Learn to Play Guitar for the best possible rate!

I've been teaching guitar in my private studio for many years.

     In 2006 I was approached by JamPlay to become their first guitar instructor for a new way of teaching guitar: on the internet! I know, this is crazy, but it actually works!

     At first we just filmed lessons and people watched them at their convenience, with the ability to pause and replay, and print out supplemental material, to progress at their own rate. Then, Jeff and Kevin and Chris at JamPlay decided to try an interactive chatroom, which was hosted by the instructors, to give student/subscribers a chance to ask their questions of the teachers in real-time. The teacher was able to answer and demonstrate. However, the students often had a difficult time describing their issue.

My friend & fellow-instructor, Jim Deeming,
teaching Chet Atkins' "Windy and Warm"

     So JamPlay decided to upgrade the functionality of the chat and made it possible for students to use their own webcam and microphone to demonstrate to the teacher (and the rest of the chatroom) what they were wrestling with, or demonstrate how they had mastered that skill or song.

     The result is a powerful, interactive and supportive community of instructors with student-learners/teachers which is active most of the hours of every week.

     Since the chat has begun I've been a part of the roster of live instructors. At one time, I hosted 5 (3)-hour sessions every morning, which helped me to leave my fruitless attempts to teach music full-time in the public school system, in favor of working daily with people who were finally being successful at developing their musical skills in playing guitar.

     Now here is the reason I'm writing today.  The current annual price for an all-access subscription is $139.95  (38¢ a day, or $2.69 a week).

     After  December 28, 2014, the price is going up to $179.95, which is still reasonable, considering that there are more than 75 teachers with more than 4,500 lessons in High Definition video, available when you need it.

     Here's a link to one of my free beginner lessons, and one of my fingerstyle lessons, one of my bluegrass lessons, one of my celtic lessons, and one of my gospel lessons.

But here is the kicker:  JamPlay is offering a sale, starting TODAY with a full-year for less than $100!  

Yep, for only $99.95, you can have access to everything I teach, but even better, everything that everybody else teaches as well!  I don't want you to miss this opportunity before the price goes up.  

Click here to sign up now.

You'll be glad you did!

If this isn't your kettle of fish, but you still want to learn to play, or just have some support while you teach yourself (which is how I learned, by the way), contact me about setting up live, one-to-one lessons via SKYPE.  Or visit this link on my website for more details.


[If you want to watch my introductory video, you can do that here]

Tension: the New vs. the Familiar

I’ve heard it at CD tables, after (and during!) live music concerts, at festivals and weeklong music educational events.

People pick up a CD and say, “I don’t know any of these songs.”  

They pick up another one and say, “I know these songs, but I already have 10 recordings of those songs.  Why do I need this one?”

One concert attender leans over to another and gives a review:  “these are just the same songs they always play!”  

Or they opine, “I wanted to hear the stuff I know (which I like!) and all they played was their new stuff.  It was unfamiliar.  I didn’t like it.”

They take a class and complain:  “The instructor only taught us things that I didn’t know.”  

Or they return from another workshop and report, “it was all the same old stuff everybody does.”

Humans are an interesting, loyal and simultaneously fickle lot.  “Familiarity breeds contempt,” the adage acknowledges.  “You can’t get too much of a good thing,” we stomp and declare just before we feel the inevitable discomfort from eating too many potato chips or ice cream, illustrating the economic principle of diminishing marginal utility.

At war within us are the poles between the novel and the threadbare; the strange and the comfortable; the unique and the familiar.  And bouncing between these poles like iron filings between the poles of an electro-magnet is our attention and our loyalty.

When we are tired of the commonplace, we crave newness.  When our lives are destabilized, we latch on to the comfort of the familiar.

There is nothing groundbreaking here.  We can observe this several times a day in ourselves and in others.  

What can get us stuck is assigning ultimate value to either pole by seeking to resolve the inherent tension into the good of either one.

And we artists?  We seek to give voice and witness to the whole of life, but in specific and concrete ways that help us both to notice and enhance the tension, then offering resolution, only to set up more tension that leads to more resolution.  

Thus, the dance of life continues in its eternal way.

(And it would be nice if folks would buy the CD, enjoy the concert, learn in the class no matter what!)

©2014 Steven B. Eulberg

A Free Christmas Compilation includes Steve's Music!

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen is the 1st track in this Christmas compilation by Magnatune which was just released today (12/17/14).

You can enjoy the entire list as I did below:

 
A Christmas with Magnatune by Magnatune Compilation


You can share this with your friends as a gift from me to you to them!

This tune is from my 2003 CD 'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime which is available on iTunes, at Amazon.com, on several streaming sites and also here:

This collection is a crisp walk under a bright winter moon.

A "No Way!" Day

After I finished my final Music Together Class on Friday, I was talking with the grandparents of one of my students who said they were heading home.

"Where is home?"  I asked.

"Ohio."

"No Way! I'm a Buckeye, too."

"No Way!  What town?" she asks.

"Pemberville."

"The one just south of Toledo?" Grandpa joins in.

"That's the one!"

"That's incredible!"

"Where in Toledo do you live?" I inquire.

"Over by Anthony Wayne High School."

"No Kidding?  One of my good friends, Kerry Patrick Clark, used to live just down the street from Anthony Wayne High School,"  I report.

"No Way!  Kerry Patrick Clark?  His wife, Amy, is my best friend!" she says in disbelief.

"No Way!  They just moved from there to Maumee," I mention.

"I know!  I spent three weeks helping them pack and move!"

"Bless you!  I know they appreciated your help," I exclaim.

Grandpa says, "I actually grew up in Perrysburg."

"Now I've got a small world story for you,"  I begin.  "I was hiking up to Chasm Lake at the foot of Long's Peak in Colorado."

The jaw of my student's mother goes slack as she says in disbelief, "No Way!  I'm from Colorado."

The in-laws chime in:  "From Fort Collins."

My turn:  "No Way!  I just moved from there this year, which high school did you attend?"

"Rocky Mountain," she replies.

"This is wild!" we all exclaim.

We all shake our heads in amazement and line up for a photo of the meeting.

Grandma messages the photo to Amy Clark (Kerry's wife) and as I am leaving the rec center gives me her report.

"I just sent the photo to Amy, and she wrote 'No Way! We love that guy!"

And that's the way it was that day!

Glimpses from S.E.A Summer Touring

Here are some photos of our Trio (S.E.A) from our Summer Touring:

Kentucky Music Week, Bardstown, Kentucky

Westwood House-KU Lutheran Campus Ministry, Lawrence, Kansas

Courtland Arts Center, Courtland, Kansas

And here is video of our performance at Kentucky Music Week



Ain't we got fun?!

Fiddle Whamdiddle Summer 2014

Vi and I have had some great gigs playing together this summer so far!

We had a fun night at Avogadro's number at the end of May, and then a terrific time at the Avery House for July 4th Independence Day Celebration.

Some different friends captured these moments as images to evoke that fun:

The tent was provided by Streetmosphere, Beet Street's summer music program. [Photo by Franklin Taggart]

This looks way too cheerful to be Blacktail Weasel and the Ground Squirrel Clan!  [Jim Frye Photo] Listen to that tune here.

Here are some nice close-ups while we play (which is musician for "work"!) [Pics by Pabo]

Views from the Road (Summer Tour 2014)

Nearly two weeks into my tour, here are some views from the road:

Nevada White Sand "dust devil"

First stop:  West Wendover, NV / Wendover, UT, where my clock couldn't figure out which time zone it was in.

Just past Salt Lake City, as I was nearing the Wyoming Border, I stopped at this scenic overlook beside a L-O-N-G Utah Lake.  This could be a panoramic photo, but I haven't stitched it together and it wouldn't fit this vertical web-based format, either: