Welcome

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Picking Bootcamp
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What you get at The Picking Bootcamp

How to master Rest-Stroke Picking and the 75 ARPEGGIOS you MUST know
in 18 minutes a day while building SPEED and staying LOOSE.

The 1-day LIVE bootcamp

is a concentrated space that will allow you to master Rest-Stroke Picking once and for all AND learn a clear process that will help you master ALL 75 must-have arpeggios in only 18 minutes a day. It’s a PROVEN method of learning. I ran this bootcamp several times before and the players got amazing results every single time (especially those who felt that they were stuck in the same place for years).

Why Arpeggios, then?

Arpeggios are ‘broken’ chords that set the basis for your improvisation. Mastering and visualizing Arpeggios gives you a lot of freedom to “see” and “hear” chord tones and improvise in a creative way with them.
Practicing your picking technique over Arpeggio Shapes gives you TWO main benefits:
You master the SHAPES and your TECHNIQUE at the same time!

This bootcamp is perfect for musicians at all levels:

Beginners – we will be covering the very basic movements of Rest-Stroke Picking and learning how to do it right from the start, which will save you a lot of frustration and make sure there will be nothing in your technique to hold you back.

Advanced guitarists – it’s a perfect opportunity for you to replace bad habits that are getting in your way, with the right fundamental movements so you can enjoy your playing and progress further.

Both beginners and advanced students will also adjust the right mindset of how to practice and how to build an efficient practice session that delivers great results in the fastest way possible.
(have you experienced practicing something for a long time with no significant progress? Together, we’ll put an end to that too!)

Here’s what we will cover:

• What exactly is Gypsy picking? How do you do it? Does it really make a difference to use traditional Gypsy picking rather than classic alternate picking?
• Reduce the tension in your arm while playing. With this approach, you’ll never play too hard, getting that noise and buzz from your strings, even when you get too excited and nervous.
• How to play arpeggios from high strings to low strings when you don’t use alternate picking and there is no backwards sweep, even if it seems that it’s easier with your regular picking method (alternate, flatpicking or other).
• Master an accurate technique that keeps your arm, shoulder and neck relaxed while building speed.
• Double Downstrokes – How to return from the treble to the bass string, especially when you play triplets and even if you are used to playing it with up-strokes using your alternate picking technique.
• Discover the optimal thickness for your pick and how to hold it properly and stop dropping the pick or getting it caught, which might cause you to be late for the next note.
• Get corrective feedback to eliminate the risk of practicing wrong and ingraining a technique that won’t give you the results you want.
• How to play loud enough to be heard during fast solos, even if you now find your lines get a bit muddy, instead of nice and clean.
• Speed Up Without a Stumble: The “Speeding Up Hack” to get enough speed while staying loose
• The Pro Mindset for efficient practice time – what to focus your mind on when practicing to automate your technique so you’re not thinking, but only listening.

After this bootcamp you will achieve more
freedom in your playing,
and finally conquer the Rest-Stroke Picking technique
in only 1-day!

Here’s some of what students in the previous bootcamps had to say:

“Yaakov’s bootcamp has taken my learning experience to the next level. With the help of Yaakov and his online group I suddenly see lots of improvements in a short period of time. I now enjoy every step along the way. Thank you Yaakov.”
Kai Ole Shultz

“As a Gypsy Jazz beginner, I am blown away that my technique has improved so drastically in such a short time – a testament to Yaakov’s fantastic teaching. Yaakov provides attentive and precise feedback on individual techniques and areas to improve. The opportunity to watch him work with other students is inspiring and I gained much insight from common difficulties many of us share. I highly recommend Yaakov’s live workshops and courses.”
Thomas Loiselle

“The Live Bootcamps are something to look forward to all week. When you attend a live meeting there is an excitement that you get from Yaakov directly answering your comments live and actually using your name to invite you on to share what you’ve learned. It makes everything so much more real and personal to have one of the world’s top gypsy jazz teachers directly help give you personal tips, directions, and goals”.
Tom Shoptaw

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ABOUT ME

Yaakov Hoter

Django Reinhardt’s music ignited my guitar passion at age 13. My journey spans Blues, Rock, Pop, Arabic Oud, Jazz, and Gypsy Jazz. Throughout it all, one thing has remained crystal clear to me – music is a universal language, free from the constraints of style or genre.

I’ve collaborated with renowned musicians like Bireli Lagrene and Martin Taylor, gracing international festivals. My academic journey includes a music college degree and a Music Academy bachelor’s. I document my musical journey at gypsyandjazz.com, helping thousands of players around the globe play the way they love and love the way they play.

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More Reviews

Having learned picking from you, a surprising benefit is that the tone that I have achieved really helps for everything related to ear training. I can learn and remember so many phrases and tunes because I can play them clearly and precisely. Because of your guidance, I know what to work on to improve. Thank you for the wonderful start and I look forward to joining more bootcamps in the future!

Ashok Thirumurthi

Another fine workshop from Yaakov, this time on the oh-so-important element of rhythm in Gypsy Jazz, Yaakov has the ability to focus on the basic movements, and really breaks it down, so you can build from the bottom up. All this without getting academic, and keeping it fun. If you are a student like me, who can play a fair bit already but need structure, you can’t go wrong with a workshop like this!

Karel van Bezooijen

Yaakov´s live online Bootcamp was a very useful. Keeping up with the other students’ progress was both – fun and motivating. I think the online live workshop gave all members a boost in their playing and our progress during these sessions was impressive. Yaakov was always there with his answers and comments: he knows exactly what advice to give to improve your playing.

Volker Bräth