Additional Week Three Reflections

In addition to all of this my week three thoughts are this...

1. Structure in learning is good
2. Accountability in learning is good
3. Going at your own pace...but with a deadline...is good
4. Working on things on your own...before you have to show an instructor...is good
5. Instructor feedback is good...but really most things you can critique yourself if you take a video and watch it back.
6. My method of listen...read (or write and then read)...practice slow...is totally legit and I should keep up with it. Screw those guys who seem to pull shit out of their asses.
7. It is good to have a defined time to work on something...say a week...and then to give up. Otherwise you spend forever trying to make it perfect and get demoralized. Making it an assignment with a start date and an end date is good.
8. This class, while super great and perhaps worth the value, is over priced

So where does that lead me?

I think that I really, really hate private lessons. I don't like being put on the spot in a lesson (do it now!) and I never practice between lessons, making them essentially useless. So lessons are kind of out unless I come to a place where I have something specific that I want to work on and can't do it without feedback.

I think that...once this class is over...I should do the following.

1. Pull out all of my playalong books. Might want to try to find a Latin playalong book...and maybe a Jazz one...cause I'm missing those key genres.
2. Develop a "syllabus" that is basically that I will work on one song per week. Mix up the genres so that it is a different book each week...Nirvana one week, Jimi Hendrix the next, then Funk...etc
3. Start the "lesson" on Monday (or Sunday)...do the song for a week...video tape at the end of the week...review the video. At the end of the week...lesson over...start next song.
4. Throughout the week...use any online resources or recordings to help learn the part...just like I would for any song
5. Treat the whole thing just like I'm paying for a class. If I find that I need it...I MIGHT even be able to hire an advanced drummer to watch the videos online each week and give me a critique (perhaps half the cost of a traditional lesson?)...but I don't know that I need this...and certainly not right away.

Can I hold myself to this? Who knows? But it seems like trying for a while is worth the $1200 I'd pay Berklee? Right?

So that's where my head is going at the moment. We'll see how I feel in 9 more weeks.