From Hobbyist to Guitar Guru | Den Lopez

PROFITABLE TALKS...

In this conversation, Den Lopez shares his journey from a hobbyist musician to a successful guitar teacher. He discusses the importance of making music accessible and enjoyable for everyone, emphasizing the need to change traditional teaching methods that often lead to high failure rates among learners. Den introduces his innovative teaching method that allows beginners to play songs quickly, fostering a sense of accomplishment and motivation. He also highlights the significance of belief in one's abilities and the impact of teaching on students' lives, ultimately focusing on the legacy that music can create within families. In this conversation, Den Lopez shares his unique approach to teaching guitar, emphasizing motivation and accessibility over traditional methods. He discusses the challenges of transitioning from an employee mindset to entrepreneurship, particularly regarding financial management and the importance of intentional spending. Den also highlights the significance of rhythm in music and his diverse musical influences, encouraging listeners to embrace their creativity and pursue their musical dreams.


PROFITABLE TAKEAWAYS...

• Anyone can play music, right?
• The bigger the problem you solve, the more money you make.
• Learning how to play the guitar is something that people really struggle with.
• If you can have fun right off the bat, you'll want to do it more.
• 95% fail rate with people trying to learn guitar.
• It's a matter of belief more than a matter of fun.
• You can create what you wanna create.
• I can only help like five guitarists a day.
• Every day I wake up, I'm trying to find the next Tressa.
• That recording will still be there forever. Motivation is key in learning music.
• Teaching methods should adapt to the learner's needs.
• Every dollar should have a purpose to avoid unnecessary spending.
• Transitioning to entrepreneurship requires a shift in mindset.
• Rhythm is the foundation of music creation.
• It's important to challenge traditional teaching methods.
• Financial management is crucial for business success.
• Believing in your ability to play music is the first step.
• Diverse musical influences can enrich your experience.
• Creating music can be simple and accessible.

Ready to turn your PASSION into PROFIT?!? Let's get CREATIVE ➡️
https://www.coregroupus.com/profit-first-for-creatives

Transcript

Christian Brim (00:02.011)
Welcome to another episode of the profitable creative the only place on the internet where you will learn how to turn your passion into profit i'm your host christian brim Joining me today the esteemed den lopez with learning guitar secrets. Welcome den

Den Lopez (00:21.528)
Hi Christian, it's an honor to be here, very excited.

Christian Brim (00:25.169)
Well, I'm excited to have you here. tell us how you got here. Like how not like here on the show, but like how how how you how you came to be a an artist and then teaching others.

Den Lopez (00:44.206)
Great question. So you're asking me first how I started playing guitar in a sense and then how I translated that to a business. Yeah, so I come from a very musical family. My father and uncle used to play guitar. My grandfather used to sing. And at a very early age, I learned from my grandfather that anyone had the ability to play music. Anyone could do it, right? He used to throw

Christian Brim (00:49.5)
Yes.

Yes.

Den Lopez (01:12.952)
parties for the family, for family and friends, gather at Christmas, birthdays, anything he could get a hold on, he would throw a party, right? And then we would gather around the table, have some delicious food. And then we would get out the guitars my father and uncle played, but everyone participated. Like he made everyone participate. Some people sang, some people clap their hands, others banged on the tables.

or he would just give you a bottle of wine and you would hit it with a knife to create sounds. But that was at a very early age when I was five or so, I still remember some of the most beautiful memories are those, right? Where everyone's playing like if it was a band together. So because we grow up listening to music, we already have that as a language.

Christian Brim (01:59.751)
Yes.

Den Lopez (02:06.572)
in ourselves. hear so many people say, I'm not musical. Well, if you like musical music, you are a musical, right? You just got to figure a way to bring it out of you. And my grandfather showed me that really, really, really at a young age, which I really value.

Christian Brim (02:06.62)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (02:13.714)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (02:23.985)
So you, were you always a professional musician? You, you just started down that track or?

Den Lopez (02:31.276)
No, no, I played as a hobby for many, years. And then I don't know how many years ago I decided like it's time to bring it all together. My father and my uncle always dreamed of being professional musicians. They had dumb son things here and there. But I said, you know, I'm going to bring it all together, create an album where my father is involved, where my uncle is involved, where my brother who's also an artist is involved.

and I play their songs, my songs, and we can bring it all together and create some kind of a family legacy to have everything in one place, right? Did that make sense?

Christian Brim (03:05.851)
Yes.

Christian Brim (03:09.915)
Yeah, absolutely. When, when did you release that album?

Den Lopez (03:13.752)
can't remember the exact date, but maybe it was like six years ago, five or six years ago.

Christian Brim (03:18.565)
Okay. Is there a follow-up album in the works? No, just one and done.

Den Lopez (03:22.823)
Nope. I transitioned to showing people how to do it now.

Christian Brim (03:28.317)
Yes. It is one of my friends who's a musician. He, he transitioned from performer to producer, cause he figured out very quickly that that, and this was, you know, pre streaming, that that was the way to make money, not not performing. so

Den Lopez (03:49.218)
Well, yeah, to add to that, Christian, I heard early on in my journey to trying to build a business, I first started trying to market that album and I learned a lot. But I learned very early on that the bigger the problem you solve, the more money you make. And finding new music is not really a problem nowadays, right? With Spotify and all that, people are saturated with new music.

Christian Brim (04:02.621)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (04:09.307)
Yes?

Den Lopez (04:18.338)
But learning how to play the guitar is something that people really struggle with. So I thought, why don't I transition to this? And I can tell you the story of how how the sparked happened. But, but yeah, I figured, why don't I transition to teaching people how to play the guitar instead of trying to mark in my own music.

Christian Brim (04:38.429)
It reminds me of the story of Levi Strauss. I don't know if it was both of them or one of them. Anyway, they got their start in the California gold rush and rather than being a explorer for gold, they just sold them the equipment because there was a lot more money in that. Yes. So, yes. So, so, so talk about that spark that

Den Lopez (05:02.22)
Yes, smart business.

Christian Brim (05:08.199)
that transitioned you into teaching.

Den Lopez (05:11.212)
Yeah, so I was right here in this little room practicing my chops for my album. Like it was a month before the recording and I was just practicing and practicing daily, right? And a friend of ours came over to visit and she just stood on the door, said nothing, saw me play for like 10 minutes and then stopped me and said, wow, that sounds really good. And I'm like, thank you. And she said, you know what? I'm actually...

thinking of signing my daughter up for guitar lessons. And her daughter was six at the time. And the first thing I thought, the first thing that came to my mind, and you got to understand for me, guitar is like hyper important. Being able to play and create music is like almost who I am, right? And the first thing that popped into my head was do not sign her up. Like I got terrified of the idea that this kid was going to

take guitar lessons and I'm a guitar lover. Like I think of guitars all day long. And the reason was that I could see this child, six years old, holding a huge guitar, way too big for her. Learning theory, learning twinkle twinkle little star, right? Learning how to read sheet music. And to me that was horrifying. And at that very moment, like instantly, I like to fix stuff. I'm like a systems guy. I like to create systems and that's how my brain naturally works.

Christian Brim (06:12.667)
Right?

Den Lopez (06:39.618)
And I thought, what if there was a way to take chords out of the equation and make her play instantly? What if she could play, this was the idea, what if she could play a full song the first day, right? Learning how to fret chords, I don't know if you've ever tried to fret chords, but it's a horrible experience in the beginning. And taking that out of the equation would give her the ability, just like my grandfather showed me.

Christian Brim (06:47.633)
Mmm.

Den Lopez (07:08.856)
to bang on the guitar and create music with it, right? So that was the first spark and I got completely obsessed with it. And I came up with the guitar in one hour method, which makes people completely from zero. never, I don't even know how to hold a guitar, be able to play a song, strum through a song, changing chords in under an hour, which is fantastic.

Christian Brim (07:12.54)
Yes.

Christian Brim (07:35.015)
So were you trained more traditionally or,

Den Lopez (07:41.646)
Yeah, I, let me just give you this stat so you know where we're at in the guitar space. There's a 95 % fail rate with people trying to learn the guitar. So 95 out of every 100 people that start playing the guitar quit. And with those stats, once I learned that, I became like completely obsessed with changing those stats because with 95 % of people failing,

It can't be the people's fault, you know? Like it has to be some kind of a system fault with how we teach beginners how to play the guitar. So I learned the hard way. Hey, learn your chords. Hey, learn this, learn that, right? And it took me, I don't know. I can't remember. I was very young. must've been like 13 or 14, but it probably took me like,

Christian Brim (08:12.647)
Mmm.

Christian Brim (08:18.396)
Yeah.

Den Lopez (08:38.382)
almost a year to be able to strum through a full song, which is very opposite to learning how to strum through a song in under an hour, right? So how much further along are you in your journey if you can do it in under an hour and how much more motivated and how much more do you believe in yourself that you can do this if you can learn how to play the guitar in under an hour, right?

Christian Brim (08:48.005)
Yeah.

Christian Brim (09:05.007)
Yeah, I mean, I was trained on the piano at a young age and it was very much the traditional scales and chords. know, that was what you practiced. to your point, the good stuff didn't happen for a long while. And. I think it my musical journey was I played through high school.

Den Lopez (09:08.91)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (09:33.857)
And I went to a competition and did not perform the way I thought I should. And I gave it up. I stopped. And one of the things that I've struggled with as an adult, because now I have a piano in my house and I've had it for probably about a year, but I don't play it. And the reason why I don't play it is because I go back to

what I had been playing and I can't do it. Right. And so and then I think, well, you know, there's a lot of practice involved to get back to that point and there's no fun in it. Right. Like that, that that's the element that's keeping me from doing it. So I've thought about I haven't done, but I've always wanted to do jazz. And so I thought about learning something entirely different like jazz.

where that expectation wasn't there of, of what I used to be able to do. but I think it, it, it supports your point that if, if something's not fun, you're not going to continue doing it unless you just really have a passion for it.

Den Lopez (10:51.864)
Yep, exactly. I think add into what you just said, which is absolutely right. If you can have fun right off the bat, like you're going to want to do it more, right? But also what you just said really struck home because I think it's a matter of belief more than a matter of

having fun. you believe you can do something, like Christian, if you believed, if you truly believed that you could play jazz, like the greats, you would do it. Because nothing would stop you. would hit a roadblock. But because you believed you could overcome that roadblock, you would push through that roadblock. Everyone hits roadblocks, right? But having someone in which you can

Christian Brim (11:38.525)
Sure.

Den Lopez (11:43.502)
see yourself in them and being like, they also did it. I bet I can do it. Like I tell my students, everyone has false beliefs. I have them too. I used to have the false belief that I couldn't sing for I don't know how many years. I used to have the false belief that I didn't have natural rhythm, which is completely false. Everyone has natural rhythm, right? But most of my students have false beliefs around

Christian Brim (11:52.977)
Mmm.

Den Lopez (12:08.92)
their fingers, they have arthritis, they're too old to learn, they ran out of time, they've never been musical, right? They have short, fat, crooked fingers, whatever it is, right? So I tell them stories about other players that have overcome issues that are bigger than theirs. And then with those movies, like for example, I tell them the story of Django Rehag, right? I can't pronounce his name, but you know, the famous gypsy jazz.

Christian Brim (12:27.676)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (12:36.78)
guitar player, one of the best in the world, only had two fingers. He had five, but only two worked for him, right? He became the best gypsy jazz player to ever live. And he'll probably hold that record forever, right? Or I tell them the story of a guy I found on YouTube. He plays guitar with one hand. One hand. Like no matter how crooked your fingers are, you've got two hands, you know?

Christian Brim (12:40.327)
Yeah.

Den Lopez (13:05.166)
You can do better than him. And he pushed through and he plays guitar with one hand. So telling those stories and making people that think that, not think, believe.

Christian Brim (13:15.229)
How do you even do that?

Den Lopez (13:18.584)
telling them stories? playing guitar with one hand? I'm like, it's amazing what he does. He uses a looper. So there's one thing I also try to tell my students, like, listen, the guitar is a tool. What you're trying to do is not play the guitar. It's to play music with a guitar. Completely different mindset, right? So there's many ways to play music. Like music could be just, I don't know if you can hear that.

Christian Brim (13:19.855)
No, how do you play with one hand?

Christian Brim (13:34.598)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (13:39.207)
Hmm.

Christian Brim (13:42.853)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Christian Brim (13:48.433)
Yeah. Yeah.

Den Lopez (13:49.25)
basic rhythm. That's already music, right? So what he does is he puts the pick on the thumb, he frets, he puts his guitar flat like this and he frets with these fingers and he strums with his thumb and then uses a looper. I don't know if you know what a looper is. So you press on it, you record something on that device and then you press again and it loops it. So he could go

Christian Brim (13:58.886)
Okay.

Christian Brim (14:12.315)
Okay.

Christian Brim (14:15.985)
Okay.

Den Lopez (14:17.09)
Dun dun dun, right? Loop it and then it sounds dun dun dun dun dun dun and creates a rhythm with it. And then he stacks up another recording on top of that recording. So he stacks up tracks on top of each other. Amazing player. Amazing player. And he has one hand.

Christian Brim (14:28.284)
Okay.

Christian Brim (14:37.585)
So, and that's to your point, he's making music, he's not playing the guitar. I mean, he is playing the guitar, but he can't play the guitar like most people can play the guitar.

Den Lopez (14:41.792)
separate.

Den Lopez (14:47.094)
exacto mundo, right? So everyone has a limitation. I also tell them the story of when I blew my tendon off from my finger, like in guitar, being able to bend your fingers like this is very beneficial to fret individual strings, right? So I can't bend this finger. And I remember when I went to buy a guitar for a friend, the owner of that guitar, I was whining and complaining and being like,

Christian Brim (15:01.927)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (15:13.102)
I blew my tendon off and I can't play guitar. And I had that limited belief that I would never be able to play the guitar like I used to. Right. And he went, yeah. And he showed me his fingers and he was missing like two tips and half a finger. And he played better than I did. In that moment, I realized like, just got to stop complaining about this and go and play my guitar the best I can, you know? And sure enough, I play now better than I used to.

Christian Brim (15:40.426)
So tell us a little bit about the business of teaching guitar. How has that journey been?

Den Lopez (15:51.84)
Okay, so what do you want to know specifically because we can talk about a lot of topics.

Christian Brim (15:57.265)
Whatever you think is important, whatever you think is interesting.

Den Lopez (16:01.912)
So you want me to frame it more towards someone trying to start a business?

Christian Brim (16:07.419)
Yeah. I mean, I think, I think a lot of our listeners may have. so I talk about being an entrepreneur with a certain set of skills, as opposed to being someone that has skills that also is an entrepreneur, whatever, whichever you, you prioritize. So, rather than being a,

teacher or a guitar player, you're an entrepreneur with guitar skills or teaching skills. And I think that's an important distinction to make because entrepreneurs see problems or opportunities and then find solutions. Their skills may or may not come into play, you know, oftentimes they do, but it's not, that's not what's driving

Den Lopez (16:42.989)
Mm-hmm.

I see what.

Christian Brim (17:07.857)
the thought process, because if you limit the problems you can solve to only your skills, you've closed off a lot of opportunity.

Den Lopez (17:22.988)
Makes sense. So where can I take this? Very good question. And let me see if I can organize my thoughts. So I'm a systems guy, right? Like whenever I see something, I immediately want to fix it. I can already see little nuances that if you just turn your hand a little bit like that, it'll fix the problem, right? So I am a little bit obsessed in finding those little nuances in guitar.

Christian Brim (17:38.353)
Yes.

Christian Brim (17:51.709)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (17:52.462)
For example, I teach people instead of chords, I use the word shapes. Guitar is a shape based instrument. Everyone teaches you chords and that confuses your brain the first day. The first day they teach you, you gotta learn your chords. And now that word becomes a real thing for you and it stays with you because it's the first thing they taught you and because that person knows a lot more than you do about guitar. Now that is real.

Christian Brim (17:58.973)
Mmm.

Christian Brim (18:20.881)
Right? Right.

Den Lopez (18:22.306)
Right? That goes like, you can't change that. Now you change it to shapes and the entire fretboard, like with one word opens up the entire fretboard. And people are like, I just shift this word, one single word, and now I understand what I'm doing. I didn't use to understand it. I never understood it for 30 years. You made me believe that one word could change everything and it does. Right? So.

Christian Brim (18:50.074)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (18:52.194)
Finding those little nuggets, it's what drives me and what keeps me pushing. Does that kind of answer your question?

Christian Brim (18:55.567)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, so, let's, let's talk about the, the, business a little more detail so that I can get some context. So it's, it's online. It's, it's online. Is it, pre-recorded or is it group lessons? Is it individual lessons to talk, talk about that detail?

Den Lopez (19:06.723)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (19:19.33)
Okay, cool. So one of my coaches always tells me that you can build your life by the sign, create your life by the sign, right? So you don't have to do what other people do or do what other people tell you to do. You can create what you wanna create. That's the beautiful thing of us as humans. can from the ether bring things together.

Christian Brim (19:39.953)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (19:47.096)
put words to them and make them tangible, right? So I knew right from the start that I would never, never is a big word, but I didn't want to teach one-on-one lessons. One-on-one lessons, there's only so many lessons you can bring into a day. the amount of money you can bring into the business is limited. That's one. Plus I can only help like five guitarists a day.

Christian Brim (20:10.481)
Yes.

Den Lopez (20:16.086)
and I'm working so many hours on each lesson, right? With the model I created, I've helped in two years and something, over 100,000 people, which is very different, right? Completely different. And I do that through books, I do that through courses, I do that, I also have a membership where I teach group coaching, but again, I have five or six people in the room at one go.

Christian Brim (20:30.449)
Wow. Right.

Den Lopez (20:45.71)
and they're all benefiting from what they ask, from what I teach them, from what they play. They have a group to where there's more people, but at one go we have like five or six people, right? So just creating systems and creating processes to where you can help more people and on the flip side, bring in more cash was something I really wanted to create.

Christian Brim (20:45.777)
Right.

Christian Brim (21:10.287)
Yeah. And I think for me, what resonates there is the limitation of the impact. And I think certainly you can be motivated by money. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I think that if entrepreneurs are solely limited by money, they run into roadblocks.

that they can't really overcome because the passion's not there. But you led with the idea that I can only teach five students in a day versus the 100,000 that you've taught in two years, that's impact. And that's a passion. And the byproduct is more money, but you led with your passion, which is to impact more people.

Den Lopez (21:39.746)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (21:57.112)
Exactly.

Den Lopez (22:03.192)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (22:07.169)
And I think that's a key distinction because that will scale forever. if your goal is to impact more people to learn guitar and enjoy guitar, enjoy music, you've opened up the realm of Limitless because I can sit here and think to myself, well, I'm sure you could apply those skills to teach people different instruments.

I mean, there's no limit to guitar just because you know guitar, those principles that you learned in creating what you have. the, if you, if you were, you might get there if you were motivated by money, but you know, it would end up being like, well, I don't know how to play the saxophone or I don't know how to play the piano. And you'd be like, well, I'm making enough money. So I'll stop.

Den Lopez (22:40.184)
Exactly.

Den Lopez (23:03.83)
Yeah, it's a different kind of motivation. Like, let me tell you a story about one of my students. She came to me, she wanted to play a song for her family at Christmas, and there was only three weeks for her to do that. She had been

Christian Brim (23:18.841)
And she'd pick Malagueña or something like that? Okay, all right.

Den Lopez (23:22.434)
No. Good point. She just wanted to play some Christmas carols for her family at Christmas. She thought that would be cool, right? So we started working together and she knew some chords. She couldn't figure it out. She'd been playing for like a year and a half. So in two weeks, she was able to learn how to play three songs, full songs for Christmas.

Christian Brim (23:27.143)
Ha

Christian Brim (23:30.991)
Okay, all right.

Den Lopez (23:50.854)
One week before she brought her granddaughters into the equation, they learned the songs too, and they all play them together at Christmas. So right there, what a beautiful memory that is, right? But it went further. The next month, she's like, I want to record a song. I'm like, cool. So she created a song, two or three simple chords, right? And recorded a song for her grandchildren. Now that right there, Christian, is family legacy. I mean,

Christian Brim (24:01.51)
Yes.

Christian Brim (24:15.933)
Mmm.

Christian Brim (24:19.836)
Yes.

Den Lopez (24:20.61)
There's nothing that beats that. She'll be gone and that recording will still be there forever. So every day I wake up, of course the money is great, but I'm trying to find the next Tressa. Or I'm trying to find the next Doug who is 82 and learning guitar right now. Or I'm trying to save that little child who is six years old and it has been forced to learn music theory.

Christian Brim (24:24.252)
Right.

Yes. Yes.

Den Lopez (24:49.504)
or re-cheat music before she can even play a song, right? Let me tell you another story really quick. One of my oldest son's friend came over here and he plays guitar at school. They're trying to teach him how to play guitar, right? And I'm like, cool, he sees my guitars there. He's like, great guitars. I turn on my amp, right? Put it on distortion mode and I'm like, play me a song. Nothing happened. Like not a single note correct.

He's like looking at me like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm like, cool, just do this. I teach him in five minutes, a simple thing. Bam, right off the bat. I'm jamming with him to a simple minor blues. Right? And he's tripping. He's like, what's happening? You know, and I'm shredding over what he's playing. And now he's suddenly he's in a band. He's like, what do you think that kid is going to go when he goes to his parents? What do you think his reaction to guitar is going to be?

Christian Brim (25:40.656)
Yeah.

Christian Brim (25:48.642)
Yeah.

Den Lopez (25:49.794)
Guitar is amazing, you know, like you got to motivate people to keep pushing. And of course, if you want to become Jimi Hendrix, it's going to take time. It's going to require skill and a lot of practice, right?

Christian Brim (25:51.26)
Yes.

Christian Brim (25:59.067)
Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, you're not taking away from the practice element. You know, I don't and you know, I think I don't know this, but I think that well, my adult daughter came to me last year and she was like, I want you to teach the piano. And I'm like, OK, so what do I start with scales and chords? Because that's the way I was taught. Right. And I think about

Den Lopez (26:06.2)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (26:24.012)
Because the... Yes!

Christian Brim (26:28.354)
And I think about, you know, my teacher, she was classically trained at a conservatory in Europe and, you know, exactly what you'd think a piano teacher would look like. Right. And, you know, I see this in academia, too. Like it's like we just do things the way we were taught. We teach the way we were taught and

Den Lopez (26:56.322)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (26:57.801)
It's, it takes an entrepreneurial mind like yours to come in and say, is there a better way? Is there a different way? You know, not, not just being stuck in the, well, that's how I learned. That's how everybody learned.

Den Lopez (27:14.52)
Yeah, yeah, like I'll use on purpose words that technically are not correct. And that people who are very seasoned in the theory and are very seasoned into playing the guitar, like they bash me day in and day out. Like I get hateful comments here and there. I don't care because that word is designed specifically to help not you that you know music theory.

Christian Brim (27:21.884)
Mmm.

Den Lopez (27:43.574)
I'm trying to help the 82 year old that doesn't know music theory and wants to fulfill his dream to play the guitar. That word is not for you. I don't care about you, right? You can say whatever you want. I'm trying to help that person, not you. You already know this stuff, right? I'm trying to help that person. So each word is specifically designed, each course, each lesson, even though it's incorrect.

Christian Brim (27:54.693)
Yeah. Yeah, you're Yeah.

Den Lopez (28:10.678)
or it can be incorrect to say those kinds of things, it does help that person move forward. And that's the entire goal, moving forward, step by step to reach your outcome, right? The outcome you want.

Christian Brim (28:22.821)
Yeah, and I was actually thinking, I'm like, I'm wondering if he gets pushback from other teachers and you answered the question. Yes, of course you do, because you're not doing it correctly.

Den Lopez (28:32.461)
Yes.

Exactly. Like the first page in my book, which is you can download by the way, is this. Play all minor chords with one finger, right? All minor chords. Any minor chord you want, one finger. And everyone who's struggling to play, for example, B minor, which is the most difficult chord for a beginner, is like, I can't believe this is true. Now they can play that song they want, right? What do people...

Christian Brim (28:46.011)
Okay.

Christian Brim (29:01.841)
Right.

Den Lopez (29:03.906)
that know how to play bar chords and can play that B minor with all their fingers say, if you teach like that, you'll never get good, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Dude, they're just trying to play the song, right? Now they have belief that they can play the song. They're going to push through and eventually get to the difficult way to play a B minor. But that's perfectly legit. That's a full, you know this, a triad, right? One, two, three strings, three notes, B minor. There you have it.

Christian Brim (29:15.441)
Right. Here's.

Christian Brim (29:29.532)
Yes?

Den Lopez (29:34.4)
Why do I need to know there's a B and there's a blah, blah, blah sharp in that chord? I don't need to know it. I just need to know where it is on guitar and play it and understand why I'm doing it.

Christian Brim (29:46.183)
Have you run into any growing pains with your business, challenges that you had to overcome? Beyond creating the system, obviously.

Den Lopez (30:00.748)
Yes, many and most of them technical. Like I'm a hammer guy. I used to work as a car mechanic and I love working with my hands. Like that's my jam. And computers, I would hit them with a hammer, but they don't work that way, you know? You got to struggle and you got to figure things out. Like if you just tell me HTML, I even don't know what that is. So building websites.

Christian Brim (30:17.487)
No, no they don't.

Den Lopez (30:29.912)
connecting automated email sequences to those websites, making sure people get the products that they purchased. All that has been a big, big struggle. I'm that kind of guy that click here was like a week of indecision. know, like should I click or should I... If I click, would I lose all the things I've done now? And my wife really helped me with this because she's a clicker. She'll just go boom, boom, boom, get things done. And if they break, she'll try to fix them.

And now I'm like that too. I'm just gonna get this done, know, and push through it. Now I believe I can do it again. And I get a ton. But still, I still struggle with it.

Christian Brim (31:11.607)
Is there a point where finances or money posed a challenge in the business?

Den Lopez (31:20.192)
Yes, many times. So it was very scary coming from an employee mindset mentality. Both my wife and I have been raised in an employee mindset where job is the most important thing, job is secure, and you have to go to work every day no matter if you're sick, Making that leap to be like, I'm going to create, generate my own income, right?

Christian Brim (31:28.965)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (31:47.399)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (31:48.3)
those months that maybe you're not hitting your goals or you see that the bank account starts dipping a little bit and or you released a new course and you didn't get the expected sales because you didn't position it correctly or whatever it is. Those things are scary. Those things are scary and taxes.

Christian Brim (31:56.271)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (32:08.571)
Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, and you said beliefs. think that's the first thing that has to change to deal with your finances and business. Because most of us didn't grow up with an entrepreneurial household that taught us to view money as a tool as opposed to

Den Lopez (32:19.414)
Yes.

Yes.

Den Lopez (32:35.617)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (32:37.349)
just like security, which it is to most people. The technical aspects of how to handle money can be learned very easily. And that's what I love so much about Profit First and Profit First for creatives is that, yeah. Well, thank you, thank you. It...

Den Lopez (32:54.262)
Yes, you got it right there. Amazing book. Saved my life.

Christian Brim (33:02.799)
It's, it's not unlike what you did. It, takes it away from the accountants and, and structures it for the business owner, right. And, and meets them where they are. The technical part is, is relatively easy. The hard part is getting your mindset around, being intentional about your money, being intentional about profit. So did you, did you struggle with that at all?

Den Lopez (33:12.044)
Yes.

Den Lopez (33:30.892)
Yes, the moment that everything clicked was when I discovered that every dollar that came in needed to have a purpose. Like, if you don't give it a purpose, you're just going to spend it in coffee or in a new blanket or I need a new frying pan. You know what? look at that guitar. But as soon as you give it a purpose, like 10 percent of these this dollar

Christian Brim (33:41.412)
Mmm, yeah.

Christian Brim (33:46.587)
Yes.

Christian Brim (33:50.821)
Right. Right.

Den Lopez (34:01.106)
is for saving up for recording the new course. 20 % is for the safety account. 30 % is for taxes. All those little things. And then when you go and buy a frying pan, you look at your account and you're like, I don't have money for a frying pan today. I'll just figure something out. But you never take from the tax account. You never take from the vacations account or from the savings account.

Christian Brim (34:22.171)
Yeah, yeah, yes.

Den Lopez (34:30.926)
Every dollar that came in had that purpose. Can I afford an ice cream today? I can't, but I can afford my vacations because that money is allocated into that, right? I can see in your smile that you're like, yes, he gets it, right? And that completely changed my mentality around money. And of course you can get a 15 % or five or 1%. Of course there's the profit, but also the risk.

Christian Brim (34:39.633)
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

Den Lopez (35:00.024)
free money. Like I've got $2,000 saved up and I can do whatever I want with this money invested in whatever I crypto or I'm not into crypto, but you get the point. Like those things that if I lose that money, it's not affecting my lifestyle. It's not affecting my bank account. It's not affecting my family, right? It's separated. I decided before it came in that that 5 % was big, was going to be allocated into see what happens, right?

Christian Brim (35:01.373)
Hmm.

Christian Brim (35:16.263)
Yeah.

Christian Brim (35:29.223)
Yes.

Den Lopez (35:29.942)
So this is a fantastic way of thinking about money. And I still got a long way to go with investments and stuff like this, but yeah, it's a fun game.

Christian Brim (35:40.879)
I love that. And I love that you called it a game because in a lot of ways it is a game. It doesn't have to be a source of stress, which most people come into it. And I think it's really a scarcity mindset that drives that fear. Because again, as an employee, you're getting the same amount of money every paycheck.

Den Lopez (35:44.12)
It is.

Den Lopez (35:50.446)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (36:08.591)
And so there is scarcity built into that model. But as an entrepreneur, you know, that was something that was ingrained in me pretty early, not ever spoken, but just observation was that, well, we can always make more money, which is true. But, you know, as I've gotten older, I've...

kind of pulled back on that, not that that's not a belief I still have, but about being more intentional with the dollars as opposed to just saying, I can make more. They're not exclusive, right? You can know that you can go make more money, but that doesn't keep you from being intentional about what you have. And that was something that I struggled with for a long time.

of not being as intentional as I should have been.

Den Lopez (37:09.842)
Yep, There's a saying here in Spain that I can't hear anymore and it's just how it is. Everyone says that. I don't know if in the States they say it too, but it isn't what it is. No, it's not what it is. No, you can make it what you want. Same as with the guitar, same as with building a business, same as with your money, the one you already have, the one you're gonna bring in to your household.

Christian Brim (37:10.109)
So do you...

Christian Brim (37:17.895)
Yes.

Christian Brim (37:24.121)
It is what it is, yes. Yeah.

Christian Brim (37:29.457)
Yes.

Den Lopez (37:37.62)
you can create something different, right? You just gotta believe you can do it and find the way to do it.

Christian Brim (37:40.924)
Yes.

Christian Brim (37:44.518)
Absolutely. Preach? Preach. So, do you play electric guitar?

Den Lopez (37:49.996)
I play electric and acoustic, yep.

Christian Brim (37:53.499)
Did you know that the electric guitar was invented in Oklahoma City?

Den Lopez (37:59.058)
I did not

Christian Brim (38:00.997)
Yes, Charlie Christian. Do you know that artist?

Den Lopez (38:08.052)
Not at the top of my head, no.

Christian Brim (38:09.941)
He was a blues guy in the 20s and he invented the electric guitar. I don't know what his intent was, but you know. So they have a Charlie Christian Music Festival here in Oklahoma City every year. you know. Well, I don't know anymore, or I'd tell you, but you know, I mean, that's it. You'll have to do your own research. I don't know.

Den Lopez (38:29.934)
Wow, tell me more about that story. Okay, okay. I'll look into it. Cool, awesome.

Christian Brim (38:38.733)
Alright, would you grace us with a little music?

Den Lopez (38:44.01)
sure. So let me let me show you

Den Lopez (38:49.25)
Sometimes mics... Can you hear that? So let me show you how easy it is to play music. Do you know what the most important thing about playing music is?

Christian Brim (38:52.283)
yeah.

Christian Brim (39:00.859)
Will other than you enjoy it or others enjoy it?

Den Lopez (39:04.172)
Well, yeah, in the sense of how is music created?

Christian Brim (39:10.781)
Hmm. I don't know, I'm gonna play dumb.

Den Lopez (39:14.454)
So the most important thing in music is rhythm. You can play the most beautiful. I know you were, I know you were. So you can play the most beautiful C chord ever.

Christian Brim (39:17.952)
Okay, I was gonna say that, so I should have said it.

Christian Brim (39:27.451)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (39:29.422)
Now what?

Christian Brim (39:30.713)
Yeah, okay now what?

Den Lopez (39:31.968)
If there's no rhythm attached to that chord, let's say, there's no music. So rhythm can be as simple as.

Den Lopez (39:44.704)
and we can translate it as simple as just.

Den Lopez (39:52.856)
That's already music to me. Very simple, the most simple way of music there is, but it is music. Now luckily for us guitarists, and most people don't know this, is that chords are already created for us on guitar. So we don't even have to play anything. So the first, the second, and the third string create a minor chord.

Christian Brim (39:53.169)
Yes. Yeah.

Christian Brim (40:08.336)
Okay.

Christian Brim (40:15.965)
Okay.

Den Lopez (40:17.106)
and the second, the third, and the fourth string create a major chord. So let's just play minor chords, right? So if I just mute my three thickest strings.

Christian Brim (40:21.373)
Okay.

Den Lopez (40:33.654)
just play that. That's already very simple music, but already music. Now I can move those three notes, for example, over here and play another minor chord.

Christian Brim (40:35.494)
Right?

Den Lopez (40:49.966)
Another minor chord, and the original.

Extremely simple. But do you think if you grab the guitar right now, could you play something similar to that?

Christian Brim (40:58.941)
Yeah.

Den Lopez (41:06.776)
See, now you believe you can play a guitar. That's the first step, believing you can do it, right? And of course you can. Reaching that is gonna be more difficult, right? But starting out and being able to play music, you could play that right now. I could teach you that in five minutes and we could have a jam. We could have an hour long jam. I would play an hour to that.

Christian Brim (41:09.371)
Yeah, yes.

Christian Brim (41:35.109)
Yeah. So what is your favorite style of music? So I love the Gypsy Kings. I don't know what genre that even is, but I...

Den Lopez (41:36.622)
And it would be amazing, right?

Den Lopez (41:43.256)
Mm-hmm.

Den Lopez (41:46.67)
It's their own genre. Yeah, so I like all types of music as long as they're good as it's good music like I'll listen anywhere from Queen to Flamenco to Spanish pop music to I don't know Pink Floyd Rosalia. I mean jazz. You should see my playlist rap. They're all over the place as long as it's

Christian Brim (41:49.116)
Yeah.

Christian Brim (42:14.449)
Yeah, I.

Den Lopez (42:15.672)
Good music, I enjoyed it.

Christian Brim (42:17.117)
I'm kind of the same way. say that my Spotify algorithm is very confused because it can't really decide what's going on.

Den Lopez (42:24.174)
And then on top of that, have my kids using my Spotify. So they're listening to their music. So it's just a crazy world. But yeah.

Christian Brim (42:29.692)
Yes.

Christian Brim (42:35.367)
Well, then I very much appreciate your insights, your time. How do people find you to learn more about playing the guitar?

Den Lopez (42:44.162)
That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. So if you want to download this little book, it's called the Beginner Guitars Playbook. You can download it for free. Just go to learningguitarsecrets.com forward slash free and you'll get a copy and you'll be included in my email list. So I'll send you a couple of emails with these downloads and you can just reply to any of my emails and get in touch directly with me. My wife and I are the ones managing those emails.

and she filters emails that are directly for me. So I respond to emails every day. And yeah, that's the best way.

Christian Brim (43:20.613)
I love it. Listeners, make sure you go and check out your free download so that you can start playing the guitar this weekend. If you like the podcast, please subscribe, please review, share the podcast. If you don't like it, there's a button there to send us some feedback and let us know. But I don't know what you wouldn't like about Den and the guitar. you know, don't send me any messages on this one. Until then.

Den Lopez (43:31.288)
Yeah.

Den Lopez (43:46.242)
Thank you, Gretchen.

Christian Brim (43:50.201)
Until later, ta ta for now.