Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Hugo - Likewise! I just joined but have been reading the comments/threads, and really like how everyone replies in line with thoughtful comments and videos. I agree about commonalities in these songs, and wonder how each of these guitarists, some singers, songwriters, session musicians, or band mate found their voice. Like how Keith Richards transforms his sound from 60s blues into 80s modern rock while maintaining his sonic signature. Or how Elliot Easton finds room to be an individual contributor to the sound, while always serving the song. This motivates me to learn.

Linda - Trying to beat the algorithm! :) Agree completely. I spent most of my practice time last night thinking about who, what and why - a difficult challenge to narrow down. I thought I would start broad and narrow down to 5 or 3. I am not sure how to get there. It's a tough assignment.

Tomo - First, thank you so much for engaging with learners. You are very gracious with your time. Your question is like a circuit break to disrupt thinking patterns (think in terms of limitations). I started practice in January every night with mindless following of Gibson App. I discovered your YouTube early March and started doing basic chromatic scale, 1212, and C Major on one string exercise every night. Since joining GW I have worked on these same exercises but more slowly, paying close attention. And writing down in a notebook :)

You're very welcome Jordan! Thanks for sharing your experience. Very important to set your time for practice. 10 mintues or 15 minutes or when you end. So you know your plan before you start. This way you will not burned out. Limitation is so important too. Great work! Slowly and focus more in depths. Little note book will help you deeply!

Tomo

I was tempted to handwrite this and post the pictures, but I don't want to force you all to decipher my handwriting. I'm relatively new to GW.

1. List your influences (5 artists)

Narrowing this down to five is hard, as others have noted, and I'm cheating a bit by listing two bands where I can't separate out which guitarist is playing which part. The themes are American roots, and neo-psychedelia:

* Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
* 
Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes (The Church)
* 
Mark Gardiner and Andy Bell (Ride)

* Erin McKeown
 (songwriter and multi-instrumentalist)
* Josh Ritter
 (songwriter)

2. 5 favorite CDs, favorite song from each artist

Single songs:

* North South East West by the Church
* 
Blackbirds by Erin McKeown
* Getting Ready to Get Down by Josh Ritter
* Crawling Back To You by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

* Vapour Trail, Ride


I would make different choices if I was picking entire albums. And probably different choices next week.

3. What is your strength as a player?

I’m in this to have fun. I’ve played different kinds of instruments (piano/keyboards, trombone, handbells, a tower carillon) so I read notation relatively well and I can pick up basics quickly. (Put another way: I’m generally not great at anything but I’m pretty OK at a lot of things.) I’ve learned to take notes on what’s working well and what’s not on a given day.


4. What is your weakness as a player?
It feels like “everything,” a lot of the time. I have trouble getting beyond the basics. I don't know a lot of theory. Lots of fingering is difficult for me: bar chords (I struggle to bar more than three strings on an acoustic) or widely spread fingerings. I didn’t learn finger picking patterns the first time around (and I’m finding it hard to build the right-hand coordination to use them now). I do not have a strong ear for pitch, so I can (sometimes) hear when something sounds “wrong” but I can’t identify notes or chord inversions by ear (yet?)


5. List your gear (guitars, amps, effects, strings, picks, etc.)

A Gibson B-25 Natural acoustic (bought new by my mother in the ‘60s). I'm not sure what strings are on it; I think they're Martin. This has been my primary practice instrument for months.

A Yamaha Pacifica PAC612 electric (selected for nostalgic reasons) into a Fender Mustang LT25 amp. (Also currently the strings that were on it when I bought it.) This is "easier" to play (much lower action, lighter strings) but also hides some things.
I have a vintage Fuzz Face pedal which needs a little debugging and repair before it can be used again. 

A cheap ukulele (I think the second fret is slightly misplaced, anything with a note on the second fret sounds wrong even when the strings are tuned)

I used to play the lightest picks I could get (and frequently broke them) - I liked the Dunlops with the tortoise logo, and still have a few. Now I'm trying stiffer picks with a lighter grip.

6. What is your goal? Any additional comments?

I was a self-taught guitarist back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and probably self-taught myself some bad habits. I gave it up for decades and am just coming back with more patience for practicing and filling in a good foundation. There’s a lot of room in music to explore, and I need a little structure so I don’t just wander off without a plan.

I've been working my way through the B videos; I know the chords but I'm finding useful details in each one anyway. (I didn't know the difference between a 9th and a sus2 before!) I've been doing the chromatic scale (1234) for a few months but just started the 1212 version last week. Learning the triad shapes, but I think I need to dig in to the ET and FT videos to put some more structure behind the triad practice.

Thank you Parker for sharing your profile! When I teach at Berklee and my tape lessons …I only accept as hand written. Don’t worry here! This is so good! Very hard to narrow down and if you do…you will learn something very special! So easy to list up more names but more you do… you cannot focus something deeply. Good job!

You can work on your foundation so I highly recommend to watch “Essential Music Theory” section from first one! Very very important! Never assume anything! Just in case… You can learn anything and you don’t need to hurry at all! I didn’t have any great pitches either. You can train that too.

I love vintage Gibson acoustic guitar very much. Please learn intervals and triad inversions. One String One Finger approach too! You can fill in these areas. Good job working on Chromaric scale exercises. Learn intervals on chords.

Tomo

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment to welcome all of you who shared your questionnaire responses - Hugo, Nemanja, Jordan, Parker - and everyone else who’s been part of this thread. It’s really great to see the thought and honesty you’re bringing here. That’s a big part of what makes this community special.

Each of you is coming in with a different background, but there are some common threads:
- A genuine curiosity about music and how it works
- A desire to build real fundamentals (not just learn songs)
- An awareness that there’s a lot to learn and that it can sometimes feel overwhelming

One thing Tomo keeps coming back to (and you’ll see it reflected throughout this thread) is the idea of limitation and focus.

It’s very natural to want to cover a lot: more songs, more techniques, more theory, more gear...

But real progress often comes from doing the opposite: choosing a few important things and going deep with them.

That’s why you’ll keep seeing the same core ideas:
- Chromatic exercises
- One String/One Finger (major scale)
- Triads
- R37 Swing Groove

These aren’t just “basic exercises” - they're the foundation for everything else. The more time you spend with them, the more things start to connect naturally.

Some things we’ve been noticing as a community:
- Depth > breadth - do one thing at a time and go deeper, not wider
- Consistency > intensity - a short daily practice you can stick to beats occasional long sessions
- Quality > quantity - focus on sound, feel, and attention rather than how many things you “get through”

Learning guitar isn’t something to optimize or rush through. It’s about spending time with music, getting familiar with it, and gradually learning to speak the language.

In many ways, it’s a journey that never really ends. Tomo often says he is a forever student, and that mindset is really at the heart of everything here.

So for everyone who has responded, and anyone new reading along, please hear this:
Wherever you are in your journey, just know you’re in a good place. Take your time, stay focused, and keep going one day at a time. We are here to support each other.

Looking forward to seeing all of your progress!
Sammi

Thanks much Sammi. These points really deserve pinning. Limitation, focus, continuous learning and practising - we need to do them all. I felt deeply on the effectiveness of practising slow and thinking before/while practising (alongside proper guidance of course). Once we keep processing repeatedly on a video/topic, it translates very well into other songs that I play.

Besides, be honest with ourselves: e.g. for triads, can we instantly react and play different inversions and positions, calling out notes based on their interval, or even connecting "shapes" together freely? How can we play them if we do know. There's always a way to improve - never ending.

As always, looking forward to more sharing and interactions with everyone here.

[EDIT: Truly appreciative of the sustained passion on everything - all of us. It's definitely not easy.]

Hugo

Thank you Hugo! Music, guitar is so deep! One at a time. Looking forward t everyone's guitar journey! Triads are amazing! Very musical and so effetive! You will be able to hear "Tone of triads" (Specific positions/string set) Once you hear that sound...the sound will connecting "Shapes"

Tomo

G'day GW and Team Tomo (Tomo-sensei, Sammi and George)!

I’m Alex. After reading through some of your backgrounds and goals, I thought I’d join in as well. I also wrote this in my Guitar Wisdom diary so I can come back to it one day and see how far I’ve come.

1. List your influences (5 artists)
Toshiki Soejima
Rodrigo Gouveia
Roger Simon (the pianist)
Sleep Token
Hiroyuki Sawano

2. 5 favourite CDs + favourite song from each artist
Toshiki Soejima - Life EP - Life
Toshiki Soejima - Kimama Sessions - Georgy Porgy ft. Yus
Sleep Token - Even in Arcadia - Gethsemane
Hiroyuki Sawano - MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM Original Soundtrack - Ego
Tom Doolie - Train Tales - Train Tales

3. What is your strength as a player?
I can always hear melodies in my head when I listen to music. Some months ago, I recorded a few lo-fi tracks, also playing piano and bass on them just to get the sounds out. I'm also a very organised person, the type who can also stick to a daily routine no problem. I've never had a daily guitar routine before GW though, just played on and off over the years. Loving the diary idea!

4. What is your weakness as a player?
I struggle to highlight changes/outline changes reliably. Switching scales in the moment is hard for me. I learnt CAGED a while ago, and got stuck in key soloing. For example, I really want to hit altered sounds over V7alt-Im change for example, but I feel like I'll start in minor pentatonic then can't see where I'm going next. Also I can't sight read. I can read music, pitch of the sheet, but not rhythm. I'm not sure where that sits on my priorities but it's probably important if Tomo-sensei has a video series on it - thoughts?

5. List your gear
Artist P90 Thinline Tele AT93 (inspired by Soejima-san's Bruno TN-295), Edwards LP-CTM-BLK, Ibanez AS93
1.00 Dunlop Flow Picks
10s Elixir long-life strings
Fender Blues Jr IV
Pedals - Roshi Blacklon and Seji, Strymon Flint and El Capistan, RAT, Boss CPI-X and RC-1

6. What is your goal
To improvise freely along the neck, highlight changes and tones so I can say what I want to say in neo-soul/jazz/blues style. I will then take that music and compose/record lo-fi lounge beats at home :)

It's been an amazing few weeks since joining. Each video blows my mind more and more, I find myself wanting to go over foundations. Triads are like x-ray vision. I can finally see chord tones and feel the notes, instead of shapes. Finally free!

Thank you all for sharing and contributing! よろしくお願いします！