If you are just learning to play here’s a very basic concept that will help you. The guitar can be awkward to hold and play at the same time for most beginners. After all if you’re busy holding the neck up with your left hand (to balance it) how are you going to...
One of the more challenging adjustments guitarists have to make is learning to stand up when they perform. When I was about 15 I had been playing a few years and was ready to form a band. The first jam session I learned that when I stood up and played I couldn’t...
By the time you read this you should have read and worked through my first blog about relaxation as a way to improve your playing. In short we are applying deep breathing techniques such as those found in yoga and meditations to become better guitarists. Here’s...
Imagine you’re approaching the hardest passage in the piece you’ve been working on. How many times has it happened that you tense up a bit? Anticipate trying to get it right? Inadvertently hold your breath? Just have anxiety in general about getting it...
Tremolo picking is characterized by a quick movement of the right hand, alternating up and down strokes. Basically you pick up and down as quickly as you can. It’s that fast picking you hear in Spanish guitar styles, country “chicken pickin,” twangy...
One of the most frequently asked questions my students have is how to figure out songs on their own. Here’s a few hints. 1) Follow the bass. If you figure out the bass, or lowest notes of the chords, you can build the chords from there. Look for notes that are...
