Derek Jackson for GuitarZoom Academy Reviews

Speaker: Derek J.

Derek J.: Hello. My name is Derek Jackson. I found out about GuitarsZoom Academy through some ads on Facebook and I'd been a GuitarZoom member for a while and I had been wanting to, like, do more with my guitar playing and just one on one help that GuitarZoom Academy offer seemed to be right up my alley.

Derek J.: just like anything, you know, you put time and effort into it. Sure. I was, I was skeptical about GuitarZoom Academy before I enrolled because I'd had, you know, I've played since I was probably 15 years old and I actually was very good and been in bands all through college and stuff. But after college and like, you know, life kind of happening, I was just skeptical that anything would work because I, I tried lessons again and, you know, I have a large family so I couldn't really find the time to get it in and then I would forget, kind of like what I learned. So I was, I was skeptical from that point of view, but really what's kind of helped out is having somebody, a personal guitar mentor who's, who can meet me when I need to and who I can get feedback from and, and actually have a personalized learning path. It's tailored to where I am and where I wanna go and, and giving me feedback on how to improve. So I think that's really been a huge benefit and kind of like what's kept me going because I've done a lot of courses, just like anybody else has online courses and they're great and they give you a lot of information but, you know, just like anything, it's a lot of puzzle pieces. But if you don't have somebody to show you how to put together and you don't really know what's going on. So that's kind of where I was with limited time and, and that's why I'm enrolling GuitarZoom Academy because I really wanted that path to, to move forward in a way that was relevant to me and my needs.

Derek J.: Well, I decided to enroll because mostly, like I said, I tried other paths. I've tried courses, you know, I've done well in the courses, you know, but I can make it through a chorus and play everything in a course But being able to translate that into like, playing for my family or out in town, I got a little group that gets together about once a week and we jam out on like 10 or so songs, that it was kind of like the catalyst to make things happen because, you know, I can download a cord chart, I can look at tabs and all that and with all that is like regurgitating information right now. Uh, and I didn't want to do that. Like, I know there's benefits to that and whatever, but I actually wanted to know the why behind what I was playing. And that's really why I joined the Academy is to have somebody who's a pro who plays, you know, who went to school for it, master's degree, you know, played all over the place and really has that real world experience that you can't really find. I mean, I come from a small town, right? So I can't really find that in my hometown and that's really what I really wanted was a real pro to say, hey, this is how to do it. And this is what you need to practice and if you achieve these and you know, this and this things in your practice, then we can move on to the next step. So it was really finding out more the why behind what I'm playing and being able to expand on that and just regurgitation, which is mostly what online courses and tabs and, you know, learning it by ear. I mean, I love learning stuff by ear, but it's not the why behind why the music is created and that's what I was interested in most.

Derek J.: My guitar coach is Nik who is just a master at the fretboard and he's just so incredibly talented on knowing how to put not only scales and chords together, but what I find most interesting in music is when you're going outside the lines, right? Anybody can play inside the lines. But the people who are really talented to really make you like, kind of stand up and take notice of the people who play outside the lines. But somehow it fits. So that's where I was at. Like, you know, there's a section in Texas Flood. I'm a kind of a blues guy where, Stevie Ray Vaughan you know, goes from the major major scale, right? Major Pentatonic and then there's some Dorian stuff like in going down, you know, in a descending pattern. And I didn't ever understand how he knew to do that, right? So when Nick, when I showed that to Nik, and he said, well, this is the relative Dorian to what he's playing, you know, in the minor key, then I was like, oh, well, that makes sense because it's basically the same notes. They're just like the pattern is different and you're emphasizing different notes, but they all fall within that same, you know, tonality to where, what you're playing in the Dorian versus what you're playing in the, in the major Pentatonic or Minor Pentatonic relates. But it sounds a little just enough far outside to where it's interesting, which is where I want my, you know, if you're creating a sound for yourself, which is what I'm interested in, then you need to know that kind of thing because I just don't want to sound like I'm playing the same pentatonic clicks that I've always been playing. You know, it's like, you know, you can add Ben's Vibra vibrato everything else to it. But if you don't know how to kind of go outside the lines to make things interesting, then you just sound like everybody else and I'm not a person who likes to sound like everybody else.

Derek J.: I would recommend GuitarZoom Academy to people who are like serious. Right. So, hm, you know, if you're like me, you played, I mean, I'm in my forties now, right? So I played for basically 25-30 years and I've, I've played on stage. I played in town. I played every, you know, where I wanted to play, but I hadn't like reset next level of my playing to where it felt like I was contributing my own expression to the music. Right? So I wanna, you know, I wanna like give my personality to the music and not be following, not mimicking people. So I would recommend GuitarZoom Academy if you're a serious person and like a high achiever like me who wants somebody just like, if you do this, this will happen. That's the kind of person I am. I don't wanna, I want to like, go it alone. I don't want to like mess around with some, a lot of stuff that really doesn't contribute to your overall ability to play in front of people. That's who I would recommend GuitarZoom Academy to is people who've tried everything you want some more personalized help and you want a real path to get to the next level and not like, oh, well, here's courses or here, here's a whole membership of courses and lessons to do, but there's no real path to get you from point A to point B to point C and keep progressing because I think that's what's really missing in a lot of things is a natural clear path built by professional people with your goals in mind to get you to that next level when you're playing and, and there's just so much of this fretboard and playing blues or whatever you wanna play to unlock that really only a pro can help you with other than like, you'll hear it and you'll be like, oh, that's amazing. And then spend like, you know, hours and hours trying to figure out why that is happening. But imagine if you just had somebody who said, oh, well, he's doing that because this and this is, and this is why that works, right? So that's really like speed to results and getting that feedback that you need to, to really make a leap in your playing in the shortest amount of time possible.