A metronome is a mechanical device that provides a click sound at a selected tempo. The metronome lets you learn to control the timing of the music. Critics of metronome practice rightfully claim that real music is not played at a strict click-click metronome tempo. In live music, the tempo gets pushed or pulled back. … Read more
Mickey Baker’s Complete Course in Jazz Guitar has been around for over 50 years. It’s definitely an “old school” style of music book. But if you’re an intermediate player, can read standard notation, and want to get started playing jazz guitar, this book will get you started. Watch the video briefing for Mickey Baker’s Complete … Read more
Charting your weekly guitar practice is a great way to keep you on track with your guitar-playing goals. You do have distinct guitar-playing goals? Don’t you? If not, stop and read, Guitar Tip: Set Your Guitar Playing Goals. First, establish how much time you can allocate to guitar practice during a typical week. In my case, … Read more
Hello and welcome to my Blues You Can Use review. If you want to play blues guitar, Blues You Can Use will get you going right. The book is a comprehensive study of virtually all of the popular electric blues guitar styles from Gospel Blues to Texas Rock Blues, a la Stevie Ray Vaughan. The … Read more
Don’t even think about practicing your guitar without having a pad and pencil handy (or pen, if you prefer). The pad/pen complement the digital timer I suggested in Guitar Practice Tip: Use a Countdown Timer. See my post, How to Practice Guitar With a Metronome.First, I like to use a mechanical pencil, with a decent eraser. One … Read more
I recently submitted a Youtube video to an online Blues contest — called the Blue Noize contest — hosted by one of the heavyweights of the guitar blogosphere, Guitar Noize. The challenge was to create a solo over a blues backing track provided by the organizers and submit it to Youtube to be judged by a panel of musicians. Since … Read more
In their quest to guitar mastery, many players will hit a point where they wish they had started playing earlier. How often have you heard someone mutter something along the lines of, “If I had only started playing when I was 8, I would have been so much better than I am now!”. Perhaps you … Read more
A great jam session is one of the best things in the world, in my humble opinion. A great jam session in which you take an active part is an even better thing in the world. You know that feeling; you’re playing something previously unrehearsed with other musicians, and the whole song just flows. It is like … Read more
Why do you want to play guitar? What do you want to get out of your guitar playing? Why practice? — to master a new tune? to learn to sight-read? to get faster? to pass the audition? Even if you don’t realize it we all practice to achieve some guitar-playing goal. To get the most out … Read more
Many players are unsure how they should be holding the guitar. Others simply haven’t given it much thought. Bad habits will hold back your playing, make it unnecessarily difficult for them to play the guitar, or will cause awkwardness or discomfort, and can even contribute to strain and injury. Good habits will improve your playing, … Read more