Learn to play Celtic guitar accompaniment with confidence
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What’s the Plan?
The Beating Hearth brings together guitarists who desire to play Celtic accompaniment, but have struggled in finding a teacher or with practicing consistently, to obtain the skills, the habits and the encouragement they need to step confidently into live session playing or gigging.
Be welcomed into the Beating Hearth
Take part in lessons
Practice with others
Play weekly in live or online sessions
Get help and feedback through direct messaging, community interaction and Zoom group calls
Play confidently at a session or gig
Imagine being able to show up at a session, receive smiles as you are recognized, and then take your guitar out as you grab a seat at the table eager to join in.
How do you get to that point though? Surely it takes years and years of learning; hour after hour of practice; and on top of that, a lot of guts to take that seat?
Going it alone is hard. Learning Celtic guitar together will get you your seat at the table much sooner than you think.
How are you supposed to find that time when your life is already busy and, are you supposed to just jump into a random session when you think you might be ready?
These are the questions that can hold you back indefinitely if you can’t find a teacher and if the only other way you see to get there is to try to teach yourself. Even with a teacher, you still need to find time to practice, and to do that well, you will need to constantly inspire yourself. There is a very good chance that you will struggle to stay motivated, get frustrated, get disheartened, and maybe never reach your goal of playing Celtic music well.
But in a community, you are surrounded by other people working on goals just like yours. You can lean on them, learn from them, be held accountable by them, and most importantly, be motivated and encouraged by them.
For over 20 years, I have been teaching people how to play DADGAD accompaniment and, just like learning to play, my methods and ability to teach effectively developed over time too.
I could see how inspired people were when they came together to learn at workshops and festivals, but how that inspiration could easily wane when they returned to normal life. This was even true of some people that continued with private lessons – there was always a time when being motivated to practice was incredibly difficult. Those that tried to self teach themselves using online videos, DVDS, or method books struggled even more (and eventually tried private lessons after a while).
With all this in mind, I realised that learning this type of music works so much better when we are able to surround ourselves with other people that inspire us whenever we need them to – and that is what the Beating Hearth does.
These insights were affirmed when I started looking into a way to host such a community. From Mighty Networks founder, Gina Bianchini, I learned that:
Community is the single best way to build new practices and change habits, which are essential to creating the lives we want.
If you absolutely know that you want Celtic guitar playing in your life, the Beating Hearth Community will give you the accountability and motivation you need to make practicing a regular part of your week.
Community is the single best way to pursue results and transformation.
The Beating Hearth Community surrounds you with fellow Celtic music lovers and expert mentors whose constant connection to you will remove the struggle of trying to learn alone.
Community is the single best way to navigate rapid change and uncertainty.
The Beating Hearth will build up your playing confidence step by step so that, one day in the near future, you will have no trouble at all taking your guitar out of its case and joining in playing with a bunch of strangers or a player that you greatly admire.
Beating Hearth Lessons
Unlimited access to lessons
New content in every lesson
Self paced AND cohort learning
Learning support available daily
Regular feedback given on progress
Unlimited video submissions to mentor and peers
Connect with other musicians
Performance opportunites that suit your level
Practice planning and motivation a priority
live session practice and prep a priority
No travel time or expense
Accessible anywhere at anytime
In Person Lessons
Each lesson available only once
Lesson material often repeated
Learn on teacher's availability
Only 30 mins to 1 hour support per week
Feedback once a week, in lesson
No external motivation, such as videoing
Only connect with teacher
Yearly recital in some cases
Have to motivate yourself to practice
Little or no session preparation
Have to travel to lessons
You or teacher may cancel
Online Video Lessons
Unlimited access to lessons
New content in every lesson
Self paced learning only
Little or no learning support
Feedback on video submissions only
Limited Video Submissions to Teacher
No personal connections made with others
No performance opportunities offered
Have to motivate yourself to practice
Little or no session preparation
No travel time or expense
Accessible anywhere at anytime
The Beating Hearth Offers Even More…
Well structured, methodical courses
Ear training and listening skills
Practice tracks
Direct messaging with mentor
Confidence building assignments and challenges
Supportive and caring community environment
Integrated theory
Highly detailed sheet music with tabs
About Andy
I fell in love with the Celtic scene over 25 years ago and hit the usual hurdles in becoming part of it:
- not knowing the rhythms
- not knowing what chords to use where
- building up the courage to simply take a seat in a session
- making myself start to play once I sat down
- making myself do it again after making horrendous mistakes.
I was lucky enough to have people in the area that loved the Celtic scene and nurtured me in a way that gave me the chance to develop my skills, try different things out and ask questions when I needed to. I was able to make plenty of mistakes, some private and some public, but eventually, I ended up playing and teaching worldwide. Most importantly, whenever and wherever I found myself around other Celtic musicians, I was able to connect with them through making incredible, beautiful music with them.
Course Info
Jigs Made Easy
INTRO LEVEL
Gain the skills and confidence to accompany jigs with DADGAD tuning in only 4 weeks!
Features include:
- Learning chords in the key of D major
- Mastering a jig strum
- Becoming confident enough to play with or in front of people by the end of 4 weeks
Great Glen Way
FOUNDATION LEVEL
Quickly develop the skills and confidence you need to accompany many types of tunes well in DADGAD tuning.
Features include:
- Becoming proficient at accompanying reels, hornpipes, slip jigs and more advanced jigs too.
- Mastering playing in the key of D major and it’s related modes.
West Highland Way
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Improve your skills and confidence to the point where that you have the potential to accompany about 75% of all Irish and Scottish traditional music.
Features include:
- Mastering playing in the key of G major and it’s related modes
- Carrying out more complicated strumming and picking styles
- Advancing jig and reel accompaniment abilities
- Becoming able to accompany polkas and marches.