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 t obey instead of communicate. Here are some tis 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 […]
The Polyphonic Guitarist Are you a monophonic or polyphonic player? As guitarists, we have a tendency to get caught up in speed and single note lines. Ask any guitarist to solo and odds are it will be single note lines played on the high strings. There almost seems to be an installed switch for most […]
For years, the tones of Early Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were a mystery. I’ve played through many of the same guitars and amps. It still didn’t have the same rasp though. Eventually, due to the power of the world wide web (remember when it was called that?), I was able to find more info […]
When I was young and first taking up guitar, I bought a book of guitar chords. This seemed like a logical thing to do. My thought was anytime I saw a chord, I could immediately look it up. I would spend time going through the book everyday. I experimented with all kinds of chords. I […]
There is a lot of time we’re away from our instruments. Valuable time we wish we could be practicing. Who says we can’t practice when we don’t have our instruments though? I get some of my mot valuable practice time when I don’t have my instrument in my hands. This is partly due to the […]