Testimonials

Alain Carmichael

At the beginning of his unique guitar course, Nik Tongue asks each student to complete a questionnaire. This is to help fill Nik in on each student’s playing history, frequency and methods of practice, guitar heroes and musical attitudes. Had I filled in the questionnaire after the course, many of my answers would have been completely different, so profoundly did it influence my playing, and me.

My name is Alain Carmichael. I am an experienced singer, songwriter and guitarist, having performed in Australia as well as England, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. I’ve also been signed as an artist to EMI and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. My self-taught background is based on the American folk/blues fingerpicking styles of artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Lead Belly etc.

For some time though I had wanted to learn how to play more lead-style guitar and gain some knowledge of scales and the music theory to put the two together. At the same time I was a little concerned as to whether the demystification of music would have a detrimental effect on my creativity and how I perceived and wrote music.

I then saw Nik Tongue’s Visionary Guitar course advertised. Without doubt, my decision to do the course was the best thing I’ve ever done for my music. It is difficult to encapsulate all the positive things gained from the experience. So I shall divide it into two areas: the first is Nik Tongue himself – rarely have I met such a determined, enthusiastic and giving person. As a teacher, he is inspiring and encouraging. Whatever playing difficulties you are having, he has already faced them – from every angle – and sorted them out. His frank but understanding approach makes the guitarist in you want to open up and flow out. From the first lesson, Nik takes his students under his wing and guides them through new frontiers with the right mix of leadership, information, and encouragement. And he makes it fun.

Which leads me to the second aspect: the course itself. Make no mistake; this is not something the student can benefit from without a dedicated, disciplined approach. Nik’s classroom demands an open and attentive mind. Many aspects of playing, music theory and styles are covered – all backed up by the well-structured course notes that students received each week.

In the classroom, Nik gets his information across intelligently and efficiently, whether by PowerPoint slides, playing demonstrations, or personal anecdotes. And he knows equally well when it is time for a break. An open dialogue is encouraged and students will also be required to play en masse and occasionally alone to demonstrate their understanding of the exercise. To this end, Nik creates an atmosphere of support and empathy between students, overcoming the possibility of nervousness – especially important given the different levels of ability between students.

Nothing is left to chance; Nik provides it all: tables, pens, guitar leads, and refreshments – all the student needs to do is turn up with a guitar and a desire to learn.

Only good things will come out of doing this course and the rewards of improvement will be seen from the first lesson. Friendships will be forged, minds will be opened. And the great part is that it doesn’t stop when the course does. Three months after finishing the course, my playing continues to improve daily. There’s only one way to describe Nik Tongue’s Visionary Guitar course – a massive milestone in my musical life.

Eric Cody

Within the last 3 months, I have learned more about the concepts of music than in all my 4 years of playing. The method I have now adopted starts with the most simplistic ideas, allowing me to use them as the building blocks for further study.

Previously to me the guitar fretboard seemed to be an endless stream of random notes, but after my introduction to basic music theory, the guitar took form as a system of simple shapes and patterns. Within a few short months, these patterns took my guitar playing to new heights, allowing me to break out of my musical ruts and push my goals to becoming limitless.

For the first three and a half years of my guitar playing I did not have a formal lesson. I was a self-taught player who wanted to focus on forming my own style while absorbing the many different techniques of my influences. I had great success with this, but I needed something more. As my goals and expectations grew, so did my want for a basic understanding of music. With this in mind, I searched for a teacher who would teach me to teach myself. That teacher was Nik Tongue. I was amazed that something so simple could be the answer to my most complex questions. I am now able to play any one chord in over five different places on the neck. I can also translate the chord progression of any song and play it in a completely different position, with all chords lying within a five-fret distance.

This technique then allowed me to take it a step further and apply it to my lead playing. I am currently working on changing each scale in accordance with the chord it is played over. In simpler terms, I am expanding my lead playing enormously. This new outlook enables me to stay in key at all times while being able to move all over the fretboard without restrictions. Along with this idea, Nik helped me to focus on what I personally needed to work on.

He has taught me to make the most out of my practice time, working on techniques I personally had trouble with. He introduced me to many techniques in which I was interested: left-hand strength, clarity and fluidness, right-hand speed, position and various picking techniques — and most of all their relation to each other.

In the end I can honestly say that it would take many more pages to explain what I have learned. I will use these many techniques and methods to their fullest, and will probably never stop benefiting from them. So, as a fellow guitar player I must say that Nik Tongue’s teaching style was the ultimate answer to my questions. I have greatly gained from these lessons and I hope that guitar players will take into consideration this effective and amazing view.

Geoffrey Chan

When I started taking lessons from Nik, my knowledge of the guitar was limited to a few chords. I had been playing for a little over a year and had never played a solo and had no idea how to go about it. In short, my understanding of the guitar could have been called rudimentary at best.

Nik’s advertisement promised a lot and initially I was sceptical as to whether he could truly deliver the kind of understanding and results he claimed. Not long into the first lesson I was convinced. Nik is an exceptional teacher and by that I mean that he is able to impart a comprehension of music and the guitar that makes it all seem very simple. This partly stems from the fact that his approach is integrated — everything takes its place relative to the understanding and information you already have. In the first lesson I learned about chord shapes, arpeggios and pentatonic scales, but more importantly how these elements all fit together, and subsequent lessons were built upon the use of these tools. Furthermore, Nik reinforces what is learned by means of the one standard that counts — how the notes and the music sound and feel.

A particular strength of Nik’s approach was that he didn’t just cover the material, but also delved into the manner in which we can best acquire, retain and utilise that material. His visualisation techniques were invaluable in absorbing and applying the large amount of information he provided in each lesson. One of Nik’s maxims is that “if you can’t play a piece in your head then you can’t play it on guitar.” Testing this rule has proven its truth to me and the focus Nik places on the mental side of playing has been invaluable.

Nik covers everything you need to have for a rock-solid understanding of the guitar, which can be applied to your own style, and I am hard-pressed to think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from Nik’s insight and tutelage. Indeed, I am glad that I learnt what Nik had to offer so soon after I started playing — others have told me how long it has taken them to acquire just a fraction of the knowledge Nik has to offer.

I am sure now that whatever direction I choose to take with my playing, Nik has given me the tools and understanding that allow me to get to the heart of what it is I am playing. I feel confident that I am on the path away from being just a guitar player and towards becoming a musician, and I am extremely grateful to Nik for his guidance in this regard.

Matthew E. White

Without question, Nik has the clearest solution to the “neck geometry.” By this I mean the problem of finding one’s way around the neck. Most books (and I own at least 25) provide a frustrating partial answer to this using modes or scales. To my mind, these approaches never really work. Among other things, it is very difficult to convert scalar ideas into good voice leading for chords.

Nik’s system integrates chord, scale, and arpeggio in such a way that one can instantly realise some music. The amazing thing about his method is that it is so complete, but it is also trivial to memorise. In some sense, it shows us that we already know our way around the guitar but don’t yet realize it. This has revolutionised my playing. I should also say that composition is at least as important to me as playing; Nik’s ideas have tremendously helped since I no longer spend hours searching for a chord with the right voice structure.

Nik’s method is the first I’ve seen which understands the key role played by arpeggio. Although I have read some books (e.g. one by Herb Ellis) that discuss this a bit, none of them addresses it as carefully as Nik. Arpeggio (rather than scale) really is the right way to think during improvisation. This is a case where Nik mixes power with simplicity.

The “connecting game” is brilliant; it seems to cover everything at once since it trains both rhythm and arpeggio while looking at standard chord progressions. I think about the guitar much clearer now that I have been introduced to this viewpoint. The “connecting game” is a great starting point for musical development. I should mention again that I spend a lot of time trying to write music on the guitar — I can’t believe I was ever able to do this before.

To close, let me say that there are literally thousands of different ways to think about the guitar. The trick is to pick the right one. I think this is Nik’s singular accomplishment.

Peter Kakridas

My name is Peter, I am 20 years old and I had been playing the guitar badly for 5 years before reading an advertisement placed by Nik in a newspaper. My first thoughts were that whoever placed the ad was full of shit. I mean seriously, how could someone possibly teach me more about the guitar in 10 weeks than I had learned in 5 years.

Well, I gave it a shot and have never looked back since! Nik’s methods of teaching are by far the best around, With Nik’s help and a little bit of practice every night, I learned to play the guitar better than I ever thought I could. I'm definitely no Steve Vai, but I can now improvise in any key, any mode and any style of music to a standard which I am satisfied with.

Nik’s techniques don’t just apply to soloing, they also take most of the pain away from writing, transposing and transcribing music too.

Be prepared for a bit of hard work, but otherwise be prepared to play the guitar faster, cleaner, more accurately and more audible than ever before.

Rod Mollard

Recently I attended a 10-week guitar course run by Nik Tongue. This course was a new experience for me, as I had never participated in-group learning before. Previously Ihad always had 1 on 1 instruction witha teacher.

This course opened my eyes in a big way. Not only did the group environment give the opportunity to learn things from more than 1 person but it also provided me with the chance to connect with others learning the same stuff, And this is all on top of the course content!

After learning for twelve years I still felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. Not any more! To learn guitar using The Tongue Method is a mind-blowing experience. Nikshowed me a way of viewing the guitar that was instantly understandable. His focus on patterns, rather than notes, took me from wondering if Iwas in key, to knowing I couldn't make the mistakes Thad previously. No longer was I guessing about which notes fit with which chord.

Playing Lead guitar without an understanding of how to play Rhythm is a quick way to go nowhere. Nik showed us the importance of rhythm as.a vehicle for carrying the song. He explained the concepts behind song structure in a simple and casily understood manner that gave me a comprehensive method for both creating songs & working out other songs.

His skill in sharing his knowledge was excellent, He was not only a great teacher but also a brilliant mentor being able to get the best from each person in the class.

The Tongue Method is the best system for learning to play the guitar (or improving on your existing skill) Ihave ever experienced. If you want the fastest way to get seriously good at your instrument then this is the course for you. I haven't seen better!

Adam Mannering

I would recommend Nik Tongue as a music teacher to anyone who wishes to transcend mainstream teaching methods and take a quantum leap in their experience of music. His course was not about the endless repetition of scales for their own sake, but instead, a thoroughly comprehensive exposition of tonal exploration and the myriad interrelations between all notes; particularly on the guitar, but the methods learnt can be utilized equally well on other instruments.

Nik teaches by encouraging intensive use of visualisation (which is an ineredibly powerful tool for the learning of any subject, especially music). Also, he emphasizes that music is ultimately written as a means of expressing emotion and to enable communication of ideas that cannot be verbalized by the highly limited means of the written/spoken language.

I joined the class as someone who always believed that feel was more important than the ability to play a million notes a second (Yngwie are you listening?) and this belief is shared and earnestly taught by Nik. I was already a songwriter before I joined the class but always believed that my solos and improvisations were what let me down - Nik helped me immensely in improving these by enabling me to see the guitar neck as a series of simple intersecting patterns, and by the use of his innovative practice routines, which covered everything from scales, rhythmic patterns, chord progressions and modes (his way of teaching the modes is simple and really useful for pushing the boundaries of musical exploration) to improvisations.

Like the universe in general, music has certain rules, which when known and absorbed allow all manner of creations. Yet one of the most important things he teaches is that in the end, there are no rules, and ifit feels right, do it! Of course you need to learn the rules before you can break them, and Nikimparts this knowledge via a far more efficient method than conventional teaching, with flair that makes the learning fun,

Be assured, you will never feel bored in one of Nik’s classes! Each week of his course was a joy to be a part of, and he became a great friend. The group setting of the teaching also gave birth to a number of very strong friendships between myself and a number of other students in the class.

In closing, I would like to say [believe music is a power which can change the world for the better, and Nik, can give you the tools to develop this power.

Christopher Hansford, B.Mus.

I came into Niks ten-week "Ultimate Guitar Course’ with a Bachelor of Music, 13 years experience learning guitar, and a real problem with practicing. Thad grown frustrated with the methods that I had pursued for developing my dexterity and knowledge of the fret board. Ijust couldn't focus my attention for long enough to get through the hard slog of seemingly repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Nik took me right backto the basies- even as far back as learning the octave shapes. He establishes a foundation for the player to visualise the fretboard, to literally see the “goal posts” with which to navigate through scale positions, modes and chord voicings. Visualising is the key component to his course- and though I have not mastered the discipline of practicing away from the guitar through visualisation, Ihave used it enough to vouch that it isa solid, solid concept.

The philosophy that goes along with Nik’s structure is that of riding a motorbike: you have to be fully relaxed at performing one skill before pushing your mind to grasp the next- otherwise you'll overload and crash. It took some humility for me to accept this, but the rewards of knowing the fretboard (something teachers have curiously not emphasised in the past and I have gotten away with) and learning how to develop correct finger memory were worth it.

The content of Nik’s class is born out of his own philosophies on the function of the mind and his discontent with a plenitude of guitar books/courses/ programs that deliver a whole lot of information with no guide how to apply it in real playing situations. He is passionate about teaching in an accessible way to the regular Joe; seeking to demystify music theory (although I was equipped with enough theory already) whilst stressing the importance it has for being able to write your own music and transcribe songs. I didn’t agree with everything that Nick said- he’s very opinionated and he cautioned us from the word go to take his opinions with a grain of salt. However, he always treated others and myself in the class with respect and earned ours.

Ihave made particular improvements in my timing, chord voicings, aural skills and phrasing since becoming a student of NikTongue. However, the primary benefit that I have gained is in finding a resource for developing an effective practice regime for myself, and move beyond the frustration that comes with trying to play like Steve Morse or Pat Metheny straight away

And this is what Nik’s goal is after all- not to teach a particular style, but to help people use building blocks to develop technical and creative fluency on the electrie guitar.

The “Tongue Method” is one that reaps results if the student puts visualisation into practice. Thanks Nikfor helping me to become a better player and for the fun we had along the way

setting of the teaching also gave birth to a number of very strong friendships between myself and a number of other students in the class.

In closing, I would like to say [believe music is a power which can change the world for the better, and Nik, can give you the tools to develop this power.

Mark Buttigieg

I challenge anyone to find an education system that lets the student become the teacher. Truth is, there is none; at least not until you've finished Nik Tongue’s 10 week “Visionary Guitar” course.

What do I mean? If you believe in taking control of your own destiny as a musician, guitarist, songwriter and human mechanism, then this course is for you. If you live as a good person, spreading honest, caring vibes anywhere you are, be it at a gig at the Esplanade or a house party with a few friends, this course will teach you to play your guitar in any situation anytime.

When the ten weeks were over for me, I knew exactly what techniques I needed to practice in order to become any kind of musician I wanted.

Nik always stressed, before you ever pick up an instrument again ask yourself this: Can you play with feeling? Can you translate what it is you're feeling, at any one place, situation, or mood, into music and have people pick up the vibe transparently? Or are you becoming the sort of robotic, lifeless player magazines and tablature charts ‘instruct’ you to become- monotonous? If you answered yes to feeling music, this course is definitely for you.

The course will show you what it takes to play like such technical wizards as Vai and Satriani as well as introduce you to the musical trends and patterns within the structures followed in pop, rock, blues and jazz all in the space of ten weeks.

Soloing and playing the technically correct chord for a song, in any key, is not a problem for me now. Obtaining high levels of playing speed has become a technique that I can work at, and know that Fm working at improving other things such as sixteenth note variations... things I can use in funk and jazz playing. Looking at sixteenth notes so comprehensively has given me a clearer understanding of sheet music. Song writing is something I can put down to formulas now that I understand things like the cycle of fifths, fourths and relative key change. My improvisation has improved out of sight since learning all the chords, arpeggios and scales in Major, minor, major 7th, minor 7th and dominant 7th.

Aside from everything that Nik taught me about guitar playing and music, the knowledge that the man has to share about general life experience and spreading positive energy, as an artist and as a person, is like nobody I've ever met before His class is like a refreshing swim in the salt water. Only in his ocean, you can have as much fun riding the small waves as you can riding the big tubes.

What more can I say, I'm totally hooked on Nik as a teacher, mentor and philosopher. can’t recommend The Visionary Guitar course highly enough. To experience the course will be to create music, and the creation of music will always speak for itself.

Simon Cotter

After 12 years of playing, I had developed a reasonable level of chops and played totally by ear. Even though I was at a level where I felt I could learn/play ‘almost’ any song I wanted, I still had a hard time expressing my own thoughts/ideas on the guitar.

The guitar as a form of personal statement felt stale for me.

Nik’s course provided me with a type of mind map for the guitar, enabling me to continue using my ear as the guide but providing my brain & hands with a map to the sounds,,,, chords, scales, modes, etc.

The secret for me was Nik’s technique of using numbers to relate sounds and the fact he showed very clearly HOW to use this technique, after 12 years I finally feel confident enough to slow down and be articulate with my playing.

By simply knowing the numbers I know where to go,,, and how to return with full confidence of hitting all the best notes.

This 10-week course gives you solid foundations for a lifetime of playing, my playing will never be the same again,,,, well most of my playing (it’s an ‘80s thing!)...

As for Nik, it’s not about teaching, it’s about sharing his passion (or obsession??) of the guitar. From 1 guitar junkie to another thanks for sharing those 64th notes,,,, oh yeah and those chord thingies and such,,,, big thanks for your time, effort, not making me stop (know what I mean!) and most of all your talent.

Timothy Lohrey

Life is full of decisions and the decisions we make determine the way our lives will proceed. We make good and poor decisions, some we make have more impact than others do, but all have a part to play.

The decision I made to follow up on an ad in a music rag, that claimed in ten weeks you could, “master your guitar, improvise freely in any key anywhere on the neck, play rhythm and lead and learn to see them as one, have the tools and knowledge to conquer any piece of music and much more” was one of the best decisions I have made. Mind you when I first read this ad, I laughed pretty hard and told myself I have to at least ring this guy. Sometimes doubt is the greatest obstacle.

Nik’s course is intensive... Persistence and dedication are necessary to get the greatest reward. I was an extremely poor player and spent most of my time playing with little structure and consistency. I have played around on the guitar for about 7–8 years without any great improvement.

Nik’s course has given me a system to improve, it won't happen overnight but it will happen. As a musician I have a head and heart full of songs without any real way to access and release them. Nik has given me the tools to reach this part of my soul and for this I am eternally grateful. Maybe now I won’t go insane! Maybe?

Nik is a naturally gifted teacher and his classes are full on but heaps of fun. I fully recommend this course to any aspiring players of note. To put a value on this course is an extremely difficult question to answer, for knowledge and experience are priceless commodities. Personally I can’t put a value on it for this will be with me forever.

Sincerely,

Timothy Lohrey