How COVID-19 is Affecting Guitarists Well, this is a guitar website after all… We’re all musicians, we’re all in this together; even if it doesn’t always seem that way in heated political discussions on social media. (I’m guilty, I know) Things have changed A LOT. The 2nd week of March 2020, I was finishing up a typical 5-gig week. On that following Monday, everything was cancelled. Everything on my calendar gone, literally overnight. I’m not …
Acoustic Inferno Virtual Gig No. 4- This Saturday 6PM!
Acoustic Inferno Streaming LIVE, This Saturday, July 18th @ 6:00 P.M. Let’s do it! Another streaming shit show coming your way! Our first 2 streams were amazing thanks to YOU. We are ready to do another one THIS SATURDAY night. The tips and virtual ticket sales last time helped so much. We both can’t thank you all enough! All proceeds will be split between Lyndsley and Craig…. and of course, as with everything here on the …
Essential 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 …
Fernando Sor Study in B minor
Guitarist Fernando Sor 1778-1839 “The Beethoven of the Guitar”, José Fernando Macario Sors, aka Fernando Sir, was born February 14th, 1778 in Barcelona, Spain. Sor was widely considered the best guitarist in his time by his peers and the general public. He composed for the guitar, ballet, opera, string quartet, orchestra, piano, and voice. Sor came from a family of military men and intended to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfathers before …
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 …
Taking Your Music With You Wherever You Go
For many people, playing a musical instrument isn’t just a hobby, it’s their passion, which makes leaving it behind for college or vacation all the more difficult. So how can you take your music with you wherever you go? Here are a few things you could try. Invest in a good quality travel case If you really can’t bring yourself to leave your instrument behind, then the only answer is to bring it with you. …
5 Tips on How to Become a Better Musician
As an independent musician, several factors can disrupt your career. Maybe you’ve got a day or night job, social obligations, you’re in school, or other responsibilities that take top priority. So how will you create more time to focus on your talent? Just like any other endeavor, you need to create time for your creative work. How much you devote will mainly depend on the demands of your non-musical life. With this in mind, it’s …
6 Simple Ways Parents Can Support Their Child’s Guitar Lessons
As a music teacher and private lesson instructor for a while now, I’ve taught them all. From ages 7-70, I’ve seen students become proficient on guitar no matter what their background. The challenges from younger learners are much different than with older ones. The sad thing is the reason most of the younger students (18 and under) quit is because of the parents. Without realizing it, parents may be hamstringing their child’s learning potential. With …
How Some Of The Most Famous Guitarists Learned To Play
Guitar lessons online for beginners are a great way for people to learn to play the instrument today. Thanks to the rise of the Internet, the possibilities are endless. However, this has not always the case, and some of the most famous guitarists today never had the option of online music lessons. With that being said, read on to find out how they learnt. Let’s begin with Kurt Cobain. He received his first guitar from …
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, …
