Poll: How far have you made with the Richie Zellon's course? (vol 1)

[AlsoRan]

I started it with great expectations and didn't make it past the first few lessons. I'm not sure why. I know I didn't like the pedantic nature of his fingerings. I play contra bass and fiddle and use my pinky a lot. I already sort have my own way of getting around based on arpeggios and his boxes seemed so vertical and boxed in.

But I'm sure the system is fine and any shortcoming was in my own approach, not his.

kofblz,
I did a poor job of really understanding the instruction he has for fingerings. I thought I could just go on using my own fingerings and it hindered me badly. I just did not have the time or mental energy to learn his system. But hell, I did not really know my own!

I recently went back to his book and I can see the benefits of using his fingerings above all others. The main selling point is you can use the basic ideas on all modes, arpeggios and scales and it can tie them together. I still struggle with knowing my intervals and this looks as though it can finally help me get past my problem and hopefully give my the final thing I need to be able to play changes.

[Maroonblazer]

kofblz,
I did a poor job of really understanding the instruction he has for fingerings. I thought I could just go on using my own fingerings and it hindered me badly. I just did not have the time or mental energy to learn his system. But hell, I did not really know my own!

I recently went back to his book and I can see the benefits of using his fingerings above all others. The main selling point is you can use the basic ideas on all modes, arpeggios and scales and it can tie them together. I still struggle with knowing my intervals and this looks as though it can finally help me get past my problem and hopefully give my the final thing I need to be able to play changes.

I started his course nearly a year ago and worked my way up through module 5 over the course of about 8-9 months. He means it when he says there's more material than most/any beginner/intermediate player can absorb in one month. I think he even refers to it as graduate-level material, which seems accurate.

I'm coming from a piano background and always struggled to make sense of the fretboard. I never studied any particular approach, e.g. CAGED, so the fingering system he uses - heptatonic - is my first. I absolutely love it. It's the first time I've been able to organize the fretboard in a way that makes sense to me.

By the time I completed module 5 I was frustrated that the theory I was learning wasn't reflected in my guitar* playing as much as I would've liked, so I've started studying privately with Richie. This has paid off in 3 ways:

1. He's helped me realize that I didn't really absorb some of the earlier modules. It's easy for me to fool myself into thinking I've got something down, when in fact I don't. So he's got me going back through some of the earlier material and reinforcing it.
2. A big part of his approach is having you compose written solos over jazz blues where the rhythms and note types (e.g, chord tone, passing tone, neighboring tone, approaches, 2 or 3 note enclosures, etc) are specified for you, and it's up to you to choose the right notes that satisfy what's specified. You'd think it would be impossible to make any wrong choices given how much is specified, but it absolutely is. So having his guidance in terms of better or worse note choices that are idiomatic to bebop has been invaluable.
3. It's been said on this forum endlessly but, if you're starting out like I am, having a teacher is invaluable. If nothing else, much like a personal trainer at the gym, you know you're accountable to someone else. That's a huge motivator and I'm putting in more practice time each week than I ever did when I was studying alone.

*My facility on the keyboard is much better than guitar, having played piano for decades. When my fretting (left) hand is exhausted I jump over to the piano and apply what I'm learning there. I can come up with genuine bebop lines like I never could before. It's so fun. That tells me his approach works, I just need to also continue working on my fretboard technique.

[AlsoRan]

I started his course nearly a year ago and worked my way up through module 5 over the course of about 8-9 months. He means it when he says there's more material than most/any beginner/intermediate player can absorb in one month. I think he even refers to it as graduate-level material, which seems accurate.

I'm coming from a piano background and always struggled to make sense of the fretboard. I never studied any particular approach, e.g. CAGED, so the fingering system he uses - heptatonic - is my first. I absolutely love it. It's the first time I've been able to organize the fretboard in a way that makes sense to me.

By the time I completed module 5 I was frustrated that the theory I was learning wasn't reflected in my guitar* playing as much as I would've liked, so I've started studying privately with Richie. This has paid off in 3 ways:

1. He's helped me realize that I didn't really absorb some of the earlier modules. It's easy for me to fool myself into thinking I've got something down, when in fact I don't. So he's got me going back through some of the earlier material and reinforcing it.
2. A big part of his approach is having you compose written solos over jazz blues where the rhythms and note types (e.g, chord tone, passing tone, neighboring tone, approaches, 2 or 3 note enclosures, etc) are specified for you, and it's up to you to choose the right notes that satisfy what's specified. You'd think it would be impossible to make any wrong choices given how much is specified, but it absolutely is. So having his guidance in terms of better or worse note choices that are idiomatic to bebop has been invaluable.
3. It's been said on this forum endlessly but, if you're starting out like I am, having a teacher is invaluable. If nothing else, much like a personal trainer at the gym, you know you're accountable to someone else. That's a huge motivator and I'm putting in more practice time each week than I ever did when I was studying alone.

*My facility on the keyboard is much better than guitar, having played piano for decades. When my fretting (left) hand is exhausted I jump over to the piano and apply what I'm learning there. I can come up with genuine bebop lines like I never could before. It's so fun. That tells me his approach works, I just need to also continue working on my fretboard technique.

Thanks for the great feedback! I definitely agree with your opinion on the fingering. I can't believe how ignorant I was to underestimate my finger regions in regard to the intervals of the notes! Like you, I did not really absorb the material on a deep level, thinking I could skip around like I did in school as a young man.

Once I have the fingerings fully integrated, I may dive back in with Richie since I am much more advanced in my understanding of what he is trying to do. But man, getting these fingerings down will help with all of the instructional material that I have because I will be better able to navigate the fretboard.

Happy Holidays to you!