The Forgotten Secret to Mastering Guitar!

Exercise!
One word blog for the day!
One of my students got me thinking the other day. He likes playing standing up with the killer new Schecter he just bought. ONLY standing up. Sitting with this guitar makes him uncomfortable; he can’t find the right wrist position, the edge of the guitar sticks in his chest funny, [...]

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Parents Making Their Kids Practice MORE Than One Instrument?

I’m not a parent, so yeah, what I’m about to blog is written from someone who hasn’t been there…except that my brother was born when I was a freshman in high school, so I had plenty of diaper changes, terrible twos, french fries thrown into the air at McDonald’s when I’m trying to look cool [...]

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Ultimate Guitar Shred Lesson…

I’ll give it to you in this sentence; shredding is a great aspect of guitar as long as you know why you’re doing it.
Do you feel pure joy at learning to play faster, more complex riffs? If yes then fantastic, go for it. But if you’re pursuing it with the intention of being “cool” or [...]

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Green Day/Metallica Are Lame Sellouts!

If I got a dime for every time one of my students admitted hating Green Day or Metallica I could buy…an overpriced Ticketmaster ticket to one of their shows. It makes me wonder on occasion…what does selling out mean and why do some bands get a pass go on it?
I remember when I started teaching [...]

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How to Improve Musical Skills WITHOUT PRACTICE!

The secret to becoming a better musician without picking up your instrument?
Here it is…
Listen to music.
DOH!
I know, it would have been much more mainstream to create a pill for it and advertise it during the Superbowl, one more to take along with your allergy pill, your ED pill and the one that makes you run [...]

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Over Caffeinated Teacher + Students From Hell =

Hey, I’m thankful I’ve been able to pay a mortgage talking about guitar/being an overpaid babysitter, depending on the student. But for those of you who think my job is easy let me give you a hint of the downside…*
1. Freshly pubescent kids who haven’t realized the power of their (lack of) personal hygiene. We’re [...]

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How *I* broke the guitar shred/speed barrier…

Oh, my God…oh, my God–OH, MY GOD! I think I had one of the biggest technique breakthroughs of my life on the guitar. It only took me a little over 23 years to get!
Ya see, I’ve got some shred chops, but I’m not really a shredder. I’m a lefty playing right-handed guitar, so I’ve developed [...]

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Old People Can’t Play Guitar???

I had this student a few months back, gray-haired, nice guy, says he really wants to learn the blues. Seriously wants the blues! Doesn’t know anything about the instrument, but I’m getting this sense that he doesn’t want to learn the basics; no chords, no picking exercises. The blues, dammit! I make the call to [...]

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Be a Guitar God in Five Minutes a Day!

I always have about a dozen motivated students who don’t practice. Or they don’t practice enough. Or they don’t practice as much as they’d like.
Hmm…or maybe they’re full of crap and simply don’t practice!
Nah, they’re all good kids. Hey, I vaguely recall being a kid too. Karate classes, drama class*, Atari 2600, my [...]

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How do I apply music theory on guitar?

I get some form of this question from my guitar students occasionally. They’ve been taking lessons for awhile, can dig into a chillin’ groove or a blazing solo and they suddenly ask, “When are we going to learn music theory?” I try to tell them that they’ve been learning theory all along, assuming we’re not [...]

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