Playing guitar requires a technique that is uniquely different from an instrument such as piano. Think about this for example, you can drop a roll of quarters on a piano and get a clean crisp sound out of the keys. The guitar requires a little more finesse with

            For this tip, we’re going to stretch our creativity by using a temporary rule when playing. The next time you are going to improvise a solo or melody idea, whether it’s in band rehearsal or just jamming over your favorite jam-along track,

            Yes I know, playing with a metronome can be about as exciting as watching paint dry or watching the grass grow. Here’s a different challenge to try when playing with a metronome. Set your

            Do I really have to explain this one? It’s simple, only use up picks today. That’s it!

99% of all clients I’ve had, start playing guitar by using only down picks. When they start using

            For this tip, we’re going to stretch our creativity by using a temporary rule when playing. The next time you are going to improvise a solo or melody idea, whether it’s in band rehearsal or just jamming over your favorite jam-along track,

Here’s a 7-day challenge for you. Every day for the next seven days, write a short melody, not a solo, no chord changes, just a melody. Make it something that you can perhaps sing. Make it something that might even get stuck in your head so that you walk around

Most musicians find it difficult doing things “in reverse”. Be it using up-picks, playing scales descending, or sight-reading notes that move descending. I know I had those challenges. Here’s how to cure those little hiccups in your playing. For at least one

Here’s a great way of strengthening your ability to quickly play the chords in any key. Pick a key for the day that you’ll work on. Let’s say it’s C major. Play all of the chords that are in the harmony of C major. First, use as many open chords as

            Here’s another great lesson I learned while at Music College. It wasn’t in a classroom, but it was certainly a lesson.

            It was late at night and I was in one of the

            Ok, this one is going to be really interesting and fun! For the next two practice sessions, you are only allowed to use the open strings and frets one through five, that’s it! Watch how it really makes you think about things. Your soloing,

            Here’s a cool idea to not only cure the metronome monotony, but to really develop your timing and rhythm. Start by setting the metronome to a tempo around 80 – 92 bpm (beats per minute). Choose a scale that you’ve been learning or working

            Here’s an idea that will help you develop your phrasing for soloing and creating melodies. I notice many guitar players that are developing their soloing skills tend to play a little stiff. One reason is the natural tendency to play repeating

            Got a wah pedal? Here’s a cool idea for creating a unique effect. Start with the pedal rolled all the way down (toe up). Start playing a riff or solo lick. Slowly roll the pedal up (toe down) as you continue playing. One pass (toe up to toe

            These temporary rules principles are something I use frequently for my clients as well as for myself. They are a great way to break out of your regular routine and force you to look at things from a different angle. For the next few days when

            Here’s a fun idea that I love using. Let’s solo over a sequence that has very limited harmonic structure. We’ll find a track that has just one power chord. You can have another guitar player play this for you if you want, or even a

            This temporary rule challenge is pretty self-explanatory. The smallest subdivision you are allowed to play is eighth notes. This proves especially challenging when soloing. You can do it, but it may cause you some issues. How rhythmically aware

“Oh, so many things I want to practice, such little time to do them.” We all get like this some times. Here’s my suggestion for getting the most out of your practice time. Whatever amount of time you have to practice, divide it into three

Explore. Discover. Do it

Listen to Jeff Beck today. You won’t regret it. Just listen and make your own observations right now. In another article I'll discuss my observations and you can compare notes. Bye for

We all have things that we know we should be doing or need to be doing. Things that we know will make us better guitar players and musicians, and yet we consistently avoid doing them. It’s the grudge work, the stuff that’s sometimes not fun and may even be

Want a challenge that will help develop your ears? Before you touch your guitar, try to sing the pitch of the open A string, or E if you like. I always remember the opening line for the Led Zeppelin song Heartbreaker. That open A string really stands out in my

Go learn to play the entire album Back in Black by AC/DC. You'll know why I told you to do so after you've done

Learn how to play the vocal melody line from some of your favorite songs. Also, try to imitate the vibrato, bending notes and even sliding between notes that the singer may be using. It will help you develop your sense of melody, your soloing, and your sense of

It’s so much fun to just blasting away with rock licks or power chords isn’t it? Well when we do that, for the most part we are calling on our muscle memory and technique. Are we really trying to create something?

Sometimes, when one of my students is having a challenge with something like a scale, or solo or chord progression, I’ll play “The 10 Game” with them. It’s real easy and develops your focus and precision. Let’s say that there’s a difficult

When I was in College studying music, I created a great strategy for really learning the fretboard, learning chords, chord harmony, scales and more. What I did was assign a key to a day. For example make Monday C major day, Tuesday would be G major day, Wednesday

             One of the toughest things to do as a musician and guitar player is to change your practice or writing habits so that you continue stretching and growing. Many people stay stuck in their boxes, writing songs using the same drab chords,

How many songs can you play from start to finish? Do you know more riffs from songs than you know songs? One that comes to mind is Smoke on the Water. How many people can play the intro? So many starting guitar players can play that riff. How many of those people

            Go learn to play the entire album All the Pain Money Can Buy by

Playing in front of people almost always alters how you play. Whether you have an audience of one person or a stadium full of crazy fans. It really makes you conscious of what you are playing, what your weak spots are and even what your strong points are. If

            When working with songwriters, I frequently use a principle that I call “Direct or Indirect”. Or I call it “Going Forwards or Going Backwards”. When a client writes a song and brings it in to show me, I’ll ask them “what key is your

            Got a capo? I used to think that using a capo was a cheater’s way of transposing a song. Over time I’ve come to appreciate the cool sounds a capo can enable you to produce. Here are a few ideas to consider when using a capo. First, wherever you position your capo, consider

            Alternate tunings are a nice way to add variety to your playing and to break out of your typical patterns. When I’m talking about alternate tuning, I’m not talking about drop tuning. We’ll talk about that another time. For our purposes, alternate tunings will be tunings

            For those of you looking to break through a plateau in your soloing, maybe it’s time to increase your vocabulary. When taking a solo, compare it to giving a public speech, in some way it really is what you’re doing. Think about it, you’re expressing your thoughts to an

If you're not currently using your smartphone or tablet for helping improve your musical skills, then you need to take another look at the technology that is available to us today. 

     I used to use a recordable Walkman to record my own guitar lessons or voice lessons. I wrote down

If you are considering taking guitar lessons, but don't have a guitar, then keep reading! Ok, so you're excited about playing guitar, that's great! Let me walk with you through a few necessary steps to get you ready. 

1) First lets find you a guitar. Should you buy an

            This is a topic I didn’t realize that I’d have to address. The story is always the same. I go to see an amateur band playing here in Los Angeles. As I’m waiting for the band to come out, I’ll be checking out the guitar player’s rig. There will usually be some

            Here’s another great technique I use with my private students. Integrate as many ideas as you can think of. For example, let’s say you are working on a song in D major. I would ask you: What is the key signature for D major? What is the relative minor? What is the chord

The full title of this post is really Breathe, Zen and the Art of Performing. Here's why. Ever feel tight or stiff when you are playing? You need to loosen up! This is an easy exercise that will help you to flow with your playing. Chose any two-octave scale. As you play it

            For me it’s difficult to really categorize Peter Gabriel and I like that fact. He’s got some super popular songs that put him in high rotation when the “M” in MTV still stood for “Music”. So is he a “pop” artist? The high level of musicianship on his albums

So you’re thinking of buying a new amp? Oh what a great day when you get to go amp shopping. I frequently have conversations with my clients and students about this subject. I love talking about gear! Here are some ideas to think about when you are considering buying a new amp.

Let’s

Consider the direction amp companies are going today. Digital amps are really popular, and for a reason. To keep this discussion down to a reasonable length (I could go on and on about this stuff!), I’ll try to give you what I think are benefits and drawbacks to each category of amp – tube,

Straplocks, a string winder or two, a chromatic tuner or an extra if you only have one, a couple of tuning forks, a metronome, earplugs (there! I said it!), and maybe a footstool. These are some things that should be on your shopping list for the next time you are at your local music store. Let

For so many decades, our beloved E, A, D, G, B, E tuning has served us well. There has of course been the rare instance of an artist retuning to an alternate or a drop tuning, but for the most part our standard tuning was just that – the standard. Isn’t that enough to keep us developing our

Eight.   Oh, did you want me to elaborate on that? I guess I can do that. Here’s my humble opinion on getting your kids started with musical instruments including guitar. It all depends on the kid. I’ve taught kids as young as five. That was pushing it a little. Eight years old is my

I feel like starting with a “back when I was learning guitar” kind of statement. Because… back when I was learning how to play guitar we didn’t have quality transcriptions of our favorite songs in abundance like these days. I was lucky to find a page or two of transcribed music is guitar

We all use what I call a “focus pool”. This concept is quite evident in particular to beginners. Say for example you are a beginner (maybe you are!). When first learning a scale, the thing you are focusing on the most is where the notes are. This more than likely requires 100% or your focus

If you talk to any of my students, you’ll quickly realize that I’m a big fan of racing, Formula One in particular. There are so many similarities between the two “sports”. Let’s explore a couple of them.

Practice slowly

Thinking ahead:

When teaching sight-reading skills, a new solo, or learning a song form, the key is thinking ahead. A racecar driver needs to continuously look at what’s coming up ahead. When he approaches a turn, he already knows how to

Green, Yellow, Red:

I’m constantly asked – “How can I get to be a great player really fast?” Here’s my response. I say divide your practice time wisely (We’ll cover that in a later article), and consider my “Green, Yellow,

I remember my first guitar teacher in a unique way. I learned a valuable lesson from my experience with him even though I only had a couple months worth of lessons with him.

            I started playing guitar mostly because I loved Van Halen and wanted to play their songs. I

When it comes to learning something new, think about it like creating a new program for a computer. In this case your brain is your computer and a new song, riff or scale is the program. If you feed the information to your computer the right way the first time, it can “replay” the program

Paul Gilbert once said, “Practice this until it sounds like a popsicle stick stuck in your bicycle spokes”. He would also practice the most difficult thing he could find, so that the easier stuff would be a piece of cake to play. Steve Morse once said about John Petrucci – “to get as

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