In this week's guitar lesson, you'll learn how to find which notes to target (or land on) by using your ear alone. This simple formula works, even if you don't have a good sense of pitch yet. Here's a link to Part 2 where we introduce the Flat 7 … [Read more...]
Chord Embellishments – How to make basic chords sound better – EP367
In this week's guitar lesson, you'll learn how to take a simple chord progression with 3 chords, and make it sound more interesting by learning several must-know embellishments around those chord shapes. You can use these embellishments when jamming with others, or for when playing by yourself. … [Read more...]
B.B. King Inspired Lead Guitar Lesson with a Key Change – EP339
In this week's guitar lesson, you'll learn how to play a slow and easy, B.B. King style lead by using the major pentatonic scale. I'll show you my trick for finding the major pentatonic scale triangle so that you can easily translate these licks to any key. The jam track for this lesson has a key change as well. … [Read more...]
Rock, Blues Guitar Lead – Mixing the Major & Minor Pentatonic Scales – EP276
In this week's guitar lesson, you'll learn how to play a rock, blues lead in the key of C by mixing both major and minor pentatonic scales. I'll explain the theory behind each of the licks so that you can use them going forward when you improvise (in any key). … [Read more...]
Guitar and Mandolin (Tribute To Levon Helm) – Learn How To Accompany Another Instrument – EP253
In this week's guitar lesson, you'll be learning how to play along with a mandolin by creating an interesting and melodic lead. When only 2 instruments are involved you have to be very careful about not over playing and always remembering to compliment the other instrument. This lesson is a tribute to the late Levon Helm. … [Read more...]
Easy Blues Lead Using Just 4 Notes – Blues Guitar Lesson – EP251
In this week's blues guitar lesson, I'll show you how to improvise a blues lead using only 4 notes. This forces you to be creative and helps emphasize the importance of phrasing (so that you don't sound like you're stuck in a scale). You'll also be using the "call and response" blues technique in this lesson to go back and forth between the lead and rhythm. … [Read more...]
Jam Band Blues Lead Guitar Lesson – Using the Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales – EP245
In this week's guitar lesson I'll show you how to play a lead on top of a jam band style jam track (think Allman Brothers). You'll learn to do a lot with just 5 notes out of the major pentatonic scale. The first half is all major pentatonic, the 2nd half is minor pentatonic. MP3 jam track comes in 2 tempos. Also, I created a MicroLesson that has the rhythm part that I played on this, you can access it here: Jam Band Style Rhythm Guitar Lesson ML051. … [Read more...]
One Chord Blues Guitar Lesson – Improvise Over a Single Chord – EP230
In this week's guitar lesson, you won't have to worry about playing chord changes ... because there aren't any. This jam track has a single chord (E) played over and over again. It'll be your job to play something colorful on top of a single chord to keep things interesting. This lesson is designed to teach you how to improvise over a single chord by giving you a series of licks and different chord voicings. … [Read more...]
How To Improvise Lead By Visualizing Chord Shapes – Guitar Lesson EP223
In this week's guitar lesson you'll learn how to improvise a melodic lead (includes a harmonized lead) by visualizing chord shapes. You'll learn how to play the same licks in different places on the neck, thus playing the chord changes. I've also included 2 versions of the MP3 jam track (normal tempo, and a slow version). … [Read more...]
