About
Why?
Ploddings started after the Blah148 channel on Youtube gained steam, from people passionate about learning Delta Blues.
First off, I think learning this music is vital since it’s a foundation for what people are playing now. I’ve heard it said like this: if you seek to get to your Point B, then know where your Point A is. I think this music can serve as a great Point A.
The site is also meant to be a real repository of good information. Energy is finite, and people can use 20% of effort towards finding a good resource, 10% towards switching from “Googling mode” to “learning mode”, expend another 15% when they find that they’d prefer a different resource, and then only have 55% of energy towards actually learning. The hope here is that people can put 90% of their energy towards learning, and thereby get more done.
How?
One route to this site being a helpful tool is via research, testing, and feedback. I’m always looking for new ways to improve it, and trying to implement ideas which can help. If you have any thoughts about the site, please feel free to let me know.
Another route towards using it successfully is in the learning process. Here, I think organization is a powerful tool. By learning songs in “like” groups, learning can be done “in bulk”. For example, learning several Spanish tunes in sequence, or learning several Robert Johnson songs with similar structures, the speed of learning can quicken by 300% or more. Especially with the finite time available, this can really help drive progress.
What?
The goal of the material on the website is to make it easy to use. That way the effort can be put into actually learning the songs. That means the daily effort on the project goes towards speedening the site, making navigation and hierarchies of pages intuitive, writing out clear tablature, filming helpful lessons, and making it easy to contact the author. In time, I hope that learning on Ploddings is like floating on clouds — relaxing for the mind, easing from the day to day, aesthetically joyful, and inspiring for new thoughts and ideas.
Who?
My name is Mitchell Park; I’m a music lover from Canada.
For my day-job work, to make ends meet, I help build-up websites. One website project I’ve been working on has been for my dad’s dental clinic, Glenbrook Dental. I’ve also just started to help manage Trusty Guitar’s website, geared more for new guitarists.
Feedback
A lot of this is new to me — creating a website, building a positive user experience, and so on. This project sprung from the feedback of viewers, and I think maintaining that is the healthiest route forward.
If you do notice any bugs, errors, or have any ideas for the site in general, please let me know. I would love to hear what you think.
My main contact is here, [email protected].
