Bonjour everyone and welcome to the latest episode of RGS live! In this episode Tomas and Aimee are going to share some tips and tricks on how to make an online music education work best for you, and advise you through some common mistakes made while learning guitar online. Also in this episode are live questions from some fellow online learners.

Getting the Most from YouTube and Online Guitar Lessons

1. Set yourself up with reasonable expectations.

2. Plan on doing more reps than you think you’ll need.

3. Watch more basic skill lessons than song lessons.

4. Don’t get hung up with different ways of doing a technique or playing a chord.

5. Spend more time practicing than watching lessons.

6. Ask better questions

7. Take 100% responsibility for your own learning.

Questions Answered:

[24:45] I have learnt Guitar for 8 months. I am good at playing songs but only when I have seen the chords on the Internet. How to understand what chord to play?

[27:50] I’m interested in triads – their formations and practical uses. Since they are the basis for chords, I feel that they could be integrated to provide more variety to my playing.

[36:55] I want to add some sort of musical interval between stanzas of a song, let’s say something to connect between the verse and the chorus or something that can be used as a musical bridge before repeating the chorus. What should I do? Should I randomly play some of the chords of the key? Should I maybe play the chords used in the song but from a different place on the keyboard? Or maybe there are chord variations that I could use, but how do I know what they are and which ones will sound good?

[41:15] Maybe some suggestions on how to form harder chords?  Like for me for example, my pinky is always a half step behind in certain chords like C7 and Emaj7.

[43:58] If somebody is singing a song how can I figure out the chords of that song.

[48:29] How do I change the key of the song to suit the repertoire of chords that I possess (and then probably tell them to sing along my key cause I am still a beginner).

[50:11] I’m doing a fingerpicking exercise and working on changing chords quickly and smoothly.  Is it okay to allow a space between chords when I change? For example, can I start changing on the last half-beat of the previous chord to get to the bass note of the next chord on time?

[52:57] When i am playing a song, sometimes I find that the scale that I am playing is not matching with the vocals. Suppose CDAG. How to find the alternative chord for these chords that will suit the vocals..

[53:48] Little off topic, but wondering if you know of anyone who has arthritis in the thumb. I may be in need of surgery and wonder if anyone else on has gone through that

[56:12] Any tips on bends? My strings are stiff.