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

Apply to Join with a 7 Day Free Trial

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.

What Makes The Beating Hearth Method Better?

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

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Unlimited access to lessons

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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

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No travel time or expense

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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

Apply to Join with a 7 Day Free Trial

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 together.

Course Info

Courses at the Beating Hearth go further than just teaching you how to play music well and with confidence.

Our Core Courses are based upon famous hiking routes and mountain ranges found in Scotland. The level of challenge in each course matches the route or range it is named for and stunning imagery from these places appear throughout as you learn, inspiring you even more!

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

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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.

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