Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Hi Tomo,

It's definitely been a pleasure to discover your YT videos this year on my 30 years of playing guitar. I starting learning when I was 18 years old and I was always on and off, most off for years and years. Decades later during COVID I got the guitar bug once again and have since stuck with it for the past few years and made lots of progress and turned into a relatively competent player for a high beginner/low intermediate player. But I felt stuck in the same place for about a year or so and never really got better.

After many YT videos and many online teachers I didn't really start to get to that next level until you YT videos. I have to say I loved the systematic, thoughtful way you teach guitar. What really made me improve was the focus on fundamentals, learning instead of memorizing and having fun without judging or comparing yourself to others.

I decided to take the plunge and subscribe to Guitar Wisdom and after about a month I'm already seeing the progress I wanted to make. Learning triads, the notes, the intervals, singing with them really is helping me understand the guitar fret board and the theory behind playing. It's so fun now to see my favourite artists play live and then I'm like oh they are playing that triad! I also love the technique section the most at the moment. As I could never afford and still can't afford a teacher you videos are helping me be a quieter player in terms of changes and the squeaking sounds are slowing going away. The 1 3 b7 swing, the bends, the muting techniques etc. are starting to make me a noticeably better player. Theory is fun now and I'm singing away to scales, and chords and drop-2 voicings lol. Never thought I'd be doing that :)

Anyway Tomo, I want to say thanks for your teaching method and your spirit of taking it slow or taking a step back to take a step forward and not comparing yourself to others. It's given me a direction and a positive mindset to keep learning guitar. I'm looking forward to the rest of your tutorials and videos. I can't wait to see where this will take me. Exciting! Thanks, Tomo!

Sincerely,

MJS

Thank you for subscribing Guitar Wisdom
Thank you for sharing!

Basically YouTube is more entertainment and anyone can be a guitar teacher on internet! No need any license like a doctor etc.

Thanks so much for your kind words. I really take my job very seriously as an educator. I have been teaching guitar at Berklee since 1993 so I have a lot of experiences & saw so many personalities & so many bad habits.

I try to focus on foundation and less items at time. I am still working my teaching skills. Never ending! So much fun!
Yes! You got it! Triads = Name of notes / Intervals / So Mi So (Singing) = 3 things to understand deeply! Not shapes!

R 3 7 / R 7 3 chords. Swing Groove. Left hand muting skill. Right hand wide strumming! This part was a huge for teaching John Mayer! You can tell why John can keep improving his rhythm guitar skill... this is why? Solid foundation.

This is where ...most YouTuber or internet online teachers provide backing tracks, PDFs... so they can get more subscribers!
I give a few choices of important techniques & important foundation, plus good assessments for our subscribers!

Now I teach Juanes & Tom Misch via monthly Skype lessons. They are so happy! That makes me so happy!

You're very welcome! My pleasure! Thank you so much!
Please enjoy your guitar journey here at Guitar Wisdom!

Tomo

I think you hit it on the head Tomo. After learning with your videos here and on YT I realized I have developed many bad habits like hand position on the neck, pressing down on the frets too hard (had a terrible set up guitar for decades), or playing with too much string noise, among many other ones you highlight on your videos. That will only take you so far.

I'm an educator too and I love that you also take your job as a teacher seriously while also having fun. Thanks again Tomo! Have a great day!! Made my day that you replied :)