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| Power Chords |
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| Looking for that deep chunking tone? If your a beginner or never heard of Power Chords this lesson is for you. A power chord is a chord that contains only the Root and 5th of the scale. In the key of A the notes would be A and E. Power Chords do not contain the 3rd interval of the scale because it would mud up the sound when using distortion as used in the music styles of Metal, Hard Rock etc. By eliminating the 3rd it also your frees the guitarist up to use major, minor, augmented or diminished scales to solo over them. |
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| Slack Key Open Tunings |
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| When a guitar is re-tuned so you can play chords with open strings with minimal chord fingering is known as Open Tunings. One of the most common open tunings is open G (also known as slack key - Spanish, Hawaiian). Others include Open D, Open E, Open C and more. Some advantages of using open slack key tunings is the difference in sound you get from standard tuning. It also frees up the slide player to play bar chords by barring one fret instead of the normal bar chord form. |
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| The Art of Practicing |
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| In this lesson I will attempt to explain the Art of Practicing and how to achieve better results in a shorter amount of time. I can remember back when I was living in Boston, MA. and studying at Berklee College of Music. I was living, breathing and eating music and had tons of music theory swimming around in my head. I caught up with my arranging teacher one day and asked for his help on practicing methods. What he told me opened many doors in the Art of Practicing. |
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| Creative Harmonics |
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| Guitarist Chet Atkins often played a cool harp sounding harmonic lick that should be in every guitar players bag of tricks. He would hold a chord with his left hand and play the harmonics of the same chord an octave up the neck with his right hand. It takes a little time and patience to get it sounding right, but it's well worth the effort. Below is the chord form that will be played with the left hand. Basically just bar all the strings on the 5th fret with your first finger. Below is the form written in TAB. |
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| Using Octaves to spice up your licks |
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| Without a doubt the melodic content of a guitar lick or solo is the most important. A good way to emphasize a melodic line on the guitar is to use what we call an Octave. This is playing the same two notes the same time only one note is an octave apart. Example: E on the 2nd fret 4th string and E on the 5th fret 2nd string is a octave. There are seven fingerings we will show you and it's a good idea to memorize them all. |
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| Beginner Guitar |
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| misskitty writes "Ok so I got a guitar and now I'm going to play it. Right, well I'm having a few problems reading music. I can read tabs if it's done in numbers and I've managed to learn Love Me Tender. Where should I begin? I would like to learn the 12 scales, any suggestions would help." |
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| Guitars Used in Different Playing Styles |
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| brian writes "This is a short guitar tip that shows what type of guitars are used in different styles of playing. From Rock to Jazz to Bluegrass to Classical playing." |
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| Speed Picking Excercises |
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| Here is a cool exercise that will help your speed picking and over all guitar technique. Tips: 1. Make sure you use alternating picking throughout. 2. Once you get the exercise down try to play it without looking at the guitar fretboard. 3. Try to incorporate it into your own solo's. |
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| Finger Tapping |
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| enigmatic_minstrel writes "There are many ways to finger tap, what finger(s) to use etc. The most common form of finger tapping is like Edward Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Kirk Hammett which is called "linear" tapping. "Think Eruption" "Crazy Train". Tapping licks that use one string at a time, ascending or descending is linear." |
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| Holding Your Pick for Speed Picking |
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| Holding a pick shown below in the first pic is great for strumming chords and basic picking, but not for playing speed! Most speed players like Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, will tell you that when speed picking they hold there hand at an angle and pick loosely almost on the tip of their fingers. |
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Did You Know? |
Joe Satriani uses the Lydian Mode in most of his solo's
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Archived Files |
| Sunday, October 30 | | · | Say It Then Play it! |
| Wednesday, August 17 | | · | Big Bends Nut Sauce |
| Wednesday, June 01 | | · | Changing Strings 3 Easy Steps |
| Tuesday, May 17 | | · | The Tenor Guitar |
| Thursday, April 28 | | · | Guitar Fretboard Care |
| Friday, June 18 | | · | Practice Tips Part 2 |
| Sunday, June 06 | | · | Practice Tips |
| Monday, May 03 | | · | Learn the Notes on the Fretboard Quickly!! |
| Friday, January 23 | | · | PolyRhythms for Guitar |
| Wednesday, November 26 | | · | Finding The Right Guitar Tone For You |
| Wednesday, October 01 | | · | Is Your Guitars Tone In Your Hands |
| Sunday, August 31 | | · | Ear Training Tips and Tricks |
| Thursday, July 03 | | · | Alternate Picking Excercise |
| Tuesday, June 03 | | · | Bending Strings |
| Monday, May 19 | | · | Choosing A Guitar For Your Child |
| Sunday, February 09 | | · | Building and Maintaining Calluses |
| Thursday, December 19 | | · | Equal Temperament Tuning |
| Saturday, November 30 | | · | Meet your Picker |
| Sunday, November 24 | | · | How to read a chord diagram |
| Saturday, November 16 | | · | Strumming Patterns |
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