I see a lot of flaws in the way many of my students practice soloing for rock lead guitar. I see I guitar players simply practicing exercises and licks without playing along with chords. Seems pretty natural to most to just pick up your guitar and start practicing things. But, there is no anchor balance […]
No matter how much experience you have, the inevitable gear failure is bound to happen at the least opportune time. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve tested your gear at home before you leave. Or how much time you spent in soundcheck making sure your signal path is clean and happy. A moment will come, […]
A Gig is a Gig is a Gig is a Gig, right? Well, that’s not really an accurate way to think of a career in music. When you’re younger and less experienced you tend to see every gig in the same way. You haven’t traveled musically enough to have a depth of the skill set […]
Musicians tend to think of a metronome as a static time keeper. The enforcer of the law, the man, you know… the rhythm police. The truth is, time doesn’t have to be as rigid as one might believe. Einstein discovered time is not linear, so why would it be in music? Ok, I know this […]
Chicken or the Egg Theory The question of “How do you create music if you don’t know music theory?” comes up often. It seems that to some degree we’re fed the notion that we must have a great understanding of the finite technical details of music theory to come up with creative ideas. Truth is, […]
There are a many great slide guitar tones. One of the hardest to achieve is a cleanish tone with sustain and a gentle whine. It’s one of those tones you don’t just plug straight into an amp and achieve. It takes a bit of manipulation. The clean sound from most amplifiers is bright with a […]
Consecutive Learning We have all kinds of ways to acquire guitar related information these days. The internet has allowed us to travel through a universe of guitar knowledge. Although there is a lot of access to theory or lessons, one thing that eludes many aspiring players is the order of information acquisition. Woah, that was […]
It’s very important to use a metronome when practicing. Some players get caught in a trap though and never develop a strong relationship with the click. They tend to obey instead of communicate. Here are some tips on how to strengthen your relationship with a metronome.
Often when guitarists build a pedalboard, they take a long time to design a configuration they will commit to for a period of time. This tends to mean candle lit dinners, long walks on the beach and maybe even a weekend getaway. There is something abut the permanence to a pedalboard that makes some guitarists […]
Melodic Pentatonic Shape Shifter When you study melody you start to notice some interesting traits. Some of which seem to go against most instincts of guitarists. What happens when you place a guitar in the hands of a guitarist and ask them to lead? There tends to be a steady stream of notes that run […]
