Category Archive

Over this past week I’ve given the Notebook a much-needed overhaul. I’ve upgraded the WordPress software to its latest version (2.1), which has allowed me to finally install some comment spam protection. I’d been getting about 40 spams/hour—a veritable deluge of processed pork product—so this has been a long time coming. The stream of spam has gotten so unmanageable these …

Remember Connor, the 7-year-old whose recording of “Wild Thing” I posted a few months ago? He’s preparing the song for a school talent show next month, and he’ll be standing on the stage (at the altar actually—the show is being held in a church) and singing into a mic, so he needs some practice coordinating playing, singing, and strutting about …

Wow! What an outpouring of ideas! I’ve received about 30 comments and emails so far, and several of them are pretty inspiring. I look forward to responding to them as soon as I get a chance (I just bought a house, and moving has kept me busy).

What would you do with a website that got 6500 visits a day? I’ve been asking myself that question recently, wondering how I could translate my website’s traffic into income without compromising the integrity of the site, and have drawn a big fat blank. So instead, I’ve decided to draw a big fat $100 bill out of my pocket, and …

Time smooths out a harsh wine, warms up a jangly guitar, and softens heartbreak. As I’ve gotten older (This old hoss is almost a grizzled 34 now), I’ve worried that my capacity for ecstatic experiences has mellowed, too. I’ve felt music most powerfully during difficult times of my life, and as my life has become more stable, music continues to …

In the seventh grade, I won second place in my class’ air guitar championship by freaking out to Van Halen’s “Panama.” I can’t remember how many contestants there were, but I’m pretty sure there weren’t more than two. If only I’d had this shirt…

While we’re on the subject of music and child development, here’s a recording of “Wild Thing” performed by Connor Wartelle, seven years old. Connor came to his first lesson in May with a 1/2-sized Stratocaster with two strings on it. The others had been shredded by hours and hours of frenetic strumming, the guitar sitting flat on his lap, extra-heavy …

My new realtor just told me the most amazing story. We’d been chatting about teaching music to young kids, and how little kids get a lot out of whanging and whomping on the guitar strings—it might not sound like music to us, but they’re learning to play with rhythm. Then she told me this story: “When I was pregnant with …

This was my backpacking guitar until I backed over it at a trailhead in Idaho two summers ago. The back popped off and the neck buckled, but it was somewhat intact. It sat in my basement like Norman Bates’ mother until last Saturday, when I decided it was time to drive the coffin nail home, rock-and-roll style. I know smashing …

Update: This article inspired a two-year project writing a book on the subject. Check out Rob’s Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook. Someone over at Guitar Noise asked about specific steps he could take to start teaching guitar. Here was my response—a little rambling, I’m sorry, but that’s what blogs are for, right? I’ve been teaching guitar full-time for four years. …