★ Attention adult guitarists stuck on the intermediate plateau:
Even if you've been stuck for years.
Even if you only have 30 minutes a day.
Even if YouTube has already failed you a dozen times.
Rotem is an internationally-touring jazz guitarist based in New York City. After 20 years on stages from Blue Note to North Sea, and five albums praised by The New York Times and DownBeat, he's spent the last few years building one thing: a 26-week curriculum for the adult guitarist who has been playing on and off for years and is finally ready to do it the right way. Half of his last cohort were doctors. The other half were career professionals giving themselves permission to take this seriously.
Dear plateau-stuck player,
I'm about to tell you something that might surprise you, coming from someone who has sold out venues across three continents and released five albums praised by The New York Times and DownBeat.
I still remember spending hours in the practice room, frustrated, drilling scales and patterns, thinking “if I just learn more licks, it'll click.”
It didn't.
I remember the embarrassment of sitting in with more experienced players and realizing my solos sounded… generic. Lifeless. Like I was playing at the music instead of playing withit. I remember not understanding why some lines worked and others didn't, why my timing felt off, why I'd get lost in the form.
What I eventually figured out — and what took me years longer than it should have — was that the problem wasn't that I needed to practice more. It was that I was practicing the wrong things, in the wrong way, without understanding the actual systems that connect what you hear to what your hands do.
After 20 years teaching adult guitarists — from weekend hobbyists, to working session players, to retired neurosurgeons picking the guitar back up — I've noticed three patterns that explain why most of you are still stuck.
Chances are at least one of these will hit close to home.
You hear the line in your head. You know what scale to play. You can name the chord. But when it's time to actually put it on the guitar — your fingers don't follow. The translation never happens. You're not slow. You're not untalented. You've never built the bridge between hearing and saying.
You learn theory from one course. Technique from a different YouTuber. Ear training from an app. Your scale book lives in one room of your brain and your chord book lives in another. You know every piece. You can't put them together. So in the moment of playing, every part of your musicianship pulls in a different direction.
You make progress for 6 weeks. Life gets busy. You drop off. You come back three months later and you've forgotten half of it — so you go back to the basics. Then life gets busy again. After five or ten years of this, you're still somewhere around "I know some chords and a scale or two." It's not that you can't learn. It's that you've never had a six-month container where finishing is the default.
If any of those just hit — you're not broken. You're practicing in pieces.
The 26-Week is built to fix exactly that. Not by adding more theory. Not by piling on more YouTube tutorials. By connecting what you already know to what you can actually play — and giving you six months of structure where finishing is the default, not the exception.
You bring the 30 minutes a day. I'll bring the curriculum, the weekly feedback on your playing, and a small group of fellow grown-up players walking the same path.
Hope to see you inside.
— Rotem
Rotem Sivan · NYC · 2026
After teaching this audience for two decades, I've found that adult players almost always live at one of three stages. The 26-Week is built to meet you at exactly the one you're in.
“I can play through some songs. The fretboard isn't really mine yet.”
You can finger-pick or strum your way through 5–10 songs. You know some chord shapes. You know "scales exist." But the fretboard hasn't connected. The first ten weeks of the 26-Week were built for exactly here.
“I can play, but I can't say anything yet.”
You've got the positions. You can move through changes. You know enough theory to be embarrassed you can't apply it. Your solos sound technically correct and emotionally flat. The middle of the 26-Week — weeks 11 through 22 — was built for exactly here.
“I can play. I'm chasing the gap between hearing and saying.”
The technique is there. The theory is there. The fretboard is yours. What you're missing is the bridge between the music in your head and what your hands actually say. The back half of the 26-Week was built for exactly here.
Build the physical control that lets you play exactly what you hear — picking, fretting, dynamics, tone. The foundation everything else sits on.
Stop memorizing shapes. Understand why music works so you can play any song in any key, write your own, and improvise with intention.
Know every note, every chord, every scale, anywhere on the neck. The fretboard becomes a map you can navigate without thinking.
Learn to play with feel, groove, and presence — the difference between a guitarist who's correct and one who moves a room.
The moment you join, you unlock all 26 weeks of curriculum, your private community login, and your first practice plan.
Each week is one focused theme: a video module, a practice routine, and a video challenge you'll submit for personal feedback from Rotem.
Live group mentorship calls run every other Wednesday — first one Wednesday, November 11th. Rotem reviews student playing, answers questions, and locks in what you worked on those two weeks. Replays posted for anyone who can't make it live.
Eight students. Different ages, different goals, different starting points. One thing in common.
“Now I'm no longer stuck in the pentatonic box — I can play around the fretboard. I tried YouTube, books, other courses. This one was more extensive. He's a world-class player, a very good teacher, and very patient. Definitely worth the money.”
“I started as a guitarist who could play but lacked some of the basics. Within three months I got really deep into improvisation and jazz. I never thought I'd love improvisation so much, but I fell in love with it. Later I went to study at music school for jazz. Studying with Rotem changed my life.”
“I've been playing guitar for some decades but my ability to improvise wasn't really good. Now I've got a much better understanding of the harmonic structure — and the importance of listening has become clear to me again.”
“Every time we met, he had thought about how to help me become a better player. He was really invested in my growth and creativity. He helped with timing, harmony, understanding the fretboard, and how to think creatively within changes. He enhanced my musicianship quite a bit.”
Close the tab. The guitar will still be in the corner six months from now. So will you.
Stack another five YouTube playlists, half-finish another book, maybe pick up a private teacher for a while. It's possible. But you've tried that. You're here for a reason.
A sequenced 26-week path. Personal feedback from Rotem on the videos you submit. A small group of fellow grown adults pushing each other forward. Six months from now, you'll be a different player. And you'll know exactly how you got there.
I'll take the path →No more deciding what to practice. Pick up your guitar. Press play. Progress.
Pick your stage. The map shows what unlocks at every monthly pit stop — for you.
“I can play through some songs. The fretboard isn’t really mine yet.”
Saying this out loud so neither of us wastes the other's time.
This isn't a beginner program. Start with Justin Guitar's free beginner course first — you'll get more out of this once you can play a song.
This is real, structured work — 30 minutes a day, six days a week, for 26 weeks. The shortcut is the structure, not the practice.
Half the value is Rotem watching your playing every week and telling you what to fix. If that sounds uncomfortable, it should — and it's the part that works.
You'll be a different player. Not the player. Anyone who promises that on a 6-month timeline is selling you something.
That's it. You're more than ready to join us.
The plateau you've been stuck on isn't because you're not “good enough.”It's because no one has shown you the path forward. That's what the next six months are for.
Same program. Same access. Same results. Just choose how you'd like to pay.
$1,197 over 26 weeks = $46 per week — less than a single private guitar lesson.
Live group mentorship calls run every other Wednesdayfor the full 26 weeks. Replays are posted in the student area for anyone who can't make it live.
Show up to the first live call. Do the first module. Submit your first video for feedback. If after 14 days you don't feel this is exactly what you needed to break through your plateau — email me at [email protected] for a complete refund. No forms, no hoops, no questions asked.
At his standard NYC private rate, $1,197 buys you six one-hour lessons. Six hours total. Then he goes home.
Same dollars. 26 weeks of his curriculum, his weekly feedback on your playing, and a small cohort of fellow grown-up players.
Same price. Different transformation.
Three options most adult players consider. One of them is honest about what it gives you.
$1,197 over 26 weeks = $46 per week — less than a single private guitar lesson.
3 of 10 spots remain. Cohort closes Sunday at 11:59pm ET. When they're gone, the doors close until the next cohort — usually 6 months out.
If you can hear it, you can play it. Let's make that true for you in the next six months.
— Rotem Sivan
NYC · 2026
P.S. The last cohort sold out in 36 hours. This one is filling fast too. 3 of 10 spots remain as of right now — when those are gone, the next chance to join is around six months from today. If you wanted in last time and missed it, this is your shot.
P.P.S. Got a question before you join? Email me directly at [email protected]. I respond personally within 24 hours. I want to make sure this is the right fit before you join.