In this week's guitar lesson, you'll use the 5 notes of the minor pentatonic scale to create a dynamic lead, starting low and building to a crescendo. This approach is about saving the high notes and keeping them in reserve for a dramatic build. … [Read more...]
Blues Phrasing Mini-Series (2 of 3) Mixing the Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales – EP312
This is Part 2 (of 3) of a blues phrasing mini-series for guitar. If you've ever struggled with not knowing what to do with all of the scales and information that you've learned for guitar, this mini-series will be perfect for you. It's designed to give you some essential tools to get you improvising right away. This lesson focuses on combining the major and minor pentatonic scales so that they can be played in the same area, as opposed to 2 separate areas on the neck like we learned in the … [Read more...]
Blues Phrasing Mini-Series (1 of 3) Easy 4 note box – EP311
This is Part 1 (of 3) of a blues phrasing mini-series for guitar. If you've ever struggled with not knowing what to do with all of the scales and information that you've learned for guitar, this mini-series will be perfect for you. It's designed to give you some essential tools to get you improvising right away. This lesson focuses on a very simple 4 note box that can be played in both minor and major pentatonic scale to give you a lot of variety from just a few easy to play notes. … [Read more...]
CAGED System for Minor Chords – How to play minor chords all over the guitar – EP275
This week's guitar lesson is a follow-up to the previous CAGED lesson that I did a few weeks ago (EP273), here's a link to that guitar lesson. That lesson was so popular that I thought it was necessary to create a 2nd part and show how to play the minor chords in various positions using the same methodology. We will be using the A minor, E minor and D minor shapes that you learn in first position to play all over the neck. Like the previous CAGED lesson, this one comes with a composition that … [Read more...]
A Practical Approach to the CAGED System on Guitar – EP273
In this week's guitar lesson, I'll explain a unique way of looking at the CAGED system, which allows you to play chords in multiple locations up the neck of the guitar. Once you understand this system, you'll be able to enhance your rhythm and lead playing by being able to easily identify all of the chord shapes throughout the entire neck of the guitar. This lesson comes with 3 practice compositions (at 3 different levels) to help you incrementally build up your understanding of this system. … [Read more...]
How To Create Chord Arrangements Using The Major Scale – EP237
In this week's guitar lesson I'll show you how to use the major scale to create chord arrangements. If you've ever wanted to write your own songs but aren't sure which chords work together, this is the lesson you need. In addition to chord theory, I'll also give you a fun rhythm that you can play over a jam track that includes 3 different levels of difficulty. … [Read more...]
Blues Ballad on Acoustic Guitar – Played Solo Guitar (No Accompaniment) – EP228
In this week's guitar lesson, I'll show you how to play a slow, bluesy ballad on acoustic guitar all by yourself. No accompaniment is required. I'll also provide information on chord theory that will help you understand how certain chords work together, so that you can start to create your own compositions. … [Read more...]
Simple Blues Lead Guitar Lesson Using Just 6 Notes and Phrasing – EP219
In this week's guitar lesson, we're going to be eliminating complexity that is often associated with improvising lead guitar by focusing on only 6 notes (4 fretted notes and 2 notes that are bends). We will create an entire 45 second solo with those notes while putting the emphasis on simple phrasing. This lesson includes 12 versions of the same MP3 jam track (one for each key) so that you can practice playing this lead in any key. … [Read more...]
Introducing MicroLessons – Thank You For Supporting 200 Lessons! – EP200
To celebrate this week's 200th episode (EP200), I wanted to create something big. I considered my options for an "epic" lesson this week and decided it would be much better to create a whole new section of the website to address smaller chunks of guitar information that I can share each week! I'm calling these new lessons "MicroLessons", just think of them as bite-sized lessons. I will continue to create the in-depth lessons each Friday, but these MicroLessons will now be offered on Tuesdays in … [Read more...]
3 Essential Chord Shapes on the Guitar – Chord Inversions – EP199
In this guitar lesson, you are going to learn 3 triad chord shapes (a triad means just 3 notes). I'll show you how to play these chord shapes up the neck of the guitar and how to play a 1, 4, 5 chord progression with them. You can use them both in rhythm playing and when playing lead. This lesson contains both a rhythm pattern, and a lead - which is created by adding embellishments to the chord shapes. This lesson is a MUST learn! … [Read more...]
