How music is changing.

I still remember a trip I made around 1984 … I was about 14, and some friends and I went from my house in Carpi (Modena) to San Giovanni in Persiceto (Bologna), changing buses a few times. Why? Because there was a guitarist who could play the solo of “The Wall”! We went to his house and he showed us, “playing along” with the record. It was fantastic! He could bend the strings and knew at least two or three pentatonic positions! We went home delighted!
Today, all you kneed to do is go online and download hundreds of video lessons, pdf files, tablatures, tutorials on sound … the list is endless!
How can anyone be against the availability of such a vast amount of information, much of which is free? Impossible!
Not only am I pro-Internet, but the World Wide Web is the vehicle that allows me to communicate with my “virtual students”. As soon as I do anything, I immediately upload it for feedback. Before I finish a teaching manual, I often publish the presentation (video, audio or text) … and then wait to see what people say to understand if I can better incorporate my audience’s needs.
Plus, the Internet is always right there, ready and waiting! Just think: I’ve been a musician for years now: I’ve been on television with major artists and have participated in different TV shows. But ever since my “Guitar Manual” has been on YouTube and gotten several million clicks (that’s right: as of October 2009 the most viewed lesson topped 420,000 clicks and the total for all the lessons is more than 3.2 million!), I’ve been asked to sign lots of autographs after being asked: “Aren’t you the one who teaches guitar on the Internet?” It’s happened to me while queuing at the cinema, sitting on the train … and these people don’t even know that I’ve played on important records or performed with international artists. I’m simply the one who “teaches guitar on the Internet”! Even if we consider that some people have probably watched the same video several times, this still means that there are at least 300,000 “virtual” students out there!
So what can we say about the statement that the Internet is the source of all piracy? Personally, I say that piracy is a cultural problem and has nothing to do with the means for accomplishing it. The guitar manual I mentioned is the most viewed on the Internet, but since 2007 it has also been the best-selling one in Italy. Therefore, my quest to offer a lot of material – high-quality material – at what is considered a fair price has been successful!
The problem for a young musician – and without getting into other areas – is that the Internet “has everything”. And having absolutely everything is a bit like having nothing at all. It’s like having a phonebook that’s not in alphabetical order.
I meet a lot of young people at my seminars, and when we talk and I suggest some tutorial video, they often respond, “I already have it”. Then, after we talk a little more, it turns out that many of them have countless gigabytes of learning material on their hard disks, but they’ve never absorbed it. It’s like a race to see who can download the most: “I have 300 GBs of tutorials”, “I’ve downloaded the pdf files of all the booklets”, “I’ve got 250,000 songs on my MP3 player”.
All too often the things that are downloaded for free, without paying a cent, are worth exactly what you pay for them: nothing! There’s no love behind them, no attention, no scruples: “After all, it’s free and I can download it again whenever I want”.
For example, when you buy a method with a DVD, there’s that moment when you leaf through the booklet, take the DVD out of its case and put it into the DVD reader: these moments are “preparatory” for acquiring new data. Let’s not forget that when you buy something and have thus paid for it, you try to make the most of what it has to offer.
In short, the Internet? Yes, please! But with a guide!

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