Lessons & Theroy
Minor Pentatonic 101
In this lesson you will learn the most common used scale on the guitar in almost all music genres. You will learn all 5 positions you can play the Minor Pentatonic Scale. If you want to be a guitar master this is a must learn lesson!
Lick 1 Audio
Lick 2 Audio
Lick 3 Audio
Lick 4 Audio
Lick 5 Audio
Lick 6 Audio
Lick 7 Audio
Lick 8 Audio
Practice Track Audio
Finger style Guitar Lesson
Most guitarist like myself included, start with a flat pick when they learn guitar. I had been playing for several years before I started using fingers in my style. When you learn to use more than a pick on guitar the results can be rewarding. Nearly all great guitarist play their instrument with more the one finger. There are many ways to play finger style. Some use no picks at all (thumb, index, middle, & ring Fingers), and others use thumb picks and finger picks. There are many combinations you can use and no one way is right or wrong. You must find a method or style that works best for you. I use to tuck my flat pick with my pinky finger to free my thumb and other three fingers when I first started playing with fingers. Later I saw guys like Albert Lee and Vince Gill using a flat pick and using middle and ring fingers while holding the pick with thumb and index fingers. That style is what worked best for me.
In this lesson we will cover some different finger and pick style combinations. We will cover double stops, forward rolls, banjo rolls, chicken picking and much more.
Lesson 1 Banjo Rolls
Banjo Rolls Practice Track Audio
Lesson 3 Double Stops
Lesson 2 Forward Rolls
Lesson 3 Soft Style
Lesson 5 Chick'n Pick'n
Triads and Triad Inversions (Chords and Inversions) Guiatr
​In some of my lessons and videos I incorporate a few Drop 3 chords. In this lesson we will cover and define drop three chord as well as learn some of the popular shapes and inversions. What are drop 3 chords? The name Drop 3 comes from the fact that in order to build these chord shapes, you take a closed position chord, 1-3-5-7, and “drop” the 3rd note from the top down an octave, forming the interval pattern 3-1-5-7. This however doesn’t mean the 3rd note is always on top and used as the bass not. Here is an example of converting the closed Cmaj7 chord to a drop 3 chord.
Triads Audio
Exercise 1 Audio
Exercise 2 Audio
Exercise 3 Audio
Exercise 4 Audio
Exercise 5 Audio
Exercise 6 Audio
Exercise 7 Audio
Add 9 Chord Lesson for Guitar
This topic was a question I had a few years back when I was studying guitar chords. Before, I would see add9 chords in written music, then try to play 9 chords. I did not really know what add9 chords were. I knew it didn't sound quite right so after running in to the same problem I decided to investigate my situation. I knew that a 9 chord had a root, third, seven, and a nine, But what was the add 9. After a little study it was quite simple, add9 chords have no seventh degree.
This topic was a question I had a few years back when I was studying guitar chords. Before, I would see add9 chords in written music, then try to play 9 chords. I did not really know what add9 chords were. I knew it didn't sound quite right so after running in to the same problem I decided to investigate my situation. I knew that a 9 chord had a root, third, seven, and a nine, But what was the add 9. After a little study it was quite simple, add9 chords have no seventh degree.
Etude in G Practice Track
Minor Etude Practice Track
Guitar Lesson Cut Common Time
Cut time pertains to the beat, and what drums and rhythm guitar will do. It is also called cut common time and half time. In music, alla breve (Italian for: "at the breve"; also sometimes called cut time or cut common time) refers to a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C with a line through it), which is the equivalent of 2/2. Alla breve is a "simple-duple meter with a half-note pulse". Common time, notated with the time signature symbol C, is the equivalent of 4/4. So common time is 4/4 and cut time is 2/2. 4/4 would be 4 quarter notes where 2/2 would be 2 half notes.
2/2 is useful for notating very fast, complex passages. You can notate as half note, quarter note, eighth, sixteenth, where to do the same passage in 4/4, you would need Quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirty second.
Cut Time Solo Practice Track
Cut Time Solo Practice Track
Drop 3 Chords Guitar Lesson
In some of my lessons and videos I incorporate a few Drop 3 chords. In this lesson we will cover and define drop three chord as well as learn some of the popular shapes and inversions. What are drop 3 chords? The name Drop 3 comes from the fact that in order to build these chord shapes, you take a closed position chord, 1-3-5-7, and “drop” the 3rd note from the top down an octave, forming the interval pattern 3-1-5-7. This however doesn’t mean the 3rd note is always on top and used as the bass not. Here is an example of converting the closed Cmaj7 chord to a drop 3 chord.
EX 1 Closed Chord
Ex2 G7 Drop 3 Inversions
Ex3 Drop 3 Chords 5th String
Ex4 Drop 3 Chords 6th String
Ex5 3 Note Drop 3 Chords
Jazz Grove SoloPractice Track
Exercise 1 Practice Track (No Guitar)
Staccato Delay Licks on Guitar
Staccato delay licks sound complex but are rather easy with proper delay settings and technique. It is really just 8th notes with a delay effect turns them into 16th notes. Here are some tips to help you get started.