Putting together an appropriate practice space can help speed up your progress. Practice should be any enjoyable, stress-free experience so building the right environment to do it in can be a means to that end. These are some guidelines I have come up with over the...
Songs are not always in standard tuning. This brings about the problem of not sounding exactly like the recording when you play along with it even if you are in perfect tune according to your guitar tuner. Even for some songs that are about a step lower (tuned down)...
Everyone has a favorite guitarist that inspired them to start playing and wish they could play just like them. Emulating the style of your favorite player takes a lot of study and sometimes intense practice. You can start by looking for commonalities you can find...
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...
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...
