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…
Scales Major Minor Harmonic Minor Harmonic Major Melodic Minor Major Pentatonic Minor Pentatonic Whole Tone Diminished Dorian Aeolian Phrygian Lydian Mixolydian Locrian Dorian b9 Mixolydian b6 Altered scale Lydian Dominant Phrygian Dominant etc etc etc There are scales for scales. Modes for modes. Each with their own ‘voice’ and character that you can lend to…
Memorization Madness Part 2 In part one we looked the 1st level to mastery, and talked about how much practice it should take to reach this stage. I also posted some numbers and ideas about how it relates to time spent “woodshedding”. In a nutshell, most people think to reach the 1st level (lick is…
Practicing For Speed: Practicing for guitar speed really takes patience and determination, and GOALS. 1. Speed has nothing to do with talent. 2. The ability to play fast, and the ability to play well, are not always the same thing. 3. There is no clearly defined “fastest”. Meaning, what is “fast” is different depending on…
What’s the best approach to teaching children? Part 4 In the last 3 entries we spoke about different approaches. All have their merits, as well as their own specific weaknesses. In this article we will address the Teacher themselves. Just as there are many different personalities of people, there are just as many personalities of…
What is the Best Approach to Teaching Children? Part 3 This is part three of our series, “What is the Best Approach to Teaching Children?” In past articles we talked about the two most common methods of teaching. Part 2 dealt with the “method book” approach. We also looked at the pros and cons…
What’s the best approach to teaching children? Part 2: In part one of “The Best Approach”, we talked about the Chord approach. Generally speaking, this is usually how a typical teacher working in a music shop will teach. We also talked about the pros and cons of this approach as well. The “Book” approach:…
The problem with notation: Some thoughts on notation, feel, and the mailability of transcription: Notation is not perfect. I’ll say it again. Notation is not perfect. If you have ever looked up a tab online to either double check what you’ve learned, or just to use it as your primary teaching source, you know…
Are you getting the most out of your current lessons? Some thoughts on your current lessons/teacher: Not all teachers are the same, just as the objectives of each individual student are not the same. I’d like to talk about some of the things WE do, that perhaps other schools do not. I usually ask these…
What is the Best Approach to Teaching Guitar to Children: This can mean many things to many people. The BEST thing for one student may not always be the best thing for the next one. Because the personalities of children and their reasons for learning guitar are so different and varied, so to must the…