoustic, again, if we're learning barre chords, I sometimes tell them to go 10s. And it's a trade-off because the thinner you go, the more metallic the strings sound. Okay, so there's trade-offs to everything in guitar. Another great tool we talked about, or I mentioned earlier, the guitar strap. Yay! So this is my new personal guitar strap. Um, you might have seen me do some videos on it. So these— we just actually, just so you know, um, I actually haven't announced this on YouTube, so this will be a woohoo first announcement. Um, we actually have the longer straps on pre-order because I have some students who are like, Lauren, I'm like 6'2, 6'3, I'd love to buy your guitar strap, it's just a little too short for me. Or we have some people who are like You know, Lauren, I'm, I'm 6 feet tall. I like to drink beer. I got a little bit of a beer belly. And with the acoustic guitar, it's not quite long enough. So we do have a long strap, a longer strap that is on pre-order right now. If you go to laurenbateman.com/strap, you can learn about that if you're interested. But having a good guitar strap, it doesn't have to be— it doesn't have to be mine. I always tell people like mine's great. This is a really like high quality leather guitar strap, so you're gonna pay more for it versus like a cheap leather guitar strap. I don't even want to say leather because it's probably if you're paying $30 for a guitar strap, it's probably like pleather. It's really not not a leather guitar strap. But if you're if you're paying for one, just make sure it's wide enough to support the weight of the guitar because that is the biggest thing that I've talked to students because that's how we developed this guitar strap is like I talked to the students and was like what are your issues? And one of them was like, you know, especially with Taylors, not so much the PRS, but especially with Taylors, the neck is so heavy that if I let go of the guitar, the guitar starts doing these weird things. And that actually happened to me. It actually happened here. Um, I wasn't used to having Taylor, and I let go of my guitar because I'm so used to my Crafter, and I let go of my guitar to, to find something on my desk, and it went like this, and it whacked my desk, and I have a dent on the back of my Taylor from that. But with this guitar strap, that won't happen because I have a, a different backing on the inside so that it, it won't slide off your shoulder. Because that's dangerous for a guitar. I personally feel that's dangerous for a guitar if your guitar slides off your shoulder. Because as a student, you might, you know, you gotta adjust your sheet music. You might, you know, I don't have to hold my guitar 24/7 to make sure it's not going to whack something. But you see, I don't have my hand on the guitar and it's It's staying perfectly where I want it to, and and that's what a guitar strap should do. One is support the guitar so you don't have to, and two, it shouldn't slide. And that's the downside of a lot of leather guitar straps is they do slide. Even my this one here. Let me show you. Okay. So this one, if I if I put this on my tailors, this is a it's like a three hundred dollar leather guitar strap. Mine do not cost that much. Another thing, I don't like these. Adjustable ones like this is. I I have this custom made, so it's custom made for me, my size, my body. So no one else, unless you are like five five, can use this guitar strap unfortunately because this this tongue and groove thing. I don't particularly like this system, especially for older adults. I think it just it just makes it more difficult to to adjust the guitar. But this you can see it's it's it's beautiful strap. I mean, it's really cool. It's leather, but it's really, it's really slick on the back side. So this will just— if I have my Taylor and I've used this guitar strap, um, it will just slide down my shoulder and it'll hit something, and that's not good. We don't want that for our guitars. But so those are proper tools. We talked about metronomes. We talk about using the right guitar pick, okay? The right size guitar for you, okay? Because some people, the guitar is too big. You'll know the guitar is too big because your shoulder will be like this. Okay, if you're doing that, that's not good. But you can see here how my shoulder relaxes down on the guitar. The other thing too, because a lot of people like, oh, you can play in classical position, which is where you have like the bottom of the guitar in between your legs, that's fine. I don't mind that on like my electrics or like this parlor-sized guitar. But for me, when I use my grand auditoriums, they're quite large. So I find it for me quite uncomfortable to play in a classical guitar position. So The size of your guitar really does matter because if you're playing some, some especially those country style guitars, they got really big hips. You can see here like this is this end is really small, so it's got big hip on it, right? So there are some country style guitars that are either dreadnoughts or grand auditoriums that have really big hips on them, and it can put your shoulder up here, make you very, very uncomfortable. So right tools, make sure you get the right guitar. Right guitar. Guitar strap seems like it's. For standing setup? No, this is— you can use it for sitting too. A guitar strap— that's a great question, actually. Do you need a guitar strap if you're just playing sitting? Yeah, because again, look at this. The strap is holding my guitar in the right position, right? I don't have to hold it up with my hand. So if you don't have a guitar strap, you're actually using muscles that you really shouldn't or don't have to To, to position and hold the guitar correctly. All right. So that's another reason why the guitar strap is so important, because it's going to keep the guitar in the right position, whether you're sitting or standing. I always tell people the right way to set up your guitar strap is if I stand up or sit, the guitar— the guitar— when I sit, the guitar shouldn't drop. Okay. If it drops, it's— you've set it up. It's too long. So, and the reason for that is when you're practicing, if you practice sitting down the same way you practice standing up. Guess what? You don't have to practice the guitar in a different way. A lot of students have trouble going from sitting to standing because the way they play sitting is the— is different from the way they play standing. So they're like, oh my God, this is so, so different. Um, so it doesn't have to be if you use a strap. So even if, even if you're not gonna play standing, I do recommend you still get a guitar strap. Yeah. I just started guitar this week. I like your videos. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Yeah. And I just want to let you know, I did pin to the post. It's in the description below. If you have my free crash course, you've probably already gotten a few emails about it, but there is an early Labor Day special going on. I put a link, it's pinned over there. Um, but if you're on my email list, you're gonna get some emails next week. I know I'm gonna be in Canada, but I did schedule some emails to go out, um, about my 7-Level Guitar System because this is— that's— it's a great tool. It really is a wonderful tool. Any guitar system is a wonderful tool. All right. Any system is better than no system. And as a teacher, I've seen that. I've, I've worked with many, even in my in-person studio, many students who just, you know, were learning willy-nilly. And I did that for years. Okay. I really did that on my own. I did that for 10 years. So I know the feeling. I know the experience. I was, you know, I was using— well, YouTube didn't exist when I first started, but I was using VHS. Tapes. I was using books, using Ultimate Guitar to learn tab, and then eventually YouTube came around. I did start using YouTube in my my twenties, but I felt like I felt like I really wasn't where I wanted to be with my guitar playing at the age of like 24, 25. I was like, wow! I've been playing guitar for almost a decade. Aloha from Hawaii. Hello. I've been playing guitar for about a decade. And I was like, why are all these people better than me? I remember I was in college one time and I was sitting— I was an RA at Boston University and we were sitting in the on-call room and someone brought a guitar down, or I don't know if I brought my guitar down, but someone was playing Wonderwall on the guitar. Let me see if I got my capo. I do. So someone was playing Wonderwall and I was like, I just thought that was the coolest thing, you know. And I have a lesson on that, so if you're interested, you can go learn that. But someone in the RA room was playing Wonderwall, and I was like, wow, you— and he only had been playing guitar, I think, like a couple years, and his guitar playing was so much better than mine. I was like, I can't— Oasis fan, there you go. Um, I couldn't play Wonderwall. I couldn't play Wonderwall in college because I didn't— I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't have the skill sets. I most— I was talking with someone about strumming earlier with Nick. I— my strumming was not getting better. It was kind of staying like this. I had like 2 or 3 strum patterns that I knew and used, and that was it. And I was sitting in this on-call room. I'm like, why is he better than me? Like, I've been playing guitar for almost 10 years now, and this guy sounds so much better than I do. It was because he took lessons. And finally, after college, I did take some lessons, and I was like, I really feel like I wanna I really wanted to learn about fingerpicking, and I was trying to play Stairway to Heaven, and I felt like I needed— I felt like I needed someone's help. So I took lessons, um, for about a year, um, probably when I was like 25, 26. Took lessons for about a year, worked on some of my music, made some of my music sound better. But I learned more in that one year than I did in 10 years learning by myself, okay? And that's one of the positives here about YouTube is that there are so many great teachers here and you get to experience all of them if you want to. Okay, you can try different videos and the number of people are like, I watched, I watched some of your videos over on YouTube. I really like your teaching style. So I decided to buy your 7-level course. Thank you so much, Sean. I appreciate that. You're a great guitar teacher. Thank you. But I'm not for everyone. All right, I'm— I know that. All right, I'm not perfect. I'm not for everyone. Maybe, maybe I'm too slow for some people. So, you know, I get a lot of people who are like, I like how slow you go. You're nice and calm and you break things down. For some people that doesn't work. But the good thing about YouTube is you can try a number of different teachers and find who works best for you. Yeah. Wicked Clown says, in a month in between you and Justin Guitar has been amazing and very easy to understand. Yeah, I think Justin's great. I have nothing against any of the other teachers here, Justin, Marty, whoever else you follow. I have a number of students like, I really kind of go between you and Marty and Andy and, you know, whoever. It's all our first names. And that's great. That's great. You want to find the teachers that resonate with you because we all have a slightly different teaching style. But I always recommend— I'm like, hey, if you really do like my teaching style, go check out one of my courses. Go check out the 7-level link here, or go to my website, laurenbateman.com. Sign up for the free crash course. Take it. Because if you can take the free crash course and you like that, you can at least experience what it's like to take my paid course with me. Okay, so if you like the crash course, You'll like the 7-Level Guitar System. If the little mini crash course works for you, the 7-Level Guitar System is probably gonna work for you. We had other people here, um, who commented saying like, oh yeah, I tried that, you know, I'm in the 7-level, it's, it's going great. Um, Wolf said, what I like about your instructions is that you talk like you know I'm a beginner. Oh, that's, that's sweet. Yeah. And that it's about me and my learning and not about you and how awesome you are and you're shredding. Yeah. No. And And I, I just think that's the way I am because I'm like, you know, I— and it's funny because I'll get lots of comments. People will be like, you stink, you're— you don't even play in your videos. And it's like, I went to karaoke last night. I went, um, into Boston with, with some students from LB Music School and we did karaoke. And I, and I sang at the karaoke and people are like, oh my, oh my God, you can sing, like you can belt it out. And I was like, oh yeah, because usually I don't sing because they're like, I've never heard you sing before. And I'm like, yeah, because, well, because usually, you know, if we do recitals and stuff. I said, well, yeah, usually I'm in the background making sure you look good because it's not about me. It's not about me. I can play guitar, I can sing. It's not about me. It's about you. And it's about your journey and, and what you're going through. And just relating to people that, you know, I know it's hard. This, the C chord, pain in the butt. Okay, if you, if you're just learning it, it's not easy. Okay, and if anyone's just like, oh, guitar is easy, I can teach you to play guitar in five days, and it's like no, I can. It's just like my free crash course. I can teach you to play real songs in fourteen days. Absolutely. I used to be able to do it in the first lesson if I was live and in person with someone. I could teach them to play a song in one lesson, and it's simple. You know, it's like horse with no name. You know, we're going. Okay, I would teach people. I love that. They show that in their first lesson. And there's nothing amazing about that. It's 2 chords. It's one strumming pattern. But what it did was it helped people believe. And that's a big thing. I saw a video the other day. It was Bob Ross. I don't know if you guys know who Bob Ross is, but I think you're— most of you are old enough to know who Bob Ross is. He was a painter. And I used to watch him when I came home from school, you know, because my mom was at work. I usually would watch Bob Ross on PBS and I'd watch him paint when I got home from school. And I always remember Bob Ross because he was always such a positive person when he was teaching, and I think that had a big influence on me. But the, the video was about believing, and he's like, you have to believe in yourself because if you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will. And, and he was saying, hey, if someone tells you you can't do it, well then you tell them Bob Ross told you that you can do anything. And, and I feel that way too. I feel that way too. Um, there was someone I was emailing with someone a couple or last week, and he was talking about something with his playing and he was getting frustrated. And, um, I think there was something wrong with one of his, his hands. And I said, listen, I said, you can do anything you want to. You really do. Can you? Can do anything that you put your mind to. Uh, I said, because I know that for a fact, because there's people who don't have hands That play the guitar with their feet. Yeah, it's definitely hard. So imagine trying to do it with your feet. And I said, you still have both of your hands. So I was like, you're already— and I said, pun totally intended, I said, but you're already one hand up on them. I was like, so it's, it's not that you can't do it. A lot of it's up here. A lot. And I teach even in the 7 level, um, I have a lot of emails that I send out to people that are kind of like mental motivation because a lot of it is just this. Some of it's this, okay? There's mechanics. You have to learn the chords. You have to learn the strumming patterns. Trust me, there is mechanics to it, but a lot of it's up here, and a lot of us stop ourselves before we get started. And I, I made a post yesterday on Facebook. I posted a video, or I posted a picture of myself from when I was 26, and it was when I was taking my first photos for my album. And the kind of the comment was, you didn't know what you were getting into, you know. Hey kid, you didn't know what you were getting into, you know. 16, 17 years ago, I thought it was going to be like this big rock star, you know. I quit my job at the pharmaceutical company to do music, and then I realized you don't make a lot of money doing, doing original music in bars. So I started teaching. Like, teaching wasn't even on my radar. And when I started teaching, believe it or not, I didn't start with guitar because I didn't think I was good enough. How about that, huh? How about that? I didn't think I was good enough to teach guitar because I had never taken guitar lessons myself. So I said, why would anyone— why would anyone want to learn guitar from me? Hello, Wrecking Nomad. Hello. Um, why, why would anyone want to learn from me? I, I don't have a degree in music. You know, I don't have a lot of the guitar teachers here went to school for guitar. And so I started by teaching voice is where I started. And then finally what I did was, you know, my wife was in the living room, my girlfriend at the time, but wife now. And I said, can I teach you something? And it was Ode to Joy. Very, very simple. Okay. Very, very simple song by beginner standards. And I went next door and I said, can I teach you something? And I said, I gave her a guitar and I was like, I just wanted her to play, just trying to get her to play that. And she, I watched her struggle with it and it made me realize that I forgot what it was like to be a beginner. I forgot what it was, how hard it is to just play a single note and be comfortable with it or play a single note and make it sound good. So for me, I always want to remind beginners that, hey, it's okay. It's okay to stink. You're a beginner. Like, that's normal. It's okay if we need to go slow, okay? Because you're learning, okay? And, and that's something I think that has stuck with me. And, and for me, I believe that you can do— like, I just honestly believe you can do it. I do believe you can do it no matter what anyone tells you. If you want to do it, you can do it. And a lot of it's just up here is what stops us from really completing that goal. See you in Canada tomorrow. Tomorrow, level 7 is fantastic. Yeah, I'm going to be up in Canada. I'm flying to Canada tomorrow. And then we have the meet and greet on the 24th. And then our lessons are on the 25th. I'm excited. I'm going to be playing some music and teaching some students in just north of Toronto. And then I'll be heading over to Quebec. How does one stay focused? You know, that's a great question. It's you know who who asked that? Wicked Nomad. Yeah, so that's a great question, and it's very hard. And that's where again going back to having the right tools, and it doesn't have to be my seven level guitar system, but I do think you should have a system you're you're working in. That's what keeps you from getting. Distracted is having a blueprint. And, and again, like I said, I love YouTube, and I've just dropped almost all my picks on the floor playing with them. Um, I love YouTube because it's a great way for you to meet a bunch of teachers and, and see who works best for you. I don't like YouTube because there's so much information, and for a lot of people it can be confusing, especially if you're just learning, because you don't know what, what's coming next, and it's hard to be very focused because there's so many different teachers, there's so many different lessons. What one teacher's saying in this lesson contradicts what this teacher is saying in this lesson. So my recommendation is if you want to be focused, pick one, pick a system and follow it. Because what's that saying? You know, the person who chases 2 rabbits catches none. So it's kind of that same predicament of, you know, if you're all over the place, you'll learn a lot of things. Um, but you might feel like you're not making progress. You might feel like, I know bits and pieces of a little thing, or I might know bit— like, I felt that way when I was learning guitar. I was like, I know bits and pieces of songs. I knew a lot of like intros. I could play like little bass tabs, and I was like, I know little bits and pieces, but I don't feel like I can play a song. So that's what happens sometimes with, with not being focused, and that's where a system, whether it's like I said my 7-Level Guitar System— I do have a Labor Day sale Well, sale, you get some bonuses and I pin the link. I do have a Labor Day promotion, but if the 7-level system, it will take you through a system step by step. And you know that the lessons you're working on are for your level. OK, it's basically 7 levels and it gets progressively harder and it develops on the skills. But, you know, if you're in level 1, all the lessons in level 1 are the right lessons for you. And then you graduate to level 2 and, you know, all of the level 2 lessons. And then you can use my website as a reference to go match up songs, you know, with your level and start playing songs because that's the fun part. You know, the fun part is actually applying what you're learning in the lessons and then go playing the songs, right? Wow, I caught you live. You sure did. When I first started learning guitar, your videos were the very first videos I started with. Oh, that's awesome. Thank you so much. That's amazing. So happy to help you. Someone, um, Brad says, you're the best instructor, keep up the good work, you've taught me everything I know, love you. Oh, thank you so much, you're so welcome. And, and, and that's what I, I want back in doing this stuff is, is I get so many emails or even I'm here and people like, you've helped me so much, you've helped me so much. And I put that in that post when I was talking about, you know, the young kid, you didn't know what you were up for because, you know, everyone told me I wasn't good enough. I tried out for The Voice. I tried out for American Idol. I tried out for— what was the other one? America's Got Talent. I tried out for all those things. I would go to New York multiple times, and everyone was just like, you're not good enough, you're not good enough. I couldn't sing good enough. I just was never good enough, right? And, um, here I am, you know, talking to you guys, and here I am teaching literally millions of people all over the world. I've got almost 650,000 subscribers. Isn't that crazy? That's insane. I would have never, never thought that. I don't even know how many subscribers. Let's look. 662, almost 663,000 subscribers. I've helped millions of people all over the world, and it's been an absolute amazing journey. So I thank you all for, for being here and, and supporting me. And those of you who've, who've bought my course or bought one of my programs, like, thank you so much. I really appreciate the support. It does mean mean a lot to me, Lauren. I hope I I I hope I caught you live. You did caught me live. I'm still live. Your beginner song tutorials are amazing. Probably the best I have seen on YouTube. Thank you so much. You're so welcome, George. Absolutely. And that's what I want. You know, people when when they watch my videos, I just want them to feel like they can do it. And if I can break something down, if I can take something that's hard, it might not sound exactly like the song, but if I can. Take something that's hard and make it a little easier so that you can enjoy it and have fun with it. That's the goal. And that's the whole point of my 7-Level System is to break things down in a step-by-step system, have the right tools, learn the right tools and techniques so that you can play whatever song you want. Yeah, someone said 64, learning with you for the past 7 years. Yeah, and we work a lot in the course on hand dexterity, especially for older learners. And it's not just older. I mean, I worked with students in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who still need to work on this dexterity stuff Because getting those hands moving, it's a new technique. It's a new mechanism. So you need that stuff. You need the right exercises. Again, we talk about the right tools. Well, what are going to be the right exercises that are going to make going from a C chord to a G chord easier? All right. It's going to be some— there's going to be some finger exercises that are going to help make that easier. And you're going to have to do them repetitively to make it easier and simpler. Just like earlier, does the strumming get easier? Yeah. The more you do it, The better it gets. Someone says, I've been able to perform songs live using your lessons. Real— that's awesome, Faith. Fantastic. I had someone, it was a testimony. I think I posted it here on YouTube. Sky, one of the students in my, in my program, she did an open mic and I think she actually won best of the open mic. Amazing. And I think she's 69. And it just goes to show you, you're never too old to, to do something new. That you love. I think that's absolutely amazing that she was able to do that. Um, and I've heard that from a number of students being like, I never thought I was gonna do anything with a guitar, and I went and did my first open mic. The number of students who've told me that, like, I've done an open mic, can you believe it? Um, so things that you think might be impossible today could be possible tomorrow. Never, never doubt yourself. All right. Because, because Again, I said it earlier. I said the guitar is not easy. It's hard. But when you have the right tools, when you have the capos, okay, this is another good tool to have a capo because a capo, a lot of times, for example, a song I recently did, Make Your Own Kind of Music by Mama Cass. I put that song doesn't use a capo, but I used a capo to make it easier for you to play. Okay, so sometimes a capo is a great tool to make a song. easier for you to play. And as a teacher, I know how to use the capo to take a song that's hard, maybe has a lot of bar chords, and, and transpose it so you don't have to use bar chords. Okay, so there's all these different tools, um, that you can use. But my, my biggest recommendation is, is, you know, if you're really interested in learning guitar this year, like, you know, the summer's almost over, everyone kind of starts getting back into the routine in the fall. If you're someone who really, really does want to take guitar serious, Check the link in the description or on— I pinned the link there. Go check out the Labor Day bundle that we have going on right now. Or if you're just curious, go, go to laurenbateman.com and go check out the crash course. Sign up for the free crash. It's free. Okay, there will be some promotional emails because my goal is like, hey, you're gonna take the crash course, and I'm hoping eventually, yes, that you will sign up for the 7-level. But it's a great way to give my lessons a try without having to spend any money. And some people buy and a lot of people don't, and that's okay too. Um, that's the point of it. It's free because I want to make sure that if you're going to buy my program, you're— one, you're going to use it. Two, you're going to like it. And three, it's going to help you. Okay? Because that's the goal. I want, I want to be able to help you. Someone said, uh, so glad I caught some of the live. I'm 64 and played decades ago. Last week I felt, um, brave enough to play at church. You really did? It's all coming back. That's That's awesome. Yeah, see, stuff like that. I've had a number of students who are like, now I play— they play with their church band. And I'm like, that's so awesome. That's so cool. Imagine that. Imagine being able to play up in front of your church or play, you know, songs with the church band. I have a number of students who've done that. Good on you. That's awesome. That's awesome. I love hearing stories like that. But it all starts with learning a C chord. Learning a D chord, learning a G chord. It all starts by learning the chords, learning the strumming patterns, taking it one step at a time. All right, so if you took some time off for the summer, no problem. It's the summer, but the fall's coming up, and let's set some goals and get back into it and make sure you get the right tools. Okay, so get the right tools, get the right picks, get your guitar strap, get your capo, make sure you have your metronome, your tuner, but also make sure you have a system. Make sure you have a good system. And if you're considering one, I highly recommend my 7-Level Guitar System. I know I'm biased because it's mine, but there's a number of people here who, who've been, you know, you can read in the comments that said they are, um, they've done the 7-Level Guitar System and that it's, it's helped them tremendously, or if they use my YouTube videos and it's helped them tremendously. So, um, I'm honored to be your teacher. Thank you so much for following me and, and giving me the time of day. Thank you so much for being here live with me. I really appreciate it. Um, I'll be in Canada for the next Week, so I probably won't be so active on YouTube. I think we do have a video that we have ready for posting while I'm away, but but other than that, I won't be posting you know too many comments or posts and stuff. But thank you so much for being here. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Study hard, happy strumming, and I'll see you all very soon. Bye bye everyone.