Learning chords on the guitar can be a daunting project. There always seem to be more and more chords to learn. The trick is to understand how chords can be duplicated all over the fretboard.

By understanding how harmony works on the fretboard we take the first steps to unlocking the fingerboard. Let’s get started. Read more »

Sooner or later you and your guitar are going to end up at a musical jam session where someone will call out, “Let’s play a blues.” Now one thing you can be sure of is that it will be either in the ‘G’ or ‘E’ key. Knowing the basic blues chord progressions and how to solo in the keys of G and E is essential stuff the advancing guitarist must know. Today’s project will focus on the key of G and specifically the G minor pentatonic scale.  Read more »

It’s easy to get tangled up in the guitar scales department. There are literally thousands of scales to learn. Do you have to know all these scales to play guitar? Fortunately the answer is a resounding NO!  Read more »

Hands up those who have looked at a guitar chord book and then dropped the book and ran for the nearest exit. To be honest I don’t blame you!My earliest experience with chord books was with my first guitar teacher. The idea was to learn one new chord shape per lesson out of this massive chord book entitled 1001 chords.  Read more »

There is a whole new generation of guitar players discovering Johnny Cash’s music. People who would normally be listening to rock or heavy metal are tuning in to this country music legend.  Cash’s songs are easy to play, well constructed and full of surprises plus they sound great with just one guitar. I thought it might be interesting to take a closer look at some of the keyingredients to Johnny’s style. Read more »

Guitar players are often called upon to create introductions and endings on the spot. The problem is, very few guitarists know how to practice this aspect of their guitar playing.  Read more »

Have you ever wondered how some guitar players get that crisp, clean, clean sound? Often it has nothing to do with their equipment. It’s the notes they don’t play that makes them sound so good.  Read more »

Recently a very technically proficient guitar player came to my studio. After he had played a number of perfectly executed scales, chord progressions and various other guitar skills such as sweep picking, two handed tapping etc., I began to wonder why the guy wanted to or, indeed, needed to take lessons! After I questioned him as to why he thought he needed lessons, it turned out that whenever he audition for a band he never got the job. This puzzled me as he did play the guitar better than most players I have encountered. Read more »

With the media’s focus on visual presentation for music promotion it’s easy to understand how somebody learning to play guitar can miss the important clues in learning how to play quickly and easily.

Today’s music buying public tend to “listen with their eyes” so if you want to learn guitar fast you need to develop your ability to focus on the audio and develop your musical perception skills. Learning how to bypass the visual presentation and quickly notice the similarities in the music is an essential skill for the advancing guitarist. Read more »

The picking hand seems to be the greatest limiting factor for most modern-day guitar players. It appears once a style of picking becomes habitual, it is very difficult to change and frequently total retraining is required. This one fact holds a lot of people back from playing guitar accurately.  Read more »