I’ve thought for years that my DH would make a great guitar player, so I was super excited to have the opportunity to review the Semester 1 Bundle with the Absolute Beginner Course and Bonus Songs from Guitar 360 Method.
Krisz Simonfalvi really knows his stuff, and that fact shines through loud and clear in each video. In some places, he asks you to trust him when he gives you facts, and shares that he’ll be explaining why in a later video; in other places he digs down deep into the music theory and teaches you what you need to know not just to play a cool song, but to be able to write, play, and change up music.
Having begun his musical journey with the guitar at age 6, Simonfalvi has been playing for a long time. He has experience as an artist, producer, and teacher, and it’s obvious that he both knows and loves his instrument. I think it’s important to know the perspective of your teacher, and Simonfalvi really wants to teach others to fall in love with the instrument he himself enjoys so much.
My husband has never played the guitar, so he needed to start with the most basic pieces. I was excited to see that Simonfalvi also offers a three-week Absolute Beginners Class with Bonus Songs for free on his website. How cool is that – that you could learn to play real music within a few weeks of picking up a guitar for the very first time?
All four of us gave the first lessons a try. When we got stuck, my DH helped us out, as he was the one studying the lessons the hardest.
Personally, I love the guitar as much as ever, but I’m also coming to understand just how very difficult it is to play. I was worried about having to memorize lots of chords, and while I’m sure that will need to happen eventually, Simonfalvi doesn’t start the course that way. Instead, he teaches you about the instrument and then some basic chords. Learning how to play full scales and lots of notes happens later in the class. I really like this about Guitar 360 Method – memorizing is hard for me, and starting a new thing with long lists of things to memorize makes the whole thing intimidating. Instead, you’ll start this one with finger positions and lots of strumming. You don’t have to memorize a bunch of theory or fingerings all at the beginning.
Which doesn’t mean to say that it’s easy. I’m having a really hard time figuring out how to hold the guitar so that my fingers can reach the chords. That might sound crazy, but I learned to drive sitting on a blanket and I sometimes need a stool to stir tall pots of noodles. My Little Man had the same problem when he tried to learn the first chord, and soon I emailed Simonfalvi for advice. I figured we can’t be the only people in the world with short fingers who want to play the guitar.
A few days later, I got a reply back, and I was quite impressed by the answer. Simonfalvi stated that, basically, we just needed to practice. That with time and stretching and lots of practice our fingers would learn what they were supposed to do. That’s a difficult answer to put into practice, especially since (to our frustration) the guitar players we know all seem to have long, graceful fingers, but Simonfalvi took it a step further. He also asked me to send pictures and/or video of us trying to make the chords so that he could make specific suggestions for us.
I admit, I was worried about how well learning to play an instrument via the internet when you couldn’t get real-time feedback would work, but I love that Simonfalvi is willing to go to such lengths to make our experience personalized and to help us figure out this problem.
The videos themselves are full of great information. Each one features Simonfalvi with his guitar, explaining the lesson and demonstrating on his own instrument. Text pops up to show the music written out, so you can see the fingerings and the string formation. When you’re learning chords or music theory, the video cuts away to the music written out so that you can see the notes and what’s happening. This part was especially helpful for us. My husband would pause the video when this screen popped up and would practice the chords, working with his fingers to get it right, before resuming play and moving on. I really like this visual aspect of the class.
Simonfalvi himself teaches with a smile and a patient voice. He speaks slowly and clearly and explains things well. You can tell that he’s really breaking down what he knows and can do so that you can do it, too, but he’s very patient throughout the process.
I’ve loved listening to my husband strumming away on the guitar as he works his way through these classes. He, too, is finding it more difficult than expected, but for a different reason – he recently broke a finger, and it’s less flexible than before. It’s limiting his range of motion, making him require more time to work through each video, but he’s getting there.
As I shared above, Semester 1 Bundle is really meaty, and so I could see someone needing more time than a single week to work through each week’s worth of lessons. That’s certainly been our experience, but there’s a wealth of musical knowledge and theory to be gained when you put in the time and practice to finish the course. I can’t wait for the day when we can be playing by the fire!
Do you want to learn to play the guitar, too? Guitar 360 Method is giving homeschool families a 20% discount if you purchase the Semester 1 Bundle with the coupon code HOMESCHOOL20! If you give it a try, I’d love to know what you think – let me know in the comments!
Do you play a musical instrument? Which one?
