Larry Graham created the slap bass technique to emulate the role of a drummer. Larry took the dilemma of not having a drummer, a challenging situation, and turn...
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When I first moved away from a small town on the Florida coast to pursue my dream of playing music in Nashville in 1990, I set my sights on being the best a...
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The augmented scale is a six-note scale made up of two augmented triads a half step apart. You can start the augmented scale on different scale tones to get spe...
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Most guitar players avoid using wide intervals because the nature of scale and arpeggio patterns tend to keep the fingers confined. Piano players have a great s...
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As a kid, I remember those paint-by-number paintings in my dentist’s office or at some relative’s house. They were usually pretty ugly, but playing-by-numbers w...
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I remember the first time I saw Eric Johnson play “Cliffs of Dover” on Austin City Limits on a VHS tape my roommate had. It was a life changing moment for me. T...
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When I was learning music I was influenced in two different ways: by the book and on the street. By this I mean that I had everything that I learned from my the...
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One of the most useful applications of practical music theory is the concept of Intervals. Being able to both hear the Intervals and see them on the fretboard p...
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I’m always interested in new things that are pretty simple, but sound cool. Once I get a basic version of a technique together, I’ll try and imagine how many di...
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I always enjoy taking simple ideas that students already know and framing it in a way that is useful and can be easily implemented. Most players know chords and...
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Quick: Name the notes across the 8th fret, from low E string to high E. Include sharps and flats. Ready. Go! One one thousand…two one thousand…If you cannot ra...
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While the banjo has often been associated with movies and television that caused some disrespect, it’s a new age of banjo respect thanks to Bela Fleck, Tony Tri...
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The ancient Greeks categorized music in 3 ways: Melody corresponds to intellect, Harmony corresponds to emotion, and Rhythm corresponds to the physical body. It...
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Starting to develop the craft of single note soloing can seem like trying to stroll through the rainforest or climbing a mountain without a map, GPS, or guide. ...
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I hear that from students often. It usually goes something like this, “I already know my pentatonics and am tired of just bluesy licks, so I need to learn other...
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There was a time when I thought that achieving true musical freedom required an in-depth knowledge of every single scale, arpeggio shape, chord inversion and an...
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Throughout the evolution of popular music, there have been select artists whose contribution has represented a musical quantum leap. Django Reinhardt ...
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Having a collection of versatile right-hand (picking-hand) techniques is important for any well-rounded fingerstyle player. When it comes to the Travis-Picking ...
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Let’s face it, playing chords with awkward fingerings is a pain in the hand. But this shouldn’t stop us from exploring all of our harmonic possibilities. Oftent...
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This version of the fiddle tune Black Mt. Rag is inspired by the playing of Doc Watson, a pioneer in American guitar playing. Doc was born in Deep Gap, North Ca...
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Fear is a powerful thing. It can make you do things you don’t want to do. It also can prevent you from doing the things you really love.
If you’re reading this...
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One of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists that ever lived is the incomparable Albert King (April 25, 1923 – December 2, 1992), known for his inc...
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The one thing that I have run across in my 25+ years of teaching guitar is that it is not an easy instrument to learn. Thousands of people buy guitars every yea...
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Pentatonic scales are the foundation for blues and blues-rock guitar soloing. Most people break the pentatonic scales into five separate patterns, but I like to...
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