Ragacourses PRIME Membership
Get 1 month or 1 year access to 100s of focused lessons.
The library keeps growing. Scroll down to see all modules and how to join.
Questions?
shyam@musicianself.com
WhatsApp (Sreenath): +91 828 1234 828
A student said: “A decent guitar costs INR 10,000. The best guitar education costs only a fraction.”
Why this exists
- Learn to play the music you care about. No need to follow unfamiliar western lessons.
- We show the usual mistakes that stop beginners and experienced players, and how to correct them.
- Play your favorite songs even as a beginner. We show variations based on your current skill.
- YouTube creates distraction and confusion. Here you get a clear lesson plan and access to all courses.
- Quality before quantity: it is better to play one song well than ten songs with mistakes. Use our checklists.
- Error-based practice: progress comes from knowing what to fix. We show common errors based on decades of teaching.
I do not sell random notes and chords. Real change comes from small technical details and clear understanding. I show those details.
If you want to play like me (Shyam), you need the specific methods I use. Normal classes are not designed for this level of fluency.
Your interest
- You want to play Indian raga (Carnatic) and film songs the way they are sung.
- You want to play chords and rhythm for your favorite songs, fluently and with ease.
- You are interested in fingerstyle, chord melody, finding chords and notes yourself, and raga improvisation.
Make real progress
Progress comes from what happens between notes and inside small movements.
- We focus on note accuracy, clean transitions, finger logic, phrasing, posture, strokes, wrist and thumb control.
- We teach rhythm using proven patterns. You learn fluency before complex theory. You learn the practical theory working musicians use.
- You learn how to practice for results. Mistakes become information. We use simple methods from teaching science and project management.
Avoid one-size-fits-all teaching.
If you want to play Indian music, generic exercises waste time. We help you define your goal and follow a direct path to it.
Every learner is different.
Progress does not come from mindless repetition. You need the right lessons, corrections and mindset. We give that mix.
A focused learning project
Good teaching is problem-solving. You get a clear list of what to change, even if you have only 5 minutes to practice. We plan like a project with clear results.
You learn the underlying skills and competencies that make all music easier, while learning real songs that matter to you.
Your talent, age and ability
Skill grows with correct steps. Most students are 35+, some are 50+, and one student is 80+. Age is not a limit. Small physical corrections remove delay and improve fluency. The exact steps matter, and we give them.
What you get
Notes, tabs, chords – from beginner to fluency, plus direct help planning your practice.
Structured material
- Notes, tabs, chords – beginner to fluency
- Usual mistakes, finger + phrasing details, needed theory
- Carnatic and other song lessons
Personal guidance
Chat access to Sreenath (associate teacher) anytime – for clarity, finding material, and planning your practice.
Fundamentals, best practices, checklists
- For beginners or if you’ve played for some time
- Slides + fluency techniques
- Rhythm + chord correctness + connectedness
- Finger style, sing with chords
- Carnatic + film song playing
- Ear training
Exercises + practical theory
- Note clarity + fluency
- Rhythm connectedness + efficiency
- Chord patterns + logical approaches
- Finding chords, notes, rhythms
- Singing with rhythm
- Carnatic + film song playing
All access under one login. Mix and match based on your need.
Built from decades of real life teaching experience and student feedback.
Note: the library is VERY BIG.
Like a real library, we assist you and get you the exact lesson. We help you create your
unique lesson plan and learner path. You can ask anytime.
- Instant access to core videos: login is auto-created and emailed the moment you join
- Unique learner path for the next months – no wasted time, energy, money
- Chat access to associate teachers whenever you need help
Who am I?
I am Shyam. You may have seen my videos on YouTube: shyammonk & musicianself, where 100s of detailed free videos and tutorials are given.
I live in Germany, and work with composing, music-related work, instruction, and teaching methods.
I faced difficulties with available teaching methods when I started at 11. So I built frameworks that move a student from where they are to where they want to be – not generic try-to-fit-all methods.
Based on your next 1%, your errors, and deliberate corrections, we move to your goal fast, while keeping fundamentals and underlying mechanics strong.
Why this offer?
I spent decades learning and teaching this content this way. I want it accessible for as many as possible. If you have a guitar or plan to buy one, this bundle is the addon you need to really use that guitar.
- No more YouTube whirlpool, guessing, frustration, quitting
- No more struggling with generic material not made for Indian style
- Instead: freedom, without doubting your skills and talent
Get Courses & Corrections
No automatic renewal – One-time payment. Immediate access to all courses. Learner path + Chat access to Sreenath
Course Access
- Access all Courses
Your login and password are automatically created and emailed within 2 minutes of joining.
Shyam’s videos are very detailed. Sometimes you may not identify your mistakes. Usual mistakes are anticipated, extremely useful corrections given within the lessons – student
Email me your goals to shyam@musicianself@gmail.com once you have joined. I will send your unique learner path for best long term and short term results.
Chat with Sreenath teacher You may have seen his youtube videos. Ask him for guidance – what to practice first, how…
Not sure if it is right for you? Maybe we are NOT the right fit. Maybe we are the best. Till we test it, these are just hypotheses. Try it!
Is it worth it?
- you don’t want to waste time, trying to figure out what you should practice, second guessing your path.
- you don’t want to keep playing more notes, instead want to start sounding musical.
- Get a plan and support from someone who has walked the path themselves, and guided 100s of others. Confidently reach your goals.
- this is not generic guitar instruction – it is directly for your goals in Indian guitar playing or rhythm chord playing.
- No waste of time effort and money – you are using it to the best with focused, deliberate practice methods.
- My students learn in a few months what I couldn’t do in 3 years as I started. If I had this course when I started, I could build on them without confusion.
- That is why I am offering this course to you. So that you don’t have to struggle and suffer with confusion instead can gain clarity and focus on what matters. 🙂
Teaching/learning success is in the details
I have been playing the guitar for 33 years. Most learning methods blame lack of progress on talent. In reality the problem is the lack of structured science based teaching. Imagine if we were told that we didn’t have the talent to write with a pencil…We are here to help created actual change in your playing.
Convenient MODULES of Focused lessons
Just a few recent lesson examples, out of 100s…:
Basics to advanced exercises and topics for every day practice
- no more youtube whirlpool; focused material
- have 5 minutes? just sit, practice, knowing you are progressing in the right direction
- want to play Indian music? Learn guitar playing towards what you are really interested in instead of generic exercises that make you quit
Guitar fundamentals
- how to hold the guitar? What is the best angle and position?
- plectrum or hand? what is the angle of contact? up and down or other?
- what to start with? What is sustain and connected playing? Why is it important to play music instead of notes?
- follow the best practices and be confident about your guitar playing
- fingering exercises, finger freedom
Indian guitar basics
- Progressing from being a note player to Indian style fluency techniques
- sustained and connected playing techniques
- checklists and best practices on executing the 3 basic indian guitar playing elements successfully
- finger level exercises, fundamentals like thumb use for efficient playing
Rhythm Chord basics
- smooth transitions using underlying mechanics
- finger change priority to prevent stuck chord change
- common finger and finger group movement
- automation of rhythm hand
- conscious playing connecting the chord shapes to the root notes
- pattern based understanding of chords – how you need to practice only 3 chords to generate all the other chords. Don’t waste your time learning different chords when they are all the same pattern.
- basic chord theory. the patterns on paper
Guitar skill growth & Fluency
- scales, notes, exercises
- slide exercises
- 2 notes, 3 notes different directions etc
- hammer on pull off phrases and exercises,
- combination slide, hammer on, pull off exercises
- real song phrases practice from simple to advanced
- raga phrases
- techniques to remove delay and bring the song together
.
Rhythm chord exercises, patterns, methods
- varied rhythm exercises in different timings and patterns. e.g. Detailed Rumba & other fingestyle + pick rhythm exercises
- obsess on fluency, clarity, accent, regularity using underlying techniques
- Monk style snare sound rhythm techniques, fret hand accenting
- automated rhythm hand freedom exercises
- Chord knowledge. e.g. using 4 note chords instead of basic triads
- minor 7 instead of minor, major 7th or minor 7th instead of major and minor chords and more
Sing while rhythm
- skills and subskills
- why downstroke consistency matters
- automated rhythm, lyrics entry points
- dividing the basic to more rhythm patterns
- syllable matching to downstrokes: what is lyrics offset, continuing rhythm after words, how to start singing before rhythm
- simple rhythm variations to start syncing words and playing. improve independence and sync
- the usual mistakes and corrections
- time and rhythm division exercises to understand container rhythm and content phrases
Fingerstyle and Chord Melody exercises
- thumb and finger freedom and independence exercises
- TIMI RIMI method
- speed development exercises
- melody playing and then strumming, connecting the melody and rhythm chord
- understanding melody and bassline relation
- basic exercises extending chord to melody
- harmony and melody connection and execution
- rhythm and chord melody exercises
- bass movements based on simple chords and fingerpicking
- melody and bass line changing exercises
Chord knowledge and practice
- Smart chords – the only three patterns
- deriving barre chords from open chords
- 7th and other chords using basic pattern
- root to chord connection to avoid rote memorization
- more updates on the topic including various exercises to cover numerous situations
Ear training exercises
- Understanding intervals, interval training with assessments and quiz
- Get rid of mechanical interval training, instead use real life song situations
- Graded from 0 to more complex
- Can also be used to train your singing
- Separates relative note finding (relevant) from random absolute first note finding
- Training using relevant phrases, note groups, immediate memory and recall
Carnatic lessons
- Major to mayamalavagowla
- level 01 Sreegananatha
- Level 02 swara sreegananatha
- Level 03 Lyrics version
- Level 04 full Lyrics version with slide
- Padumanabha, kereyaneeranu, Kundagowra, Varaveena, Kamalajathala, Mahaganapathim.
- Further learning is better done with a teacher – request when time.
and more…