Dear Members,
I know, we are all crazy about the Replica at the moment, but let’s not forget that this site is really about Classic Rock and playing guitar. And as often, the most struggle is in the beginning. So we (Fil, Andre, Franz) got the idea of a beginner’s section, dedicated to all those who have just started or started a while ago. This section will host Andre’s tutorial videos and should be a place where we discuss beginners related stuff. A place where “dumb” questions and mistakes are welcome and learning from each other on a lower knowledge level is on topic.
The Beginners section can be found in the top menu under “Tutorials” or right here: http://solodallas.com/category/tutorials/tutorials-how-to/beginnersection/
Now I’ll hand over the word to André:
(Thanks Franz!)
The idea for the Beginner’s section actually started much earlier this year. We spent a considerable time planning and testing different video streaming methods until we found something that worked, followed by more planning, which because of the Replica and other unrelated things, had to be put aside for a while.
But now, here it is. The Beginner’s section.
As Franz wrote, this will basically be a place to share infomation with the people who are just starting, or those who also need assistance with their playing or the guitar in general. Videos, small musical theory write ups, many tips on guitar mantainance, Guitar Rig presets, tablatures, and so on. Anything that you need we’ll try to provide you with. A new forum category will be created specifically for this as well.
Before talking more about the beginner’s section, I’ll talk a little about myself, for those of you who don’t know me, and how I got here.
I started playing guitar back in 2007, when my mother brought me my late uncle’s old classical guitar. A few months later I got my first electric guitar (a Memphis MG-32 – worth about 100 dollars) and a little buzzy solid state amp. It was not much, but it was enough for me to start.
Although I did go to a music teacher for classical guitar training, as far as electric guitar goes, I’m mostly “self-taught”, if I can say so. I first started out with DVDs, video tutorials and tablatures from all over the internet. I used to play like a maniac, for hours a day, seven days a week locked inside my bedroom and strumming my (out of tune) guitar.
This is why I hold online tutorials and related material dear to my heart. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. Among my very first “virtual” teachers, I have to mention Farhat, Vanderbilly, Jun626 and, of course, Fil, A.K.A SoloDallas.
In 2008 I finally created my first Youtube account (JaiminhoPagina – a literal translation to Portuguese of – guess what – Jimmy Page. Yes, just a tongue-in-cheek joke), where I posted many videos of me trying to play a couple of tunes; it was all nice and fun back then (I really miss that time). One day, then, someone asked me: “Hey, can you do a video on how to play TNT by ACDC?”
I thought “why not?”
And that’s how it started. A few months later I’d be tossing out video lesson on Youtube nonstop (especially AC/DC – mainly because it was easier to teach, in a way) along with my occasional guitar covers. By then I had developed my particular way of doing the tutorials, with tabs on the upper part of the video and not saying a single word. I would let the guitar do that for me.
I was surprised to find out that these videos of mine would end up giving me a considerable number of viewers and subscribers. Soon, I found myself buried in messages and comments with requests, but with almost no time to do even half of them. But I just kept going. Sometimes I’d let a wrong tab escape, or teach a song somewhat “wrong”, but it was really working nevertheless.
Then, the first sights of a new era started to creep in, slow but surely.
I would look around me and see fellow musicians and youtubers being taken down video by video, one by one. SoloDallas was one of them. A few days later it was me.
Contacts, subscribers… Everything lost in the blink of an eye.
I must say that it was a very hard blow, but I didn’t give up just yet; a new account, a new start. A few friends and I got together and did our best to try to recover at least part of what we had lost.
Even though the situation lessened eventually and we carried on with our new accounts, things were never the same after that. There was always a sense of danger and eyes watching on us at every video we uploaded. Every video would have that same ominous message that could be our Achilles’ heel at any time without warning. It felt like we were criminals, outlaws. But if that was the only way to keep going, then so be it. Sometimes a video would be blocked, or muted. Sometimes the audio would come back; sometimes not.
But that was the time when we got closer than ever. Fighting for our right to play our favourite songs was the reason why some of us got together to do something about it. Fil came to me one day and said “Hey, they shut us both down, so we are in the same boat. What about playing a song together?”
The day I read that message I pinched myself to see if I wasn’t dreaming. 
Fil, from whom I learned so much, was asking if I wanted to play a song with him?! The feeling I had was similar to how someone would feel if Angus Young himself asked that person to have a jam with him.
The result of that first adventure was our “All Right Now” cover.
Before I knew it, I was a member here at SD.com and would be writing a few articles and write ups from time to time.
Copyright issues are another important topic for beginners (and maybe for everyone else as well) who want to post videos online. We shall look further into that in a near future. It’s really something that is worth a lengthy discussion.
Back to the main topic, I’m really grateful that Franz and Fil allowed me to have my own part of the site (it’s quite an honor, actually) and I also feel that we’ll be stronger together (I hope).
As for the first steps of this new section, I’ll be uploading all my old tutorials. Then, downloadable tablatures in either PDF or doc format will be available (still deciding, leaning towards PDF). Guitar Rig presets should come next.
Future tutorials are going to be posted here too. I really intend to take these tutorials to a different level. It is clear to me that I can’t keep doing them like I used to, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make them better somehow. The world is changing, so we have to change with it.
And for the first video post, I have a “gem” from my vault. One of my very first tutorials, with tabs upside down and many other problem (including some crappy playing by me! – which is my standard to this day anyway… Just a bit less than at that time – lol)
More to come later!
André (JaiminhoPagina)
