I wrote this Halloween song for my daughter Amalia. Spooky enough? It’s a kid’s song without words… but perhaps we will add words to it one day! I was going for a scary theme that would sound both cute and eerie at the same time. You let me know if you think I succeeded. Lesson […]
Here is a great scale pattern to know. When I say scale pattern, I’m not talking about a fingerboard pattern. The notes are all from the C major scale. You can look at it this way – each 2 notes per chord are a 6th apart. The chords are C, Bm7b5, Am, G, F, Em, […]
Alternate picking – the biggest hurdle for many people, myself included. I find that it is easiest for me to always pick towards the string I’m switching to. This is called “outside picking” and it only occurs when switching strings. When you play on one string, it’s called “tremolo picking”. Now if you recall, I […]
Here’s a funk groove guitar lesson for you. You can do a lot with this idea, and it works for blues, country, rock as well. When playing funk rhythm guitar, you have to keep steady time. To help you keep an even rhythm, let your picking arm swing up and down freely, and play muted […]
Today I’m sharing some modern blues rhythm guitar ideas with you. I’m playing over a standard blues in A, but I use several other, more sophisticated chord ideas than what the chord progression states. Cool? This if a form of embellishing chords, by using – other chords! Let me know how you like this […]
Time for some old school country! Here’s a simple 1-4-5 tune (E, A, B) in the style of Hank Williams. I’m mostly playing double stops (3rds) to create this melodic solo. It’s an easy way to “fatten up” melodic licks.
It’s no secret that I often tell students that triads is my “secret”. It’s a simple, powerful concept to make sure you hit strong notes as you play lead guitar. In this example, I’m using triads to build two similar licks for Am and Dm, respectively. Then the 2nd time, I alter the phrases a […]
Country players often sneak in some jazz influences, especially in faster tunes. Have you noticed? It’s a way to make it sound a bit more sophisticated, and and perhaps an excuse to play more notes! Haha! Here I’m showing you a way you can approach this. The scale/mode I’m using over this is G Mixolydian. […]
Most people think of the diminished scale only as a tool for dominant chords. But hey, you can make it sound nice over minor chords too. Here we have 2 licks that are resolving back to E minor chord tones. That’s the important part! An exotic scale like this one works as long as you […]
The Symmetrical Diminished Scale is an 8 note scale that has a very simple construction. It’s constructed by alternating whole and half steps and sounds very sophisticated and colourful.