Blog

Fingerstyle Guitar Technique

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Basics

Playing fingerstyle is a right hand technique that allows the fingers of the right hand to pluck the strings individually, opposed to strumming them with a pick. Using fingerpicking techniques will allow guitarists to combine melody, bass lines, and ... Read Article

ii-V-I Jazz Progressions

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Jazz Guitar Lessons

One of the most important progressions in jazz is the ii-V-I. You will find this chord progression in most jazz standards ranging from swing to bebop. In a previous jazz lesson, we learned five chord forms and applied them to a chord scale. In t... Read Article

Essential Jazz Guitar Chords For Beginners

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Jazz Guitar Lessons

Many jazz chord books that line your local music shop walls will claim to teach a wide variety of chords; within their pages you’ll find nothing but confusing and useless chords whose sole purpose is to fill the book with seemingly useful ... Read Article

Practicing Major Scales

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Jazz Guitar Lessons

So you’ve learned the major scales by running up and down each position to develop your technique but what can you do to help your improvisational skills? Music doesn’t always begin on the root of each chord, so a better method of practic... Read Article

Understanding Modes

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

Understanding the concept of modes is confusing to many musicians. Let’s try to simplify this seemingly complex subject for those of you just delving into this area. A mode is formed by taking a scale (such as the C major scale) and instead ... Read Article

Blues Turnarounds

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Blues Guitar Lessons

One element that all blues progressions have in common is the turnaround. The turnaround is the last two bars of the progression, where the tune gets ready to “turnaround” and go back to the beginning. Lets set the framework wit... Read Article

The I-vi-ii-V Progression

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Jazz Guitar Lessons

The I-vi-ii-V is an important chord progression that forms the basis of many great songs. The chords are built from the first, sixth, second and fifth notes of a major scale. From the C major chord scale, comes the I-vi-ii-V progression. ... Read Article

The 5 Blues Scale Positions

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Scales

The blues scale is one of the most commonly used scales in soloing and essential for a guitarists vocabulary. This scale is derived from the minor pentatonic with the addition of the b5. This note gives a bluesy feel and is the only differe... Read Article

Major Scale Positions

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Scales

The major scale is one of the most important scales that a player first learns on guitar, because it’s one of the most commonly referenced in music. The major scale is a series of seven different notes identified by their fixed arrang... Read Article

Variations Of The 12-Bar Blues

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Blues Guitar Lessons

The 12-bar blues, using all dominant seventh chords, is the most common form of the blues progression. It’s 12 measures long and uses the first, fourth and fifth chords of a key. The chords are usually indicated with Roman numerals (I-IV-V) and... Read Article

Shred Guitar

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

Years ago back in the days of cowboy slinging guitarists, I, like most other players of the time went out to become a fast efficient guitarist. Players with amazing technical abilities were abundant, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and... Read Article

Guide Tones For Jazz Guitar

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Jazz Guitar Lessons

Playing through a jazz tune with alot of chord changes can sometimes become frustrating and intimidating for a player. This lesson is going to focus on the basics of guide tones and how to incorporate them into your playing. Guide tones are notes ... Read Article

The Pentatonic Major Scale

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Blues Guitar Lessons

In the past I’ve written an article about the pentatonic minor scales, a basic foundation for developing a guitarist’s soloing. It’s only natural to focus this lesson on the pentatonic major scales. Like the pentatonic minor scal... Read Article

Strumming Patterns For Guitar

Posted in: Guitar Basics

Strumming is prevalent in almost every style of guitar playing. In this lesson, we will cover some basic strumming patterns that are used in countless songs in all genres. Strumming with a pick is most commonly used on steel-string ... Read Article

How To Play Happy Birthday (Arranged For Solo Guitar)

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Jazz Guitar Lessons

Everybody has sung Happy Birthday at some point in their lives, or pretended to! I imagine there have been scenarios where family or friends have requested you to play it on the guitar. You could strum and sing, but for some people that isn’t a... Read Article

Gary Moore Blues Licks

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Blues Guitar Lessons

The late Gary Moore (1952-2011) was one of the greatest guitarists of all time. As a young rock player, I had never heard anyone play the blues with such precision, passion, and such a robust tone. Gary’s music was soulful but still had the int... Read Article

Horizontal Pentatonic Minor Patterns

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Scales

In an earlier lesson, we learned the five positions of the pentatonic minor scale. Now it’s time to put these positions in motion by moving between them. This way you not only get to play vertically on the neck, but also horizontally. F... Read Article

Sixth Sense

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Blues Guitar Lessons

When confronting the changes of a blues tune, the first scale the majority of players lean towards is the minor pentatonic. This generates some wonderful sounds but by itself it doesn’t provide all the chord tones in a typical I-IV-V. A few oth... Read Article

Using A Capo On Guitar

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Basics

A capo is a clamp-like device you attach at a single fret on the neck of your guitar. It covers all six strings and raises the pitch of your guitar one half-step for each fret. For example, if you place the capo on the 2nd fret, the open E string now... Read Article

The Importance Of Music Lessons

Posted in: Music News And Tips

Music enhances the development of learning by synchronized engagement of senses, muscles, and intellect. School age students of music and the arts have higher grades, better standardized test scores on the verbal and math portions of the SAT, bett... Read Article

Keys To Picking Fast And Accurately On Guitar

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

The key to picking quickly is the ability to successfully synchronize both hands. Most guitar players are more comfortable playing fast legato phrases versus picking every note. The goal is to have a nice balance of both techniques in your playing. ... Read Article

Practicing With The Metronome On 2 And 4

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Jazz Guitar Lessons

There is a school of thought that a swing feel must be present in order for music to be classified as jazz.  While I don’t necessarily subscribe to that in such declarative terms, I believe a strong time feel must be found in all forms of ... Read Article

The Pentatonic Minor Scale

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Scales

The Minor Pentatonic scale is one of the most commonly used scales in Rock, Blues, Country and Jazz music. The name “Pentatonic” can be defined as five tones. “Penta” means five and “tonic” refers to tone. The... Read Article

Mixolydian Thirds

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

The Mixolydian mode is a popular choice for soloing in many forms of music.  It is derived from the fifth degree or note of the major scale. In the key of C major for example – G Mixolydian would be G,A,B,C,D,E,F,G. It is common to use thi... Read Article

Melodic Minor Scale

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Scales

The melodic minor scale is a major scale with a flatted 3rd, or a Dorian scale with a raised 7th. It’s used more often in jazz and classical music then in rock. The formula for the melodic minor scale is 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7. In classical the... Read Article

Using The Major Third In the Blues

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Blues Guitar Lessons

Many blues players are very familiar with the pentatonic minor scale but fail to incorporate other sounds into their playing. This can result in a one-dimensional sound and also leave a player feeling like he’s in a rut with his playing. In thi... Read Article

Double Stops For Guitar Pt. 1

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Blues Guitar Lessons

One of the most versatile techniques available on the guitar is the double stop. A double stop is two notes that are played simultaneously.  Because the guitar provides the ability to sound more than one note at a time, we in effe... Read Article

Double Stops For Guitar Pt. 2

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Blues Guitar Lessons

This is the second installment of my lesson on double stops. For those who missed the first half of the lesson feel free to go here for a review. This time around we will check out some blues based double stops and delve into the Curtis Mayfield... Read Article

Harmonic Minor Scale

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Scales

The harmonic minor scale is an exotic sounding scale. It has a character that is interpreted by many as a classical or neoclassical sound. The harmonic minor consists of a natural minor scale with a raised seventh degree. Doing this creates a leading... Read Article

Blank Chord, Tab And Sheet Music Diagrams

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Blank Chord, Tab And Sheet Music Diagrams

Blank Tab Diagram Blank Chord Diagram Blank Standard Notation Diagram Read Article

How To Construct A Practice Routine

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Music News And Tips

What should I practice? It's such an expansive question and the answer is sometimes hard to quantify. In order to play an instrument there has to be a certain amount of technique one has to acquire before music can be made. Depending on the instr... Read Article

Harmony Guitar Lesson

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

In this month’s lesson we will take a look at constructing single note harmony lines on the guitar. I have always loved two guitar bands that featured two or three part harmonies in their riffs and solos. Bands like The Allman Bros, Thin Lizzy ... Read Article