Intro to Chord-Tone Soloing

Ever wonder why certain notes in a guitar solo sound so good? Learn how to nail those satisfying notes every time in this video lesson, made for one of my Seattle students, Chris.

Bluesy Chromatic Notes

Here’s a tutorial on augmenting your standard minor pentatonic approach to include a few extra spicy notes. Made for one of my Skype students, Todd.

A Beautiful Muse Chord Progression

I heard the track “Explorers” from the new Muse album last week. They used a really pretty chord progression on the outro that caught my ear. Here’s a quick lesson on it! Here are all the chords I used in …

Old Spice Guitar

How to Embellish Guitar Chords

Have you ever heard a guitarist take a song with otherwise plain vanilla open chords and squeeze new life out of them with subtle embellishments? In this article (and video series), I’ll show you how to spice up the same …

Jimmy Page’s Monster Pentatonic Lick

In this video lesson, I break down one of my all-time favorite rock licks. Jimmy Page played it in a live solo on “Black Dog,” which can be heard on the Led Zeppelin album, How the West Was Won. It …

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 …

Compass

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 …

Fretboard

Fretboard Twister

Here’s an awesome little finger exercise for guitar. I call it “Fretboard Twister,” because it works just like the popular Twister game. Instead of moving your hands and feet to different spots on a floor mat, you’ll be moving your …