Why You Need a Practice Routine! Yes you do! Whether you are just starting out, have been playing for awhile, or are looking to get out of a rut, you need a practice routine. The routine will guide you, the routine will save you time, and the routine will let you know where you are.…
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How to buy what you really need! You’re walking around Sam Ash, or Guitar Center. Maybe you want a new guitar….maybe it’s your 1st guitar….or your 19th! Perhaps you’re looking for a new amp, or a pedal, or a new speaker cab, or or or! So many things! When a student tells me they’re interested…
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Tips for understanding Guitar Tone! There are so many amps with so many little variations and extra goodies, often it can be really tough to know where to start, or even more so, what the end goal is. The first thing we should try to break down is what kind of amp it is, and…
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Dominant 7th Voicings We’ve checked out Major 7th, Minor 7th, now it’s time for some Dominants. These are all based on G dominant 7th. The spelling for the chord is G-B-D-F. Remember, no matter how the letters are organized, it can still be referred to as a G7 chord. Often times on a lead sheet…
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Breaking out of the Cage! When we first learn our scales and scale positions, they’re often presented in a one position, “boxed in” pattern. Then, once we master this pattern, we learn another pattern, and so on and so on. These box patterns are also referred to as the Caged system. As a beginner student,…
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Practice Better! An approach to learning Jazz Standards Pt. 3 We’ve got two ways to play it? Now, after this is mastered, shoot for FOUR ways. Attached again are two more ways to play the same chords. Because of the nature of the guitar, and how the notes are arranged, we have to be more…
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Practice Better! An approach to learning Jazz Standards Pt. 2 In part one we looked at the first step towards mastery of a standard: the chords. As and example, I’m going to post what are most likely the chords the average guitarist will use, especially if they’re just getting started with Jazz. Now over…
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Practice Better! An approach to learning Jazz Standards Pt. 1 For these examples, I’ll be using “Fly me to the moon”, written by Bart Howard. If you’ve ever sat and watched a great Jazz guitarist, such as Jimmy Bruno, Pat Metheny, or Pat Martino, you’ll see these guys flying all over the fretboard. Their chord…
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Chords for Beginners When the student is ready to dive into chords, G, C, A, and E minor should be the ones you tackle first and foremost. These chords are in so many songs, at this point it can’t even be calculated. There are exercises we do that focus on some of the problems students…
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Blue Christmas – Elvis I’m considering transcribing ALOT of Elvis tunes. First of all, they’re great songs. Most of them are fairly easy and accessible, and finding a good transcription of them on the internet is really a tough call. Many transcriptions are off slightly, or totally wrong, this is why it’s important to find…
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