If you’re a beginning guitar player, you’ve probably heard the word “scales” before but may not be sure where to start. If you’ve tried a few, you may be wondering what the point is to this often tedious guitar playing chore. There are a few reasons why adding scales to your practice routine is super important: Scales build technique, strength and coordination in both hands on the guitar. Scales are the basis for all melody, …
40 Day Guitar Practice Challenge
Are you ready to take your guitar playing to the next level? Let’s do it together! A Guitar Practice Challenge. I’m working on a new Guitar Practice Challenge for 2025, so check back in a few months. New Years resolutions can be cliche but what’s wrong with trying to better yourself, whether it’s a hobby, your health or the desire to become a better guitarist? For beginning guitarists, improvement can be a measured by leaps …
Picking Exercises, Shred Guitar Practice, and Gear
Guitarists have been emailing me… asking where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to. The short answer is, practicing. Practicing a lot. While my writing has a suffered a bit, my guitar chops are making a serious comeback thanks to my Picking Exercises, Shred Guitar Practice routines. Most of my friends, family and readers know I do a ton of acoustic guitar gigs. I’m still doing 4-5 per week. Thats just how I pay …
Guitarist Bobby Koelble Interview & Lesson
I want to start this article by saying, I’m just a big fan of Guitarist Bobby Koelble. He’s the type of Guitarist I want to be like “when I grow up”. I like to think of myself as a busy musician. I’m writing, teaching and performing 4-6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. But… theres busy… and there’s Bobby Koelble busy. I like to think I’m fairly versatile on the guitar. I’ve done my …
Guitarist Berto Boyd Flamenco Guitar Master Lesson
Flamenco Guitarist Berto Boyd updated 2024. (Recently moved to Philippines) I came across Flamenco and Classical Guitarist, Berto Boyd, on Facebook a while back through our mutual friend and guitarist, Ben Woods. I admire anyone who (like me) is able to make a living playing guitar at any level. I’m also just a huge fan and admirer of Flamenco guitar in general. It’s not something I’ve covered yet here on Life In 12 Keys. Guitarist …
Minor Pentatonic Scale Shapes for Guitar
This week I’m going to revisit the Pentatonic Scale Shapes. Particularly the minor pentatonic scale and how it overlaps notes in it’s parent Major Key. In case you missed it, a while back I did a lesson on guitar modal scales and how they overlap. One of my readers, Tim, sent me an email right after that lesson went live and asked about the same concept using minor Pentatonic scales.. so like I always say… …
Guitar Modes – A Practical Guide To Modal Shapes
Guitar Modes Whenever I see guitar modes explained in lessons and other guitar blogs, there always seems to be one key point missing. How they overlap each other. When discussing how to use guitar modes, it’s really important to understand how they fall across the fretboard in any given key. To further illustrate this point, I received an email from Randal, an email subscriber who had just purchased my book The 7 Day Practice Routine …
Lagrima Complete Guitar Score PDF
My first online Classical Guitar Lesson! I gotta say, I’m kinda stoked about it too. Lagrima is one of my favorite semi-easy pieces for Classical Guitar. Also, it’s just an easy one to get your hands around. I’ve also included a free Lagrima Guitar Music PDF below. (Updated 2024 – I also did a Classical Guitar Lesson on Sor’s study in B minor). In this Lagrima Guitar Lesson: January for us working musicians in Florida …
Beginner Guitar Lesson – Strumming and Accompaniment
Hey everyone! Today I’m doing a guest guitar lesson with Utah Guitarist, Jami Taylor. I met Jami recently on Pinterest and we became fast email guitar buddies. Jami has a wonderful gift for beautifully designed, easy to follow, visually appealing guitar lessons. I just love her website and her beautifully styled lessons are so different than mine, I just had to have her do a guest post here at Lifein12Keys.com. Hopefully it won’t be her …
Harmonic Minor Scale and Modes for Guitar
The Harmonic Minor Scale for Guitar is something you instantly recognize when you hear it. It’s exotic, moody, exciting, and just fun to play in all styles of guitar music. I’ve been having a blast lately talking with so many guitarists about all of the things they practice and struggle with on a daily basis. When I built this website, I really wasn’t sure what it was I wanted to to do with it. I …