No! In fact, this mindset only touches on scales indirectly. I spent way too long trying to turn scales into music. I never managed. There's a saying: "Practice scales and you wind up playing scales". Melody is what I was searching for and melody is not easy to extract from scales. I found something much more useful and that's what I'm going to show you here.

No. PlaneTalk in fact goes through basic theory in plain English before moving on to describing the 'trick' to seeing your fretboard as familiar, well traveled territory. You will learn why it is so important to always know what it is you're playing and how music is structured and how easy it is to keep track of it all using the PlaneTalk mindset. It's a lot easier than you think. With lots of practice, of course.

I didn't write PlaneTalk for beginners but more for those who have mastered the basics and are now stuck. However, many beginners have bought it and tell me that they're very pleased they did, that the basic theory lesson, fretboard map and mindset it teaches have made learning much easier. I certainly wish someone had shown me this when I was starting out, it would have saved me a good fifteen years of poking around the fretboard searching for that one 'constant' I knew must be there.

No. PlaneTalk makes use of an extremely simple landmark, one you learned in the first few days of playing. Many PlaneTalkers tell me they're amazed and annoyed that they didn't 'see' it themselves. As simple as it is, its ramifications are endless and—if you're anything like me—will become the only thing you really need to be consciously aware of.

The chances of that are slim, as it's such a simple mindset. However, depending on your level of playing, you may wonder how to use the knowledge. In that case, just come to the PlaneTalkers' Community where you can ask me and many other PlaneTalkers any questions you may have. Sometimes it takes a while to see the need to have the whole fretboard at your disposal, but once you do, the PlaneTalk mindset will be yours forever more. Most PlaneTalkers say they will never need to buy another book again, that all they need now is time to refine their art.

No. PlaneTalk doesn't go into any of that. PlaneTalk, among other things, describes in plain old English a way to map out the fretboard. It teaches a mindset that you can use to improvise chordally and melodically, to literally see the endless possibilities the whole length of the fretboard ... with lots of practice, of course. I use graphics, videos, animations and common analogies to explain some aspects of music, but you won't be scratching your head over any dotted crotchets or mysterious Greek names. I don't read notation very well myself.

No. The PlaneTalk course is only about understanding how music works and how to 'see' the fretboard. The rest, like bending, slurring, pull-offs, phrasing, timing etc., is up to you. PlaneTalk will teach you the 'bottom-line' of fretboard navigation, the absolute least that you need to consciously think about when playing, something that–with plenty of practice–will point to everything else: chords, harmony and melody. I like to think of PlaneTalk as being the lowest common denominator of the logical system we call music.