Sometimes people can be a bit thick. I know this. I’m a teacher. I’m a professional. So you can take it from me that people, well, kids at least, if you want to call kids people, can be a bit thick. For example, the other day I was teaching the kids about prepositional phrases. Don’t worry. I’m not going to try to teach you about prepositional phrases. Anyway, I told the kids that a prepositional phrase consisted of a preposition and a noun. I said that prepositional phrases always, as in ALWAYS, begin with a preposition. So then I asked a kid to identify the prepositional...

Now that you know how to stand, how to block, and how to strike, you’re ready to learn how to walk. This will involve learning yet another way to stand, as well. You’re making such good progress, grasshopper! Lesson 10: Walking in horse—Short Step: Step 1: Stand in horse, facing the front. Step 2: Turn your head towards the right—look fierce. Step 3: Bring your left leg forward so that your heel is in line with the toe of your right leg. (a) As you move your left leg, make a little crescent move about 9 inches in diameter, as though you were stepping around something. In other...

As promised, here comes the basic punch, called ping chui. I will also tell you about two other strikes, the vertical fist, called ya chi chui, and the tiger claw, called fu jow. Doesn’t this all sound just simply mahvelous? Lesson 7: Ping Chui—You will see in the first photo a sample of ping chui, a basic punch. We make our fist slightly differently, but it doesn’t really matter (sorry slohand). Make sure your fist is tight. The striking point is the first two knuckles of your hand and you use them as you would a gun sight, but you’re not going to be hitting anybody, are...

Today we are going to show you the four basic blocks of the Hung Gar system. Blocks are good things because they keep people from hitting or kicking you. They are also good because they exercise your eyes. Yes, they do. You’ll see. Lesson 3: Mok Sau– Okay, get in horse stance. Make sure your hands are made into fists and at your side. You should be trying to touch elbows in back (you won’t, of course, but this exercises your chest). Now, bring your right fist down kind of along that groove between your abdomen and your upper thigh—you know, where your belly hangs down...

It was my youngest son’s birthday yesterday. He’s thirty-three years old. He once told me that what he remembers most from his childhood are the stories I used to tell him. I wasn’t even aware that I was telling him stories. I was just trying to be a good dad and help him grow in the right direction. So I told him stories in order to teach him lessons. That was long before I became a teacher. Once I became a teacher, I learned that was a good way to teach. You should start with what you know. If a person can see how one thing is like something he or she already knows, it is...

I used to be a store manager a long, long time ago in a different life. I used to manage a dime store. For those of you too young to know, a dime store was a variety store that carried a little bit of everything and sold it cheap. It was the kind of store you could buy batteries and underwear and hamster food all in the same place. Yeah, I know you can do that at Target or Wal-mart, but these were little stores. I didn’t start out as a manager, of course. I worked my way up, from stock boy to department manager, to assistant manager, and finally to manager. Now one thing you know...

I feel motivated to help people start things out right. I guess it’s the teacher in me. So today you will learn all you need to know about starting out to learn the guitar the Big Daddy way. If I were a famous guitar player, I could publish a book through Hal Leonard and get semi-rich. But I’m not, and I feel compelled to pass this useful bit of knowledge on anyway. Playing guitar for nearly forty years should count for something and I have learned a few useful tidbits of information that might make learning the guitar more pleasant and successful. So many people start up and...

Once upon a time, a group of people were cast away on a deserted island in the middle of the Ocean.  They had no radio.  They had no supplies.  They had water, and the lagoon was teaming with fish.  So they could survive, but there was no way off the island.  They dreamed of going home. One day, a battered life boat washed ashore.  The castaways rejoiced at their find.  Once they examined the boat, however, they found it full of holes.  The wood was rotting.  There was no telling how long it had been carried by ocean currents until if found its way to the lonely island. The castaways held...