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10 Tips For Playing Live In A Band

In Guitar Blog, Interviews and Insights by Craig Smith

Performing live can be scary for new musicians – especially if it’s your first gig. I’ve been playing live now for a little over 27 years now. Thousands of gigs! (Thats me in the pic above playing live at The Gaylord Palms, Orlando in 2013) I’m still learning.. and like any good musician, you should be too! If you want your live performances to go smoothly, make sure to avoid some of these common mistakes. …

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Guitar Practice Routines – An Interview with 5 Pro Guitarists

In Guitar Blog, Interviews and Insights, Music, Practice and Technique by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

While on my ‘Virtual Book Tour’ promoting The 7 Day Practice Routine For Guitarists, it occurred to me to ’round-up’ some of my favorite players both Local and National to talk a bit about what they practice on a daily basis. These guitarists are as formidable in 2024 as they were when this article was first published a few years back. As much as I love playing and teaching the guitar… I also really love …

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Guitar Arpeggios – The 7 Day Practice Routine

In Arpeggios, Guitar Blog, Practice and Technique by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

Hey, it’s Arpeggio day! In this lesson we’re going to change it up by doing some Guitar Arpeggios and sequences for guitar. You can grab these guitar arpeggios in PDF, TAB, or download below. If you missed the first 2 installments of the guitar practice routine, you can find them here: 7 Day Guitar Practice Routine: Day 1 – Warmups7 Day Guitar Practice Routine: Day 2 – Modal Workout Guitar Arpeggios Table of Contents If …

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Benefits of Learning Music for Kids and Young Children

In Interviews and Insights, Music by Craig Smith

What do you do when your kid is enthusiastic about playing a guitar. What about another musical instrument such as piano or violin? Or, (yikes) drums? The are so many benefits of learning music for kids despite the challenges that can arise as a parent. Very few of us look forward to the prospect of listening to children practice a screechy violin or tunelessly practice the recorder. Nevertheless, once they get a little better, it …

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20 Essential Picking Exercises For Guitar

In Guitar Blog, Practice and Technique, Scales by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

Alternate picking for guitarists may seem like something we all take for granted. Most guitarists, even complete beginners alternate some down and up strokes naturally whether they are consciously doing it or not. As we develop our picking hand, alternate picking can open a whole new world of techniques and music not obtainable otherwise. Even if you’re familiar with alternate picking, it can often be helpful to go back and work on the basics. Sometimes …

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Pentatonic Scales For Guitar

In Guitar Blog, Music, Practice and Technique, Scales by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

Pentatonic Scales for Guitar Pentatonic scales are simultaneously the most used and sometimes most purposely avoided of all scales on the guitar. In all of my years of teaching guitar lessons, I’ve found there are typically 2 kinds of guitarists: Table of Contents Funny Pentatonic Scale Story When I was teaching guitar lessons full-time, famed shredder and Mr. Big / Racer X Guitarist Paul Gilbert was doing a clinic at my music store. It was …

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Five Essential Warm-Up Exercises for Guitar

In Guitar Blog, Practice and Technique by Craig Smith

Guitar warm-ups are an essential part of playing guitar or really any musical instrument, especially as we get older. Warming up both hands prior to a long practice session, rehearsal, or gig is essential. Guitar warm-up exercises build strength and dexterity while also helping to prevent common injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. These types of guitar exercises can be deceptively simple to learn, yet technically complex to master. Despite being done in only 10-15 …

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Tech To Protect Your Guitars

In Guitar Blog, Reviews and Gear by Craig Smith

Imagine one of your guitars being stolen. 😭Do you have the serial # handy?Some good pictures?Any idea when it happened?Will the Police even care when you report it? How can you use tech to protect your guitars? Using Tech to Protect Your Guitars Like so many of us, I woke up this morning to a slew of weekend sale ads in my email inbox. I’m sure I’m not the only one to delete, delete, delete… …