My Website featuring Guitar Instruction

[bobporri]

Hi everyone. I guess this would be the place to put something like this without seeming like a jerk. (Not that I would consider anyone a jerk if they ever posted something in the wrong area )

I've had several different websites where I've posted lessons and video instruction in the past. This is the current one I'm working on. Everything is just being put out there for anyone that might benefit from it at this point. (Some content may be reserved for students in the future.) Maybe there will be some way to monetize something like this in the future also, but that's not my concern at this point. I just want to get better at doing video lessons, building the site, and get more internet presentation under my belt. I started thinking that if I committed to posting a lick lesson a day for a year, I'd have a good number of video lessons out there. I will also continue to add other lessons that are not in the 365 lessons during the year. So, I started posting my "365 Guitar Licks with Bob Porri" lessons on youtube and linking from my website. You are welcome to visit the website and the video links and share any thoughts here that you think might help. I don't mind increasing the quality as the number of lessons progress and then maybe getting back to earlier ones (maybe) later on. The older videos I did a number of years ago (the ones with some titling if you see some of those), lost a ton of quality in the video conversion process. I should be able to redo those from the original recordings at some point. The current ones are much better video even though they are just done with my webcam, but still not where I'd like them to be. However, I'm hoping that the material presented will in any case be helpful to some guitar players. If you just check out one video, the most current one (Lick 8) where I show some Hendrix style licks I thought was about the most concise so far. Some of the longer earlier ones of the 365 lessons tend to involve some extent of rambling which I'm trying to do better with going forward. I also decided with the 365 lessons, not to do a lot of editing if any. If I did, it would take me more time than I have and I'd rather be presenting the lessons. These are intentionally presented with little or no editing in mind and I think sort of come off informal and like sitting in on a real lesson.... I think.

Anyways, if you have the time you can visit http://www.bobporri.com and help me out with website and/or video ideas.

Obviously I'm doing this on my own (I'm using Godaddy website tools), so even though I'd like to, I'm really not thinking of getting a professional website designer, at least not now.

Thanks for any help.

Bob P.

[deantaylor]

Hey Bob,

You are on the right track. Pretty good start.

I thought the Lick 8 video was pretty good. Like you said .. better vid quality in the future .. and always strive to be as concise/short as possible. Pretty good as is.

As for the website design .. a more engaging font might be nice .. and less text .. maybe not so much paragraph form, more bullet or box summary form. Example:

Instead of:
You can contact me anytime through email or phone (860-680-1490) about private guitar lessons locally or if you're in a different area about guitar lessons via webcam.

Shorten to:
Private guitar lessons: locally or via webcam
Contact me: email or phone (860-680-1490)

A BIO tab at the top would be nice. I found the bio, but had to search.

2 cents.

Dean

[bobporri]

Dean, definitely the kind of helpful comments I'm looking for. Thanks.

Bob P.

[HectorRContreras]

Dear Bob, I am so very impressed !

What an amazing amount of work you are putting in all this indeed.
Your work is regular also, I can see that you rarely miss a week, for instance. It gives the Listener/Pupil the confidence and reassurance that the Teacher will follow through till the huge task is completed. This is important.

I visited your Website :
http://www.guitarlessonsct.com/Guitar_T ... bsite.html
And your YouTube Channel :
https://www.youtube.com/user/bobp3/videos

I like the clarity of your Website, it gives all the necessary information in a neat way.

And I like the sound of your Voice when you are teaching. It is warm and calm. You do all this with great simplicity, it is never confusing, and ...there is no error !

I like the idea of the light Black curtain behind you, it makes it all even more tranquil and relaxing.

We feel that the Lessons are to the point in a fine way, and that the most important is the Music, the Guitar, and to listen well, and to even practice as you talk, because your pace is rightfully slow.

Now I have a (brilliant?) idea !

Our very good Boss, dear Michael, was pondering about this year Road Rally Gift Prize, whether it would be some cash, or one of the magnificent Paul Reed Smith Guitars.
And we voted.
So far the majority of the votes go to the ... Guitar !

Well, one person or two said, ... yes but no, because I do not play the Guitar.

http://forums.taxi.com/topic128554.html

Now is the time to send a note to Michael, telling him what you do, dear Bob !

Likewise, Michael will be able to say to the Prize Winner, if he or she is not a Guitar player : "do not worry, one of our Members is an excellent Guitar Teacher, and we have put the Links to his on line Lessons inside the Guitar case."

That will put a smile on everyone face !

[andygabrys]

nice Bob.

checked out Lick 8 - sounds like you are distorting the input on your audio capture (iphone or camera or whatever you are using). If you have the capability I would try to mike the amp and capture it in your DAW to keep it clean.

or try a video app like "MoviePro" which has an audio input level control. At least you could roll it down a little bit and hopefully keep the track clean and later make some volume rides (and use a limiter for output) in your DAW and re-sync to the video.

HTH.

[bobporri]

Catherine,
Thanks so much for everything you said. Nothing ventured nothing gained certainly makes your idea about sending Michael an email a good one. There are so many guitar lessons people are doing out there on the web, I'm glad if even some of what you said comes across in what I'm doing and can make what I want to do a little different.

Andy,
Thanks for your suggestions. In the short term, I can at least watch my levels going in more closely, especially the guitar levels. I am basically playing through Amplitube and my KRK 8" studio monitors. I'm using a Logitech c910 Webcam including it's mic and recording using Quicktime Pro. Also using Quicktime Pro for the conversions. I have not been going through my DAW (just using Amplitube as standalone and using the built-in webcam mic for sound). I notice many of the videos are peaking out at points on playback and I have to lower the players volume. I'm certain it's the guitar levels. I could easily spend more time editing on the more substantial lessons that are not part of the daily lick lessons. But the daily ones I want to be a quick shoot, convert, and upload thing. That said, I'm sure I can introduce a few other things into the workflow if it will make an improvement in quality. I do have a video camera that can do better with the image quality, but unfortunately, it won't allow me to use my computer monitor to view what I'm recording live with the basic USB connection cables I have. Thinking about it more, I may end up trying to work out something with my DAW and a good mic. I'm also sure there are video connections I could buy for my video camera that would allow me to use it and monitor on the computer, I just don't have these things yet. You do have me thinking about the quality of everything more. It will be OK with me if at Lick #99 suddenly the quality is dramatically improved. (Like when the Wizard of Oz changes to color ).

Bob

[bobporri]

I'm still at this and in particular the 365 Lick Project. I haven't missed a day yet. Up to Lick 75. It is taking way more time than I thought it would (at least an hour, often more a day, but it is a good learning experience for me too). I thought I'd give this a shameless "bump".

http://www.bobporri.com

Thanks for indulging me.

Bob P.

[Piewackit1]

Bob,

Very cool videos. I think zooming in on the neck would be cool and helpful. I'm going to re-learn some of these licks thanks to you.

[mobster85]

Nice Bob. Im gonna go back and re learn some of these. Just need clarity in the sound.

[bobporri]

Thanks guys. I basically turn on the webcam, set a volume that doesn't usually clip and then just go. I might be able to do something with one of Andy's suggestions for sound by running the audio through my DAW to get some basic limiting. Right now it's just the webcam mic picking up the guitar and voice. I really have to keep it as simple as possible with minimal editing for the sake of time. I try to keep the time I use down to an hour or so a day, but between recording, doing tab, uploading to youtube and my website etc. it's been challenging.

On Lick 68 I did start using a zoom for the neck view. As I get further into these, I'll try to improve the quality of sound and video if I can.

The general idea is to show how to build licks to play a solo but it's not set up as a step 1, step 2 type thing. So far, along with some of the licks which are just basic staple type cliche things, some of the groups of lessons (such as 60-69 where I broke down a blues solo) seem to have been helpful for some of my students. I'm learning a bunch about doing this and hopefully some of these will be helpful for some.

Bob P.