Part of my job as a guitar teacher is curating songs that my students might like to play. While some students know exactly what they want to learn and enthusiastically pursue every item on their ever-growing “to-learn” list, others just …
Mistakes Are Good for You
Huh? Read that title again. Mistakes really are good for you. Every mistake you make is a little red flag saying, “Want to become a better guitarist? Spend some time right here! Fix me!” Check out this now-famous video of …
The Guitarist’s Essentials
I don’t like rules. These are not rules. These are my top pieces of advice for guitar students of all ages and skill levels. I use these strategies relentlessly in my own playing. Use a Tuner Keep your guitar as …
How to Practice Chords: Hit the Bullseye
Practicing guitar chords is very much like practicing darts. When playing through songs, you often need to strum a chord the instant your fingers land on the strings. There’s no extra time to make adjustments and get the chord re-fingered …
The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises – Part 4 of 4
The final episode in the “Mother of All Major Scale Exercises” series is here. (Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 first.) Part 4 combines parts 2 and 3, moving through the Cycle of Fourths with every position …
The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises – Part 3 of 4
The “Mother of All Major Scale Exercises” series gets even tougher with Part 3. (Check out Part 1 and Part 2 first.) This new iteration of the exercise takes the zig-zagging up and down the fretboard from Part 1 and …
The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises – Part 2 of 4
Part 2 of “The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises” will be a little harder than Part 1. (Make sure you check out Part 1 before diving into this.) Now we limit the exercise to two strings at a time, …
The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises – Part 1 of 4
A few years ago, I developed what I call “The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises.” It’s divided into four parts. In the video above, I walk you through Part 1. (You can see a brief explanation of the whole …