Where's the Feedback Loop?
- Jay EuDaly
- Sep 22
- 4 min read
THE main thing that's missing from guitar lessons in the internet environment is what I call a “feedback loop.”
THE best way to learn guitar is one-on-one, in person, with the right teacher, on a regular basis (weekly is best for most folks), for several years. That's not possible in the internet environment.
I estimate that I have given in the neighborhood of 120,000 personal, one-on-one lessons since the early eighties (60 students a week, 50 weeks a year, for 40 years) and in my experience, in spite of me explaining and demonstrating how to practice a given lesson, most people practice the lesson wrong the first time.
They come back the next week and I correct them, explain why the way they practiced the lesson was inefficient, the hard way, or was incomplete.
Therefore, based on my experience, I have to assume most of my customers/subscribers who download or view lessons from my website are practicing them wrong!
With my PDF downloads, I explain the same material with text, fretboard diagrams, music notation and videos. Most of the videos have fretboard diagrams embedded. When relevant there will be music notation, chord charts &/or fake sheets embedded; I'm trying to accommodate different learning styles without personally interacting with the students.
In spite of all this, again, I have to assume most of my customers/subscribers who download or view a lesson from my website are practicing it wrong!
With personal, one-on-one lessons, over the course of time, after multiple corrections, the student starts to “get” my method (thus requiring less feedback) and I figure out the students' personality and learning style and can refine and adapt my presentation conducive to each individual student. That's the feedback loop.
Many people think that looking at a video or downloading a PDF is a real guitar lesson. It isn't. There is no feedback loop.
“But Jay,” you may ask, “Aren't you selling video lessons and PDF downloads? Aren't you being hypocritical?”
Yes, I am. That's because I want to stay relevant, and the world has been going that direction for years now. I'm attempting to adapt. So…
How can I incorporate a feedback loop into the paradigm of video lessons and PDF downloads? I have spent much time pondering on that.
Live remote lessons (a la FaceTime, Teams, Zoom etc.) can provide somewhat of a feedback loop and so are better than watching a video or downloading a PDF - but they are still suboptimal because the student and teacher can't play together. There's too much lag-time. And playing together is an important aspect of the feedback loop.
Nevertheless, I offer live “consults” to Site Members. This consult is an on-demand deal for Site Members only. It can be used for whatever you want - anything related to guitar or lessons that you've viewed, purchased &/or downloaded from Master Guitar School; it can be used as a feedback loop to make sure you understand the lesson and are drilling it correctly.
For a limited time, I'm offering a 30-minute consult to Site Members for just $20. (regular price is $45).
This is a Members-Only page; you must be a Site Member and logged in to view.
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For live remote (Teams, Zoom, FaceTime etc.) a desktop or laptop is best. If you MUST use your phone or tablet:
Landscape mode
You need some kind of holder. Don't prop it on a coffee table angled up at your crotch. Don't prop it on a desk angled up at your guitar neck. I need to see the entire fretboard from a straight-on, perpendicular angle.
Avoid backlighting; lamps, windows and so on. Well-lit from the front is good.
Use headphones or earbuds if possible. A lot of time is wasted by the student not being able to hear me talk while they’re playing.
Don’t make it less optimal than it already is.
HOW ABOUT 5 LESSONS?
The 5-Lesson Foundational Series teaches the Circle of Keys as an organizational mechanism by which you ensure that whatever you learn is drilled in every key in all possible positions. It also gives you a method to find any note, anywhere, without memorizing note names on every string. That is a beautiful thing!
Almost every lesson I teach presupposes these 5 lessons.
You can download the 5-Lesson Foundational Series right here with no further obligation or commitment:
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