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. 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 the bills here! Recently I got the call to …
10 Ways To Get Your Kids To Appreciate Good Music
Getting your kids to appreciate good music can start as early as in the womb. Many parents-to-be report excited kicks coming from their tummy when singing to their unborn babies or playing good music. Music can bring great joy and speak to the soul – not only that, it has many benefits that can seriously improve quality of life. Music increases brain power and memory, gives kids a form of artistic expression, improves creativity, can …
20 Essential Guitar Chords for Beginners
If you’re new to playing the guitar and wondering what chords are suitable for a beginner guitarist, look no further. I’ve got you covered in this lesson… and then some. You’ll find no shortage of downloadable guitar chord charts and graphs flying around the internet, so what makes this one different? After some 25+ years of teaching guitar lessons, I’ve found that the right mix of open position shapes and a little music theory goes …
Top 5 Beginner Guitar Tips
Learning to play a musical instrument helps to boost your confidence. A guitar is one such musical instrument that automatically ups your cool quotient and keeps you, as well as the people around you entertained. Playing the guitar is a great way to unwind at the end of the day. It can also help you align your focus if you find yourself stressed with study or work. Key to becoming a proficient guitarist is to …
The 7 Day Practice Routine For Guitarists Book Sale
View PostGame of Thrones Series Finale – How it Could Have ended
Sunday night’s Game of Thrones Series finale left millions of fans gasping a collective “what the actual F$*K?”… this fan included. I’m not ready to sign a petition for a Game of Thrones Season 8 do-over like many millions of fans have today, yet I can’t escape the feeling that the entire episode, perhaps even the entire season was half-baked. I’m not alone. Every news outlet from The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Washington …
The Modern Ways Musicians Are Grabbing Attention
Becoming a musician isn’t what it used to be. Thanks to the power of digital tools, practically anyone can create music, upload it, and start selling it. But this has created a problem: there were something like 80,000 new albums released last year, 99 percent of which will never get played on the radio, and even fewer of them will make it onto the playlist of the average person. Musicians, like companies, have to stand …
Guitarist Bobby Koelble – Interview and 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 …
Alternate Picking – 20 Essential Picking Exercises For Guitarists
Alternate picking for guitarists may seem like something we all take for granted. Most guitarists, even complete beginners alternate some down and up strokes 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 I …
Are You Pursuing Your Passion?
When you have a passion for something, it consumes you. A passion is more than just an interest. You may like tennis and you may enjoy eating cake, but if you HAVE to partake in music or anything else – if you cannot imagine your life without it and you’d love to dedicate all the time you have to it, then you have a passion! But, just because you have a passion, it doesn’t mean …