Guitar dynamics is a very important yet often overlooked aspect of guitar playing. The good news is that learning how to control the dynamics of the guitar exercises, scales, riffs, licks, and solos that you play is not hard, yet it makes a significant difference in the quality of the music that comes out of …
How to Control Guitar Dynamics with Accent Exercises Read More »
Some guitarists think they don’t need to learn music theory either because they believe one of these myths or else because they’ve tried learning guitar theory the wrong way. In this lesson, we’ll define what guitar theory is (so that you don’t spend time learning things that you don’t need) and explore three areas of …
In this lesson I show you how to plan out a guitar solo while in this lesson I show you how to improvise solos on the guitar. In today’s lesson we’ll go through the 7 guitar solo mistakes I notice beginners in guitar soloing do on a regular basis. I used to make almost all …
7 Beginner Guitar Solo Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them) Read More »
Drone guitar technique refers to the sustained use of a note or a chord throughout most or all of a piece of music. In today’s lesson I will be giving you a template you can use to create as many riffs as you want using guitar droning technique. Our drone note will be the open …
10 Drone Guitar Riffs Derived From a Single Idea Read More »
Though the terms broken chord and arpeggio are often used interchangeably by guitar players, there are some minor differences between the two. They both refer to the notes of the chord being played individually (rather than strummed together) but while in broken chords the notes are allowed to ring together in arpeggios the notes are …
Punk Rock is a music genre as well as a subculture that emerged in the late 1970’s. Punk subculture is about rebellion and anti-conformity, and has its own norms. This is clearly reflected in the music which is aggressive, simple and to the point, as well as in the in-your-face lyrics of Punk songs. Punk …
There is more than one approach you can take to write a melody on the guitar. An approach that rarely works is learning a scale, playing it up and down, or playing random notes derived from it, and expecting to stumble on a melody. It is possible to come up with melodies on the guitar …
How to Write an 8 Bar Melody On Guitar In 6 Easy Steps Read More »
Guitar trill technique is frequently used as an exercise by students starting out, or trying to improve, their legato technique. And while trills do make a good exercise, one shouldn’t miss the fact that they’re also a very expressive melodic ornament you can use in your guitar riffs, licks, and solos. In this lesson you’ll …
How To Use Guitar Trill Technique In Your Riffs, Licks and Solos Read More »
The Phrygian mode has a very particular sound and its use is found in many genres of music including Heavy Metal, Jazz, Classical music, even electronic music. Songs that make use of the Phrygian mode include Symphony of Destruction (Megadeth), Wherever I May Roam (Metallica) and Sails of Charon (Scorpions). In this lesson you will …
The Phrygian Mode Across The Fretboard (with guitar lick examples) Read More »
In this lesson I explain the basics of rhythm. If you don’t know what a quarter note, an eight note, and a sixteenth note are yet, I suggest that you get a general idea of the basic elements of rhythm before proceeding with the rest of this lesson. In today’s lesson we’ll be taking one …
How To Play 16 th Notes On Guitar (and build a rhythmic vocabulary) Read More »
