Category: Articles

  • Supercharge Your Improv

    Photo by Andy Ellis Being a rock guitar teacher at Berklee, which is known primarily for jazz, is a bit like being the best dogsled racer in Hawaii. At the same time, it has its advantages. Mostly, I get a unique perspective on things simply because of where I am. There’s been a long-standing debate…

  • Obsessive Progressive: Tool’s Adam Jones

    Formed in 1990, Tool is still considered to be one of the premier progressive rock bands of the era. While guitarist Adam Jones’ playing is firmly rooted in the progressive idiom, he doesn’t hesitate to draw on elements of grunge and even stoner rock, and the groove-based style of drummer Danny Carey and rock-solid timing…

  • The Guitar Playbook: How Do You Solo?

    I remember a younger version of myself who was just learning the guitar. I recall searching for the holy grail answer to the question, how do you solo? I was certain there was a pinpointed answer that I didn’t have the authorization to receive. It turns out there wasn’t a secret password or handshake. There…

  • Jerry Reed’s Red-Hot Picking

    The basic concept of modern fingerstyle guitar—playing multiple parts at once—was deeply influenced by the work of guitarist, vocalist, producer, composer, and actor, Jerry Reed. The strongest elements of Reed’s style came out of American blues, gospel, and country music. He combined those traits with an intuitive prowess on the instrument and a rambunctious sense…

  • 5 FREE Blues Guitar Improvisation Lessons

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    Can’t Play a Lick? Learn Step-By-Step With My Video & Tab Lessons Don’t worry! “Blues Improvisation”  will show you how to improvise your own blues leads on the spot. With the new Blues Improvisation course… You’ll learn all the important blues scales You’ll become a master of popular blues techniques- such as bends and vibrato You’ll have…

  • Obsessive Progressive: How to Decode Advanced Polymeters

    Last month we began to wrestle with time signatures like 5/4 and 7/4 [“Obsessive Progressive: Get a Grip on Odd-Meter Time Signatures”], so in this lesson we’ll push past basic odd-meter patterns and see what it’s like to mix in some 16th-note subdivisions. So, as the name might suggest, a 16th-note-based time signature is one…

  • Download And Play 445 EZ Strum Guitar Songs- Fast Fun & Accurate

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    I wanted to tell you about a new guitar song training offering that has me really excited! My good friend, Nathan Wilson, has been diligently building digital download sets of EZ strum along videos to 445 popular songs and I have convinced him to let me show it to my visitors for the unbelievable low…

  • Locating Every The D Note On The Fretboard

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    Here is a fun and educational exercise. We’ll locate all of the D notes on our guitar and practice playing them. The D notes on each string come out like this: E String – 10th Fret A String – 5th Fret D String – Open G String – 7th Fret B String – 3rd Fret High E…

  • Greatest Rock Guitar Riffs Of The 1970s

    Learn how to play the greatest rock guitar riffs of the 1970s note-for-note! The most innovative rock guitar music ever to be created is found in the 1970s. It’s when rock guitar shined the brightest and introduced us to some of the greatest riffs ever to be performed on the instrument. These are the riffs…

  • In Memory Of Prince…

    http://gty.im/118094001 Sad and shocking news today as we hear about the sudden death of Prince at the age of 57. Prince was a very influential musician who played many instruments, but he is probably best know for playing guitar. In 2004  the magazine “Rolling Stone” published a list of the top 100 guitarists of all…