Hi, Rob. I just OKed your PlaneTalkers' Forum account so you can ask away in there. It sounds to me like you have a few questions ...
Just a word of warning to potential buyers ...
PlaneTalk is not for beginners. The lesson it teaches is certainly worthwhile learning early on, but you may not have anything to apply it to for a while. It was designed for those who have a lot of playing under their strap already and are now looking up the neck wondering how to make sense of that no-man's-land so that they can use it ... also for those wondering how to improvise freely, all over the neck,
without worrying about scales as such, and being able to do that over any type of music, any chord progression. If you're not at that stage yet, you may indeed wonder 'what's this all about?? how can I use this information?'
The other thing I should stress, I guess, is that playing guitar, at any level, is a very tricky occupation; to get to the stage where you can hear music in your head and then play it instantly on the guitar, anywhere on the fretboard, on purpose, deliberately, is a lifelong learning process. There are no 'play like a professional in 60 days' methods out there, and I make sure I never imply that
PT is such a method. All it does is describe a mindset and provide a very simple map to help adopt that mindset ... it takes just as much practice as any other teaching method. I do believe though, that to put your time into this way of thinking will get you to that point of being to play on your fretboard what you hear in your head MUCH quicker than trying to make sense of all the scales/modes that seem to be the mainstay of guitar teaching. Those elements are more the raw ingredients of music, and you should know them well, but the PT mindset lets music itself do most of the work ...
Rob, I'm not sure what level you've reached in your playing, but from your post it sounds like maybe you've taken on the PlaneTalk lesson a little early, and if that's the case, we'll all be very happy over at the PT forum to fill you in on what you may be missing out. I can tell you for sure, though, that it will take a few readings of the book and a few viewings of the DVD for the full lesson to even begin to sink in.
Later that evening: Rob, I just listened to your two Christmas songs ... very well done. You're obviously well down the track with your playing ... read PT and watch the DVD a few more times ... the PT penny will drop soon enough. 