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 …
Pentatonic Scales For Guitar
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 …
Alternate Picking Exercises for Guitarists
View PostEssential Modal Scales for Guitarists
How the Guitar Modal Scale Workout Started Back in the 1990s, I was teaching guitar lessons at Lentine’s Music in Akron, Ohio. I was teaching 6 days a week and playing gigs at night on the weekends. Before the internet, before cell-phones, before YouTube lessons… you had to take lessons in person from an actual person. I have a lot of great memories from those years. Consequently, at one point I had over 70 students …
Guitar Modes – Essential Guitar Scales
Introduction to Modal Scales for Guitarists I know what you’re thinking. Oh, great. Another article on guitar scales. You may be asking yourself the usual questions: These are the same things I asked myself over 30 years ago when I first started using the Modal Scales in my everyday guitar playing. I remember back in the late 1980’s when I was first starting out on the guitar, reading about these mysterious scales in magazine interviews …
10 Essential Guitar Scales for Beginners
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, …
The Girl From Ipanema Guitar Tutorial
The Girl From Ipanema Guitar Lesson and Guitar Jazz Chord Study An analysis, lesson and study of a really classic Jazz / Pop tune, The Girl From Ipanema.In this Guitar lesson: Girl From Ipanema Chord Chart Chord Analysis Section A Chord Analysis Section B Soloing and Improvisation Ideas – The Essential Scales Practice Backing Track\ Girl From Ipanema Guitar History Every once in a while I need to write a lesson for myself as well …
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 …
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 …
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