NOTE: I wrote this article over 15 years ago. Since that time i am fully back to a life as a professional. But I think it is informative for anyone who is struggling along the way. Here goes: Walking away from a career in music was one [...]

On the journey that is guitar, there are certain observations you make over time.  Over these many years, and after learning how to play countless guitar solos, one thing above all else has become abundantly clear. Most soloists use chord tones during their solo. What is [...]

Anyone who has played guitar for any length of time comes to appreciate the power of movable shapes; the shapes your hands form when you move up and down the neck when playing power or barre chords. Maybe you haven't formally expanded on what this truly [...]

When you are picking out chords there is a pretty systematic approach you can use. Find the bass note first (the lowest one). Use just the low E string and go up and down its length for each note. Do this for each chord in the [...]

I want to take a minute to address one of the very basic pillars of the guitar. In future posts, we will be discussing more advanced topics where this becomes a 'given'.  So in preparation for that, you more advanced players please bear with me as [...]

There is just such immense talent out there. Much of it lives just beyond the scope of what most rock players hear. This is my current personal list of 5 very accessible musicians you may not have heard - but should. I am leaving off this list [...]

Ever since the first time I played the riff to Ironman by Black Sabbath as a beginner, I learned that if you play a note on the any of the top 3 strings* (E, A, or D) and you add a second note (one string down, and [...]

Every day, I go through numerous guitar forums to help people, learn more and generally keep up with all that ails those who play. Every day, without exception, one thought comes into my head that would fix 98% of the questions posted. Drumroll please........... Just do it. [...]

I wanted to do a quick post to help beginning players address probably their most asked question of their teachers: "How do I do a barre chord! These are impossible!!". No they are not... they are surprisingly quite easy with some work. Finger Placement First up, let's [...]

Because I kind of don't... or didn't. Many musicians spend a good deal of money on the quest for that elusive tone. Of course there are varying degrees of this illness, but guitar players are specifically bad for it! Take for example something I just went through. [...]

I once heard a story of a great jazz piano player (I think it may have been Bill Evans but I am not certain). As the story goes: a visitor dropped by to visit this musician's house one morning. He found him improvising over a simple set [...]

I have had a couple conversations lately that inspired me to write a post about guitar lessons. My background experience with teaching private lessons is quite considerable. I have also been the recipient of lessons over the years so I thought I would reflect on some of [...]

There are many stages to mastery on an instrument. But if we divide it into 2 (for the sake of argument) they would be: the years spent acquiring and internalizing the scales and chord shapes, intervals, sounds, progressions and all the technical side of it. The VAST [...]

By Ira Glass: “Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just [...]

I have been working with this great little app for my iPhone and iPad called Chordbot. It really is a great and simple little application that allows you to get simple backing tracks up and going in seconds. I highly recommend checking it out. You can really take [...]

A discussion I had on a music forum the other day, prompted me to do some thinking on the similarities between training for sports and music. In that conversation, I made a comparison between playing tennis and playing a guitar - which was met with a luke-warm [...]

Lots of guitarist seek to develop a practice routine that will take their playing to another level. No matter what that level, there is a common mistake to overwhelm oneself with too many technical drills. Now technical drills SHOULD play some role in your practice time... But what amount [...]

One of the hardest things with learning to hit chord tones while soloing, is trying to do the mental multitasking it requires. At first, keeping track of which chord comes next in your mind - while you "relax" and solo - feels damn near impossible.... But [...]

To continue on with my series of related posts designed to help you understand the fretboard, I wanted to examine different approaches to any root note. The gist of it is this: Any chord or scale can be viewed from either side of the root note.  What [...]

For over 20 years, I listened to the conventional wisdom among the guitar 'shred' community. Play with a stiff, thick pick for speed. At first, I used a full size one. Then I switched (thanks to an Eric Johnson VHS tape) to the under-sized Dunlop Jazz III's, which I swore by for many, [...]

Today we have a guest entry from a fine musician. One Mr. Jeff Stocks. In a discussion we were having about forming a guitar practice routine, his post stood out as one of exceptional quality. It needs to be shared as I couldn't have worded it better! Jeff [...]

Teaching is a lot of fun and can be a great job - but to do it well it is a lot of work. Just because a person is a good guitar player does not mean he or she can teach. There is a great number of unschooled, [...]

Today I want to cover a topic, that seems so obvious once you see it, that you may wonder why you never saw it before. I suspect every advanced player knows this, but perhaps showing it this way, will help in some way open a new [...]

I quite regularly see forum posts from players looking for a resource for "box patterns" of the major scale. In the spirit of the old saying: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a [...]

Well I do believe it is about time for another book review. I can't think of a better follow up than a wonderful, detailed book by Mark Levine called 'the Jazz Theory Book'. Mark Levine, is a jazz pianist of some acclaim, he does know of [...]

Over the years, I have heard many, many excuses as to why people "can't figure songs out by ear". To be more accurate, I should say: excuses as to why people "WON'T figure songs out by ear". The most common by a mile, is the ever-popular: [...]