Musical Musings

Preview Screening of "David Amram: The First 80 Years"

2011-07-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

There will be a preview screening of the documentary film, "David Amram: The First 80 Years", on Thursday August 4, 2011 at Jane Pickens theater in Newport RI. David Amram and his quartet, will perform a concert immediately after the screening.

For more info visit newportclassic.com

Guitar Lessons from Guns n Roses Guitarist Ron Bumblefoot Thal

2011-03-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

It looks like Ron Thal will be offering guitar lessons via skype, for a $1.50 a minute. The Guns n Roses guitarists announced via his website and twitter, that prospective students should email him with some details about the kind of music you like to play and your level of expertise. Visit his website for more details=> bumblefoot.com

It's your chance to get some guitar tips and techniques from a very accomplished and talented guitar player, who's made the big time!

Watch Ron Thal in action with his band, Bumblefoot.

Soul-Jazz Guitarist Melvin Sparks Dies at 64

2011-03-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

The Jazz guitar world lost one of it's most cheerful voices on Sunday March 13th 2011, when guitarist Melvin Sparks passed away. Sparks was known for laying soulful, bluesy, lines over funky organ grooves. His live performances were energetic and uplifiting. Melvin Sparks soulful sounds will certainly be missed by many.

Some Pictures From Life is Good Festival 2010

2010-09-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday September 11, 2010 my family and I hit the first day of the first Life is Good Festival in Canton MA. The festival was benefit concert, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Life is Good Kids Foundation, which helps kids kids overcome life-threatening challenges such as violence, illness and extreme poverty.

The festival took place over the course of 2 days, and had some great acts booked. For more info about the festival, or to find out how you can help the LIG cause, check out the Life is Good website.

My family had a great time at the festival, and found it to be smooth and well organized. If it becomes an annual event, we'll definitely go back for more! The parking situation was a little funky, 'cause there was no parking on site....Not being a city slicker, I hate relying on shuttle buses and what not.

The food, and beer were reasonably priced for an event like this, and the food was damned good!

It was all about the music though, and the bill was packed. There were 3 stages, with one stage dedicated to kid's performers since this was a family oriented event. Between the 3 stages there were about 14 acts scheduled for each day.

I shot a few pictures of some of my personal highlights from the Life is Good Festival.

Mavis Staples always puts on a very powerful, and uplifting show...and her guitarist Rick Holmstrom is pretty kick ass.

Maybe one of the coolest pieces of art I've seen in a long time, was this giant guitar. It looked like it would really play, if you had big enough hands!

Ziggy Marley really got the crowd going, performing his own hits, and some of his father's. I'm not a huge reggae fan, but I like a little here and there...it's definitely a must have for a festival like this.

As the sun started to go down, rocker, and powerhouse vocalist Grace Potter, really heated things up with her band "The Nocturnals" Definitely one of the high points of the show for me. Grace Potter has such a wicked good set of pipes! The first time Grace went to her Hammond organ, it was lost in the mix, but once the sound crew ironed that out her whole set was bitchin!

Ben Harper, was the headliner for Saturday the 11th, at the Life is Good Festival. I've been a fan of Ben for a while, but never managed to catch him live until this show. We didn't manage to get as close to the stage for Ben Harper's set, as we did some of the other acts. Things sounded great when Ben played his lap steel or a solid body electric, but his acoustic guitar sounded a little funky to me. Out door shows never sound as good as you'd like 'em to anyway...and Ben Harper and The Relentless 7 really kicked ass!

All and all, day one of the Life is Good Festival 2010 was a blast. You know you had some fun at an outdoor music festival, when you've got dirty feet like these!

I hope the Life is Good company continues to host this festival every year. They seem to have a great cause, and they really know how to put on a festival!

The Big Double Standard covering "Juanita" a Flying Burrito Brothers Classic

2010-09-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

Me and my friend JamieOue, covering the Flying Burrito Brothers song, "Juanita". A classic song from the early pioneers of country rock.

13th Chords a Great way to End Blues Songs & Jazz up your Sound

2010-07-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

The 13 chord can be used in most places where you would normally play a Dominant 7 chord.

I most often like to use it to end a song. If we are playing a 12 blues in A and our chord changes are: ADom7-D9-E9...when it's time to end the song, instead of ending on the ADom7 try an A13 instead. It kind of ends the song with a bit of a lift.

For a nice touch fret the chord one fret above or below the root and slide it into place.

13th Chord

Using 13th chords will really jazz up your sound!

The Big Double Standard Acoustic Guitar Duo

2010-06-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video of me and my friend Jamie Ouellette. We play around Rhode Island and nearby Mass, as The Big Double Standard. This is an original song called, "The Ransom Song"

If you want to hear more from The Big Double Standard, check out myspace.com/thebigdoublestandard Stop by one of our gigs sometime!

The Jimi Hendrix Chord...

2010-06-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

...or more appropriately, the dominant 7 sharp 9 chord.

A lot of guitar players reject the idea of learning music theory, and the proper names of chords...so this one has been dubbed "The Jimi Hendrix Chord". When you play it, you'll recognize the sound right away. Stevie Ray Vaughan used this chord quite a bit as well.

One of my favorite uses of this chord is in a blues progression as the turn around chord.

An example would be: A Dom7-D9-E7#9

This chord really sounds like it wants everything to move back to the I chord. (ADom7 in the example)

Here's what it looks like:

Easy Blues Shuffle Open E Tuning Guitar Lesson

2010-05-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

In this free guitar lesson video, I show very easy way to play a blues shuffle with the guitar in open e tuning. Open tunings are a must, to get the most out of your slide guitar playing.

If you aren't sure exactly what I mean when I say open e tuning check this guitar lesson out first. Open E tuning Lesson

Even though this blues shuffle is stripped down to a very basic level, it still sounds really cool. You should be able to get up and running and lay this rhythm down like a real blues man, in no time at all. A key point to remember when you play blues guitar, is to keep a very relaxed feel...you'll sound a lot cooler that way!

Cozart Double Neck Lap Steel Guitar Review

2010-05-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

I purchased one of the Cozart double neck lap steel guitars, that you see on ebay. I couldn't find any good reviews or information before I pulled the trigger, so I figured I'd do a detailed review of this instrument.

Before I get into my review, I want to let you know that I had this instrument delivered to my door, for the very low price of $110 U.S. dollars. I think you'd have a hard time buying the wood and hardware for that price. Even though the workmanship is far from perfect, I'm pretty pleased with bang for my buck...as they say.

The lap steel was packed in it's original box from the factory, and then placed inside another box with some newspaper for cushioning by the ebay seller I bought it from. It did not appear to me, that the original carton from the factory had ever been opened. The first thing I noticed was some damage on one of the head stocks, caused by the staples that held the original box together. Not a very secure packing job at the factory!

On further inspection, I noticed on one side of one of the head stocks, the screws that hold the tuning key assembly in, were driven in on an angle, and not screwed in all the way. I'm assuming it's due to the fact that in between the two head stocks is a difficult area to work.

After I tuned the two necks up, and started to play it a bit, I noticed that someone got a little over zealous when grinding the edges of the frets. They even took a bit of the fretboard's edge with them in places! Not a big deal on a lap steel, but still worth mentioning.

The painted on fret markers are not very pleasing to the eye at all.

I'm a little bit concerned about how long the nut will hold up, since it's made out of wood. I'm sure at some point this is going to crack, even if I keep it well oiled. The wooden nut, also does not provide very good tone at all. The sound is especially lacking on the high b and e strings. I suppose when I get some slightly heavier strings on it, it will sound a little better.

There's not much to this lap steel, as far as controls go. It's got a three way toggle switch that selects either one of, or both the necks. One master tone, and one master volume complete the available controls. Initially the toggle switch was very stiff, but as I clicked it back and forth, it seemed to loosen up a bit.

When I plugged the Cozart double neck into my Vox AC15CC1, I heard pretty much what I expected to. The pickups don't sound bad at all for a guitar in this price range, however...it is quite noisy! It seems like it's not grounded all that well.

All and all, I'd say this Cozart lap steel is a very good value for the money. I can certainly afford to make what ever modifications I need to as time goes on. For now, I'm just going to have some fun playing the hell out of it!

Open E Tuning a Good Way to Start Slide Guitar

2010-05-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

If you are thinking about trying out slide guitar, and want to experiement with an open tuning, open E tuning is a great way to start. Open tunings allow you to get more out of your slide playing, because you can play very full sounding chords by simply barring across one fret. Also they allow you to use open strings to create an alternating bass line for solo pieces.

To set up your guitar in Open E tuning, you'll be tuning the open strings to an E major chord. From low to high the tuning will be

E B E G# B E

Now if you play all the open strings you get an Emaj chord. To play other Major bar chords all you need to do is, bar all the strings across one fret. This will leave your other fingers free to add other notes and wear you slide.

The other big plus, about open E tuning is that you are already familiar with the names and roots of the bar chords up and down the 6th string. So you don't need to re-learn the guitar in a different key.

Here's a break down.

Open Strings Emaj chord

1st Fret Bar all strings Fmaj chord

3rd Fret Bar all strings Gmaj chord

5th Fret Bar all strings Amaj chord

7th Fret Bar all strings Bmaj chord

8th Fret Bar all strings Cmaj chord

10th Fret Bar all strings Dmaj chord

12th the sequence starts over with Emaj chord

If you've already got some knowledge of the guitar, this the best open tuning to start experimenting with.

If you need to, it can easily be changed from a major tuning to a minor tuning by tuning the 3rd string to a G instead of G#

Combra Custom Lap Steel

2010-04-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

I'm lucky enough to have a friend who is also a very talented luthier. He builds mandolins, and electric and acoustic guitars. His name is Jim Combra and I can furnish contact info if you are interested in commissioning him for a project yourself. A little while back he took the time to design a lap steel with me, and then build it for me. I'm not a very good photographer, but here are some pictures of my one of a kind lap steel.

It's a unique shape built with a solid one piece walnut body.

The fretboard is a really sweet piece of maple with some nice bird's eye pattern to it. As you'll see in the pictures we decided that the fret markers should be burned into the fretboard.

There is a veneer of just the right piece of knotted pine on the headstock, this was also burnt around it's edge.

The back side of the headstock. This lap steel is one solid piece of walnut, and it sounds great!

Here's a side view of the fretboard. The fret ends are not finished, because I liked the look of the big heavy ends along with the high action. It did cause me a little bit of a problem at first, when I kept banging my tone bar into the rough ends and gouging it up...but my technique eventually got much neater and more controlled.

We got all the hardware from guitarfetish.com, and the pick-ups in the lap steel are their GFS Alnico Vintage Soapbar pups.

Here's a few more pictures this really unique lap steel.

I hope to get a chance to post a youtube video of me playing it so you can all get a little tone sample, so check back soon.

Jim Combra, the builder of this lap steel, doesn't really have any kind of web presence as of yet...but if you'd like to get in touch with him let me know.

Guitarists that Inspire me

2010-01-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

I figured I share 3 guitar greats, that I find truly inspiring. I'm sure that these players have had some influence on my own guitar styling, but more than that, they make me want to grab a guitar and explore and create, every time I hear them.

As long as I can remember back into my childhood, I've always been interested in hearing and watching people play guitar, and wanting to do it myself. My first actual guitar hero, would have to be Jimi Hendrix. I was introduced to his music when I was about 10 or 11, walking through a department store with my family. As we passed the section where radios were displayed something caught my father's ear and he stopped and asked me if I knew who it was that was playing. I didn't, and he told me it was Jimi Hendrix. His music had captured my imagination almost immediately. What was playing was one of those radio shows that showcased and artist and played clips of interviews, as well as live and studio music. (Remember those? Weren't they great?) I asked my parents to tune into that station on the way home, and continued to listen once we got in the house. That was almost 30 years ago, and my fascination hasn't subsided at all.

Jazz guitarist John Scofield, not only plays guitar, but creates sound that almost seems to have texture to it. The groove based jazz he creates is never about how many notes he can cram down your throat. Scofield doesn't come off as trying to sound pompous, like so many modern jazzers do. His music is down to earth, and free flowing. It clears my mind and makes me feel light and free. If you aren't familiar with what he does look him up at johnscofield.com

7 string guitarist Charlie hunter is last, but oh so certainly not least on my list. He plays a custom made instrument that has two outputs, one going to a bass amp...the other going out to a guitar amp, and the dude runs a bass line and solos at the same time! Some people criticize what he does, saying that he's not quite playing guitar or bass...but if that's how you think you just aren't getting where he's coming from. Hunter tours pretty regularly, so do your self a favor and try to catch one of his performances. He and the musicians that share the stage with him always seem to be having a rip roaring time doing their thing. charliehunter.com

There are quite a few common threads between the players I mentioned, even though my musical tastes are far more diverse than what these 3 do, they are the ones that really fire me up. What players make you want to wail on your axe?

Learning Guitar on your own With Free online Lessons and Tutorials

2009-12-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

In this internet age, it's so easy to get all kinds of guitar playing know how for FREE!

In my opinion, some of the best free guitar lessons come from bloggers and youtubers like myself, who are sharing what we know with the Masses, rather than giving you teaser lessons trying to get you to buy the full package.

The downside to blog and youtube lessons that are put out by us part time, online, do-it-your-self guitar sharing people...is that we don't have a full team available to assist with production, and proof reading services. It was just brought to my attention that some fundamental scale patterns I posted on my blog had a major typo. Luckily this error was noticed by someone who took enough time to leave a comment and let me know. (I promptly fixed my mistake, and all is well now.)

The point of this post, is not to discourage you from taking in all the free guitar instruction that is being shared on the web, but rather to impress upon you the need for cross referencing everything you see on the web. (I guess this applies to "EVERYTHING", and not just guitar lessons!)

So, keep working toward your goal of being a better guitarist, and take full advantage of all the knowledge that is shared on the world wide web for FREE, but cross reference everything....especially if it doesn't sound quite right as you are playing through it.

As a matter of fact, you can take advantage of the free video lessons on my youtube channel at www.youtube.com/simpleguitarchannel

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog, and I hope you become the guitar player of your dreams. I know that's what I'm working toward!

Custom House Coffee Open Mic with Gary Fish

2009-12-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

Custom House Coffee in Portsmouth RI, offers the opportunity for local musicians to showcase their talents. The great tasting coffee, wraps, paninis, and pastries they serve, make the whole experience that much more enjoyable too!

Open at Custom House takes place on Sunday afternoons, from 2-5pm. Performers usually get to play anywhere from 3-5 songs, depending on how many sign ups there are. At 3pm a featured act plays about a 45 minute set, during which, a hat is passed to take donations for the feature performance. So, if you come out to play on a regular basis, and have enough material....you could get a chance to perform as a feature act.

The afternoon open mic session is hosted by Little Compton native, Gary Fish. Gary is a New Englander, through and through. He was a long time commercial fisherman, and many of the songs he writes are about the challenges of earning a living at sea, and conservation issues that affect us all.

Gary also hosts, "Star Performer Day" which currently takes place on Saturday afternoons at Custom House Coffee. Star Performer Day runs from 3-5pm and features a different local act each week. Gary Fish opens the show, either as a solo act, or with his trio. Another chance to see some great local music on the cheap, and scarf down some fantastic vittles while you do.

Find out more about Gary, and listen to some of his music at /www.myspace.com/justafisherman

For more info about Custom House Coffee visit:
www.customhousecoffee.com

Major Pentatonic Slide Lick Standard Tuning

2009-12-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a little slide guitar lick that comes from the Major Pentatonic scale. Most of this lick comes from what's called Position 2 of the Major Pentatonic. I've got my guitar in standard tuning for this one too. (Low to high EADGBE)

This Position would be played at the 12th fret, since in the video, I'm playing in the key of E. You can feel free to move the Scale and/or the lick to any key you want.

For the last part of the lick I play a part of a plain old major bar chord with the root on the fifth string of the guitar. You'll see in the video that I omit the note on the 5th string and play only the barred portion on the 4th,3rd,and 2nd strings at the 9th fret.

The backing track I'm playing along with is a twelve bar blues in the key of E, but the lick only takes place over the first 4 bars of the I chord. You can download the track for free by right clicking here E Blues Jam Track and saving it.

Here's the video lesson:

Win a Free Custom Relic Rittenhouse Guitar

2009-12-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Rittenhouse guitars is giving a way one of their Custom Relic guitars, valued at up to fifteen hundred and forty-nine bucks! Winner TBA on December 24, 2009. How's that for a merry X-mas???

Stop by Rittenhouse Guitars and check out their cool ass relic-ed masterpieces. While you are there, you can get details on the giveaway.

Rittenhouse Guitars have a vintage 50's and 60's vibe. You'd sure look cool playin' one! (I know I would.)

You can find Rittenhouse on the web at:

www.rittenhouseguitars.com

http://www.facebook.com/RittenhouseGuitars

Follow Rittenhouse guitars on Twitter@AbeRittenhouse

I'm hoping I'm the lucky winner, but who knows.....it could be you!

How to Promote Local Music on Twitter

2009-12-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

I think Twitter is one of the coolest social media sites going. I originally discovered it as a possible funnel to drive traffic to my blog, but I actually started to have fun "Tweeting" and reading other's "Tweets".

I just came up with, what I think, is a good way for musicians and fans to promote local music on Twitter using hashtags. Of course, for all I know someone else already thought of it. (A quick google search didn't turn anything up.)

The idea is to use the hashtag, followed by your states two letter abbreviation, and then the word music. For me in Rhode Island it would be: #rimusic

This would be a great way for fans of live music to find out what is going on in their area, while they are keeping abreast of what all their other "tweeple" are doing. As a musician, you can promote your own shows, cd releases, contests and give-aways, website....whatever you can dream up. Music fans can use it to promote bands they like, or to search out live music in their area. Open mic and jam hosts could use it as another medium to spread the word about their happening.

One of the best things about using twitter to promote anything is the fact that it easily works from your mobile phone, and can tie in with several other social media sites. So, you could easily post to multiple social networks with one text from your mobile phone. A quick text on your way to a gig could travel to several sites you already use for promotions.

Here's some stuff you can do if you like the idea:

1.Tweet about it. (duh!) You can even tweet out a tinyurl to this blog post.

2.Send out a myspace bulletin to let fans and other musicians know about the hashtag and 2 letter state abbreviation for your area.

3.Start using the idea yourself. People on twitter catch on fast to trends, that's the coolest thing about the site.

We all know that live music only stays alive if people come out, and promoting can be challenging. Anything that exposes an gig or event can help make it a success.

If any one has any thoughts that expand on this concept, please leave a comment and share it with everyone. I think we can make this work out for all of us.

P.S. You can find me on twitter @ajp71555

Guitar Teacher Resources at teachwombat.com

2009-12-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

I've been teaching guitar for a little over a year now. I don't have many students, but I teach nonetheless. I'm pretty much a do it yourself-er when it comes to some things, and guitar teaching materials were no different...until I stumbled upon a great little deal out there in cyber-space.

Enter teachwombat.com, a great source of guitar teacher's resources at a very reasonable price!

For less than you'd pay for most instructional dvd's or book and cd sets, you can download a whole bunch of materials and lesson plans that make teaching guitar a whole lot easier. The .pdf files can be downloaded and saved to your pc, so you can print 'em as your students need 'em.

A sample of what the teachwombat.com handouts look like.

You get scales, chords, blank fret boards, and more.

The website is based out of the UK, but you don't have to worry about currency conversion or anything like that, since they use paypal for checkout. Stop by and check out their wares, you'll be glad you did.

The teachwombat.com resources are sure going to make my guitar lessons a lot easier to teach, and if there's one thing I hate....it's unnecessary work.

Thanks teachwombat!

SX STL50 With Humbucker in The Neck Review

2009-05-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

I bought my SX STL50 from rondomusic.com, I'm very pleased with the guitar and Rondo has great service!

This is the most value I've ever got in a guitar. I really can't believe how low the price is on these things. If you played one without knowing what it cost, you'd never guess they retail for around a hundred bucks. I don't remember exactly what mine cost, but with shipping and a gig bag it was less than $140.

Here are a couple shots of my SX STL50

This guitar cost so little, I don't even mind when the family kitten thinks it's a scratching post!

The neck on these guitars is a bit more substantial than any Fender or Squire I've played, which is fine by me since I have large hands. I definitely like more than less when it comes to guitar necks.

I was fully expecting to change the pickups, since the guitar had such a low price...but I love the way they sound. In fact, I'm sorry to say...this guitar sounds better plugged into my Vox AC15 than my late 80's Gibson Les Paul.

I find the machine heads to be a bit chincy, but the guitar does stay in tune pretty well. The nut needed a little bit of work too, since the high e string would pop out and jump into the slot for the b when I'd bend it sometimes. I may eventually have a bone nut put on it, since I love the guitar so much.

Basically, I was looking to add some twang to my guitar arsenal and I didn't want to spend too much to do it. I ended up with a great guitar at a great price.

Electric Guitars at Rondo Music Get yours! Don't let the prices fool you, these things are KICK ASS GUITARS!

Dynasonics PDR-1 Review

2009-04-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I had been in the market for a portable digital recorder for quite some time. I watched prices come down over the years, but still wasn't seeing the price tag I was looking for on such a device.

I'm not a hardcore live music taper, or an audiophile of any sort, I'm just a musician looking for a portable recording tool to get more out of my practice sessions and performances. In other words, I'm not the type that geeks out over specs...I'm looking for usable features to get the job done!

The Dynasonics PDR-1 looked like the right tool, at the right price to me. That was it, I finally pulled the trigger and I'm glad I did. It's so easy to get a quick sketch of what I'm sounding like and play it back instantly. This thing is easy to use too. My "tween-aged" daughter uses it when she practices her piano and singing, and sometimes I can even talk her into recording my live performances with it.

The external lapel mics that come with this package don't look like the most expensive things going, but they sure sound good. Super quiet too, and that goes for the built in omni-directional condenser mics as well. So far this thing has far exceeded my expectations in terms of quality. The price really can't be beat either.

With the PDR-1 you have the option of recording either mp3 or wav files, and I've only done mp3's so far. I have the quality good enough that I'm using mp3's made at one of my acoustic duo's practices to create a demo cd to shop around to local bars and restaurants.

The only problem I've had with the unit so far, is a couple of my mp3 files have gotten corrupted somehow. I think I,(or perhaps my daughter)may have accidentally recorded over a track that was already recorded, which caused the corruption. This is not a big deal to me, I just have to remember if I've captured some audio worthy of saving to pull it off the SD card right away.

Battery life is decent on the PDR-1 too. I always conserve battery life by taking out my SD card and plugging it into a card reader when transferring my files to a PC.

Check it out at Amazon.com, the price is right...I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Dynasonics 2 track Digital Audio Recorder (PDR-1)

Duke Robillard Guitar Seminar

2009-02-11T11:33:00.001-08:00

Guitarists in the North East U.S. have a great opportunity coming up in March 2009. Grammy nominated guitarist Duke Robillard will be giving a seminar at Blackstone River Theatre in Cumberland RI.

The 4 hour seminar is scheduled for Sunday March 8, 2009....and the price is more than reasonable! Part of the seminar will include a chance to jam with Duke and his band. I've already sent out payment to reserve my spot. Sign up now! Don't miss out!

For more details: riverfolk.org

Make sure you check back here in March, to hear all about it!

20 Ways to Become Your Own Guitar Hero

2009-02-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

So you want to master guitar? Only you can help you do that, but my list of 20 ways to become your own guitar hero may help. This list is in no particular order, but numbers 1,4,and 20 are pretty important. A lot of these concepts can apply to anything you're trying to achieve a degree of proficiency with.

1.Practice:Goes without saying. Duh!

2.Don't just learn Licks:Analyze the licks you learn. Think about the context they are played in. Play smart instead of just regurgitating someone else's drivel.

3.Listen:Spend time listening to guitarists who have mastered the style you want to play. Learn how to be an active listener when listening to music.

4.Practice:This one is kind of self explanatory.

5.Be Patient:When learning new techniques and studying new concepts, give them time to soak into your mind. It may take quite a while before you assimilate them and have them start to be part of your natural repertoire.

6.Work on your ear:Having an ear for music helps you become a better guitarist. Work on your ear. No matter what you think, you can improve it. If it's already good...make it better!

7.Apply what you learn in real time:Don't just sit there alone and burn through arpeggios! Get with another player, or play along with a jam track...get a drum machine, whatever it takes.

8.Challenge yourself:No need to keep going over the same old stuff you've already mastered, find something new and challenging.

9.Feel good about your playing:Always keep a positive mental attitude. If you start feeling down on your playing, maybe it's time to take a break! An hour, a day, a week, whatever it takes. You have to appreciate where you're at right now, don't worry about where you want to be. You're closer to your target than you were yesterday...or last year!

10.Take private lessons:It's one sure way to improve. Not only do you get the instruction of someone who's further along than yourself, but there's the motivation factor of having another person involved in your progress. It tends to make you practice* a bit more. (*See numbers 1,4,&20)

11.Learn some Music Theory:It's not totally necessary to know any theory to become a guitar god, but it's not going to hurt you to learn some. It will certainly help you understand the chords and scales you use, and probably help your songwriting.

12.Buy instructional materials:Sure there is tons of free lessons online. Hell, there's even a few on this blog! But buying DVD's and books that come with a play-along CD can really help you make big gains. The information in them is usually presented in an organized and concise manner. Instructional materials can really give you a nice strong foundation to work from. Then supplement your foundation with all the online freebies!

13.Go to youtube:There are so many great guitarists sharing their knowledge out there for free on youtube. You'd be a fool not to take advantage of it! Check out my channel for starters. Don't forget to leave comments and subscribe if you like some one's videos. It's good to show some appreciation when someone shares their hard earned knowledge for free. You dropping a comment could be just the encouragement they need to keep making videos.

14.Film yourself playing guitar:This can give you a different perspective on your physical technique. You might be able to clean up some sloppy fingering or picking after watching yourself play. If you save your recordings, go back and watch them now and then, it's a good way to monitor your progress.

15.Think about guitar playing:Even when your aren't playing think about it. We all have other things to do besides sit around and play guitar. During your work day, if you have some time to let your mind wander to a little mental practice session in your mind. Visualize yourself running through some scales, and play through some chord progressions in your mind.

16.Don't blame your gear:It doesn't matter how good or bad your gear is, you're still only going to play as good as you play. Sure you might look a little cooler and sound slightly more toneful with better gear...but if Jeff Beck came to your house right now, and played through your rig...he'd sound like Jeff Beck! I can tell you this, if you played through his rig...you sure aren't going to sound like him!

17.Share what you know:No matter how little you know about playing guitar, there are plenty out there who know less. Sharing what you know with someone else helps you to learn it better. It's a known fact. Plus, this can give you a bit of an appreciation for where you're at as a player.

18.Don't waste time watching TV:It doesn't seem like this has anything to do with playing guitar, but if you are watching TV you aren't playing guitar. You're probably not thinking about playing guitar either. I doubt very much if the people who are on TV, watch TV. Think about it! They had to become proficient enough at something to get their ass on TV in the first place! I doubt they have time to waste watching the idiot box.

19.Attend live performances:This is a good way to see people play guitar for real, in real time. Certain local performances, and open mic nights might afford you the opportunity to talk to some of the players and ask them a question or two about what they do. Not to mention, this can be a good way of networking if you are an aspiring musician.

20.Practice:Not sure if I mentioned this one...but it's really important. Don't fry your mind, take a break after a 20 or 30 minute session to rest your brain. Drink water when you take a break, it's good for you and helps you think more clearly.

So there you have it. My two lousy cents on how to become your own "Guitar Hero", now you've got no excuses!

I know I said 20 things, but as a bonus here's 21.Buy something shiny and new:it doesn't hurt to buy something once in a while to help restore your enthusiasm. Check out these Guitar Practice Tools at Amazon.com

Spice up Your Sound With Minor 7 Chords

2009-02-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

If you want to infuse your sound with a bit of jazz verve, or some Latin spice try using Minor 7 chords Your typical minor chords are built with the root,flat third, and fifth, but the minor 7 chord adds in the flat 7. This gives the chord a sound with a little bit of "funky" tension.

Minor 7 chords may not work for you in every instance where you would normally play a minor chord, so you'll have to experiment. You could always write a song or a jam based around minor 7 chords too!

The first chord shape I'll show has it's root on the 6th string of the guitar.

If you've been following my blog posts at all, you probably guessed that the next minor 7 chord shape will have the root on the 5th string.

Both of these chord shapes are movable too. Play around with them and see what they can do for your sound.

A good, Latin rock sounding chord progression that uses a minor 7 chord would be:
|A min7|D9|E7#9|

Play A dorian minor over this and you'll sound Like Santana!

If you aren't familiar with how to play the 9 and 7 sharp 9 chords mentioned above, you can check out my squidoo lens on How to Jazz up your Sound

I'll be posting a youtube video ASAP demonstrating how to play minor 7 chords, so stay tuned!

Learn more about Jazz Chords at Amazon.

Gibson Holy V

2009-01-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

Have you seen this thing? WTF!!! It's skeletonized flying V, and it costs almost 2 grand??? Has Gibson lost their mind???

You can get a genuine Gibson Faded Flying V for under a grand, and that's a whole guitar! Doesn't make sense to me that they cut away a bunch of the wood and charge you more. Anyone who throws done the dough they are asking for is CRAZY!!! Plus, it's kind of ugly anyway!....and the friggin' thing only has one pickup, and no tone control!!! Wake up people!

Why Are We Guitarists Never Happy With Our Sound?

2009-01-29T16:17:00.001-08:00

C'mon, you know it's true! Even if you are happy with your sound, it's a momentary thing. Sooner or later you know you'll be looking for some way to improve it.

I guess it's good for the companies that manufacture instruments, amplifiers and effects. You know Seymour Duncan what's you to be unhappy with your current sound, so you'll buy new pickups.

I used to think it was just an electric guitar thing, but I've been playing an awful lot of acoustic guitar over the past year or so. I'm always tweaking something! New bridge pins, different strings. Micing instead of plugging it into the P.A., trying preamps and DI boxes.

Arghhhhhh!!!!

Classic Minor Pentatonic Lick

2009-01-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here's a timeless classic lick. It is demonstrated in my video in shape 1 of the minor pentatonic scale, but you can really apply this concept to any scale. The idea is to play your way through the scale by playing groups of three notes.

You may want to download my pdf of the minor pentatonic shapes to help you with this lick. pentatonicminorandmovablechords.pdf you can right click the link and "save target" as if you want to save it.

Check out my video demonstration of this lick on youtube.

If you take your time and practice this one it sounds great. It sure sounds a lot harder to play than it is.-----Have Fun!

Jazz Chords For Rock & Blues

2009-01-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

I did a little video lesson of me demonstrating how to play some jazz chords that sound great with rock and blues progressions. The chords I demonstrate are 9 chords, 7 sharp 9 chords, and 13 chords.

If you'd like chord diagrams for the fingerings I use in the video, check my squidoo lens on the subject.

Learn to Improvise over 12bar Blues; Putting it all Together

2009-01-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

This is the last in my three part series on learning to improvise over a 12 bar blues progression. If you didn't catch Part 1 and Part 2 be sure to check 'em out.

For this installment I created a little jam track for you to solo over. You can right click the link and save target as to download it if you like.

E Blues Jam Track

The jam track is a 12 bar progression in E so the chord changes are:

E7|E7|E7|E7|A7|A7|E7|E7|B7|A7|E7|B7

I made the track pretty short so you don't space out and get lost while you are jamming. It goes through the twelve bar progression 3 times and ends.

The basic idea here, is to get you to use scales and arpeggios from the first two parts of this series to create little licks or melodies over the chord changes. You really don't want to play up and down the scales or arpeggios...you want to try and mix up the notes so they sound interesting.

Here's a youtube video of me giving some examples of how to solo over the jam track. simpleguitarchannel

Learn to Improvise Over 12 Bar Blues; Dominant7 Arpeggios

2009-01-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

This is part 2 of my 3 part series on learning to improvise over 12 bar blues progressions. Part 1 showed you the Minor Pentatonic and Blues scales. In this installment I'll show you Dominant7 arpeggios.

An arpeggio is just the notes of a chord played separately. So, instead of fingering a chord and playing it so all the notes sound at once...when you play an arpeggio you play each note by it self.

Of course, for practice purposes you play from the root up an octave or two, then back down. When you improvise you wouldn't want to do that. That would give you a very boring and clinical sound. Instead, think of the notes of an arpeggio as the sweetest possible notes you can play over the chord that is being sounded.

In other words, if the rhythm section is playing an E7 chord and you choose notes from the E7 arpeggio...you're going to sound really smart and hip!

I've been showing chord and scale shapes with the root on the 6th and 5th strings. In keeping with that, I'll show you Dom7 arpeggio shapes with roots on the 6th and 5th strings.

Here's a two octave Dominant 7 arpeggio with the root on the 6th string.

Here's a two octave Dominant 7 arpeggio with the root on the 5th string.

This shape requires a little bit of a hand shift, so check out my video lesson on how to play both these shapes.

Learn to Improvise Over 12 Bar Blues; Blues and Minor Pentatonic Scales

2009-01-02T17:26:00.001-08:00

EDIT:I had typos in my Minor Pentatonic Shape 1 and my Blues Scale shape 1 diagrams. One commenter was nice enough to take the time and point the errors out, and I have since fixed them. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

This is the first in a 3 part series of lessons to help you learn how to improvise over the twelve bar blues progression.

Part 1 will talk about the two most commonly used scales for blues soloing, the Minor Pentatonic scale and the blues scale. There are five shapes that you can use on the fretboard to play both the minor pentatonic and blues scales, but since I've been showing chords with the root on 6th and 5th strings...I'm only going to talk about the shapes of the scales with the roots on the 6th and 5th strings. On your own you should definitely learn, and use all the shapes. For a video lesson of me demonstrating how to play these scales click here.

Minor Pentatonic

Here's the Minor Pentatonic shape with the root on the 6th string, or Shape 1.

Here's Minor Pentatonic Shape 4, with the root on the 5th string.

Blues Scale

Here's the Blues Scale Shape 1, with root on the 6th string.

Here's the Blues Scale with the root on the 5th string, shape 4.

If you're thinking that the Blues scale looks a lot like the Minor Pentatonic, you're right. It's just the Minor Pentatonic with the "blue" note added. Which, in musical terms is a flat 5. (more on that in future lessons) That "blue" note is what gives the scale it's bluesy sound.

My pdf file on the Minor Pentatonic shapes and Movable chords may be helpful for this lesson. Right click this link and save target as to download.

Stay tuned for parts 2,3, and a youtube video lesson.

Learn Power Chords

2008-12-31T06:40:00.000-08:00

Power chords can be very useful tools in your guitar playing arsenal. They have kind of a neutral sound, since they are neither major or minor. This is due to the fact, that the notes that would normally determine if a chord is major or minor...are omitted from the power chord. All of this makes them very easy to solo and improvise over.

The other cool thing about power chords is the way they sound. They kind of give a chunky punchy sound, especially on an electric guitar played with some overdrive or distortion. Sometimes a little punch is just what you need to keep things interesting.

I'll show you two important power chord shapes here. If you want to see a short video lesson I made about power chords, here's a link

The first one is formed with the root of the chord on the 6th string.

Here's a Power chord with the root on the 5th string.

As you can see, both these shapes are identical you just move all your figers over one string. Since neither shape has any open strings, you can move this shape where ever you'd like.

Learn Basic Movable Guitar Chords

2008-12-30T07:10:00.000-08:00

One of the easiest ways to start playing guitar, is to learn basic movable chord shapes. That way, you don't have to learn a bunch of fingerings for different chord types. In this post I'll show you six movable shapes that will allow you to play most rock,blues, or pop songs. It really is that simple!

The three types of chords that are used in popular music are:

Major Chords
Minor Chords
Dominant7 Chords

If you learn how to play these 3 types of chords you can play many, many songs. For a video demonstrating how to play the chords in this lesson, check my youtube channel.

Lets start with the Major Chords.

In the above chord diagrams, I have shown two different ways to play a Major chord. The first shape has the root on the 6th string, and the second had the root on the fifth string. So, just by moving these two shapes around the neck you can play any major chord you want.

Next I'll show you Minor Chords.

Same deal as with the first shapes I showed you. You're now ready to play any minor chord just by moving one of these two shapes to the appropriate spot on the fret board. Pretty easy, huh?

The last chord to learn is, Dominant7

Like the first two chords I've shown, there is a shape with the root on the 6th string as well as one with the root on the 5th string.

That's about all you need to know of chords to start playing some simple songs. As a matter of fact, these chord shapes can take you quite a long way playing popular music.

Simple Blues Licks

2008-12-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a little video lesson of some simple blues lick ideas from the first postition of the minor pentatonic scale.

My pdf file on the Minor Pentatonic shapes and Movable chords may be helpful for this lesson. Right click this link and save target as to download.

Recording Your Musical Progress Can Help

2008-01-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

These days, with all the digital recording gear that's available at such low prices...it's very easy to record yourself while you play. It can be a great way to gauge your progress.

A friend and I are working on material for an acoustic duo we have, and we've been using our computers and an economy condenser mic to capture many of our practices. It can be a nice tool to see how things really sound, when we sit back and listen. We started to drive ourselves a bit crazy because when you record and play it back you listen with incredible scrutiny. Far more than any live audience would ever have. Luckily we've been able to sort out the difference between what kind of quality would be suitable for a live performance verses that of record quality. (Or should I say CD, these days?)

It really is a great tool, just be sure to exercise caution. It is really easy to obsess over the most minute details. If your goal is to be a live act a lot of those little details are pretty meaningless. Save those concerns for recording all your promotional materials.

As a player, I love to have recordings of myself to go back and listen to. Most times I find I sound better than I thought I did. Of course, these recordings also point out the areas that need more work. Once it's captured there's no denying how it sounded. All the fantasy gets sucked right out, and you get a big fat dose of reality.

Alvarez RD20SC Regent Series Dreadnaught Acoustic-Electric

2007-12-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been quite a while since I've updated the blog. The Entire month of November had me quite busy with a couple other creative projects. One of which is related to this blog post.

A friend and I started to put together an acoustic act,(more on this in the future), and I did not have a steel string acoustic. I needed to find an axe that sounded great, but wouldn't break the bank. I did a little online comparative shopping and checking reviews in all the usual places. Before I went out to try guitars. The internet makes it so easy to gather data, compare prices and have a clue before you even leave home.

I determined that for my needs the best choice would be...
RD20SC Acoustic Electric Guitar Natural

After doing my research I decided to find one at a local music store to "try before I buy" as they say. I was quite pleased with the sound and playability of this guitar. Needless to say, I bought one!

It features a solid spruce top, while the mahogany back and sides are laminated. It even has a fancy rosette. Some kind of shell, maybe abalone, maybe even plastic, but it looks great either way. This guitar is not fancy at all,obviously an attempt to keep the price low. Which is good, if you have to skimp it may as well be on cosmetics...not functionality. Overall workmanship on this guitar is quite nice. Mine does have a little blemish in the binding on the side of the fret board that faces me as I play. I didn't notice this before I bought it otherwise I'd have grabbed the one next to it. Other than that it's flawless, and the frets are nicely done. On many inexpensive guitars, the fret work can be a bit rough. Not the case on these.

Along with the onboard electronics, this guitar has a built in tuner. What a great feature! I use it all the time. I have yet to plug it in and see how it sounds amplified. I love the way it sounds acoustically so much, that I haven't felt the need to plug it in yet. I mostly wanted an electric acoustic just to have the option of plugging it in, not that I would all the time anyway.

This would be a great guitar at any price, but with a price tag this low you just can't beat it! If you are in the market for an acoustic-electric, check these out.

I've played this thing every day for the past month that I've owned it, and I'm completely satisfied.

Buying Stomp Boxes on EBay

2007-10-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hey! Don't overlook E-bay as a source for guitar effects pedals. I buy a lot of my gear brand new from mail order places like Musician's Friend, but often I find some good deals on E-bay. There seems to be a lot of guitarists who buy stompboxes and effects only to find out it wasn't what they were looking for, and they unload them on ebay. (I think a lot of would be guitar players just like to buy gear... :))

I just make sure that the seller has a really good feeback record. The last thing I wanna do is get burnt out of some of my hard earned dollars! There are even some e-bay sellers that are dealers selling brand new gear. Often their prices are about the same as the big online retailers...but they sometimes sweeten the deal with free string or t-shirt give aways when you order from them.

Just an option to keep in mind next time you are looking for that certain pedal that is going to make your rig even sweeter...and hey, if it doesn't quite sound like you want it to...you know what to do with it. E-bay!

Good luck, and remember to have fun!

Les Paul "Chasing Sound"

2007-10-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a great DVD that was just released this past summer. Les Paul - Chasing Sound

I caught this when they were showing it on PBS this summer, but the DVD has some special features. Some live footage of Les Paul playing with various other guitar slingers, that wasn't on the PBS version. I just ordered my copy, and I can't wait 'til it gets here!

Music fans,guitar players,and recording engineers owe a lot to Les Paul. He invented the humbucking pickup, the solid body electric guitar, sound on sond recording...was a pioneer in the use of effects...among many other things. That's not to mention the lightning fast fingers and guitar wizardry! This guy's had one hell of a long and successful career, and he's still going strong at 92. If you haven't seen this movie, buy it rent it, or steal it. It's a good one.

Anyway, can't wait for my copy to get here so I can dig into those special features! I'll let you know how it is.

DRM-free MP3 Music Downloads

2007-10-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to tell you that Amazon.com has started selling DRM-free music downloads in the MP3 format. DRM is that digital rights managment crap, that prevents you from having full control over the music you've downloaded. You don't have to worry about that with Amazon's downloads. You are free to enjoy Amazon's music downloads using any hardware device, organize their music using any music management application, and burn songs to CDs.

You can't beat the prices either! I copied this info below right from Amazon...

Most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 best-selling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise.

Check it out. Sounds to me like you can't go wrong!

Shameless Self Promotion...

2007-10-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

...isn't that what blogs are for? LOL!

If you are interested in checking out some of the music I've recorded, I've got some posted at audiostreet.net

It's not the best, but it's the best I can do at the moment. In future blog posts I'll be talking about some of the home recording gear I use. If you are thinking about getting into homerecording go for it! All the current technology makes it really affordable and easy to turn out a decent finished product. I can't believe how affordable some of the gear that's out there is.

Bad Monkey Overdrive

2007-10-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

I want to tell you about an overdrive pedal I picked up a couple years ago. I'm so freakin' happy with this thing! It's a DigiTech DBM Bad Monkey Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal
and it sounds GREAT!

I'm the kind of guy who try's out an overdrive, and when I try to dial in the sound I want...it's either too much drive or not enough. Not the case with my Bad Monkey. Keep in mind that this is not a distortion pedal. It's an overdrive. If you are looking for distortion chances are you won't be happy with an overdrive. If overdrive is what you crave, you need to check out the Bad Monkey. It's very transparent. I have two distinctly different amplifiers, a vox ac15cc1 and a vintage 1965, 5 watt Fender Bronco(basically a Vibro Champ). When I put the Monkey in front of these amps they each still sound like themselves. I don't know about you, but this is exactly what I look for in an overdrive. I like the way my amps sound, that's why I bought 'em in the first place!

The pedal has a pretty rugged construction, and a great price. Though,it's gone up a bit since I purchased mine. This thing is really a popular overdrive pedal,and with good reason. When the pedal is switched off, it's not a tone suck at all. I'm assuming that it's a true bypass,but even if it's not it doesn't hurt your tone at all when it's off. It's got four simple knobs on it. Level,High,Low,and Gain. That's enough control to get the sound you want, but still simple to use.

The only gripe I have with this thing is the name. They should've called it the "Magic" Monkey instead of the "Bad" Monkey...'cause every time I step on it, I get exactly what I want! SWEET,SWEET,OVERDRIVE!

If you can't beat 'em...Join 'em!

2007-10-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

While I'm not really a fan of the music that Radiohead makes, I appreciate the potentially ground breaking step they have recently taken. They have released their latest album as a free download on their website...In rainbows Ok,it's not free...I think they'll take whatever you are willing to pay them for it...not paying is an option too though! They do have plans to release it with some special packages that you will have to pay for too. I also believe that their management is talking to major lables about getting it released in a more traditional format.

I realize that they are not the first recording artists to take this approach, but no one has done anything of this magnitude yet. Everyone in the recording industry and the general public will be sitting back watching this...waiting to see what happens,and where it may lead the future of music sales.

Stay tuned...