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Dr. Matt’s 20 Essential Jazz Guitar CDs

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

OK, first let me start off by telling you what this article isn’t. Then I’ll tell you what it is. This isn’t a list of the 20 best jazz-guitar albums of all time or a list of what I think should be the only 20 jazz-guitar albums somebody to own. (This is not the be [...]

Learn the Modes, or One Big Scale?

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

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There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to scales and improvisation. The first is to treat each chord as a separate entity and improvise using certain scales/modes over each one individually. I like to think of this as “vertical improvisation” as the player deals with each chord individually. The second is to [...]

Find Your Own Musical Voice

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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Not every guitarist wants to be original. Many people grow up just wanting to sound like their heroes. When John Mayer first hit the scene he sounded very much like SRV, as did Jonny Lang. There are plenty of guys imitating Dave Matthews nowadays, and certainly there are more than a few Holdsworth devotees. I [...]

The Six-Month Challenge

Friday, June 4, 2010

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Yesterday, I put the finishing touches on my new practice routine. As I mentioned when deciding to embrace the suck, I’ve felt that my practice sessions have been floundering. Although my sessions have been very good for technical practice, I think they were falling short of my actual needs. I was substituting activity for productivity. [...]

Crafting a Great Guitar Solo

Thursday, May 6, 2010

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Most of a guitarist’s reputation is staked on how good their guitar solos are. You can have the most rockin’ rhythm playing in a song that grooves to all hell, but if you clam on the solo you’re pretty much done with. As good as you might chugga chug, without a spirit-lifting solo people won’t [...]

5 Guitarist Collaborations I Would Like To See

Friday, February 12, 2010

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Supergroups come along every once in a while. Them Crooked Vultures and Chickenfoot certainly come to mind as two of the latest. It's always interesting to hear what creations they make, especially when they come from diverse backgrounds and musical styles. What's interesting, however, is that most of the time the music just comes out sounding average; certainly less than the sum of its parts. With that in mind, I've assembled a list of five guitarist collaborations that I would like to see happen. Who would you like to see?

20 Must-Have Guitar CDs

Thursday, December 31, 2009

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Yes, you’ve seen lists like this everywhere, every year. We’ve tried to mix things up a little bit by including old and new, as well as a mixture of styles and genres that have produced amazing guitar recordings. There are tons more than this list, of course, so I invite you all to share your [...]