Besides writing blog posts, I enjoy reading posts from other people’s guitar blogs, or guitar-related articles from other sources on the internet. I usually read for inspiration, entertainment, or to educate myself about some aspect of guitar playing. Even when I read about a topic that I already know something about, I tend to read [...]
October 13, 2010
A huge aspect of guitar mastery is the proper use of dynamics. Dynamics can add a great deal to your ability to move the audience, sometimes literally: play something soft and gentle to draw people in, or play something loud and brash to get people jumping up and down in excitement. The essence of creating [...]
October 9, 2010
What is the most important thing to do when you learn to play something new? The answer is, you break it down into small pieces that you practise individually. That way you can spend a lot of concentrated and focused effort on a small part, which — because it is so small — allows you [...]
October 6, 2010
A great jam session is one of the best things in the world, in my humble opinion. A great jam session in which you take an active part is an even better thing in the world. You know that feeling; you’re playing something previously unrehearsed with other musicians, and the whole song just flows. It [...]
October 4, 2010
Last week I talked about several things that children use to learn new skills. I wrote about two things that I observed in my own children that allowed them to pick up the skill of talking. I then took this knowledge and translated it to practising playing the guitar. In this final post I talk [...]
October 1, 2010
Besides writing blog posts, I enjoy reading posts from other people’s guitar blogs, or guitar-related articles from other sources on the internet. I usually read for inspiration, entertainment, or to educate myself about some aspect of guitar playing. Even when I read about a topic that I already know something about, I tend to read [...]
September 29, 2010
There has always been something about Jazz that has captured my imagination. Some of you may know that I trained as a Jazz pianist when I was a child. Back then, I listened to nothing but Jazz. Unfortunately, my playing sounded nothing like Jazz — not the way I wanted it to sound, anyway. I [...]
October 17, 2010