Terry,

How to win at roulette? The best way to increase your chances of winning is to play a martingale system. I studied roulette as a young man before going to Las Vegas. The first thing I learned was, you may not win, but there are things you can do to increase your chances of leaving with more money in your pocket than was there when you came. I did. Some luck, one of the luckiest things was, I learned how to increase my luck.

No one can teach you to play guitar. Those same musical tools you got at your lessons were no guarantee that you'd ever learn music. People can teach, but students might not learn. It's like roulette. Or let's take golf as another example.

Say two people want to learn golf. They both go to the same instructor, buy the same clubs, read the same books and practice the same amount. One of them is me, and one of them is Tiger Woods. So, I should say, logically, that no one can teach golf? Yes. But it is illogical to say no one can learn golf from a teacher.

People learn in different ways. As a teacher, my enthusiasm is sparked by the amazing thrill that happens when I see a student have that "Aha!" moment. When the lightbulb goes off in their head and they finally "get" it. Often it takes several different approaches. With music theory, for example, I may have to present traditional theory, Nashville numbers, solfeggio, relate it to shapes formed on the guitar or piano, relate it to songs they know. The student may give up in exasperation. I don't. Not until they "get" it.

For songwriting, can it be learned? I know it can. I've had great teachers, have taken classes in creative writing, have read books and a large number of articles. I still do. I've never paid for any since the creative writing class at the university, but I'm not against teachers making a living, I'm just cheap. I haven't had big success, but I get ASCAP checks and have had songs cut by well known indie artists, gotten things on fairly major tv shows, have been invited to write with grammy award winning writers, and have five songs coming out on a new album by an artist who had nine number one Billboard country hits. I could have done none of this if I hadn't learned. If I hadn't read as much, learned from other writers. Did I have a "natural penchant" for songwriting? Yes, but teachers helped me develop it.

All the Best,
Mike

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music